Pikmin 4

Pikmin 4
North American game cover.
Japanese name	ピクミン 4?
Console	Nintendo Switch
Developer	TBA
Publisher	Nintendo
Genre	TBA
Players	1-2 players
Release date
Japan	July 21st, 2023
North America	July 21st, 2023
Europe	July 21st, 2023
Australia	July 21st, 2023
South Korea	July 21st, 2023

This article or section is about an upcoming or recently released game. The content here is subject to change as more information is discovered. All information added here must be verifiable and not speculative.

Pikmin 4 is the upcoming fourth mainline installment in the Pikmin series, planned for release in July 21^st, 2023 for the Nintendo Switch. The game was officially announced on September 13^th, 2022, though its existence was hinted at several times prior to the official announcement.

Known information overview

Pikmin fighting a Bulborb.

Two trailers have been shown so far, both from Nintendo Direct presentations, one on September 13^th, 2022, and another on February 8^th, 2023. In the first trailer, Red Pikmin, Yellow Pikmin, and Blue Pikmin can be seen, along with Dwarf Bulborbs, Bulborbs, and a White Spectralids. The presentation also included a still screenshot in which a leader is seen, with unkempt red hair and a red spacesuit.

In the first shot, a garden-like area with bricks and tiles can be seen, and for the rest of the trailer, a park scene with various man-made objects such as a bench, and a malfunctioning pocket watch hanging from a nail are shown. The screenshot displayed after the trailer showcases more man-made objects, including a water tap and a stepladder.

The game's logo was also revealed. The word "Pikmin" uses regular text rather than being made of Pikmin flowers (like in the previous main series games), albeit with a single flower in the letter "P," but the number 4 is still entirely made of Pikmin flowers, this time with yellow petals.

Shigeru Miyamoto said after the trailer that the Nintendo Switch's controls have made controlling the game simpler, allowing the player to focus more on strategic planning (or "段取り^?" as the developers refer to it). He also said that players would be able to view the world from the Pikmin's perspective near the ground.

In the second trailer, the new leader was shown in greater depth, and Ice Pikmin were introduced. These Pikmin are be able to freeze water as well as enemies. It also revealed a new dog-like character named Oatchi, more new leaders, and several new and returning enemies. New enemies showcased included juvenile Burrowing Snagrets, a Blowhog-like creature, and something likely in the Arachnorb family. Although only Red Pikmin, Yellow Pikmin, Blue Pikmin, and the new Ice Pikmin were shown in the trailer itself, the trailer's thumbnail artwork includes all species of Pikmin except Bulbmin.

Gameplay

So far, the gameplay seems to be the same as in the previous main titles of the franchise, though with some subtle changes. The cursor looks less like something to point towards an exact spot with, and more like a simple indicator of the general direction the aim is. This can be in part due to the lower camera angle. On top of standard Pikmin management and ordering, the player also has Oatchi with them, which they can command in different ways than the Pikmin.

Content

Pikmin types

Pikmin 4 will include Red Pikmin, Yellow Pikmin, Blue Pikmin, White Pikmin, Purple Pikmin, Rock Pikmin, Winged Pikmin, and the new Ice Pikmin, though it is not known which types will feature in which game modes.

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  The Red Pikmin introduction cutscene.

Ice Pikmin

An Ice Pikmin.

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Ice Pikmin are a new type of Pikmin. They can be thrown into bodies of water to freeze them. This makes the thrown Pikmin stuck, but allows the player and their Pikmin to walk across the surface safely. They also have the ability to freeze enemies by filling up a meter around the enemy's health wheel via attacks or being consumed. Defeating a frozen enemy will make it drop nectar, similar to how ultra-bitter spray works.

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  Ice Pikmin fighting against a Bulborb.

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  A successfully frozen Bulborb.

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  Introduction cutscene.

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  Introduction cutscene in Japanese.

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  Ice Pikmin being thrown at a body of water to freeze it.

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  The same body of water in the process of freezing.

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  A leader and their Pikmin walking on top of the now-frozen water.

