If you're curious to try out Pikmin 3 Deluxe before it's released at the end of this month on 30th October, Nintendo has now released a free demo on the Switch eShop.
It allows you to test the game's story mode and mission mode by yourself or with another player. If you end up buying the full game digitally, your progress from the demo will be carried across. You'll also unlock an "ultra-spicy" difficulty option in the full version if you defeat the first boss in the demo. This difficulty is exclusive to the Deluxe version of the game.
Whether you're playing Pikmin 3 for the first time or returning to the game after many years - there's a reason for everyone to try it out, according to Nintendo:
If this is your first outing with a platoon of Pikmin, this demo is a great opportunity to get your feet wet. (Just make sure to only get the Blue Pikmin wet while you’re at it!) If you’re a returning Pikmin pro, this demo is your chance to lock in that extra hard difficulty option for the full release, once purchased.
The full game is now available to pre-order for $59.99 or your regional equivalent from the Switch eShop. Will you be trying out this demo? Tell us down below.
Comments 73
Yay, can't wait to try this completely new and original game that definitely wasn't released 7 years ago!
That Pikmin posing like that gives me life.
Red Pikmin be like “draw me like one of your French girls”
Ive never tried pikmin, I'll go check it it out. Thanks Mr. Doolan.
@App A lot of Switch owners never touched a Wii U.
LOL, you can actually try this on a Wii U emulator before you buy.
This Switch port is inferior to the Wii U version, just like Wonderful 101, you don't have a screen for map, inventory and other 'quality of life' controls.
@rushiosan I own a Wii U, But never even new Pikmin 3 was a thing
@rushiosan The vast majority.
@TheFullAndy That's true. But for us longtime nintendo fans who have every system and played it already it felt like today's "in depth" video on pikmin was like watching someone being excited about showing off sliced bread.
@App I literally just realized that you changed ur name
@HotGoomba @App I... totally didn’t realise that either until now 😂
This is great to hear. I haven’t played pikmin since the first one, so this demo is a nice way to see if I still like it. Nintendo really is the last company giving out demos without a preorder it feels like.
Just tried it out and it’s pretty good. Make sure to turn on gyro in the settings though.
Never was much of a Pikmin player, but I am tempted to try out this demo.
Was never really interested in Pikmin and never played any of the games before but thought this looked interesting... that being said, this demo was awesome! Highly recommended!
New content? Did they show it?
Actually tempted to double dip. Hopefully common sense prevails and I refrain.....
Never played any Pikmin nor would I have bought the game to try. So this is perfect for me.
So will the progress not carry over if I'm buying the game physically?
@sketchturner It will, actually. Doesn't matter whether you buy physical or digital.
This is my first time playing pikmin wish me luck I hope I like it.
@rushiosan it used to be so disheartening to hear somebody say, “what’s that?,” three years into the WiiU’s life.
@NoTinderLife Stylus/Touch screen support is also missing on Switch version.
Probably why it costs 2-3 times more than the superior Wii U version.
@outsider83 Honestly, I did not know about the Wii U before it got mentioned multiple times over the last few years, because of all the ports.
Which is kinda crazy, even though I am not a full time gamer, I still thought that I at least know what consoles are available.
Does anyone know if the demo has multiplayer? My wife and I are interested in trying it but neither of us have ever played Pikmin before.
@NoTinderLife Yeah, if you're a cheapskate
@App,
Perhaps this game is designed for the 65 million or so Switch owners, rather that the 4 people that bought it on the Wii U.
Just played the demo.. never played a pikman game before..... im really impressed. Love it. Instant buy
@Arckadius well, it’s free to try?
Note to Activision this is how demo's are supposed to work without the need to pre-order first.
Why does NL keep saying 'free demo'? It wouldn't be a demo if it wasn't free.
Stylus/Touch screen support is also missing on Switch version. Probably why it costs 2-3 times more than the superior Wii U version.
@Ventilator Haha. You'd think the advancing generations would increment on the innovation, rather than paring it back like some sort of reaper. Even so...
I know this would be technically difficult, given all the hardware variation out there, but Nintendo (if not Sony or MS) could implement an optional second-screen function with the user's own third-party tablet, smartphone &c. (Yes, I know about the Vita!) The Switch's rather vacant dock, of course, is an indication of how little NCL wanted to do with second-screen technology this generation. I still cannot help but feeling that someone will try this again at some point. Consider the sheer size of the *DS library...
@Grandiajet From Nintendo's PR:
"Take Pikmin 3 Deluxe for an early spin with a free demo on Nintendo Switch today"
And as @ghostrider135 notes, to play Activision's demos in recent times, users have been required to pre-order the game first.
This applied to both Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 and Crash Bandicoot 4.
This is good news. I did not have much idea about how this game is meant to be played (even videos seem confusing), so would not have bought it for sure. Will try.
@Liam_Doolan LOL, Activision is crazy!
