Pikmin 3

This article is currently a featured article, as of June 16th, 2013.

Pikmin 3
File:Pikmin3Boxart.png
Pikmin 3
Console	Wii U
Developer	Nintendo EAD
Publisher	Nintendo
Genre	RTS
Players	{{{players}}}
Release date
Japan	N/A
North America	N/A
Europe	N/A
Australia	N/A
South Korea	N/A

Pikmin 3 is the upcoming third installment in the Pikmin franchise. It had came out on July 13th in Japan on the Wii U console. It will be released on the Nintendo Wii U console on July 26th in Europe, and July 27th in Australia, and August 4th for America. New elements to the series include 2 new Pikmin types, the ability to throw captains, and using 3 captains at a time. It is the first original entry in the Pikmin franchise in 9 years, since the original release of Pikmin 2 on the Gamecube in 2004.

Plot

The planet of Koppai is facing an inevitable doomsday due to a booming population grown resulting in the depletion of all food resources. Just when they were about to lose hope when the SPEROs returned with no data, the final one arrives with coordinates to PNF-404, which the Koppaites beleive to be an uncharted planet.

Koppai sends three explorers to PNF-404 to retreive seeds to bring back to Koppai; Alph, a young engineer, Brittany, a botanist, and Charlie, the captain of their ship, the SS Drake. As they approach the atmosphere of PNF-404, Drake malfunctions and ejects the three explorers before plummeting to the surface of the planet.

Charlie wakes up in the Distant Tundra, where he finds a group of wild Yellow Pikmin which he quickly befriends. However, this friendship is cut short when Charlie enters a cave and is eaten by a large, invisible creature...

Alph wakes up in the Tropical Wilds, where he discovered a Red Onion and its Pikmin, which he quickly uses to help him find the SS Drake, which has landed safely, aside from missing a component that renders it incapable of activated its Warp Drive...

Brittany lands in the Garden of Hope and finds herself trapped into Alph rescues her by using the newly-discovered Rock Pikmin. Eventually, the captains find and free Captain Charlie.

Later on, the explorers began to receive signals from an unknown source. This eventually leads them to find that Louie has crashed onto the planet, whom they rescue from the Scornet Maestro. The day after rescuing him, he steals all their juice and tries to escape to The Ship, only to be eaten by a Quaggled Mireclops, and be rescued again by the three explorers. However, he is tied up to prevent him from stealing again, and gives them the coordinates to the Formidable Oak, where his colleague is being held captive.

Upon arriving at the final area, the explorers learn that Louie's colleague, Captain Olimar, was sent to the planet by Hocotate Freight to try and find even more treasure in order to buy back the SS Dolphin, but ended up crashing and completely destroying his ship. Alone on this surface, he is abducted by a large, overprotective creature called a Plasm Wraith that tries to mother him and refuses to let him go. Eventually, the three explorers from Koppai free Olimar from the Wraith and escape with him on the SS Drake as the Wraith screams at them for taking Olimar away.

In the game's closing moments, the Narrator implies the crashing of both ships was not by accident, and Alph also states that Louie was accidentally left before yet again. At the end of the credits, the Pikmin are seen singing and cooexisting with both themselves and the creatures of the Pikmin planet. However, this is interrupted when the Pikmin spot a flaming object crashing onto the surface of the planet...

Gameplay

While Pikmin 3 will contain many elements that have already composed the Pikmin series, it will also be introducing some new, complex mechanics that make it stand out from its predecessors:

Pikmin 3's main goal is to collect fruits. Not only does the collection of these fruits help save Koppai, but they are also juiced, which helps saves the 3 main captains as well. The more juice the player obtains, the more days they captains will be able to live in order to continue exploring and finding even better fruits. The game is said to take about 30 in-game days to complete, making it much larger of a game and longer than the previous Pikmin titles. If newcomers need more time, collecting all 66 of the game's fruit will allow for up to 100 days of gameplay, allowing plenty of time for completing the game as well as exploring the new worlds. If the player makes a mistake, such as running out of juice or causing a Pikmin Extinction, they can go back in time and restart from any previous day, or even restart the very day and area they are currently playing on.

