Pikmin prerelease information

Some information about prerelease content in Pikmin exists, in the form of trailers and gameplay footage. This content differs from what can be found in the final game. The videos, screenshots, etc. shown here are about development versions, and although their exact labels are not known, fans commonly call them "beta", "alpha", "pre-alpha", or "prerelease" versions.

Some unused content also exists inside the final version, that hints at what sort of content was meant to appear in the final version, but that information is listed on the unused content page instead.

Trailers
The game's trailers showed footage that contained some changes from Pikmin's final version. These following 3 trailers are presumably ordered chronologically.

Trailer 1
The first trailer shows a lot of differences from the final version of the game. These changes can also be seen on screenshots showcased in Nintendo Power #145.


 * View trailer
 * Alternative footage with higher quality, but no Beady Long Legs cliffhanger at the end
 * Alternative footage from the E3 2001 Tech Demo Show Off, with the extra gameplay split into four

The following is different from the final version:
 * Gameplay happens in several areas that are not present in the final game, or are unused in the final, like tuto2 and map_06 in the final. What appears to be three deleted areas are shown; one area is cave-like and has a large ramp with a drop-off to the left, one area is plain and has many plants and Dwarf Bulborbs, and the final area shown is dark and plateau-like, and has a giant flat stump where a Beady Long Legs is seen.
 * There are several aesthetic changes. Notably, tuto2 looks more rocky and foggier.
 * There is opaque water with a different texture in clips of map_06. This water is not present in the unused model of map_06 in the final game.
 * The current day is shown below the sunlight meter.
 * Olimar jumps around when walking.
 * Onions stretch upwards a lot when sucking in something.
 * The Red Onion and Yellow Onion are set in a straight line, not in a triangle formation.
 * The Blue Onion, for some reason, is isolated from the other two Onions in every area.
 * A Burrowing Snagret can be seen, but its color is a lot more pale.
 * The Pikmin move considerably slower.
 * Apparently, controlling the Pikmin emits some particles from Olimar's helmet light.
 * Olimar can pluck Pikmin with his whistle in the same way the Pluckaphone is used in Pikmin 2.
 * Pikmin make squeals similar to those of pigs when thrown.
 * Pikmin can be seen carrying a strawberry, rumored to be the Sunseed Berry from Pikmin 2 and Pikmin 3.
 * More than 100 Pikmin can be on the area at a time.
 * Idle Pikmin all change to white.
 * Pikmin can be set on a straight line. They seem to be idle in this state, but they aren't pale or white. Additionally, they shake their leaves heavily.
 * A Yellow Wollyhop that is falling over after being defeated can be seen squishing Pikmin when collapsing. When this happens, the Pikmin counter vibrates a bit. It's either a glitch, or a notable way to tell Pikmin are dying.
 * Killed Yellow Wollyhops disappear and drop pellets.
 * Yellow Wollyhops look simpler and Dwarf Red Bulborbs have more spots.
 * Pellet Posies are taller, have (presumably harmless) spikes on the side, and their flowers are different.
 * Pellets have a much more concave surface that curves inwards on the top and bottom.
 * A 20-pellet can be seen producing 30 Pikmin.
 * A 40-pellet can be seen.
 * 1-pellets look much lighter.
 * Olimar's health meter is either not implemented correctly, or behaved quite differently in this version. At different times, the colored pie chart can be seen completely full, completely depleted (along with warning effects), or missing altogether.

At the end of the trailer there is an extra bit of gameplay split into four quadrants:
 * Top left panel: Olimar is moving through a plain with Pikmin, although most of the camera is obscured by vegetation. The camera then turns around to show a Dwarf Red Bulborb which promptly notices Olimar and walks towards him. The next clip is of a clip of Pikmin fighting the Beady Long Legs. Pikmin can be seen latched onto the legs of the Beady Long Legs as the clip ends.
 * Top right panel: Olimar throws Pikmin at two strawberries in the west arena of map_06. The next clip is of Olimar moving around an ordered array of idle Pikmin.
 * Bottom left panel: Olimar can be seen whistling Pikmin in a dark area. The next clip is of Olimar moving with a squad of Pikmin, then moving off a cliff downwards. An activated Yellow Onion can be seen nearby, on the cliff.
 * Bottom right panel: Blue Pikmin knocking down a white bramble wall. The next clip shows Olimar moving through an area with the camera close to him, with a small army of Pikmin. The next clip shows the camera changing to face two Dwarf Red Bulborbs.