@Grandiajet I was surprised to see many people on Reddit asking how much the demo costs. So I guess the concept of demos got a bit "foggy" for newer generations.
I find that weird as well. But if they grow up with all the pre-order, f2p and early access stuff it might even be understandable.
Is there a way to get the demo in the UK/Europe yet?
@Arckadius
I played it and it asks for 1 or 2 players.... so I assume yes. You get Brittany pretty early one so yea... 2 players for a bit. The game only goes up to the first boss.
Initial impressions of the demo are that the controls are a downgrade from Wii U, albeit totally functional but lacking precision.
Capping the number of Pikmin you can hold in order to make the game harder is pretty cheap and lazy on Nintendo’s part.
Can’t say losing the second screen seems to make much difference though. Pressing a button to view a map works just as well.
So far not feeling the need to re-buy this at all unless the new story content is substantial. And even then.
@tatchy Yes, it is available in the EU shop as well. It is just not big featured somewhere. So you need to find the normal listing of the game to download the demo.
@Yanina thank you! I always miss that demo button.
@tatchy At least in EU we have a consistent blue button design when there is a demo. Other then the US and JP shop.
@Liam_Doolan I might be a bit too old-school, but what Activision's offering aren't demos in that case (at least to me).
@Yanina It's a shame that people have to check about this stuff. It really feels like companies have normalised their crappy business practices.
Look at those disgusting low res ground textures. This is a really low effort port. I hate it. Pikmin 3 is a great game, but Nintendo should really start putting some more effort in their lazy ports.
@Ventilator haha, great reaction. I’m really not sure why Nintendo keeps getting free passes with these low effort, full price ports.
@Yanina don't worry, the WiiU was a complete flop. When under production the technology in the WiiU was cutting edge, but by the time it came to market there were already several iterations of the iPad and other tablets and that technology was defunct.
That coupled with the awful marketing strategy meant that this easily fell off of a lot of people's radars. I remember going into the local gaming stores and more shelf-space was given to the Wii than the WiiU even after a year of release. You'll be forgiven for not knowing it even existed.
Nintendo, "If you’re a returning Pikmin player, please pay for the same game again".
@SuBLiMe83
Well there are a whole 7 of you that got a WiiU so feel free to skip this one.
@koekiemonster Thanks. Nintendo is on a spree with cheap overpriced ports now with removed features.
The best part about Pikmin 3 on Switch is. Pikmin 4 were anounced as a Wii U game back in 2014. Development went well. I expected a 2016 release on Wii U. Add another 4 years, and they release Pikmin 3 again with with no effort done on the port.
At least it's long time since the previous sloppy effort. Must be 2+ weeks now since last bad release. The release which they even forgot to play test first. cough*Mario..Stars*cough
"Nintendo seal of Quality" is surely 100% respected Nintendo themselves nowadays. lol
@COVIDberry
Yeah. Japanese arrogancy. As soon as their consoles suddenly start to sell again, innovation is not a word in their dictionary anymore. It's all about milking money.
Look at how much love Sony gave to PS3, and how much love Wii U got from Nintendo. Compare that love to Switch, PS4 and even PS5. LOL ..."For the gamers" seem to be a Xbox/PC exclusive slogan these days.
Nintendo do support second screen on Switch, but only like 3 games supports it and it's only for voice.
Here is something you might not know.
Developers refused to support VITA as second screen, so it died quickly. It only works as streaming screen for what you also see on TV with PS4. "Remote Play". Also works on Android and Windows.
Talking about sloppiness from Sony there.
Xbox One 2013 model streams 1080p/30 to Windows 10.
PS4 2013 model only streams 720p/30 fps, but in reality it's only 20 fps or so on average on PS4. LOL.
If you ignore DS, devs generally got a bad taste for dual screens anywhere. Why is second screen disliked so much?
"Splinter Cell Blacklist" on Wii U have some of the best dual screen usage on a TV console ever. Even Call of Duty Ghosts/Blops on Wii U uses it well.
Wii U is proof that second screens works fine.
Then Nintendo releases Starfox on Wii U, and people get bad taste for it again as majority didn't understand how it worked, and probably didn't even try to understand it.
Let's not forget how great system menus is on Wii U vs Switch. Folders and loads of other things missing on Switch.
When it comes to Japanese skills on External HDD support. Disconnect USB HDD on PS4 and Wii U. Both consoles crashes instantly. Remove SD card on Switch.. Requires a restart of console.
Microsoft:
Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Disconnect USB HDD. Games is only removed from menu.
Re-connect HDD on both consoles. Both Consoles scans HDD for games instantly. No reboot needed on any of them.. "Hot Swap".
@sword_9mm mariokart 8 on wiiu sold 8 million. It’s not that games on wiiu didn’t sell.
A lot of publishers wish they can sell 8 million copies of their games.
