Pikmin 3 Deluxe

Pikmin 3 Deluxe is an enhanced rerelease of for the Nintendo Switch. It was released worldwide on 30, and features a large number of changes to the original game and several new additions, including the return of the Piklopedia, the Side Stories game mode, and multiplayer gameplay in Story Mode.

Differences from Pikmin 3
The following differences between Pikmin 3 and Pikmin 3 Deluxe have been documented:

Side Stories

 * There are new Side Stories to play through.
 * The first side story is set before and during the main story and is called "Olimar's Assignment", while the second is set after the main story and is called "Olimar's Comeback". They star Captain Olimar and Louie, who are both playable. Like the main story, these can be played in single-player or cooperatively with two players.
 * Olimar's Assignment consists of 4 missions, each one taking place in a modified area from Story Mode with a time limit. Each of them has the goal of collecting a high number of Pokos to save Hocotate Freight from another debt. These missions re-use the Secret File videos from the original game.
 * Olimar's Comeback consists of 10 missions, each one also taking place in a modified area from Story Mode with a time limit. These have various objectives, including defeating enemies, collecting treasure, carrying ship parts to the SPERO, growing Pikmin, or reuniting the 2 leaders. Olimar writes notes before and after each of the missions.
 * Both the Onion and the SPERO are present in most levels; the Onion allows the player to grow more Pikmin, while the SPERO takes in recovered fruit and items.

Co-op Mode

 * 2 players can play through Story Mode cooperatively, a first for the series.
 * The screen is split vertically, with the first player on the left, and the second on the right. If one of the players activates a cutscene, that player's view will fill up the screen. The split returns to normal when the cutscene is over.
 * When there are two players playing, the HUD icon for player one's leader will have the text "P1" near it, and the icon for player 2's will have "P2"
 * If the two players are close, one can use the menu to get the other player's leader into their group, which will make the trailing leader forced to remain within a certain distance of the main one, although they can still be controlled and play freely. During this state, the leading player's view takes up the whole screen. Throwing the trailing leader or dismissing will return to normal co-op mode. This feature does not exist in Mission Mode.
 * When there is only one leader available due to story reasons, the second player will control a copy of that same leader. On each player's screen, the other leader will appear as a solid-color transparent silhouette version of the character. In this way, it is impossible for one leader to group with or throw the other.
 * Both players' leaders are also immune to damage in this state, to avoid complications with one of them falling. Player 1 can continue to take damage if the game is set back to being played solo.
 * If all leaders but one fall, the player controlling the remaining leader will be in charge of the rest of the day and the split-screen is removed.
 * Either player can open the radar, the hints screen, or the Onion menu, which will pause gameplay for both, and take up the whole screen. Only that player can control the menu. Some menus will have the widget highlighters colored after the player's leader. If the leaders are grouped together, then the secondary leader cannot open the Onion menu.

Accessibility

 * To make the game more accessible to new players and to make it easier to know what to do, various features have been added to help or guide players:
 * There are multiple difficulty modes to choose from. The difficulties are Normal, Hard, and Ultra-Spicy, the latter of which is unlocked after completing the game once. These change various aspects of the game, such as the length of days, the health of enemies, and the placement of nectar eggs. Enemies act different depending on the difficulty selected.
 * Hints have been added, which guide the player towards advancing through the story. Hints give the player some information on where to go next or how to do a task. Many also come with arrows on the ground that point towards the next destination.
 * Badges have been added, and they function as a set of achievements that players can obtain by meeting certain conditions. These conditions include progress through Story Mode, but also include completing stages in other modes and even things like photography and growing Pikmin.
 * A new "after hours" feature is added to Mission Mode, in which the stage can still be explored and completed after the time limit has run out, but a new score will not be saved.
 * The S.S. Drake can be interacted with to command all Pikmin in the field to travel back to the Onion.

