PNF-404: Difference between revisions

In the [[Pikmin (game)|first ''Pikmin'' game]], Olimar crash lands on this uncharted planet during his vacation after his ship is struck by an asteroid. Due to the planet's atmosphere being filled with a dangerously high concentration of oxygen, he must escape the planet before his life support system fails.

In ''Pikmin 3'', the inhabitants of [[Koppai]] discover the planet in an attempt to find food on other planets and name it PNF-404. They send [[Alph]], [[Brittany]], and [[Captain Charlie]] to the planet to bring back food, in order to save their planet from starvation. They also crashed landed onto the planet.

In ''Pikmin 4'', Olimar crashes onto the planet again, as does the [[Rescue Corps]] when they respond to his distress call. Several other castaways are also present on the planet, having arrived there for their own reasons before they crashed as well.  

The sheer number of crashes occuring on the planet, combined with characters mentioning that they felt something forcibly drawing their spaceships to the world, makes it possible that the planet or something on it is able to pull ships towards it and make them malfunction. The nature and indeed the existence of this force is unknown, but the likelihood of several crashes in short succession of one another by unrelated individuals (as seen in ''Pikmin 4'') is too small to ascribe it to coincidence.  

Although ambiguous, PNF-404 is at least very Earth-like, with similar geography and traits. Whether PNF-404 is actually our Earth or an alternate version is yet to be revealed in the games or by [[Shigeru Miyamoto]], the game's creator. Either way, it is doubtful that the similarities are coincidental.

There are many strange [[enemy|creature]]s seen on the planet throughout the games, most of them being hostile. Perhaps this is an entirely new age where humans have died out and many other creatures have come to coexist. The [[Geiger Counter]] is constantly in action, implying that there is strong and constant radiation. That could explain why there are no humans anymore, and also why all creatures on PNF-404 look so different compared to how animals looked when humans were alive. In fact, many creatures resemble evolved or mutated versions of real-world animals, such as [[Wollywog]]s and [[Anode Beetle]]s, which resemble frogs and ladybugs, respectively.

''Pikmin 3'' seems to retcon that in favor of an entirely new look, with it being heavily based off the scientific hypotheses of how the Earth's surface would look like in two hundred fifty million years, known as {{w|Pangaea Proxima}}. Besides being wider, the only major difference is that a small peninsula attached to what would've been Asia in the theory was changed to the island with the [[Formidable Oak]]. Almost all of the game's levels are more composed of natural elements rather than man-made remnants, and the small amounts of evidence of humanity left are heavily deteriorated, more-so than in the earlier games, to justify that it has been millions of years after humanity. All of the fruits in the game are based on real fruit, however, many of them are found in places where they would not be able to grow, or with other fruit that they aren't grown near.

This is itself retconned in ''Pikmin 4'', with all areas (most notably the [[Hero's Hideaway]], which is inside of a house) showing clear signs of recent human activity. As the areas that are explored are too close to one another to get a good view of the planet's geography, it is unclear if it looks the same as it does in ''Pikmin 3''.

The name "PNF-404" fits the nomenclature used by NASA to identify less important planets. The letters and numbers that make up the name, however, have a special meaning: 404 is an {{w|List of HTTP status codes|HTTP status code}} that means "'''P'''age '''N'''ot '''F'''ound".