Does anyone know if there's a couch-coop mode in the game or is the multiplayer mode sticked to two consoles and/or the internet?
@koekiemonster Mario Kart 8 sold very well on Wii U, I think it's maybe closer to 9 millions. Last public number were 8.5 millions many years ago, before Switch were even revealed if i don't remember wrong.
8+ millions sold is a dream number for devs even today.
Several games sold millions on Wii U. Attach rate for games on Wii U were higher than on Xbox and PS consoles.
The reason is that most people who bought Wii U were older people with money. Nintendo kids had already jumped onto Sony consoles to play Call of Duty before Wii U existed. Many years ago it were said that most Wii U owners were in their 30-40's.
@Liam_Doolan Demos is useless when you are forced to purchase a game before you can try the demo of it. Why would anyone who got full version even bother to play the demo instead of full version?
@Ventilator I just hate it when people think these high price ports are justified because nobody bought them on WiiU. It’s just incorrect.
@koekiemonster I think so too.
Old Nintendo fans would have bought Wii U and played these games already. Wii U were a huge hardware upgrade over Wii.
Wii U also had a big amount of killer games, and had almost no shovelware like neither N64 and Dreamcast had either.
People blame COVID for Wii U ports. Well. Did COVID exist in 2017, 2018 and 2019? No? .... Switch got Wii U ports already at launch.
As for the rare ports on Wii U.
Look at both Zelda games from GameCube. Both were upgraded for Widescreen and 1080p and runs natively.
Compare that to Mario Sunshine on Switch...
@Ventilator that collection was a really cheap romdump what seems to be defended by Nintendo-fans...
I hope that collection didn’t screw up plans for Nintendo. Seeing that collection going to 10 million will surely stop them for putting effort in ports. Why should they? Fans adore these romdumps and it sells like crazy. Heck, Nintendolife 9/10
What a weird title since demos are usually free.
@koekiemonster Nintendo will keep doing bad efforts since Nintendo forces people to buy this collection for a limited time and will force million sales in short time.
It's also known that Nintendo didn't even bother to remove debug things on levels.
These things are probably harder to fix as they are emulated and not running natively. Nintendo also removed the option for swapping X-Axis on Switch in Sunshine...
When Mario Sunshine were anounced as a 30 fps emulated game, i installed newest Dolphin on PC instead of buying the collection.
I'm emulating Sunshine at 4K/60 + Widescreen on PC. I also used a Game Genie code to swap X-Axis.
Sunshine is not really good in 30 fps at all.
You know the Switch release is sloppy when Mario 64 runs at only 720p/30 in Portable mode while Switch could easily handle it at 1080p/60.
Anyways. Rare Replay on Xbox One with 30 games from Rare, including 6 from Xbox 360 costed only 30 bucks on release...
@Crono1973 Demos costs up to 60 bucks for Activision games.
Sweet! I'm gonna check out the demo later 😉
@Ventilator in that case you also get the full game though.
@Crono1973 The problem is that the demo is useless if you need to buy the full game to play the demo.
@NoTinderLife Nice! Haven't got a PC to run the emulator on sadly.... How much for a PC that'll run the emulator like silk?
@koekiemonster you're really not a fan of the Switch are you? Keep going, let it all out...
@WiltonRoots I love my Switch. I don’t like developers doing cheap and asking unfair high prices.
the demo was nice, but after 2 Pikmin days i was done.
also the Nintendo Switch version of the game seems easier than the Wii U version.
Hopefully Nintendo will release Pikmin 1 and Pikmin 2 onto the Switch. it would be nice to have the entire trilogy on one system with each one including some updates.
@koekiemonster In all honesty though I don’t think Nintendo Japan are reading any of this. 🤷🏽♂️
@WiltonRoots No, but maybe it helps some readers in their decision to buy these cheap efforts or not. Nintendolife isn’t objective and will give any Nintendo published retailgame a 8/10, 9/10 or 10/10.
From how this was written, it seems like you only get the new difficulty level if you beat this demo,, can someone confirm? Seems an odd choice.
@koekiemonster But then again if I think a site's reviews are crap and don't align with my way of thinking I find myself aligning with sites that see things the way I do. It's all subjective at the end of the day, something I think is brilliant you might think is a turd and vice versa. Neither of us can speak for everyone. Digital Foundry will get hung up on the shadows on a bush or a rusty tap in the background when they zoom in 400%, whereas I don't think it makes any difference to how well a game plays. One man's meat is another man's poison.
@WiltonRoots Surprising you don't need a high end computer to run that Wii U emulator. A mid range system with nVidia 950 chip can run Zelda:BotW at 60fps, 1080p with enhanced graphics. Other games like Pikmin 3, Mario 3d World, Windwaker, etc required even less.
@Arckadius Yes, it is possible to play co-op in the demo.
@NetoHil We went through the entire demo together, it was a lot of fun.
@Arckadius it's good to "hear" it.
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