Last year we looked at the dormant Nintendo franchises we'd like to see return on Switch, and our desire to see any or all of those series again still burns strong in 2020. With Nintendo's biggest money-spinners having received a Switch entry already, it's now time to bring back some of the company's cult-classic IPs for a well-deserved encore.
However, there was one game we didn't even mention on that list, the main reason being that we've 'recently' had a Wii U entry as well as a 3DS spin-off, so the franchise couldn't really be described as 'dormant'. Still, after several years of vague statements (and very explicit statements) regarding its existence, Pikmin 4 still hasn't landed on a Nintendo console. In fact, it seems to have disappeared entirely. Miyamoto did say it was nearly finished... or did we dream that?
Has Pikmin 4 simply gone into hibernation, waiting to blossom when the time is right while other games jump the queue? Has it been scrapped entirely or restarted like Metroid Prime 4? Come with us as we take a look at the history of the game and explore some theories regarding its absence. Where is it hiding?
The evidence to date
Before we start deducing possible causes for its continued absence, it's worth looking at the facts and solid evidence proving the existence of Pikmin 4. As you'll see below... there actually isn't any. Nope, not so much as a single screen or leaked logo - just the word of one reclusive developer you may have heard of...
These days Nintendo is notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to commenting on projects in development. On the whole the company tends to only announce games coming within a year. There are notable exceptions such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (and its upcoming sequel) and Metroid Prime 4, but discussion is invariably focused on games we'll be playing in the next 12 months.
So, when Shigeru Miyamoto casually mentioned during an interview with Eurogamer in 2015 that Pikmin 4 was "actually very close to completion", we all got rather excited. No, the information wasn't coming via a Nintendo Direct trailer or official PR blurb in our inbox, but when the father of Mario himself says the Pikmin team has nearly wrapped up a previously unannounced game, one assumes he's not just getting ahead of himself or mixing up the words 'nearly finished' and 'only just thought about'.
A year later he stated to Game Rant that Pikmin 4 was still being worked on, although he had struggled to fit it onto Nintendo's "list of priorities". With Nintendo gearing up for a new console release the following year, Pikmin 4 seemed a good bet as a launch year title for the console we'd come to know as Nintendo Switch.
Skip to a couple of months later and Hey! Pikmin was announced for 3DS. After some initial confusion it was established that it wasn't Pikmin 4. Indeed, Miyamoto joked when speaking to Eurogamer in mid-2017 about the status of the numbered sequel, no doubt referencing the tension he had created behind the scenes by referencing the unannounced project:
"I've been told not to share anything about this from PR," Miyamoto laughed, "but I can tell you it is progressing."
'Progressing' it may have been, but since then it's been all quiet on the western, eastern or any other front where Pikmin is concerned. This very month we've heard rumours of a potential Switch port of Pikmin 3, and Nintendo's removal of the official North American Pikmin 3 website fanned the rumour flames. It’s puzzling, though, why Nintendo would port Pikmin 3 to Switch if the sequel was nearing completion four years ago.
It's a poser.
So then, where is Pikmin 4?
Close to five years after Shigeru Miyamoto first mentioned it, and seven years after Pikmin 3 on Wii U, we're still none the wiser about Pikmin 4 or where it has gotten to. Having dipped into its history, it's time to start theorising as to the third sequel's whereabouts. Tin foil hats at the ready!
Theory #1 - It's a hilarious misunderstanding and Pikmin 4 never existed
One possibility is that Miyamoto was telling a big fat porky pie or joking when he said the game was nearly completed. Maybe his humour got lost in translation, or the master developer is also a master of deadpan, to the point that nobody realised he was joking at all. Horrifically embarrassed and desperate to save face, he decided to fast-track the game the moment he got into Nintendo's Kyoto offices the Monday after E3.
