Editing Pikmin 4

{{page title|''Pikmin 4''}}

{{game icons|p4=y}}

|image      = Pikmin 4 Box Art.jpg

|size        = 250px

|caption    = North American game cover.

|esrb        = E 10+

|developer  = {{w|Nintendo EPD}}

|publisher  = [[Nintendo]]

|genre      = Action/Adventure/Strategy

|players    = 1-2 players

|release    = {{date|21|July|2023}}

|predecessor = [[Pikmin 3]]

'''''Pikmin 4''''' is the fourth main-series game in the {{ps}}, released in 2023 for the [[Nintendo Switch]]. The game sees the [[Pikmin 4 player character|newest recruit]] of the [[Rescue Corps]] exploring the planet [[PNF-404]], with the goal of rescuing [[Captain Olimar]], the rest of the Rescue Corps, and other civilian [[castaway]]s, while also collecting [[treasure]]s and completing other missions. Elements new to the series include [[night expedition]]s, a companion character called [[Oatchi]], and building structures along with purchasing [[gear]] with [[raw material]]s.

== Plot ==

{{see also|Completion}}

{{spoiler}}

In the prologue, [[Captain Olimar]], captain of the [[S.S. Dolphin]], crash-lands on planet [[PNF-404]]. He discovers the [[Pikmin family|Pikmin]], and also the space dog [[Moss]], who help him to recover the [[Ship part|missing parts]] of his ship. In a playable section of the prologue, he finds the [[Interstellar Radio]], which allows him to send out an {{w|SOS}} signal, in the hope that people on other planets receive the signal and are able to help.

The [[Rescue Corps]], an organization dedicated to rescuing people, receives the signal, but their ship, the [[S.S. Shepherd]], also crashes, scattering the 7 members of the mission in different locations. As a result, their newest recruit, a [[Pikmin 4 player character|customizable player character]], is sent in the [[S.S. Beagle]] to rescue the Rescue Corps, and doesn't crash. They find the space dog [[Oatchi]] and the communications operator [[Collin]], then go into the [[Burrow of Beginnings]] to rescue the captain [[Shepherd]]. After this, they find the Pikmin and repair the S.S. Shepherd by collecting 3 nearby [[treasure]]s, completing the first day on the planet.

After the first day, the player character visits various [[area]]s of the planet to collect treasures and find [[castaway]]s, finding that there are civilian castaways as well as members of the Rescue Corps. They also encounter [[leafling]]s, strange creatures with leaves on their heads who always talk about [[Dandori]], and who challenge the player with [[Dandori Challenge]]s. One particular leafling with red leaves challenges the player to [[Dandori Battle]]s. Collecting treasures gives the player [[Sparklium]], and collecting enough of it allows access to more areas. After rescuing the Rescue Corps doctor [[Yonny]], the player unlocks [[night expedition]]s, where they can get [[glow sap]] which has the ability to cure leaflings and also the ability to prevent turning into one. After collecting enough Sparklium and rescuing the entire Rescue Corps, the player gains access to the [[Hero's Hideaway]], where the red leafling waits in a bunker for a final battle. Defeating it reveals that the leafing is in fact Olimar, and after curing him, the Rescue Corps completes their mission and is able to leave the planet, reaching the game's first ending.

Upon trying to leave the planet, they find that Oatchi does not like being in space, because of the leaf that sprouted on his tail halfway through the first part of the story. They return to the planet with the new goal of curing Oatchi, and hear that a veterinarian from the planet [[Koppai]] called [[Nelle]] is stranded on the planet. Upon landing in a new area, they see [[Louie]] and Moss run away with another Koppaite, [[Yorke]]. After rescuing Yorke by defeating Louie in a Dandori Battle, and rescuing [[Don Bergman]] elsewhere in the area, the player can visit the final area, where after defeating Louie in a final Dandori Battle and rescuing Nelle, they can access the final cave, the [[Cavern for a King]], where Louie can be found riding the final [[boss]], the [[Ancient Sirehound]]. When defeated, the boss drops its collar, the [[Gift of Friendship]], which contains enough hair on it to create a cure for Oatchi, reaching the game's second ending.

