Editing Day

The main [[Pikmin series|''Pikmin'' games]] take place over the course of several in-game '''days''' ({{j|日|Hi|Day}}). Dangerous creatures roam at nighttime, so exploration on [[PNF-404]] [[night expedition|generally]] only happens during the daytime. The number of days spent on the planet is also important in some games: in {{p1}}, [[Captain Olimar]] has 30 days before his life-support systems fail and he's stranded on the planet permanently, and in {{p3}} the number of days left is determined by how many bottles of [[fruit]] juice are left, for a maximum of 99 days. {{p2}} and {{p4}} have no day limit, and in {{npcp1}}, the [[Pikmin 1 (Nintendo Switch)|Nintendo Switch port of ''Pikmin'']], and ''Pikmin 3'', the player is given the ability to go back in time and retry from a certain day of their adventure through an option in the [[saved game selection menu]] in the case of ''New Play Control! Pikmin'' and Nintendo Switch port of ''Pikmin'', and a dedicated [[day selection menu]] in the case of ''Pikmin 3''. A common challenge run in the ''Pikmin'' games is to [[Challenge run#Low day|complete the game taking the least amount of days possible]].

[[File:Clock.png|thumb|350px|The Sun Meters from the first 3 ''Pikmin'' games.]]

* They are close to an undiscovered Onion, in ''Pikmin 2''{{cite youtube|74eNANCb7y0|showing how Pikmin left near an undiscovered Onion survive the sunset, in ''Pikmin 2''|published={{date|25|June|2018}}|retrieved={{date|26|June|2018}}}} and ''Pikmin 3'' only.

In the first three games, the Sun Meter displays 13 dots which mark changes of the hour. In {{p2}}, these dots represent times from 7 AM to 7 PM.<ref>Data inside <code>/user/Abe/time/time.ini</code>, in ''[[Pikmin 2]]''. The following three lines indicate the initial hour, final hour and day duration in seconds:<pre>{fp00} 4 7.000000 # ゲーム開始時刻

In ''Pikmin'', the shadows under [[Pikmin family|Pikmin]] and [[Olimar]] point in different directions as the day goes by. At the start of the day, they point to the southwest, at midday, to the south, and near the end, to the southeast. This is similar to sun-cast shadows in real life, given that the sun rises on the east (and hence, the shadows are cast to the west), and sets on the west. In order to avoid rendering too many shadows at once and slowing the game down, Pikmin shadows are completely omitted if there are 51 or more Pikmin on the field.

In ''Pikmin 2'', the shadow limit does not exist, but shadows do not change direction as the day progresses and are cast directly under the leaders or Pikmin.

 

In ''Pikmin 3'', all objects cast shadows, and these shadows change direction throughout the day, but remain mostly directly below objects to allow depth to be judged more easily, only elongating very near the [[#Sunset|sunset]]. The direction of shadows corresponds with the location of the sun, which can be seen in the sky with the [[KopPad]] camera. The compass direction where the sun rises and sets varies between areas and segments. This is because different segments are rotated by varying amounts in the radar compared to their orientation within the area's model, which causes the direction of north to vary between segments. In segments where compass directions are not rotated relative to the area's model, the sun rises in the south, moves through the west of the sky, and sets in the north. Other segments have the sun rise and set in different directions based on their rotation.

*In the [[Wistful Wild]] at sunset, a [[Gatling Groink]] can shoot at and damage the leaders. They cannot be incapacitated with this method, however.