Likelihood: 0/10 - Miyamoto's been around the block enough times to know not to joke or casually drop unannounced projects into conversation. It's one thing to say "we're considering a potential sequel, although we're only in preliminary planning stages" and quite another to say - out of the blue, remember - that a previously unannounced game is "actually very close to completion". PR nightmare or not, it's unimaginable that Miyamoto was simply having a laugh. Yes, we ravenous video game fans can be humourless pedants with no sense of irony, sarcasm or joy, but come on!
Theory #2 - Pikmin 4 was taken back to the drawing board, Metroid Prime 4-style
When asked about other franchises that we haven't seen for ages, the response from Miyamoto or other developers is usually that they'd need some new direction or hook to warrant a new entry in Fan Favourite Series X. That fits in nicely with Nintendo's desire to keep offering new experiences, so perhaps Pikmin 4 simply wasn't up to snuff.
Likelihood: 4.372/10 - This sounds somewhat plausible, especially when you look at Pikmin 3. It's a fine game, but it's also hard to argue it accomplishes much more than the glorious Pikmin 2 hadn't already two generations previous on GameCube. The GamePad is an obvious addition, but stylus input wasn't an option at launch and most players favoured the precision of the good ol' Wiimote and Nunchuk anyway. In fact, HD graphics were arguably the most impressive addition Pikmin 3 brought to the table. We're not complaining - that fruit never looked so juicy! - but mechanically it certainly wasn't a Pikmin paradigm shift.
Bearing all this in mind, it's not inconceivable that after three very similar games Miyamoto realised the version of Pikmin 4 nearing completion didn't offer anything 'new' - just more Pikmin. Frankly, we'd be happy with 'just' more Pikmin - more competent, lovely Pikmin. See also F-Zero, Wave Race, etc.
Theory #3 - Hey! Pikmin was actually Pikmin 4
Hey! Pikmin was developed by Arzest, the studio behind games such as Yoshi's New Island, and the game released in July 2017 to average reviews. As a little Pikmin-flavoured platform experience it wasn't awful by any means, but it was the Pikmin game absolutely nobody asked for. There were fears that this was the Pikmin 4 to which Miyamoto was referring. Maybe he was using Hey! Pikmin's working title?
Likelihood: 1/10 - Slim to non-existent. In addition to Miyamoto stating Pikmin 4 was still progressing after the announcement of Arzest's game, there's also nothing in Arzest's CV (which includes the 3DS port of Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and Streetpass Mii Plaza) to suggest the studio would be given the keys to the 3D Pikmin series proper.
Theory #4 - Pikmin 4 is actually an unannounced mobile game
We said when Miyamoto first made comments about Pikmin 4 that there was a very slim chance that it could be a mobile project related to the then-new DeNA partnership Nintendo had announced (which is also when Iwata mentioned the existence of 'NX', the console that would become Switch, to assuage fears that Nintendo might be exiting the dedicated hardware business).
Likelihood: 2/10 - As we said at the time, we don't see Miyamoto bigging up a mobile version of any Nintendo franchise by making it a numbered sequel to the main series - and especially not one as close to his heart as Pikmin, which has always been his baby. We imagine stalwart fans would also respond poorly to this, too. Can you imagine? "PIKMIN 4 ANNOUNCED... for mobile". Oof.
Theory #5 - Pikmin 4 became something else
You all remember Super Mario 128, right? The tech demo where 128 Marios ran around a deforming sphere? That name became something of a legend, the near-mythical 'sequel' to Super Mario 64 which disappeared as other projects like Super Mario Sunshine saw release. But where's Mario 128?? the internet pleaded. We're sure you could ask some people today and they'd tell you that Nintendo is secretly beavering away on the true sequel to Mario 64 even now.
The reality is that it was simply a GameCube tech demo and that tech found its way into a variety of other games, perhaps most notably the original Pikmin. Maybe the code that made up Pikmin 4 was disseminated into other games we've been playing on Switch. Which ones, you ask? Erm..., well, Cappy in Super Mario Odyssey? Er..., the extendable ARMS tech, perhaps!? Yeah, we know that's a stretch.
