Editing Saved game

{{game icons|p=y|p2=y|p3=y|p4=y|hp=y}}
{{game help|p3|Check if the game keeps track of new Bingo Battle stages and unread data files between sessions.}}

[[File:Pikmin4SaveScreen.jpg|thumb|The [[saved game selection menu]] in {{p4}}.]]

A '''saved game''' (also known as a '''save game''' or simply '''save''') is a record on the progress a player has made on a game thus far, which allows them to stop playing and later return to the point whence they left off. In the first two [[Pikmin series|''Pikmin'' games]], there are two types of information saved: a trio of playthrough progress slots and the global progress data. In ''Pikmin 3'', there is only one playthrough slot in a Wii U user account, however, in {{p3d}}, 3 save file slots were added to Story Mode.

The '''playthrough progress''' is a record that contains the progress made in the main adventure mode. This includes information such as the current [[day]], the number of [[Pikmin family|Pikmin]] of each type, and the collected [[ship part]]s, [[treasure]]s, [[fruit]]s, and/or [[castaway]]s. In every game except the original Wii U release of {{p3}}, up to three individual records may be kept, allowing three different players to keep their own progress through the main adventure mode. These records can be deleted or copied from one slot to another.

The '''global progress''' contains data about the progress of the game's content outside of the main story mode. As such, this record is updated regardless of which story mode slot is used, and for extra game modes such as [[Challenge Mode]], that do not have a specific playthrough slot attached. Examples of the information saved in this record are the [[high scores menu|high scores]], Challenge Mode completion and records, unlocked [[bonuses menu|bonuses]] and the settings in the [[options menu]].

In {{hp}}, there again can be up to 3 different saved games at a time. However, since there are no alternative game modes, the only global data that gets saved is the settings in the options menu.

==Persistence==
In order for this information to be persistently saved between system boots, it must be stored somewhere. This location depends on the system. For the [[GameCube]] original games, the information must be stored in a memory card. The ''Pikmin'' games only read and write to the memory card in slot A. If a memory card cannot be used when the game needs to load or save, it will display a warning notifying the player that the memory card is invalid; it will also specify the exact reason of the error, be it because the memory card is full, corrupted, or even absent altogether. If these GameCube games are played on a Wii console, the same rules still apply. All information takes on the form of a single file of data inside the memory card, meaning the three playthrough progresses and the global progress are kept in the same place. These save files can be managed on the GameCube's system menu, by copying or moving the files between memory cards, or deleting them completely. The saved data in ''Pikmin'' is worth 19 blocks on the memory card, and the one in ''Pikmin 2'' is worth 27.

The [[Wii]]-exclusive games, the ones in the ''[[New Play Control!]]'' line, save their progress inside the Wii's persistent NAND flash memory, known as the Wii System Memory. Much like the memory card system on the GameCube, the games only access the saved games inside the Wii, and not those inside an SD card. The saved games can however be copied or moved between the Wii and an SD card, or deleted altogether. The same type of warnings will also appear if the game cannot read or write the saved games. Like the GameCube games, the saved game data is kept entirely in a single file. ''[[New Play Control! Pikmin]]''{{'s}} saved data requires 31 blocks on the Wii's system memory, and ''[[New Play Control! Pikmin 2]]'' requires 2 blocks.

==Saving==
[[File:Pikmin 2 saved.jpg|thumb|200px|The game notifying the player of a successful save, on ''Pikmin 2'''s [[options menu]].]]
In the first two ''Pikmin'' games, whenever the game needs to be saved, a prompt appears asking the player if they wish to save the game; exceptions exist, detailed below. The player has the option to refuse the save operation &ndash; this is useful should the player have a bad [[day]] and not wish to keep it; the player can refuse the save and return to the [[saved game selection menu]] in order to re-load their progress and try again. Interestingly, the games also ask the player if they can save a new score at the end of a [[Challenge Mode]] level.

Saves are done at the following times:
*When a new file is created on memory card A or the Wii's internal storage.
*At the end of a [[day]].
*When leaving a [[cave]].
*At the end of the main story mode.
*When a [[Challenge Mode]] or [[Mission Mode]] level is completed.
*When changing the options.