Areas

So far only one area has been shown, the garden-like area. Unlike the previous games, this area is very large. The following notable features can be seen:

• As part of the playable terrain:
  • A wooden park bench with metal legs and armrests, though the top of the armrests have a wood slab attached.
  • Various walls made of piled-up bricks.
  • Various colored planks of wood poking up from the ground, arranged together to form walls.
  • Blue fences.
  • A gray stepladder with a beige toolbox on top.
  • Vases with potted plants.
• As part of the background:
  • A large iron gate.
  • Surrounding the large gate are decorated stone walls with brick tops.
  • Stairs leading from the gate to the playable area.
  • A very large house, with a pink roof and a front porch awning.
  • Large car tires, in red, yellow, and blue colors.

Caves

Caves are shown to return in Pikmin 4. Their layout is simplistic, but it is not currently known if they are randomly generated like in Pikmin 2.

Treasures

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Treasures appear to be the main collectible item in Pikmin 4. Treasures have sparkle effects around them. Treasures seen in prerelease footage include a pair of binoculars, a strawberry, a pumpkin, a toy boat, a golden analog clock, and a pair of castanets.

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  Pikmin retrieving the binoculars.

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  Pikmin carrying the binoculars.

Characters

Various leaders discussing Oatchi. Shepherd and Collin are on the right hand side, ordered left to right.

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Pikmin 4 features several new characters. The two known names are Collin and Shepherd.

Unknown main leader

One leader can be seen in almost all footage, more than any other character. This leader has a full head of unkempt red hair, a yellow antenna light, as well as a full red spacesuit with white gloves and boots. They have pointy ears, hinting that they may be a Hocotatian.

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  Close-up of the character's back.

Collin

Collin has a square head with a pointy nose, large green eyes, and large rosy cheeks. Their mouth is similar to that of the President. They have close-cut gray hair with a spiraling tuft at the top. They have pointy ears, hinting that they may be a Hocotatian. Their name is a reference to Collies.

Shepherd

Shepherd has a pear-shaped head, long ears, dark skin, and blonde hair styled in a bun with a long curl at the front. They also wear a red bandana and have white grease paint under their eyes. They have pointy ears, hinting that they may be a Hocotatian. Their name alludes to shepherds.

Oatchi

Oatchi.

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Oatchi is a new dog-like character that assists the leaders. The leaders and their Pikmin are able to ride on Oatchi in order to traverse water safely, and it seems to have a charge ability that allows it to break things like jars. It also seems to have the ability to track the scents of important objects. It can also carry objects, where it has the strength of 10 Pikmin, similar to Purple Pikmin. The way it carries objects resembles a Breadbug. It may belong to the grub-dog family based on its characteristics.

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  The player and their group of Pikmin approaching a puddle, alongside Oatchi.

• Pikmin 4 riding oachie near pond.jpg

  The group jumping on Oatchi to get ready to board.

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  The group crossing the lake on Oatchi's back.

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  Another angle of the lake being crossed.

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  Oatchi sniffing the ground.

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  Oatchi thinking about a castaway.

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  Oatchi dragging a Bulborb corpse.

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  Oatchi charging through some jars.

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  Some characters discussing Oatchi in the Japanese version.

Unknown castaway

In the 2023 trailer, Oatchi leads the player's group to an unconscious character that they then refer to as a "castaway". It is not possible to get a clear look at them, other than the fact their spacesuit is monochrome and their antenna light is cyan.

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  Approaching the unconscious castaway.

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  Close-up of the castaway.

Enemies

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Various new and returning enemies have been shown in trailers:

• Bulborb
• Dwarf Bulborb
• Empress Bulblax
• Bulborb Larva
• Fiery Blowhog
• Wogpole
• Yellow Wollywog
• White Spectralids
• Yellow Spectralids
• Joustmite
• Female Sheargrub

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  An Empress Bulblax rolling over some Pikmin. Bulborb Larvae can also be seen.

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  The Empress Bulblax under attack.

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  The Empress Bulblax seen from behind.

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  A Fiery Blowhog attacking Red Pikmin.