Likelihood: 2/10 - There'd be something poetic about the series which benefited from the demise of Mario 128 paying it forward to other games, no? Seems unlikely, though, and there are no obvious candidates, either. The whole Mario 128 debacle came at a time when Nintendo's messaging often wasn't so hot (right around the same time as the 'Celda' controversy) and since then the company has got much more savvy when it comes to managing expectations and very clearly labelling things.
No, we're confident Pikmin 4 is still 'A Thing'™ and is not the new Mario 128.
Theory #6 - Pikmin 4 will arrive in 2040
The original game came out in 2001. The sequel landed three years later in 2004. Pikmin 3 gestated for nine years until it launched in 2013. If this pattern of tripled development time for each entry continues, we'll see Pikmin 4 sometime in 2040, 27 years after the last sequel.
Likelihood: hahahahaaa... C'mon people, have a day off.
Theory #7 - Pikmin 4 keeps getting bumped to the development back burner
Pikmin might be have a solid following, but it is not a system seller. It would be disingenuous to describe it as a cult classic - each of the mainline games has sold over a million copies - but it certainly doesn't have the mass market pull of the Mario or Zelda franchises. As Nintendo's take on the Real Time Strategy genre, it's always going to have a smaller audience than Nintendo's tentpole series, regardless of how cute, engaging or critically-acclaimed the package.
Compare the original game's 1.6 million sales - the highest achieved by the series to date - with the 22.96 million copies of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold (so far), or 17.68 million units of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and it's easy to see why even Miyamoto finds it hard to prioritise Pikmin over more profitable projects.
Likelihood: 8/10 - The least interesting explanation is probably the most likely. Looking at the first-party offerings over the first three years of Switch, Nintendo has hit all the right crowd-pleasing notes: launching with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild out of the gate and following up with Super Mario and Splatoon 2 within a few months, all the while bolstering the lineup with some choice Wii U ports and a continual supply new software. Pikmin simply wasn't at the top of the pile. Until now, perhaps...
Theory #8 - Surprise! Pikmin 4 is coming to Switch in 2020
One of the benefits of Nintendo only discussing games coming relatively soon is that we don't have to wait until E3 for huge announcements - a megaton Nintendo Direct could drop at anytime. It's one of the reasons that Nintendo's rather blank slate for 2020 (post Animal Crossing: New Horizons) doesn't concern us too much. 2019's schedule was looking similarly tumbleweed-y until the Feb 2019 Nintendo Direct when all hell broke loose, and 2019 turned out to be a scorching year on Switch.
So, with that in mind, could Pikmin 4 be a lovely 'surprise' coming soon in 2020?
Likelihood: 7/10 - Stranger things have happened and the timing couldn't be better. With all Nintendo's tentpoles established on Switch, now's the perfect time to unleash Olimar on a new planet. The New Play Control Wii ports aside, Switch provides a far more prosperous foundation for Pikmin to flourish on than either GameCube or Wii U. Perhaps on Switch Pikmin would finally gain the mass following it arguably deserves.
So, will Pikmin 4 be seeing the light of day anytime soon? We can but hope. With 2020 ripe for announcements, it would certainly slot in beautifully to Switch's diverse library but we'll have to wait and see what Nintendo has in store. If the worst comes to the worst, we'll pester people at E3 2020 for an update.
Are you desperate to play Pikmin on Switch? Would you be content for a reheated Wii U port or would you rather wait for a full-blown Pikmin sequel. Why do you think we haven't seen it yet? Feel free to share your personal thoughts and theories below.
Comments 98
“that fruit never looked so juicy!”
Completely agree and we’re all so thirsty
Theory 8 would be so pleasing
I'll be glad it came back on Switch.
