User:Soprano/A Pikmin 4 Prediction
Before a game is released, video game companies usually publish various prerelease information about the game. This prerelease information is designed to get people excited about the game, and to do this it needs to show various aspects of the game without showing too much. People like to make predictions on what the full game will be like based on the prerelease information, but the fact that the information is deliberately incomplete means that it's never possible to make a fully accurate prediction. In particular, it's easy to assume that the information that has been shown is a key part of the game, when there's often crucial context or extra mechanics that haven't been shown, and this can often be more important than what has been shown so far. Despite these challenges in making predictions, people do it anyway, and it can be interesting to compare predictions of a game to the final product.
At the time of writing this in April 2023, 2 trailers for Pikmin 4 have been published: one in September 2022 and one in February 2023. These trailers show a lot, especially the second one, but there's a lot they don't show. Based on the information in these trailers, I will present a prediction for what Pikmin 4 will be like, based on trailer analysis and speculation done by myself and many other people. I do not expect this prediction to be accurate, and am writing it down so that when the next trailer is published and later when the game is released, it can be compared with the new information or final product to see how incomplete information about a game can be extrapolated.
This page will follow the standard structure of game articles on Pikipedia. However, it will be in future tense instead of present tense, and will explain the reasoning for predicting certain things by referencing scenes in the trailer or other published information.
Plot
Some time after the events of Pikmin 3, Hocotate Freight launches another mission to PNF-404 to search the planet for more treasure. They send a crew of 8 Hocotatian explorers in a Hocotate Transportation Company Universal General Navigator (HTCUGN), along with a dog called Oatchi. However, as the ship approaches the planet, they experience a strange pull from the planet in addition to the expected gravitational pull. This causes the ship to lose control, and they initiate the emergency evacuation procedure, ejecting each explorer from the ship in a different direction. The HTCUGN makes a rough automated emergency landing with Oatchi still inside, and while the ship survives, it's badly damaged. Back on Hocotate, Hocotate Freight receives the news and has no choice but to send a new recruit, Anita, to the planet in a small Hocotate Transportation Company Unit (HTCU) to rescue the castaway explorers, collect treasure, and investigate the source of the mysterious force. Anita arrives on the planet safely in the same area as the crashed ship and Oatchi, where the tutorial takes place, and then visits the other areas to rescue the other explorers one-by-one while also collecting treasure.
This prediction is based on a variety of sources. Pikmin 3's best ending cutscene states at the end of the narration that the accident that sent the S.S. Drake hurtling towards PNF-404's surface may not have been an accident at all, and Alph mentions in a check-in conversation that it felt as if some power from the planet's surface was manipulating the ship, which implies that there's something strange about PNF-404, and the fact that this is the closest thing Pikmin 3 has to a cliffhanger means that it's very likely Pikmin 4 was planned to resolve this. The February Pikmin 4 trailer starts with a small pod labeled with 
flying towards the planet, and later we see it fly towards what looks like a tutorial area, and the scene introducing Oatchi appears to take place in the same area, as do the scenes featuring the large ship labeled with 
. An unidentified character referred to as a castaway appears in a cave, and my theory is that the castaways are the crew of the large ship. The number 8 is arbitrary and was just chosen so that there could be a symmetrical group of 9 characters with the main one in the center. I have decided not to make any predictions about how the story will end, as there's basically no information to work with.
Gameplay
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Content
Pikmin types
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Areas
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Caves
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Collectibles
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Characters
Pikmin 4 will feature 9 Hocotatian characters, plus a dog called Oatchi. The February trailer only shows 4 characters, but I think there are more that have not been shown. Each time a castaway is rescued, their identity will be revealed and they will join the team at the HTCUGN. Only one of the leaders will be playable, and I think this is the case because the characters all wear the same color of spacesuit and we only ever see one character being played as in the February trailer. Each character has a name based on a dog breed. The characters are, in order of when they are unlocked:
- Anita: The main character and only playable leader. Has dark red hair. (Name is speculative)
- Shepherd: Oatchi's trainer. Wears a bandana and has yellow hair. (Name confirmed in trailer)
- Collin: Manages the finances of the mission. Has grey hair. (Name confirmed in trailer)
- Beagle: The crew's biologist. Wears glasses and is bald. (Name is speculative)
- 5 additional characters that have not been shown yet, though one can be seen in the scene showing the castaway.
Oatchi is a dog that assists the crew. He is a companion character that works with Anita to collect treasure, navigate the areas, and search for castaways.
Controls
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Alternative game modes
Mission Mode
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Night Mode
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