Pikmin 3 will give a complete overhaul to the series' battle mechanics; rather than simply throwing Pikmin at a cursor that moves along the ground, the cursor in Pikmin 3 is capable of targeting specific body parts of enemies, allowing for more strategic depth in combat.

Pikmin 3's graphical design will be much more realistic thanks to the enhanced resolution and processing power of the Wii U console, and will also sport a slight exaggeration to character designs. Unlike in the past games, the Pikmin will be slightly larger and each one is capable of moving independently, making them feel like a realistic swarm rather than an organized group that marches simutaneously, as in the past 2 games.

Another feature that has been changed is the Fraction System; in Pikmin 3, the fractions over an item when it's being carried (such as 3/6 for a Snow Bulborb) is now switched so that the number of Pikmin carrying an item goes on top (so it would now be 6/3). 

In addition to these, several new actions can now be performed by captains, such as a move which will cause them and their pikmin swarm to quickly drop and roll side-to-side, which can be used to quickly evade danger, such as falling objects or stampeding animals.

Another new action is one that can be used with the Gamepad (referred to ingame as the KopPad); players can use the touch screen to move the camera into a bird's-eye veiw to see the game world. (to prevent cheating, only currently-explored areas are made visible). During this action, the game is automatically paused, and can then be unpaused to see the world in real time. This action allows for supervising multiple groups of pikmin preforming different tasks. Also, using this action, the player can plan routes for captains to automatically follow, where they will be able to preform tasks while another captain is manually controlled.

Unlike in the past 2 games, where the characters were mostly silent, Pikmin 3's characters will be able to speak in real time, to both themselves and each other. (Their voice acting is composed of gibberish rather than an actual cohesive language.) 

Another new feature is Scanning. The player can press Z on the Wii Remote and Nunchuck to scan an object the name of the object will appear. By shaking the Nunchuck, the Pikmin will swarm the object.

In Pikmin 3, bosses will be more difficult and much more massive than in the previous games. To compensate for this, bosses will retain their damage overnight, so players can continue fighting them the following day where they left off.

In Pikmin 3, all of the Pikmin types have Onions. However, these onions join together to form a single, "Master Onion". The player can stand underneath it to bring up the "Onion Menu", which will allow the player to manage the individiual onions and the Pikmin inside of them.

Mission Mode and Bingo Battle

Main Article: Mission Mode:

In Pikmin 3, Challenge Mode now called Mission Mode, which features three modes to play: Collect the Fruit, Battle Enemies, and Defeat Bosses. Each challenge is 7-10 minutes long and provides the player with a set number of Pikmin.

Main Article: Bingo Battle:

Bingo Battle mode is Pikmin 3's version of the 2-P Battle Mode from Pikmin 2. In this mode, Two players, who play as Alph and Olimar, are each given a bingo card filled with enemies, fruit, and marbles. The players must strategically find ways to not only collect the items needed to make a bingo, but also to ensure their opponent cannot win.

File:Gamepad.jpg

The Wii U gamepad as the map screen.

Controls

Pikmin 3 will feature a total of 5 different control schemes.

Wii U Gamepad+TV

With this control scheme, the player can play the game using the gamepad as a controller while using the TV for the game's display. This control scheme will allow the player to play in a similar fashion to the original Gamecube port of the first game. The HUD will be displayed on the Gamepad's screen.

Wii U Pro Controller

The Wii U Pro Controller will allow for a more "traditional" feel to controlling the game. It will work the same way as the Gamepad + TV scheme, but the HUD will be displayed on the TV. It will play similar to the GameCube controller from the GCN versions of Pikmin 1 and 2.