Controls


Extensive control changes have occurred due to the different controllers of the Nintendo Switch.
 * The lock-on system has been substantially changed.
 * Instead of locking the camera, it now locks the cursor.
 * Objects can be locked-on to if they have an indicator above them, which can happen even if the cursor is not close, or the player is locked-on to something else.
 * The HUD no longer changes, though carrying numbers do appear.
 * More lock-on objects and locations also exist, such as screws screwed onto the floor indicating where leaders must be thrown.
 * Holding down the throw button will also make the leader throw multiple Pikmin automatically, if locked-on.
 * The charge mechanic has also been substantially changed.
 * It can now be performed at any time with the press of a dedicated button, usually, instead of requiring the player to be locked-on first.
 * Only current standby Pikmin will charge ahead, though the others can follow suit if a button is pressed repeatedly.
 * Pikmin will only charge in the direction of the cursor, or towards the locked-on object.
 * If ordered to an object that can be carried, only the amount of Pikmin required to begin carrying it will go, or if it's moving, only enough to fully carry the object.
 * When dismissing, group members of the standby type will stay with the group though doing this again will dismiss that type.
 * Some controls have been moved into a dedicated action menu, accessible by holding.
 * There are multiple modes for how the cursor is controlled: stick-only, stick and gyro, and gyro-only.
 * The player can change the standby Pikmin type both to the previous one and to the next one. The HUD is also changed to reflect this: the three Pikmin standby type bubbles now have a focus on the central one as opposed to the leftmost one.
 * The whistle expands quicker, can reach farther, and can cover a much larger area.
 * When the player switches to a leader, all nearby idle Pikmin within a radius will be called over.
 * If Pikmin that are performing a task get whistled, they will stop in place momentarily, and then resume their task. To call them, they must be whistled for a long period of time, or whistled twice in a row.
 * When Pikmin are in a leader's squad, they will try to stay close to the leader, instead of forming a long line.
 * When a leader is shocked by an electrical source, they no longer need to be manually controlled in order to get up, and twirling the stick no longer speeds them up.

KopPad

 * Due to the lack of Wii U Gamepad functionality, the KopPad now zooms in while activated, and can be viewed on the TV, along with the prompt to look at the Gamepad being removed.
 * Some aspects about the radar have changed.
 * The radar can be zoomed in and out, and at the top, the current Story Mode objective will be shown.
 * The entire area is visible from the start, though parts that haven't been visited yet are transparent.
 * There is no way to view the area from a top-down view, since that was limited to the television screen with Off-TV Play off.
 * There is no way to unpause the gameplay while keeping the radar in-view.
 * In Bingo Battle, either player can open up the radar on their side of the screen; doing this does not pause the game. This radar cannot be controlled, and shows the whole stage at once.
 * The KopPad's camera app has changed.
 * It now has different focus levels, instead of allowing the player to tap the GamePad to indicate what part they want in focus. An "auto focus" mode also exists, that simply focuses on whatever is at the center of the scene.
 * Taking a photo will save it to the Switch's bulit-in photo album, without displaying the HUD.
 * Instead of the camera having total rotation freedom, it is now limited. Panning is limited to a few degrees around where the leader is facing, tilt is limited to straight up and straight down, and rolling is impossible.
 * Selecting the camera app in the KopPad will show the player a screen prompting them to press in order to enter the camera mode, instead of entering the mode outright. Quitting out of the mode will return the player to that same prompt.
 * Photos are brighter than they are in the original game.
 * Oddly, the decorative meters do not move, except if the player moves the Pro Controller, or moves the left Joy-Con, regardless of gyro control settings. To note is that the right Joy-Con is the one responsible for controlling the cursor when gyro controls are enabled.
 * The Piklopedia, originating from, has been added. It can be found as an application in the KopPad.
 * Each entry contains a comment by each of the five leaders, a small looping video clip of the creature, a general list of habitats, and the number of that creature killed throughout the adventure.
 * Alph's comments are based on the structural features of the enemy, Brittany's comments are based on the enemy's appearance, Charlie's comments are about fighting the enemy, Louie's comments are about cooking the enemy, and Olimar's comments are about the enemy's biology.
 * The menu contains all viewable entries for the player to choose from, and also indicates how many creatures have been analyzed, as well as the total. However, this total can appear as a question mark.
 * Piklopedia entries are unlocked by bringing dead creatures to an Onion, or, in the case of creatures that don't leave corpses, simply defeating them.
 * In Story Mode, there is a mini radar on-screen.
 * The style of the mini radar differs from the standard radar in that it uses solid colors instead of textures – terrain is dark blue, water is a lighter blue, out of bounds locations are black, and walls are cyan.
 * Leaders and the S.S. Drake also have stylized icons with minimalist drawings, instead of smaller versions of their portraits.
 * The mini radar's visibility can be turned either off or back on at any time in the pause menu.