Unknown Snavian-like enemy

An unknown Snavian-like enemy resembling an infant Burrowing Snagret can be seen at one point in the 2023 trailer.

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  The creatures hopping around.

Unknown Arachnorb-like enemy

An unknown Arachnorb-like enemy with a head resembling a disco ball can be seen at one point in the 2023 trailer.

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  The creature stomping around.

Unknown Mockiwi-like enemy

An unknown Mockiwi-like enemy with a trumpet-shaped beak can be seen at one point in the 2023 trailer.

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  The creature looking around.

Obstacles

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Many obstacles and hazards return in this game, along with some new ones:

• Water
• Dirt wall
• Electric gate
• Paper bag

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  Pikmin taking down a dirt wall.

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  The dirt wall breaking.

Unknown root obstacle

Gigantic roots that can be pulled out of the way by Pikmin can be seen at one point in the 2023 trailer.

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  The lump of dirt being pulled.

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  The lump of dirt, now destroyed after being pulled.

Unknown climbable wall obstacle

Walls that can be made climbable through unknown means can be seen at one point in the 2023 trailer.

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  A wall before being made climbable.

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  An unnamed leader and their Pikmin climbing up the wall.

Unknown jar obstacle

Jars that can be smashed by having Oatchi charge at them can be seen at one point in the 2023 trailer. They seem to be made of ceramic, and have cracks on their sides, near the base.

Plants and fungi

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The areas seen in trailer footage appear to be filled with a high density of plants, most of which are decorative. Various sizes of Pellet Posies and a Burgeoning Spiderwort are present. Other recognizable plants include:

•  Figwort (blue)
•  Horsetail

Others

Some other content can be spotted from the footage. In addition, some of the established content in the franchise suffered changes in Pikmin 4.

• The main pod that items are retrieved to resembles a SPERO.
  • This pod has the ability to fly through space, and can warp through space.
• There is a massive ship in the landing site.
• Onions now look more bulbous.
• After the end of the main 2023 trailer footage, there is a teaser that takes place during the night. In it, an otherwise regular Bulborb's eyes suddenly become glowing red. Some colorful crystals resembling konpeitō can also be seen dotted around the place.
• Some cyan-colored pebbles can be found in piles, presumably related to the Ice Pikmin.

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  The landing site.

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  Close-up of the ship.

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  Close-up of the Master Onion with Red Pikmin, Yellow Pikmin, and Blue Pikmin inside.

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  The Master Onion's top, as seen when it is flying away.

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  Plucking a Red Pikmin near the Red Onion.

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  Close-up of the Red Onion.

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  A regular Bulborb at night, before its eyes turn red. The crystals can be seen to its left.

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  The same Bulborb, but with its eyes now glowing red.

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  Close-up of the red-eyed Bulborb.

Other information

• Game size: 12 GB.
• Supported play modes: TV, tabletop, and handheld.
• Supported controllers: currently unknown.
• Supported languages: Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese..

History

Pre-announcement

Before Pikmin 4's official announcement in 2022, various pieces of information about the game were shared by Pikmin series creator Shigeru Miyamoto. This information was sparse and sometimes contradictory, and the lack of official statements by Nintendo made it difficult to work out what was actually happening with Pikmin 4. It is possible that some of these statements were referring to Hey! Pikmin.

The first of these mentions was on November 6^th, 2014, when Miyamoto was being interviewed on the recently-released Pikmin Short Movies, during which he said “Continually launching campaigns after the release of software will lay the groundwork for the next iteration of "Pikmin" in the future. And needless to say, we want it to be one of the motivations for potential consumers to purchase Wii U. We are making a variety of different efforts.”, indicating the possibility of another Pikmin game on the Wii U. Not long after, Miyamoto also mentioned wanting to make more Pikmin games in an interview with Smosh Games.

On September 7^th, 2015, Eurogamer unveiled that, in an exclusive interview, Miyamoto had confirmed the development of Pikmin 4, and claimed that “it's actually very close to completion. Pikmin teams are always working on the next one.” In the same article, Eurogamer also revealed a separate statement from a Nintendo representative, which said “We can confirm that Pikmin 4 is in development but that is all we can confirm at present.” It is not known if the "Pikmin 4" mentioned in that quote is the actual name for the game that Nintendo used, whether it's a placeholder name or not, or if it's just the result of the quote's English translation.