Theory #9: It's been delayed to release on Nintendo's next underperforming console, just as Pikmin 3 missed the Wii and released on Wii U.
A new Nanoha show took eight years to happen. Rune Factory 5, seven years to get announced. Spice and Wolf S3... okay, still taking time but at least the franchise is on the adaptation front again.
Hope springs eternal, folks. Appreciate your factual backlogs for helping you weather the interim.
I'd add another theory (though it's kind of like 2 in a sense). Pikmin 4 was going to be very focused on the Wii U Gamepad like Nintendo Land so needed a lot of time to make it suitable for Switch.
Thank you really much for this article. I look for Pikmin4 news everyday I come to this site. C'mon nintendo! Give us pikmin 4!
I think Pikmin is a game that Nintendo fans absolutely love, but it doesn’t shift consoles to the core gaming fan like Zelda does, or to the casual like Pokemon or Animal Crossing does. To be put early in the lifecycle of the Switch would be a bit of a waste when there wasn’t a customer base (like Fire Emblem). Plus you could argue that Pikmin 3 wasn’t appreciated enough on the Wii u, and that needs to come before 4.
@Hobbesyall tell me about it. We've been patient enough!
"I've been told not to share anything about this from PR (because the project might very well get scrapped)"
There ya go.
It's being held captive in a vault with Pokemon Diamond and Pearl remakes.
I still cannot shake the feeling that Pikmin 4 was in fact Hey! You Pikmin, since Miyamoto said it was close to completion and that his Pikmin team is always working on something.
Still, we had a huge gap of 09 years between Pikmin 3 and 4, and considering that Pikmin 4 was likely being developed as a WiiU game and later changed to a Switch game, similar to what happened with Pikmin 3, so another similar large gap between new installments in likely to happen again
We are all pikmin in this world
@kenyowa Al Capone's Vault, waiting to be discovered by Geraldo.
Just dawned on me this is so old there are probably people "memeing" about Geraldo and Al Capone's vault who don't even realize it was a real televised event.
Theory #10 - Pikmin 4 is in co-development with Platinum Games and will be the final title announcment in their 4 game release teased by the website.
I'm not attached to this series like many. I played a little of Pikmin 3 and enjoyed it. But I never got around to giving the series a proper try.
With that being said, I suspect the game was probably close to or done for the Wii U. But a decision was made to switch it (pun intended 😂) over to the Switch. So now, Nintendo is just waiting for the right window to release it
It would be nice to play Pikmin with graphics like some of these screenshots.
Theory #11 - Pikmin Phwoar, in association with Playboy, will be released on April 1st 2020
Theory #12 - Pikmin 4, a new film from Uwe Boll, will be a Netflix exclusive
Theory #13 - Pikmin 4'tnite will be a freemium title exclusive to Huawei phones
I feel like now, more than ever before, Pikmin has a chance to shine just as the article says at the end. The original 2 were on the ill-fated gamecube. Bad sales numbers for the console as a whole, not just Pikmin. Then the wii only got the remasters, which must have done well enough considering the size of the Wii userbase. Which of course led to Pikmin 3, which, like the Gamecube, was ill fated to sell disastrous numbers. But now games that did horrible on the Wii U are doing decent on the Switch thanks to the HUGE userbase and added exposure that comes with it.
So re release the games as a pack and I bet they'll sell much better than ever before.
@TioRogerio Well, you'd better ignore that feeling completely, because it simply isn't true. There's too much evidence to support the contrary and the gist of it is already quite clearly mentioned in this article.
Nintendo would NEVER let a small, unknown company work on a large project the first time they collaborate with them, so that's why they gave them the 2.5D platformer Hey Pikmin instead, both as a way to prove themselves and to get used to how things work at Nintendo. And that game itself was never more than a spin-off.
You're not going to transform an almost completely finished, triple A, full 3D RTS game into a simple side-scrolling platformer for a handheld. No offense, but that's honestly just too stupid to be true.