The only times a game saves without asking in the first two games, are in ''Pikmin'', when the options are changed, and in ''Pikmin 2'', when a player enters a cave or sublevel. The exact reason for the latter is unknown, but it could be related to the cave's [[Randomness|random]] method of generation not always delivering a fair layout. This allows the players to reset the console and retry the same sublevel with a different layout, as opposed to restarting the entire day. Because having the game ask to save at each sublevel would become annoying to the player, the save was made automatic. An [[unused content in Pikmin 2|unused]] setting inside the game's files makes the game ask each time, instead of saving automatically. The automatic saving can be bypassed by removing the memory card in slot A on the GameCube games, at which point the game will warn that it could not save, and give the player the option to continue without saving. As a result, this method is not possible in the ''New Play Control!'' and Nintendo Switch versions. In ''Pikmin 2'', going through the messages that appear when the memory card is absent is faster than waiting for the game to save.{{cite youtube|x4zsu8GCVKc|comparing the time it takes between saving and not saving in ''Pikmin 2''}}

In {{p3}} and {{p4}}, the game will no longer prompt the player to save their progress, opting for an autosave system instead. In ''Pikmin 3'', the game will open a message box when progress has been saved, which then can be closed. ''Pikmin 4'', however, does not show indication of completion of an autosave other than the autosave icon on the top left of the screen being absent.

==Saved content==
[[File:P3D Menu Saved.jpg|thumb|200px|The screen shown when the game is saved in ''Pikmin 3''.]]
The following is a list of the content that gets saved persistently.

===''Pikmin''===
These bits of information get saved for each playthrough:
*Current [[day]] number.
*The ID of each [[Olimar's Voyage Log|voyage log]] entry, on each day.
*[[Area]] visited in the previous day.
*Number of leaf, bud and flower Pikmin of each type, inside [[Onion]]s.
*Location, collection status and "discovery" status of [[ship part]]s.
*Status of the Yellow and Blue Onions.
*Location, type and [[maturity]] of buried Pikmin.
*Death information of [[enemy|enemies]], so that the game knows when to respawn them.
*The progress on [[bridge]]s, [[gate]]s, etc.
*Total number of Pikmin killed, left behind, and born.
*Whether Pikmin have experienced [[nectar]], grabbed [[bomb-rock]]s, etc. These are used for the [[Olimar's monologs|monologs]].

All points besides the first two are also saved on a per-day basis in ''New Play Control! Pikmin''; this allows the player to go back and retry a previous day.

The following data gets saved globally:
*High scores, including Challenge Mode scores.
*Option settings.

===''Pikmin 2''===
''Pikmin 2'' saves the following information for each playthrough:
*Current [[day]] number.
*[[Area]] visited on the previous day.
*Number of leaf, bud and flower Pikmin of each type, inside [[Onion]]s.
*Number of sprays and berries.
*Number of collected [[Poko]]s.
*Location and collection status of [[treasure]]s.
*Whether [[Purple Pikmin|Purple]], [[White Pikmin|White]], [[Yellow Pikmin|Yellow]] and [[Blue Pikmin]] have been discovered.
*New [[Treasure Hoard]] and [[Piklopedia (Pikmin 2)|Piklopedia]] entries.
*Total of enemies killed and Pikmin lost, for each Piklopedia enemy.
*Location, type and [[maturity]] of buried Pikmin.
*Death information of [[enemy|enemies]], so that the game knows when to respawn them.
*The progress on [[bridge]]s, [[gate]]s, etc.
*Total number of Pikmin killed, for each method.
*Whether Pikmin have experienced [[nectar]], set on fire, etc. These are used for the [[ship's dialogs]].
*The IDs of the 20 most recent [[mail]]s.
*If the save happened when entering a sublevel:
**Number of Pikmin of each maturity in the party.
**Sublevel and cave.
**Treasures salvaged in the trip.
**Number of Pikmin killed in the trip.
**Number of Pokos obtained in the trip.
**Time of day.
**Active leader.
*If the save happened after leaving a cave:
**Area in which the cave is.
**Number of Pikmin of each maturity in the party.
**Time of day.

The following information is saved globally:
*[[Challenge Mode (Pikmin 2)|Challenge Mode]] high scores, for both single-player and two-player, and whether a perfect run happened or not.
*High scores.
*Option settings.
*Unlocked [[Bonuses menu|bonuses]].
*Last [[Challenge Mode (Pikmin 2)|Challenge Mode]] level's status (if the game was exited after a level was completed with a perfect ranking, the next time the game is booted and the Challenge Mode screen accessed, that level's leaf/white flower will be seen turning into a pink flower).
*If the [[Titan Dweevil]] has ever been defeated. If so, the [[Piklopedia (Pikmin 2)|Piklopedia]] will be able to show [[Louie's notes]].