''Pikmin 4'' is a 3D real-time strategy game, with gameplay divided into blocks of time called [[day]]s. Each day is 15 minutes long and allows the player to explore 1 [[area]]. Within each area there are several [[cave]]s, which are divided into multiple sublevels which are explored sequentially. While in a cave, the time of in-game day progresses at 1/6th the normal speed. Caves contain the majority of collectibles in the game. The player directly controls 2 characters, the [[Pikmin 4 player character|player character]] and [[Oatchi]], and can use these characters to indirectly control [[Pikmin family|Pikmin]]. The player character and Oatchi have slightly different abilities. Both of them can have a [[squad]] of Pikmin, and can [[throw]] and [[whistle]] the Pikmin. The player character also has the ability to [[charge]] Pikmin and give them other commands (after a certain point), while Oatchi has the ability to [[rush]] at objects and [[jump]] over small ledges (after a certain point). The player character can also ride Oatchi, or have Oatchi in their squad. The Pikmin have the ability to [[carry]] collectibles and to [[Combat|fight]] hostile [[Enemy|enemies]]. Pikmin can be killed by enemies, and the player character and Oatchi have a [[health]] bar which can be depleted by enemy attacks.

There are 3 primary types of collectibles:

* [[Treasure]]s are common real-world objects, and are worth some amount of [[Sparklium]]. To unlock additional areas, a certain amount of Sparklium must be collected.

* Rescues are alien characters, some of which are found as [[castaway]]s and some of which are found as [[leafling]]s. Rescuing a castaway or curing a leafling will reveal who that character is and give some biographical information about them. While castaways and leaflings are found in specific locations, the character assigned to each one is not fixed, such that the order castaways are found and leaflings are cured will always be the same. Finding certain characters is necessary to advance the story to beat the game, so a certain number of castaways and leaflings must be found and cured.

* [[Onion]]s allow the player to grow Pikmin more easily. They include Onions for different Pikmin types, as well as [[Flarlic]] which increases the amount of Pikmin that can be outside at a time.

Structurally, ''Pikmin 4'' is mostly non-linear, letting the player visit caves and collect treasures in any order. While the order of areas is fixed, the things a player does in an area to unlock the next one are mostly not fixed. Uniquely for a ''Pikmin'' game, there is no set order of unlocking Pikmin types, as they can be unlocked in multiple orders. Wild Pikmin can be found in caves, allowing a player to unlock a type before finding its Onion. However, the player cannot grow more of a type using the Onion until they have found that type's Onion. Areas and caves have various [[obstacle]]s in them, some of which require a specific Pikmin type to clear, but the Pikmin type needed to destroy an obstacle can always be found somewhere in that area. Only 3 Pikmin types can be outside in an area at a time, and only 3 can be brought into a cave, though finding Wild Pikmin can increase the number of types the player can use in a cave. Each area and cave has a set of recommended types for the player to use.

In between days, the player visits the [[Rescue Command Post]], a special hub area with no enemies or time limit. Here the characters rescued over the story appear, and can be talked to. Most characters can give the player [[Mission (Pikmin 4)|missions]], which challenge the player to do a specific task, and upon completing the mission, they get a reward. These rewards are usually [[raw material]]s, which are a special collectible. Primarily found in areas and caves, raw materials can be used to build [[clay]] structures, and can be used to buy [[gear]] to upgrade the player's abilities. The player character has a [[tablet]], which displays various information about the story and the current state of the game.

''Pikmin 4'' is primarily a single-player game, but a second player can assist the main player in [[Co-op Mode]], where they can throw items into areas using a reticle called the Pebble Pitcher.

===Dandori Challenge===

{{main|Dandori Challenge}}

Dandori Challenges are a special type of cave that feature a standalone treasure-collecting mission, with the goal being to collect all the treasures in the stage by the end of the time limit. They function similarly to [[Challenge Mode (Pikmin 2)|Challenge Mode]] from {{p2}} and [[Mission Mode]] from {{p3}}, but are incorporated into the main story.

===Dandori Battle===

{{main|Dandori Battle}}

Dandori Battles are a special type of cave that feature a 1-on-1 battle between the player character and a computer-controlled opponent, with the goal being to score more Dandori points (which are gained by inserting things into your onion) than the opponent by the end of the time limit. They are incorporated into the main story and completing them is required to beat the game, but there is also a standalone Dandori Battle mode accessed from the title screen, which allows battles between 2 players.

===Night expedition===

{{main|Night expedition}}

Night expeditions are a special activity the player can do, where they visit an area at night instead of during the day. During the night, there are different enemies and they are more aggressive. These expeditions have a tower-defense style of gameplay, where the player must use [[Glow Pikmin]] to defend a [[Lumiknoll]] from the enemies. There are multiple night expeditions that can be attempted in each area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