The amount of work alone to reform and/or downscale it, would be close to insane and a completely useless waste of time and money.
I really don't care very much about the Pikmin series, but I do want a new entry to come. I feel bad for all the people here waiting years for a new entry, I was in the same situation about a year ago waiting for Animal Crossing.
Why can't people accept that Hey! Pikmin was the Pikmin game they were referring to, but people thought it was a sequel and got excited for no reason it's not like they announced Pikmin 4, besides Hey! Pikmin was pretty good IMO
Pikmin 4 has almost certainly been rebooted during development.
Hopefully they’re just waiting for the right time but I really doubt it, there is more proof big foot exists
Can you imagine the time that all those forgotten / back to drawing board are released at the same time?
@nuovian Under performing from a hardware standpoint, because sales numbers of the system seem to suggest it's performing quite well.
I could sit here and argue hardware performance, but I won't bother - you've already made up your mind on the system's hardware (or are just trolling to stir the pot).
I don't think Pikmin is as big of a franchise as some fans make it out to be.
@Joe-b So do I actually, I'm glad I'm not the only one.
I'd be more than just content with a Pikmin 3 port, or a port of 1 and 2. I'm thinking about repurchasing my old WiiU back just to play it again. How long do we have to wait?
@GamingFan4Lyf The Wii U sold less than 14m units. As much as I liked it, it was most certainly an underperforming console.
What if what was going to be Pikmin 4's main story mode is rolled up into a Pikmin 3 port as sort of a second campaign, and won't have a standalone release.
My theory:
Pikmin 4 was developed for the WiiU, using asymetrical gameplay, or some kind of other game play designed specifically for using WiiU control screen and TV screen simultaneously. This cant be easily replicated on the Switch, so when the WiiU was killed, so the game.
Probability: 8/10
Pikmin 4 is very close to completion. Pikmin teams are always working on the next one.
You know Pikmin is over on a little table in the corner of the development floor, slowly being added to like a jigsaw puzzle at a nursing home. It’s just not priority. Once the priority IP has been brought out, they’ll throw Pikmin into the mix
Where my Pikmin 4 is, I'll be waiting. And bring on the online multiplayer.
Theory 10: pikmin 4 has gone the way of Star Fox 2, and will make its eventual appearance in 30 years with the release of the Switch Classic Mini
THEORY: Joe Pesci stole the only copy after seeing how bad it was and destroyed it to protect us!
The first Pikmin I played was in Nintendo Land and I liked it so much that I purchased Pikmin 3 and all its DLC. Both were great fun and enjoyable as couch co-op (at least with the DLC). Maybe I should hook that WiiU thing back up? Hmm...
I'll wait patiently for a Pikmin 4 announcement.
"Theory #3 - Hey! Pikmin was actually Pikmin 4"
I stand by theory 3. Yeah, laugh all you want. I never found the words about Pikmin 4 very convincing. Hey Pikmin is just Pikmin 4.
Join the club, Pikmin. Golden Sun has been here for ten years!
@nuovian Oh you were talking about Wii U? You probably should have made that clear. Sadly, yes, it was an underperformer.
You saying "next underperforming console" seems to imply that the Switch is underperforming and the next system will, too.
EDIT: No one talks about Wii U anymore, so it's generally safe to assume you are talking about Switch. LOL!
The games are great but do not sell that well, if they were not a game loved by Miyamoto they would have never got to number three.
My assumption is that it was being developed for Wii U but got shelved when the focus shifted to Switch. If it was heavily gamepad-centric then it might just be not worth the effort of redesigning it. And since they've never officially announced it there would be no need to announce any delays or cancellation.
I think Pikmin 4 has been pushed back in development in favour of other games and bigger franchises
@LavaTwilight yah, we're really desperate we'll take a port! Give us 4!
I think it is obvious PIKMIN 4 is - was Hey Pikmin on 3DS.
