Editing Controls

| align="center"|{{button|wii|remote|size=x24px}}

| Only while whistling or throwing.

| align="center"|{{button|switch|rsticklr|size=x24px}} or {{button|switch|zl|size=x24px}}

| The player can press the button and use {{button|gc|stick|wii|stick|switch|lstick}} to rotate the camera sideways.  

| align="center"|{{button|switch|rstickud|size=x24px}}

| Move [[cursor]] – main

| align="center"|{{button|wii|remote|size=x24px}}

| Move cursor – alternate

| Only while whistling or throwing.

|  

| align="center"|{{button|switch|rsticklr|size=x24px}} or {{button|switch|zl|size=x24px}}

| The player can press the button and use {{button|gc|stick|wii|stick|switch|lstick}} to rotate the camera sideways.

| align="center"|{{button|switch|zr|size=x24px}}<br>held

| align="center"|{{button|switch|rstickud|size=x24px}}

| align="center"|{{button|wii|+|size=x24px}}

''Pikmin 3'' allows for four ways to control the game. The player can use the GamePad's buttons, the Wii Remote + Nunchuk, the Wii U Pro Controller, or, as of [[Update|version 2.0.0]], the GamePad's touchscreen; the latter is known as "Stylus Mode". The Wii Classic Controller is not supported.  When the player uses a control from a controller different from the one they're currently using, a message will appear on-screen saying the main controller has changed, and the player is then allowed to use that controller from there on out. The exception to this is {{button|wiiu|-}}.

{{p3d}} changes many of the controls from ''Pikmin 3'' due to factors like the differences between the [[Wii U]] and [[Nintendo Switch]] (such as the lack of a second screen), changes to mechanics such as [[charging]], and utilization of the Switch's gyroscope.

| align="center"|{{button|switch|stick|size=x24px}}<br>fully held

| align="center"|{{button|switch|stick|size=x24px}}<br>lightly or fully held

| align="center"|{{button|switch|facel|size=x24px}} held + {{button|switch|stick|size=x24px}}

| align="center"|{{button|switch|rsticklr|size=x24px}}

| align="center"|{{button|switch|stickclick|size=x24px}}

| align="center"|{{button|switch|stickclick|size=x24px}}

| align="center"|{{button|switch|rstickud|size=x24px}}

In the first two games and the ''[[New Play Control!]]'' ports, the [[Onion menu]] allows the player to withdraw or save Pikmin using a simple control interface.

| align="center"|{{button|wii|+|size=x24px}}

| Only on the Piklopedia.

Some Easter eggs exist on the [[title screen]] for ''Pikmin 2'' and the ''New Play Control!'' port. These allow the player to change the words the Pikmin spell out, and allows the spawn and control of an enemy.

*In ''Pikmin 3'', when a leader is thrown to the ground, the player can mash directions on {{button|wiiu|lstick|wii|stick}} &ndash; such as twirling &ndash; to make them get up. The player can also shake the Nunchuk to make them get up (usually easier and faster). The leader will get up by themselves eventually, however. This is also true in {{p4}} when [[Oatchi]] takes big knockback, but with {{button|switch|lstick|switch|stick}}{{source needed}}. In ''Pikmin 3 Deluxe'', they get up by themselves right away.

*When playing as [[Oatchi]] in ''Pikmin 4'', the player can mash {{button|switch|a|switch|b|switch|x}} / {{button|switch|y}} to make him recover from a hazard such as [[fire]], [[poison]] or [[panic]] sooner.

{{p1}}, {{npcp1}}, {{P1s}}, {{P2s}}, and {{p3d}} contain diagrams of the controller with labels on what each button does during gameplay. In ''Pikmin'' and its rereleases, a diagram is found in [[Olimar's monitor]], in the [[Nintendo Switch]] version of ''Pikmin 2'' a diagram (that is directly copied from the Nintendo Switch version of ''Pikmin'') can be viewed at any time by pressing {{button|switch|-}}, and in ''Pikmin 3 Deluxe'', diagrams of the different control styles are found in the Control Guide in the [[pause menu]]. These can be used should the player forget the controls.