===''Pikmin 3''===
The game saves the following information:
*For each [[day]]:
**[[Area]] visited on the previous day.
**Which story mode events have been triggered, like spotting the Winged Onion, defeating a boss, etc.
**Number of leaf, bud and flower Pikmin of each type, inside the [[Onion]].
**Number of sprays and berries.
**Color of every full bottle of juice.
**Color and amount of juice on the next bottle.
**Location and collection status of [[fruit]]s.
**Whether [[Rock Pikmin|Rock]], [[Yellow Pikmin|Yellow]], [[Winged Pikmin|Winged]] and [[Blue Pikmin]] have been discovered.
**What [[data file]]s have been collected.
**Total of Pikmin lost.
**Location, type and [[maturity]] of buried Pikmin.
**Death information of [[enemy|enemies]], so that the game knows when to respawn them.
**The progress on [[bridge]]s, [[gate]]s, etc.
**Whether Pikmin have experienced [[nectar]], set on fire, etc.
**The ID of that day's log entry.
*The charted parts of the map on the [[radar]], for every area. This record remains even when going into previous days, and is only reset if the adventure is restarted from day 1.
*The full [[Secret File]] code for the current playthrough. This too is only reset if the story is restarted from day 1.
*Last [[controls|control]] scheme used.
*Top 5 story mode completion stats.
*Top 5 scores for every [[Mission Mode|mission]], both single player and 2-player.
*Unlocked [[Bingo Battle]] stages.
*Unlocked Bingo Battle stage layouts, or alternatively, the number of battles completed in each stage.

==Metadata==
* {{p1}}
** '''Size''': 19 blocks
* {{p2}}
** '''Size''': 27 blocks
* {{npcp1}}
** '''Size''': 31 blocks
** '''Save blurb''': {{transcript|Pikmin are alive!}}
* {{npcp2}}
** '''Size''': 2 blocks
** '''Save blurb''': {{transcript|To me, Pikmin!}}
* {{p1s}}
** '''Size''': 1.09 GB
* {{p2s}}
** '''Size''': 1.04 GB
* {{P1+2}}
** '''Size''': 2.13 GB
* {{p3}}
** '''Size''':
*** '''Save data''': 29 MB (per save)
*** '''Shared save data''': 1536 KB
*** '''[[Downloadable content]]''': 530 MB (when all DLC packs are bought)
*** '''[[Update|Update data]]''': 356 MB
* {{p3dx}}
** '''Size''': 6.5 GB (Digital)
* {{p4}}
** '''Size''': 10.5 GB (Digital)
* {{hp}}
** '''Size''': 3,222 blocks
* {{pb}}
** '''Size''': 268.7 MB

==Corruptions==
It is possible for saved games to become corrupt. The reasons for this are not well known. Sometimes, the data can actually be repaired, but other times, it is too corrupted to be recovered, leaving the player with no option but to clear the save data and start from scratch. There are reports of {{p1}} save files becoming corrupt, and the game's attempts at repairing them leading to incorrect data.{{cite youtube|QoU4240s8Ok|of a corrupt ''Pikmin'' saved game}}{{cite youtube|e40Z0VQXjgg|of a corrupt ''Pikmin'' saved game}}{{cite youtube|yM4OmAsIqhw|of a corrupt ''Pikmin'' saved game}} Effects include [[area]] objects in the wrong spots, and insane [[Pikmin family|Pikmin]], [[day]], and [[ship part]] counts.

==Naming==
Inside the games, no name is given for the concept of a record of persistent information. The playthrough progress slots are however given an identification in ''[[Pikmin (game)|Pikmin]]'' and ''[[Pikmin 2]]''. On the [[saved game selection menu]] in ''Pikmin'', a message at the top says "Choose a Data File", and on the bottom-right, as well as on the [[day results menu]], the playthrough progress slot is given the name "Ship's Log", followed by the respective slot number. ''Pikmin 2'' also calls these slots "Ship's Log", but never "Data File". In addition, because there is only one slot in ''Pikmin 3'', the concept of a slot does not exist. To make matters more confusing, ''Pikmin 3'' introduced gameplay objects known as '''[[data file]]s'''.

Because of the lack of consensus between the games, and because of the ambiguity that could've stemmed from the name "data file", it was decided that, on the wiki, the concept of a record of progress in the games would be known as a "saved game", especially given that it is the most well-known term in the video game industry.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Pikmin save games.jpg|The [[saved game selection menu]] in {{p1}}.
</gallery>

==Trivia==
*Games can read saved game data from different games. In ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'', if the player has a saved game for {{p1}} in the same memory card, they will be given the [[Captain Olimar]] trophy.

==See also==
*[[Challenge run]]
*[[Menu]]

==External links==
*{{w|Saved game|Wikipedia's article on saved game}}

==References==
{{refs}}

[[Category:Technical]]