Saved game selection menu

The saved game selection menu, also known as a file select, allows the player to select which saved game to play on. There are three saved games, and each one can store info on a session, like the current game day, the collected ship parts or treasures, etc. Upon selecting a saved game, the player will continue from where they left off in the respective slot. This means that they are taken to the area selection menu in order to start a new day, unless they quit after entering a cave's sublevel are or emerging from one. When the player chooses an empty saved game, they start the story mode from beginning.

Pikmin
can have up to 3 saved games, and they are represented as 3 bubbles, numbered 1 to 3 from left to right. Each saved game is referred to as a "Ship's Log", and the title of the menu is "Choose a Data File". Each bubble has the day number of the respective saved game inside, just like the day counter on the in-game HUD. Highlighting a bubble displays additional information about the saved game on the bottom of the screen. The number of ship parts collected and the number of Pikmin in each type of Onion is displayed. The player can press to copy the currently highlighted saved game onto another one, or  to erase it.

New Play Control! Pikmin / Pikmin 1 (Nintendo Switch)
The saved game selection menu in adds in functionality similar to 's day selection menu to the existing menu design, allowing the player to press  and  to change the day they will play on. This allows them to retry from a specific day, provided the highlighted saved game is in day 2 or beyond. This change remains intact in the Nintendo Switch port.

Pikmin 2
can have up to 3 saved games, and the menu used to select them is very similar to the one in Pikmin. Each saved game is referred to as a "file", and the title of the menu is "Choose a Ship's Log". Each saved game bubble has the day number of the respective saved game inside, just like the day counter on the in-game HUD. Highlighting a bubble displays additional information about the saved game on the bottom of the screen. The total number of pokos collected, the number of treasures collected, and the play time in hours and minutes is displayed. If the highlighted saved game is in a cave at the time of the last save, the cave's name and current sublevel number will be displayed. The player can press to copy the currently highlighted saved game onto another one, or  to erase it.

Orb color
Each bubble in Pikmin 2 has some colored mist inside. The color reflects the amount of Pikmin the player has. The color is based on the Pikmin types with the highest count, though Yellow Pikmin control the green component of the color. This means a fully balanced team makes for a white mist. The color also becomes lighter or darker depending on how many more White Pikmin or Purple Pikmin the player has compared to the other types, though this lightness only seems to affect the pulsating ring around the currently highlighted orb.

The color calculation is as follows : first, the game gets the Pikmin counts for each type. If the saved game is at the start of a new day, this refers to Pikmin in the Onions or ship (buried Pikmin are ignored), but if it is inside a cave, it refers to the Pikmin trekking the cave. Afterwards, it checks which of the three primary Pikmin types has the highest count. It then uses the amount of Red Pikmin to control the color's red component; the closer the Red Pikmin count is to that highest count, the higher the red component, up to 190. Yellow Pikmin do the same, but affect the green component, and Blue Pikmin control the blue component. If the player has no Pikmin of the primary types, the components all default to 190.

Finally, the game adds an extra value (positive or negative) to the three color components. If the player has more White Pikmin than Purple Pikmin, this extra value is positive, and if the opposite, it's negative. The value partially depends on the distance between these two Pikmin type counts. The closer the number of White Pikmin is to the total of Pikmin the player owns, the higher the extra value, up to 60. Likewise, the closer the number of Purple Pikmin is to the Pikmin total, the lower, to a minimum of -60.

Each orb also has its mist spin at different speeds – the first saved game's mist always spins the fastest and the second always spins the slowest.

Pikmin 3 Deluxe
While has no saved game selection menu due to having only 1 saved game per Wii U account, its re-release  does. The 3 saved games are represented by 3 wide blue boxes arranged vertically. Each box contains information about the saved game, and no additional information is shown upon highlighting a box. The current day is shown on the left side of each box. Along the top of each box is the difficulty of the saved game and the date and time it was last saved. At the bottom of each box is yellow text showing the current Story Mode objective. can be pressed to change the difficulty of the currently selected saved game, can be pressed to erase it,  can be used to copy it, and  can be pressed to select it, opening the day selection menu.

Hey! Pikmin
can have up to 3 saved games, represented by the letters A, B, and C. The menu displays the 3 saved games as rounded boxes, with the letter on the left in a circle (colored red for A, yellow for B, and blue for C), and the highest-numbered area and total Sparklium count filling up the rest of the box (colored based on the color of the most recent sector on the sector selection menu). If every area has been completed with no Pikmin deaths, a gold Pikmin icon will appear to the right of the letter. Empty saved games have the text "New Game" instead. On the left side are 3 buttons, which switch between different functions of the menu. When "Play" is selected (which it is by default), tapping a saved game boxes will open the sector selection menu for that saved game. When "Copy" is selected, tapping a saved game will prompt the player to select another saved game spot to copy that saved game to, and selecting another spot will prompt the player to confirm their choice; doing so will copy the saved game. When "Delete" is selected, tapping a saved game will prompt the player to confirm that they are sure about deleting the saved game; selecting "Yes" will delete the saved game.

Pikmin 4
can keep 3 saved games which are indicated by the player character's ID badge face. The information of the saved game is indicated on the right of the screen, which tells the player their Pikmin amount and the location from the last save. can be pressed to erase a save file, can be used to copy one, and  can be pressed to select it, which will go to the location indicated on the right of the screen.