I assume that the Pikmin idea has been pushed as far as they can push it with the resources they have for it, which are probably minimal. A new Pikmin isn’t out of the question, but I don’t see it happening for at least 3 or 4 more years.
Suggestion: Nintendo Life / @dartmonkey - you are the biggest Nintendo news site - so ask Nintendo directly yourselves and let us know what their response is!
Really as a 'Big N' news site I think you should be trying to do this regularly – getting a continuous back and too correspondence going with the company.
If they don't answer, gently force the issue - you are after-all free publicity for them. That kind of article would give NL news I would read top to bottom.
@GamingFan4Lyf Sorry about that - it was a joke about how Pikmin has never had a new mainline game on a successful console.
I just sold my Pikmin 3 with hopes of a Switch port. I liked it, but only played about a third of it.
I’ve been a fan since the GC games. I am not big into strategy and tactic games, however, Pikmin is just easy and charming enough to where I really enjoy them.
@dartmonkey IIRC, Nintendo kept talking about Mario 128 all the way until 2005. It's an interesting story. In one of the later interviews Miyamoto didn't even know what Mario 128 was anymore (like how?), and Reggie even commented on it back in the day. It's the first thing I thought of when I saw this article.
Anyway, yeah, I've been waiting for ages. Where's my Pikmin 4 Reggie?
@PikPi Except that there were many other games on the Game Cube that sold a lot and even moved hardware. Pikmin has never moved hardware and even the Wii re-releases had modest sales.
The truth is, Pikmin is not a mainstream game that sells hardware which is the type of game Nintendo gives priority. Pikmin is only for N64Kids and nothing else. It's a niche game.
I think there will be a 4th part soon but it will take some time.
Pikmin 4 never existed.
I think the genius of Pikmin 3 is overlooked. It's the one game where using the gamepad felt genius. You could slide your finger around without taking your eyes off the TV. Also, the high skill ceiling was amazing once you really master multi-tasking the 3 captains.
The genius of the game really becomes apparent in challenge mode.
Pikmin 4 is my most anticipated game, no competition!
Maybe Miyamoto got a bit over excited and name dropped it a little too soon, that maybe it wasn't 'nearly finished' but had bee/is still going smoothly development-wise. But all we can do is speculate sadly. Who knows, maybe it was finished today and they're just trying to find a good release date now, and it'll have one by the next Direct.
As for Pikmin 3, I wouldn't want to see it by itself as yet another lazy Wii U port. If they wanna remake the first 2 games and add a Pikmin 3 port with it, that's a different story.
Theory 9 : Pikmin 4 is actually The Sims 4 🤣
Theory 10 : Wonderful 101 Remaster = Pikmin 4
Theory 11 : Pikmin 4 will have similarity as Metroid Prime 4
Theory 12 : No Pikmin 4 but it will be another Pikmin game without numbering. (Let's Go Pikmin !)
Theory 13: Pikmin 4 abandoned in favour of Pikmin 3 port
I was really looking forward to pikmin 4 on switch or even pikmin 3 port as I never owned a Wii U but I’m thinking of buying one just for the sake of it to play 3
Great article. I am dying for Pikmin 4. My theory is that the game is delayed because Nintendo hasn’t quite gotten the joycon motion controls on the Switch to work as well as it did on the Wii and Wii U. I haven’t played any Switch games that clearly demonstrate this capability. Ultimately they want to make sure the controls are perfect before releasing it.
@sketchturner I’m with you. My wife and I played platinumed the challenges twice over. I hope we get a robust Pikmin 4 with lots of DLC.
Miyamoto stated that Hey! Pikmin was not Pikmin 4. The likelihood is that Pikmin 4 was scrapped for Wii U due to the timing of its intended arrival, and the impending death of the platform. Seeing as they most likely had a Switch launch schedule in planning, Pikmin 4 wouldn't have fit without stepping on another games toes. 2018 would have been a good year to release it, but I'd imagine they were rebuilding it from the ground up for Switch at this time, and my understanding is the Pikmin team is small. This series isn't a priority for Nintendo either, so progression is slow with new elements most likely being worked into the title.