Menus

 * Story Mode now has three saved game slots to choose from, and a saved game selection menu is included as a result.
 * Most menus in the game have a black box in the lower right corner explaining basic menu controls not accessed through buttons.
 * Menus no longer have buttons for returning to the previous menu; this is instead done with the button.
 * It is now impossible to control menus with a gyro-controlled cursor pointer.
 * There are also no touchscreen controls.
 * Control prompts have been updated to use Nintendo Switch buttons.
 * Some menus have changed more significantly:
 * The pause menu has been changed enormously, featuring up to 9 buttons. It can be accessed from most places in the game, and contains new features like an options section, a section with basic information, and the player's badges.
 * As with the Japanese localization, Trying to end a day from the pause menu when there are Pikmin in danger of being left behind will now state in the warning how many Pikmin will perish.
 * In the main menu, the player must press two shoulder buttons on the controller together instead of pressing a face button. There is also new button for the Side Stories, and a box explaining the currently-highlighted mode.
 * The Mission Mode menu shows the name of a stage and its time limit before selecting that stage to view its detailed information. There is also an explanation of the abilities of different Pikmin types.
 * Pressing in the Onion menu will highlight the next Pikmin type, or the OK button, instead of confirming the changes outright. Pressing  will go to the previous type, instead of cancelling right away.

Aesthetics

 * There are many small differences in the appearance of areas between the original Pikmin 3 and Pikmin 3 Deluxe. Some of these are just aesthetic and have no effect on gameplay, while others are intended to make areas easier to navigate. Others still actually change the positions of objects. When a piece of terrain has different ground textures from the floor around it, that difference tends to be exaggerated in the radar. These differences are detailed here:
 * Tropical Wilds
 * Garden of Hope
 * Distant Tundra
 * Twilight River
 * Formidable Oak
 * The day counter is gone from the HUD, and the juice counter takes its place.
 * Two on-screen prompts exist, informing the player that toggles the KopPad, and, if hints are enabled,  activates hints. If a new hint is available, the button will sparkle and glow, and receive a pulsating exclamation mark icon.
 * The introduction cutscene displays Pikmin 3 Deluxe instead of Pikmin 3.
 * If a leader is in another leader's group, their health icon on the HUD is now darkened.
 * Lighting and shading have been changed, with sharper shadows, in addition to clearer water.
 * Locking onto an object adds a blue overlay, similar to prerelease versions of Pikmin 3.
 * Locking on to objects no longer shows the name of what is locked onto, likely in favor of using the Piklopedia. This leaves several objects unnamed in game, such as Spotcaps, Bloominous Stemples, and Candypop Buds.
 * The camera is generally further away from the active leader, showing more of the environment.
 * When going through a room transition (such as between the outside area and a cave), the camera will generally be static, rather than initially being in front of the leaders and quickly moving behind them.
 * The Puffy Blowhog's wind particles are much more dense.
 * Different gates in an area have different designs, so players can distinguish between them. There are 8 designs for dirt walls, 4 designs for electric gates, 3 designs for crystal walls, and 3 designs for reinforced walls.
 * Several more features make the controller rumble, and do so using the HD Rumble capabilities.
 * Text in dialog boxes in cutscenes is aligned to the center of the box instead of the left.
 * The font for numbers in the Onion menu is not monospaced, so as the numbers change, they jitter left and right.
 * In addition to loading times being reduced, the loading screen now displays the current objective (such as "Where's Brittany?") in the center of the screen instead of the area name, unless the objective doesn't relate to the area. The saved game selection menu displays the current objective as well.