Trailer 2
A second trailer has eventually been released. It shows a lot less changes from the final version, but it still has some.


 * View trailer
 * Alternative footage, with crisper sound but worse video
 * Alternative footage, without music

The following changes from the final version can be spotted:
 * Minor aesthetic differences.
 * The HUD is the same as the final version's, but the day counter is at the bottom right corner of the screen, and the Pikmin-type counter is missing. Red Pikmin are also shown as Blue Pikmin.
 * Bridges aren't complete yet; they are blue with a weird glassy texture. The opposite end where the bridges end is some sort of white platform.
 * Some blue nectar can be seen.
 * Pikmin can be seen taking down a stone gate, something that can only be destroyed with bomb-rocks in the final game.
 * In the same clip, a ship part that appears to be an early version of the Anti-Dioxin Filter can be seen, on the stump closest to the stone gate.
 * The Puffy Blowhog's attack throws Pikmin and Olimar a lot higher and farther.
 * Some areas look the same as in the final game, but others seem to be entirely different. The enemy and object placement in the final areas is also different.
 * The Puffstool can be seen on The Forest of Hope.
 * There is an unknown bell-shaped object at The Distant Spring, that doesn't appear anywhere in the final game (at 0:41 in the video, near the top left corner).
 * On one of the videos, an early version of The Impact Site's theme at sunset is played, in which the starts out solo.
 * A lot of sound effects are missing.
 * After a Pikmin is plucked, a throwing sound effect plays instead of the Pikmin making a sound.
 * Pikmin that land after being thrown make their dismiss sound.
 * Footstep sounds have a higher interval between them.
 * At times, a wobbly sound can be heard when controlling a group of Pikmin.
 * Metallic banging sounds can be heard when knocking on stone gates and bridges; both sounds are different.
 * The Yellow Wollyhop's jump has a more cartoony sound effect.

Trailer 3
A third trailer has also been released. It is present as a bonus option in Luigi's Mansion, and a Japanese version can be found in the Pikmin Jitsuen-You Demo Disc. The game in this state looks quite close to the final version.


 * Alternative link
 * Japanese version

The following differences from the final version can be seen:
 * The Extraordinary Bolt replaces the location of the Whimsical Radar.
 * The stone gate by the Extraordinary Bolt is instead a black bramble gate.
 * The white bramble gate and one-way cliff connecting the water area and the landing area in The Impact Site seem to be absent.
 * The white stone gate by the landing site in The Forest of Hope is now a black stone gate.
 * The one-way access by the stone gate is not there.
 * All types of Pikmin seem to be breaking down the second bramble gate in The Forest of Hope before the Yellow Onion is even unlocked.
 * The S.S. Dolphin when it is crashed is noticeably more empty.
 * Minor aesthetic differences.
 * The day counter is in the bottom-right corner. It's now a circle instead of an oval.
 * When Pikmin are plucked, they become pale.
 * When a Puffy Blowhog attacks, it send the Pikmin and Olimar much higher and farther.
 * Pikmin can be seen climbing a really long vertical pole on The Distant Spring.
 * An unbuilt bridge can be seen right in front of the cliff leading to the Armored Cannon Beetle in The Forest of Hope.
 * An Ionium Jet, probably the #2 Ionium Jet seems to be near the Yellow Wollyhops in the lake part of The Distant Spring. As it is unlikely that the Pikmin would pass by there, this hints towards a different ship part location.

E3 2001 Tech Demo Show Off
Some gameplay could be seen at the E3 2001 Tech Demo Show Off, with Shigeru Miyamoto playing the game, while a translator translates his speech live. The gameplay appears to initially take place in map_06, then later tuto2, starting from the larger area and finally what is presumably E3play_3, starting from the high ground.