Finally, I simply don't see it happening any other way, but I expect Pikmin and Pikmin 2 will both be remastered in Pikmin 3's engine, all with Joycon control options, and a trilogy will be released 6 months prior to the release and/or announcement of Pikmin 4. Why a trilogy? The games have a cult following, but have always been overshadowed by other software. I believe they'll make this a big event in an attempt to make this franchise much bigger than it is currently, and it definitely deserves it. To do it right though, they need the time, and they're taking that.
My theory (apologies if already mentioned, I didn’t read the comments): the control scheme just doesn’t work on the Switch because they dropped the ball HARD on pointer controls on the Switch.
Theory #Next One: Pikmin 4 turned out so good, the developers are keeping it in the office to play all by themselves.
But hey, that’s just a theory...
@commentlife Yep that’s exactly my theory too. Probably the most likely reason.
My personal opinion is that Pikmin 4 was developed with WiiU controls in mind. When the console flopped, development got canned. Maybe they are thinking about how to translate it to Switch or how to let the rumors silently die.
It would make sense as Mr Miyamoto loves to plan his new games with the consoles' gimmick as an important aspect of it
Eh, it's Nintendo. 3-6 years/1 or 2 games per generation seems to be the cycle time for most of their IPs. (Unless you're Kirby.)
Nintendo is saving Pikmin for a dry spell that they haven't had in a long time. I mean a real nasty dry spell the likes of which we haven't seen in a long time. I'm talking Wii U level dry. That's my theory. Since the Switch has comfortably had a stream of releases going for a long time now, Pikmin 4 hasn't dropped.
HEY! Pikmin is the true #4
Would love another game as they could do so much with it. However I agree with people above it's not a priority and the controls just wont be as slick. Pikmin 3 wont port very well in my opinion so much used the great controls and also the pad to direct.
2040 most people on here will be skeletons by then.
My theory is that nobody has a clue what’s going on except for Nintendo.
@Grumblevolcano
I never considered that as a possibility. Good theory.
I have to disagree with the glorious pikmin 2 bit. I liked it, but I preferred 1 because of the time limit. That was the soul of pikmin imo and it got lost in the sequels. That was what made it interesting. Much like permadeath in fire emblem.
My biggest suggestion for pikmin 4 would be to include online multiplayer for pikmin bingo battle darn it! My wife and I played that so much, but if she wasn’t around...I couldn’t play it! It was awesome fun, but not super useable!
Pikmin 4 has been released ... you just can't find it in the eShop mess
if pikmin 4 don't come out this year than give us pikmin triolgy not just pikmin 3. I love the pikmin games i can't comment on lets go pikmin cause i didn't buy it. I Love to see a new one come on nintendo you know you want too.
@MjekuMati
Yeah. I miss the time limit also. It made the game harder.
That missing poster is not particularly attractive. It looks like a pickmen is hanging from his nose.
Theory 3½: Pikmin 4 existed, but some of Miyamoto's earlier references to it or the next Pikmin game were misinterpreted and actually about Hey! Pikmin. So development didn't start on Pikmin 4 until much later than some people might think.
... Which still doesn't fully explain things, but I think it's likely that there was at least a bit of that.
@Robzilla & @commentlife I've played enough Splatoon to know that the controls absolutely could work on Switch, yes maybe precise pointer controls aren't available but giro aiming is perfect for these games!
It's gone the same way as Wave Race, 10° Snowboarding and many more.
Theory 7 is the one.
Yeah...Pikmin 4 was hey pikmin. Regardless of what miyamoto said. I would expect a port of pikmin 3 before we see Pikmin 4
I need pikmin 4. Why doesn't it exist yet?!