Audio

 * There is new music:
 * A theme for after hours in Mission Mode.
 * A theme for the Side Stories selection screen.
 * A theme for the video logs in Olimar's Assignment.
 * A theme for days 1-2 in Olimar's Assignment.
 * A theme for days 3-4 in Olimar's Assignment.
 * A theme for days 1-3 in Olimar's Comeback.
 * A theme for days 4-6 in Olimar's Comeback.
 * A theme for days 7-8 in Olimar's Comeback.
 * A theme for days 9-10 in Olimar's Comeback.
 * A cue for miniboss battles in both Olimar's Assignment and Olimar's Comeback.
 * A theme for the two bosses in day 10 of Olimar's Comeback.
 * Pikmin voices no longer echo in Bingo Battle.
 * Louie's whistle now resembles its sound from, instead of reusing the same sound that all other leaders use.
 * In addition, his name call is no longer reused from Pikmin 2, but is instead a more generic grunt that vaguely resembles his name.
 * The cave that houses the Rock Onion in Garden of Hope has improved audio reverb.

Other

 * All of the downloadable content from is included within the base game, though there are not obtained from the start, and now boast unlock requirements.
 * The way Rock Pikmin and White Pikmin deal damage has changed.
 * The damage numbers caused by White Pikmin being ingested has increased.
 * The damage numbers caused by bomb rocks has changed.
 * Leaders are slightly smaller in size when compared to the Wii U version.
 * When a leader collects a data file, they almost never jump and spin before reading the data file.
 * When an inactive leader plucks Pikmin by their own accord, they will now do so at the same speed as active leaders, instead of using the long animation for every single pluck.
 * Alph now has 2 more pieces of monologue if the player opens the talk function on day 2:
 * Go Here! can now be used right after Brittany is freed, meaning the data file for it is not needed.
 * Some names that were different in American English and British English have been standardized, such as Mysterious Life-Form (Mysterious Life Form in the British English version of Pikmin 3), S.S. Drake (SS Drake in the British English version of Pikmin 3), and cosmic-drive key (cosmic drive key in the British English version of Pikmin 3).
 * In the US version of Pikmin 3, the talk conversation on the day Alph and Brittany unlock the Distant Tundra has them discuss the data file they got, and one of the lines is said by Brittany but uses Alph's neutral icon in the message box. This error has been fixed in Pikmin 3 Deluxe, both in the US version, and in the European version, which is based on the US version's text.
 * Some glitches have been corrected, and others have been introduced. For details, please read the glitches article.
 * Additionally, there are more invisible walls in areas to stop sequence breaks.
 * The Secret Files from the Wii U version have been replaced with new data files, specifically a second volume of Olimar's Log. The cutscenes the secret files' codes unlock have been repurposed for the Olimar's Assignment Side Story, with Louie's Log being the only one not used.
 * Additionally, there are more invisible walls in areas to stop sequence breaks.
 * The Secret Files from the Wii U version have been replaced with new data files, specifically a second volume of Olimar's Log. The cutscenes the secret files' codes unlock have been repurposed for the Olimar's Assignment Side Story, with Louie's Log being the only one not used.

Removed content

 * The stylus mode has been removed.
 * Miiverse compatibility has been removed. This was done due to Miiverse shutting down prior to the game's launch, and not being available on the Nintendo Switch.
 * SpotPass support was removed, as the game now communicates with Nintendo Switch Online.

Other information

 * Game size: 6.5 GB.
 * Supported play modes: TV (1 or 2 players), tabletop (1 or 2 players), and handheld (1 player).
 * Supported controllers: two Joy-Cons, one sideways Joy-Con (only when playing in multiplayer), and Nintendo Switch Pro Controller.
 * Supports cloud save data.
 * A Nintendo Switch Online subscription is necessary in order to submit high scores in Story Mode, Mission Mode, and the Side Stories.

Demo
On 8, a demo for the game was released. In it, players can play part of Story Mode, as well the Collect treasure! version of Tropical Forest. Either mode can be played with one or two players, and badges can be unlocked like normal. When the player reaches the limit of the current game mode, they are shown a notification telling them of the end of the demo, and then taken to a screen advertising the final game, with a button to return to the title screen, and another to access the eShop. This happens when any of the following happens:
 * The Armored Mawdad is defeated and the day ends.
 * The player attempts to enter the area on the day after the Armored Mawdad's defeat.
 * The player attempts to enter the area on day 6.
 * The player leaves the mission from the pause menu.
 * The mission is finished and the results screen is closed.