== History ==

=== Pre-announcement ===

On {{date|7|September|2015}}, Eurogamer unveiled that, in an exclusive interview, Miyamoto had confirmed the development of ''Pikmin 4'', and claimed that {{transcript|it's actually very close to completion. Pikmin teams are always working on the next one.}}{{cite web|http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-07-20-pikmin-4-in-development-and-very-close-to-completion|Pikmin 4 in development and "very close to completion"|Eurogamer|published={{date|7|September|2015}}}} In the same article, Eurogamer also revealed a separate statement from a Nintendo representative, which said {{transcript|We can confirm that Pikmin 4 is in development but that is all we can confirm at present.}} It is not known if the "''Pikmin 4''" mentioned in that quote is the actual name for the game that Nintendo used, whether it's a placeholder name or not, or if it's just the result of the quote's English translation.<ref group="note">Of note is the fact that the URL for the Eurogamer interview's page starts with "2014-07-20". Since the URLs of all news article pages on eurogamer.net begin with the article's publication date, this could possibly mean that the article was meant to be revealed shortly after the interview, but was held until September of 2015. The article for the second Eurogamer interview states that this interview took place in July 2015.</ref><ref group="note">Also of note is that ''Pikmin 4'' uses the game engine Unreal Engine 4. However, in 2015, Nintendo did not have access to Unreal Engine 4 on any of their console hardware, as support for the engine only started in 2017. It's unknown if this indicates a development reset happened during development, ''Pikmin 4'' was ported from a different engine to Unreal Engine 4, or if "''Pikmin 4''" in this context referred to a different game, such as ''Hey! Pikmin'' or a cancelled spinoff.</ref>{{cite web|https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/unreal-engine-4-15-released|Unreal Engine 4.15 Released|the Unreal Engine official website|published={{date|15|February|2017}}}}

On {{date|7|July|2016}}, Gamerant interviewed Miyamoto and asked him about the status of the game's development and why there hadn't been any news in the past few months. To this, he replied {{transcript|Yes, you are right, and we're working on [''Pikmin 4'']. So, you know, when we're in development we have to create a list of priorities and it has been hard to kind of fit that into that list, but we're hopefully starting to see that on the list now.}}{{cite web|http://gamerant.com/pikmin-4-update-miyamoto/|Miyamoto Updates Fans On Status of Pikmin 4|Gamerant|published={{date|6|July|2016}}}}

=== Pre-release ===

''Pikmin 4'' was officially announced in a Nintendo Direct presentation on {{date|13|September|2022}}.{{cite youtube|UJ9Iz7HhU-I|of the Nintendo Direct on {{date|13|September|2022}}|published={{date|13|September|2022}}|retrieved={{date|14|September|2022}}}} This announcement was in a section presented by Shigeru Miyamoto, which also promoted {{pb}} and the [[mariowiki:The Super Mario Bros. Movie|upcoming ''Mario'' movie]]. A short trailer was shown, featuring a few scenes in a garden-like area and announcing a release window of 2023. Miyamoto provided some more basic details of the game after the trailer, and also showed off a new Pikmin T-shirt design based on the game's logo, which was made available to buy shortly afterwards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

''Pikmin 4'' does not fit neatly into the timeline established by the previous 3 games, as its story contradicts several major details from {{p1}}, {{p2}}, and {{p3}}. [[Olimar's Shipwreck Tale]] is a retelling of the story of ''Pikmin'', though with many details changed. Events from ''Pikmin 2'' and ''Pikmin 3'' are referenced as if they are hypothetical future events.

== Credits ==

{{see|Credits#Pikmin 4|t1=Pikmin 4 credits}}

== Gallery ==

Pikmin 4 Logo with background.jpg|''Pikmin 4'''s logo.

Pikmin 4 Logo.png|''Pikmin 4'''s logo with a transparent background.

Pikmin4boxart.png|North American box art with a transparent background.

Pikmin 4 Rating Pending Box Art.png|Early North American box art.

Pikmin 4 Key Art.png|Key art.

Pikmin 4 key art jp.jpg|Japanese key art.

Pikmin 4 Key Art Vertical.png|Vertical arrangement of the key art.

Pikmin 4 Key Art Square.png|Square arrangement of the key art.

Pikmin 4 Key Art No Logo.png|Full key art without text.

== Trivia ==

* ''Pikmin 4'' is the first main-series ''Pikmin'' game to be available in Brazilian, Portuguese, and Dutch.

* ''Pikmin 4'' uses the {{w|Unreal Engine}}.{{cite web|rname=japanesedownloadcard}}{{cite web|rname=japanesedownloadcard2}}

* The gap between the releases of {{p3}} and ''Pikmin 4'' was 10 years, the longest gap between release dates of any consecutive main-series ''Pikmin'' games.

* ''Pikmin 4'' was the first game to reintroduce enemies that hadn’t appeared in a previous game.

== Names in other languages ==

|ChiTrad=皮克敏４

|ChiTradR=Píkèmǐn 4

|ChiTradM=Pikmin 4

|KorR=pikeumin 4

== See also ==

* {{p3}}

* {{hp}}

 

== Notes ==

== References ==