 * View video
 * Alternative footage

The following can be noted in the gameplay footage that comes after the trailer:
 * The pause menu is consisted of a rough rectangle, made out of four constantly-moving cyan rectangles. The options "continue" and "exit" exist, in lowercase, and with a more lively font than normal.
 * The Sun Meter lacks the three larger circles, and has 16 dots instead of 13.
 * The HUD is the same as the one on the 2nd trailer, with the day counter at the bottom-right corner, and only a party-Pikmin and total-Pikmin counter.
 * Climbing sticks are larger and thicker, and look more like dried pieces of curled wood.
 * and are reversed in this build –  throws and  whistles.
 * Pellets look a bit more rounded on the sides, but have blunter rims at the top.
 * Pikmin carry items a bit slower. In addition, they grab onto the item in the location they land at, instead of spreading around evenly. Finally, the fraction numbers do not exist.
 * Pikmin can be plucked by being whistled at, something only possible in a finished game in Pikmin 2, with the Pluckaphone.
 * The yellow nucleus on the flowers atop the Pikmin's heads is a lot darker in this build.
 * The camera tries to focus on the center-point between Olimar and the group of Pikmin he's commanding. This does not happen in the final game, where the camera is always locked on Olimar, but something similar happens in Pikmin 2, albeit to a less extreme degree.
 * On the Onion menu, the plural of "Pikmin" is "pikmins". Not only is it in lowercase, but it also has an "s" at the end. Both of these elements are incorrect, as the correct canonical way of typing the plural is "Pikmin", the same as singular.
 * Spotty Bulborbs are a bit weaker than they are in the final game.
 * Souls also leave some white particles, like dust.
 * When enemies die, some bland firework-like particles come out, and a huge donut-shaped cloud of dust appears.

Japanese Pikmin website gameplay
This video is from the Japanese Pikmin website and could be downloaded in two formats: one for a higher quality version of the video and a lower quality version.


 * View video

The following differences can be noted:
 * An early HUD seen in some gameplay videos, trailers, and screenshots is used.
 * This video was taken at the same time that the enemy reel was created, considering the location of the Spotty Bulborbs and the Lapis Lazuli Candypop Bud, as well as the slightly different terrain in The Distant Spring.
 * It is always day 4 in almost all clips, except for the last clip, where it is instead day 7.
 * The Gravity Jumper is present instead of the Eternal Fuel Dynamo.
 * Like in the third trailer, Yellow Pikmin and Blue Pikmin are unlocked before the second bramble gate is even broken down.
 * The Spotty Bulborb emits two souls after dying, presumably due to a glitch.
 * There are Yellow Wollyhops in The Forest Navel.
 * Pikmin sometimes shake violently while carrying an object, presumably a glitch. The camera seems to zoom in to take note of this.
 * Some drowning Red Pikmin jump out of the water on their own, after a long delay.
 * The camera's closest level of zoom is very close, and lower down than in the final game.

IGN Pikmin GameCube gameplay video
This forty second video posted by IGN does not show much, but differences are present.


 * View video

The following differences can be noted:
 * It is day 1 in both clips of both areas, which indicates that the gameplay might be in a debug mode.
 * tuto2 is shown to be an actual area in the game (or at least a Challenge Mode area, which would indicate the Challenge Mode banner is not present yet) and is the first area shown.
 * In the clip depicting tuto2, Pikmin are thrown at a red 20 pellet but then do nothing, which presumably means the carrying engine is unfinished.
 * E3play_3 is shown again, but the landing site is instead in the Armored Cannon Beetle arena.
 * Two already built climbing sticks are present to the left of the Red Onion and appear to serve no purpose.

Enemy reel
The pre-rendered clips on the enemy reel show some enemies in places where they can't be found in the final game, as well as areas that look a bit different. The enemy reel was probably recorded before some of the levels' layouts changed.

Other info

 * On the page of the manual that describes how Onions and pellets work, there is a picture showing three Pikmin carrying a 1 pellet. This was likely a possibility during development.
 * In an interview between Nintendo staff members and Nintendo Player's Guide, it was revealed that one enemy was originally meant to carry a Pikmin's leg in the corner of its mouth. This was removed for being deemed too frightening.