In interviews in 2015 and 2016, Miyamoto mentioned wanting to make more Pikmin and Star Fox games. When asked about characters he wanted to develop further at an Apple Store event, he said “Yeah, I always wanted Fox McCloud to be a bit more popular than he is. But I think one more would be Pikmin. So I think these two, I'll need to put some more energy into.”

On July 7^th, 2016, Gamerant interviewed Miyamoto and asked him about the status of the game's development and why there hadn't been any news in the past few months. To this, he replied “Yes, you are right, and we’re working on [Pikmin 4]. So, you know, when we’re in development we have to create a list of priorities and it has been hard to kind of fit that into that list, but we’re hopefully starting to see that on the list now.”

A second Eurogamer interview with Miyamoto about Pikmin 4 was conducted at E3 2017, during which he stated “I've been told not to share anything about this from PR, but I can tell you it is progressing.” This was the last time Pikmin 4 was mentioned before its official announcement.

Pre-release

Pikmin 4 was officially announced in a Nintendo Direct presentation on September 13^th, 2022. This announcement was in a section presented by Shigeru Miyamoto, which also promoted Pikmin Bloom and the upcoming Mario movie. A short trailer was shown, featuring a few scenes in a garden-like area and announcing a release window of 2023. Miyamoto provided some more basic details of the game after the trailer, and also showed off a new Pikmin T-shirt design based on the game's logo, which was made available to buy shortly afterwards.

On February 8^th, 2023, a Nintendo Direct presentation announced the release date for the game and a new trailer, which provided a lot of information regarding the game, including new enemies, Pikmin, and other characters. The trailer comprises of several short gameplay snippets of a group of four new characters (including the unidentified leader in the screenshot released with the reveal trailer) exploring (presumably) PNF-404. The trailer showcases some new and returning enemies and environmental obstacles, and seemingly the return of the caves mechanic from Pikmin 2. A new type of Pikmin was revealed, Ice Pikmin, demonstrating the ability to freeze enemies when eaten and a small body of water when enough are thrown into it. The trailer also reveals Oatchi, a dog-like creature shown assisting the group in a variety of ways, including finding others referred to as "castaways", breaking down certain obstacles, dragging a Bulborb corpse, and swimming a leader with a group of Pikmin across water. Collecting treasure also returns as a gameplay element, though the treasures' purpose in this game was not revealed. The trailer ends with a suspenseful nighttime scene of an idle Bulborb suddenly taking on glowing red eyes and walking away as if possessed, hinting at a strange occurrence on the planet.

Gallery

• Pikmin4 Direct Logo.png

  Pikmin 4's logo.

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  The first shot from the announcement trailer.

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  The second shot.

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  The third shot.

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  The third shot with the logo.

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  The logo before the 4 turns gold.

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  Key art.

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  Japanese key art.

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  Vertical arrangement of the key art.

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  Square arrangement of the key art.

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  Overview of the main park area.

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  Intro cutscene.

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  Intro cutscene.

Videos

• Announcement trailer
• September 13, 2022 Nintendo Direct (Contains one screenshot not present in the announcement trailer at 30:40.)
• February 8, 2023 Nintendo Direct

Names in other languages

Pikmin 4

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ピクミン４? Pikumin 4	Pikmin 4
Dutch	Pikmin 4	-
French	Pikmin 4	-
German	Pikmin 4	-
Italian	Pikmin 4	-
Korean	피크민 4 Pikeumin 4	Pikmin 4
Portuguese	Pikmin 4	-
Spanish	Pikmin 4	-

Ice Pikmin

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	氷ピクミン? Kōri Pikumin	Ice Pikmin

Collin

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	コリー? Corī	Collie

Shepherd

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	シェパード? Shepādo	Shepherd

Oatchi

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	オッチン? Otchin

See also

• Pikmin 3
• Hey! Pikmin