Where art thou Pikmin?! I miss chucking them into battle and feeling guilty every time one bites the dust. They put a lot of effort into the HD graphics in Pikmin3. Remember it was delayed a few time to polish those fruity assets. So they’ve got the assets, engine etc ready to go. They must be sitting on Pikmin 4. I’m convinced of this. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. Time for a rerun of Pikmin3 me thinks.
Olimar has left the planet and erased the memories of everyone that was working on the game because humans would otherwise colonise his home planet and enslave his people. Or "farm" his people to eat them, and "breed" pikmin as "resources" for labour. It's what humans do, apparently, so who can blame him?
That, or it somehow became one of the "Platinum 4"... Which, as much of a Platinum fan as I am, wouldn't seem like a great idea (or it's a crossover with Wonderful 101).
It being a mobile game would be a "y'all don't have phones?" slap in the face 20 hit combo fatality. I don't have a smartphone and almost ADORE Pikmin, but even Pikmin 4 exclusively on such devices wouldn't convince me to get one.
Loved the first two games on GameCube, three was a treat on the WiiU.
Hoping we get a port of the trilogy and news of part four in the days ahead! I don’t want this franchise to disappear!
@chasedurer clearly you care, otherwise you wouldn't be commenting on it.
@McEhret1 it clearly was not Hey You Pikmin. Nothing suggests it was.
I'm thinking this is likely another Starfox 2/Earthbound Beginnings scenario where, upon completion, it just wasn't deemed viable to release. Considering the time Miyamoto said it was nearing completion, it was presumably another Wii U title. With the Wii U never really taking off, it could of been determined it wasn't worth the marketing investment. And if it heavily relied on the use of the GamePad, they couldn't just port it to Switch, so it remains in limbo. It's very likely Nintendo has countless completed games that never saw the day of light, we just don't know it because they were never announced.
@GKO900 Probably due to the fact it was specifically said it WASN'T the same game.
How well did Hey! Pikmin sell? If it didn't do well, that could be the reason it never saw the day of light. I can easily imagine them being on fence of whether or not there was an audience for Pikmin 4 and used Hey! Pikmin to test the demand. Regardless, it's safe to assume it was made for Wii U which had a low installed base in the first place, and if it heavily used the GamePad, it wouldn't be easy to just bump to Switch without a costly redesign, so I'm really not all that shocked that it never surfaced.
@thatawesomedude Nintendo lies all the time like when they deny the production of another Switch system which turn out to be the Lite version and Hey Pikmin was the fourth game they were referring, it's not like they explicitly say on a Nintendo direct Pikmin 4 is coming but maybe now they are really working on a Pikmin 4 so don't worry eventually it's gonna happen and don't forget that Miyamoto with all respect it's getting old and he probably confused people without thinking of his words or maybe it was mistranslation
I think it might be theory #2 and then #7
Maybe they scrapped it and they haven't worked on it since the Switch's release
Anyhow, I hope it gets announced soon.
Great job with the article @dartmonkey! A nice and funny little article, theory 6 made me crack up cause of how out of the box it was. You make a good point about how 2019 originally looked sparse at this time of year too last year. Maybe in a month we’ll have the answer to this question?
Another theory: Nintendo is still secretly developing it, planning to announce it when it's ready, probably this year. Meanwhile, they are planning to release Pikmin 3 on Switch as an intermediate.
You say it wasn't a console seller, except that pikmin 3 was one of the main reasons I got the WiiU. I was looking forward to the next main new zelda game on there, which ended up taking until the next console which sucked, but pikmin was the largest reason at the time. I played mario bros, nintendo land and replayed wii games while I waited. If it wasn't for pikmin 3 I would have at least waited for zelda to buy the console, which would mean I'd have skipped it and gone switch.
I don't own a switch yet, considering getting it for animal crossing, but I just need a bit more of a push. Pikmin 4 would have me hitting that order button pretty fast.
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