The title screen naturally includes the word "Demo" under the logo, and has an extra button, "Nintendo eShop", that when pressed, prompts the player to open the eShop's page for Pikmin 3 Deluxe, or to cancel. The button for Story Mode has a small "Recommended" banner next to it. The Side Stories and Bingo Battle buttons exist, but choosing them will simply inform the player of their availability in the full version. Likewise, the Battle enemies! and Defeat bosses! options exist in the Mission Mode menu, but are equally inaccessible.

Any progress made in the demo can carry over to the final game. Defeating the Armored Mawdad in this demo gives the player some bonuses: missions 6 through 10 of both Collect Treasure! and Battle Enemies!, as well as the ultra-spicy difficulty will be unlocked right away.

Some glitches can be performed exclusively in this demo:
 * It is possible to go out of bounds in Charlie's tutorial, either in the demo or in the final game. However, in the demo, the player can use this to explore areas and features that were not intended to be reached in the demo, including killing the Vehemoth Phosbat, and getting its Piklopedia entry. By manipulating the game's feature unlocking system, it is even possible to access the Tropical Wilds.
 * It is possible for the cursor to become stuck.

History
Pikmin 3 Deluxe was first announced in a tweet by Nintendo of America on 5. The announcement came with a promotional trailer, and a relaunch of the official website with limited information. The Japanese announcement came in the form of a news article on the Nintendo website. The game was also listed on the Nintendo eShop on this date, and could be pre-ordered.

On the day of the announcement, the product page in Nintendo of America's website listed that the supported features were save data cloud and online play, in that order. Throughout the following days, this listing would get changed periodically. Around 9, the order was reversed, and around 14, online play was removed. On 19, it was noticed that the online play blurb had returned, but on 22, it was nowhere to be seen again. Afterwards, on the 27th or 28th of October, the blurb had returned once more.

On 28, the official Japanese website was launched, with subpages on backstory, basic gameplay, Pikmin types, combat, and structure. These pages had several images and short videos that showed some changed mechanics. The new website also came with a trailer, which showcased the different types of Pikmin and their abilities. The website at this point had 3 header and footer links with a 'coming soon' message, with titles that implied that they were about the new difficulty modes, the Side Stories and Piklopedia, and the additional game modes of Mission Mode and Bingo Battle.

Throughout September, nothing was announced directly about the game, but Nintendo's European Twitter accounts continued to promote the game with images and short videos. The only new thing presented by these videos was a piece of music. The previously Japanese-only trailer was released in English on 2.

On 6, the official English website was updated with new pages on story and gameplay. A Nintendo Treehouse event featuring Pikmin 3 Deluxe and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity was announced at the same time. The event, which happened the next day, featured 2 presenters playing through day 2 of Story Mode in the Garden of Hope, part of the Tundra stage of Olimar's Assignment (the first gameplay shown of the Side Stories), and a game of Bingo Battle. Also revealed were the difficulty modes, how 2-player gameplay worked, the pause menu and control options, and various other differences. A demo of the game was announced at the end of the presentation, and was released about 7 hours later.

Following this, the game began to be more heavily promoted. A trailer for the demo was released on 8, and a gameplay demo of a Side Story level was released the next day. The Japanese website was also updated on 8 with its remaining 3 pages about difficulty options, the content new to Pikmin 3 Deluxe, and the alternative game modes. 4 television commercials in Japanese were produced, and these were released on YouTube on 11.

The game was released worldwide on 30. It released at different times of day in different regions. It received positive reviews from reviewers, getting a score of 85 on the review aggregator site Metacritic. It was praised for its controls, multiplayer, and additional content, but criticized for its easy difficulty and overall similarity to the Wii U version. The game sold just over 2 million copies in its first 5 months after release, making it the best-selling Pikmin game.

On 24, the game received a small update, which fixed 2 bugs which involved fruits and badges being listed as not collected. This update also applied to the demo.

On 21, an update coinciding with the release of the Nintendo Switch ports of Pikmin and Pikmin 2 changed the home screen icon to one with a new version of the game's logo, to reflect the modern logo used since 's promotional trailers. The demo has also received this change.

Trivia

 * Pikmin 3 Deluxe is the first Pikmin game to be available in Chinese.
 * Pikmin 3 Deluxe is the first Pikmin game to release simultaneously worldwide.
 * Pikmin 3 Deluxe has exactly 50 badges and 50 hints.

Names in other languages
Pikmin 3 Deluxe Demo