Wii Remote Plus+Nunchuk+Gamepad

This control scheme uses the Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuck for motion controls, while the HUD and overhead map is displayed on the Gamepad's screen. In this scheme, the gamepad acts as a monitor that the player can configure and utilize to better accomodate themselves with the game's areas.

Wii Remote Plus+Nunchuck

The game's main controls use the Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuck. The Wii U Gamepad will always display a full overhead map and a HUD, allowing for a less-cluttered screen. Using the precise movements of the Wii Remote Plus, the cursor can be aimed specifically at enemy's weak points.

Wii U Gamepad

The game can also be played entirely off-screen using only the Wii U GamePad. Using this control scheme, the game can be played in a more mobile, wireless form. The left analog stick can be used to walk while the right one will move the cursor, which will make the gameplay similar to the original Gamecube ports of the first 2 games. Captains can easily be switched around by using the touch screen on the GamePad.

Locations

• Tropical Wilds

• Garden of Hope

• Distant Tundra

• Twilight River

• (Unnamed Desert Area)

Miiverse Support

File:Spec ico.jpg

Like all Wii U Software, Pikmin 3 will have a Community for Nintendo Network Users to make posts about the game. All users can make posts, even those who don't own the game.

Using the KopPad, it is possible to take highly-detailed pictures from the perspective of a Pikmin using the Wii U GamePad. You can then share your pictures over Nintendo's Miiverse service, on the Pikmin 3 Community.

New Pikmin

The new Pikmin features in Pikmin 3 have lavender-colored flowers, and are unique in the sense that they are named after their abilities and appearance, rather than their color. Currently, two new Pikmin types have been confirmed.

• Rock Pikmin (Grey Pikmin)- They take on the form of small polished pebbles, rather than plants. Their rock-hard bodies allow them to smash through glass, crystals, ice, and the carapaces of large creatures. These Pikmin can also survive crushing attacks like boulders fromArmored Cannon Beetle Larva, Crystal Nodules that Skutterchucks throw and presumably more.

• Winged Pikmin (Pink Pikmin)- They are small, bee-like Pikmin that fly with small, white wings. They can fly over hazards such as water and pits, and can carry items in the air. They are notably smaller than all other known Pikmin type.

Videos

• Wii U - Pikmin 3 E3 Trailer

  E3 2012 Trailer

• Pikmin 3 - E3 2012 Gameplay Presentation & Trailer HD

  E3 2012: Demonstration                                           

• Pikmin 3 Developer Direct

  Developer Direct

• E3 2013 Trailer

  E3 2013 Trailer

• Pikmin 3 Multiplayer Demo - Comic-Con 2013

  Comic-Con 2013: Multiplayer Demo

• IGN Plays Pikmin 3 Using the Gamepad to Plan Strategies

  Pikmin 3 Gamepad Strategies

Gallery

• Pikmin3Boxart.png

  American Box.

• 

  European box.

• Pikmin 3 1.png

  The three main playable Captains featured in Pikmin 3.

• 

  Old logo for the game.

• Pikmin 3 logo (red).png

  The game's logo.

• 

  The prologue as depicted on the official pikmin 3 Japanese website.

• Spec ico.jpg

  Pikmin 3 Miiverse icon.

• WiiU Pikmin3 1 illu01 E3.png
• 
• Clayart Bulborb Run.jpg
• Pikmin 3 Models.jpg
• JP Back.JPG

  The official back of the game for the Japanese Pikmin 3

• JP Side.JPG

  The official aide of the Japan Pikmin 3

Trivia

• The music in Pikmin 3's main theme is a remix of the main theme of Pikmin.
• Originally, the "3" in the game's logo was lavender, much like the color of the flowers seen on the Winged and Rock Pikmin. However, in Janurary 2013, the logo was changed to have orange flowers compose the "3", much like the Pikmin's flowers when under the effect of the Ultra Spicy Spray.

References

De:Pikmin 3

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wiiu/ac3j/