PNF-404

File:Planet (Pikmin 2 end).png

The planet as seen in the ending cut-scene of Pikmin 2. Areas resembling Australia, Southeastern Asia, and Japan are clearly visible.

PNF-404 is the planet that Olimar lands on, in both Pikmin and Pikmin 2, and where Alph, Brittany, and Charlie land on in Pikmin 3. It is the natural habitat of Pikmin as well as many other lifeforms, many of them predators of the Pikmin. The planet is known as the planet of the Pikmin or the Pikmin planet in the first two games, but the scientific name "PNF-404" comes from Koppai. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl it is known as Distant Planet.

In Pikmin, Olimar crash lands on this uncharted planet during his vacation after his ship is struck by a meteoroid; Olimar must escape the planet before his life support system fails because the atmosphere is composed largely of oxygen which is toxic to Olimar's people.

In Pikmin 2, Olimar returns to the planet with his new companion, Louie, in search of treasure, in order to rescue the company he works for, Hocotate Freight, from bankruptcy.

In Pikmin 3, Alph, Brittany, and Charlie land on PNF-404 to collect food to save Koppai from a food shortage.

The planet appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a fighting stage under the name Distant Planet. It features a forested section of the planet, similar to the Awakening Wood or The Forest of Hope. Finally, in Super Smash Bros. 4, Olimar makes a comeback, as well as Pikmin-related forest-like stage, possibly based on the Garden of Hope.

The planet as Earth

Although ambiguous, the Pikmin planet is at least very Earth-like with similar geography. It is unknown if there is still a human presence on the planet at the time of the Pikmin story; it may take place some time after a human exodus from the planet, or even the extinction of humans. Since Pikmin 2's areas are comparable to those in its prequel, and there are new human objects, the only possible explanations are that man exists, or the items were blown into the areas from other places while Olimar was away.

Whether or not the Pikmin planet actually is our Earth or an alternate version is yet to be revealed in the games or by Shigeru Miyamoto, the game's creator; either way, it is doubtful that the similarities are coincidental. Tin cans as well as many other man-made objects and structures from modern times can be found lying around in the first game (for example, parts of Perplexing Pool and The Distant Spring appear to be the remains of a bathroom), and all the 'treasures' found in the second game are man-made or objects natural to Earth. These even include many items that are registered trademarks of existing companies.

During the second game, this statement is supported: when Olimar lands on or leaves the planet, his ship is shown to be heading towards or coming from Africa. Most of the planet's geography has been shown to match Earth's, the Ship even stating at the time of the discovery of the Spherical Atlas that it exhibits the planet's geography as seen from space: both this and the Geographic Projection are two halves to a globe that clearly shows Earth and its countries.

Analysis of data in Super Smash Bros. Brawl has yielded the information that the Distant Planet stage is also referred to by the name Earth. This is deemed comparable to a debug name, only used in programming the game, but it makes clear that Nintendo designers see the planet as Earth.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

See SmashWiki's article on Distant Planet for more information.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, there is a stage named Distant Planet. It features a background similar to The Forest of Hope, with some vines, leaves and a slope that serve as the main platforms. A Red Bulborb occasionally appears on the right side of the screen. It may open its mouth, and any fighters that fall in are eaten and lose a stock. An Onion of a random color drops from the sky at times. A Pellet Posy also grows at certain times, and, if hit enough, it'll drop its pellet. If the fighters grab a pellet and throw it at an Onion, items will spawn from the Onion.

There seem to be, however, a few incorrect things in this stage, or at least, not canonically approved. Firstly, rain pours from time to time, despite never raining in either game. Secondly, a Cloaking Burrow-nit can be seen in the background, despite this area being based on The Forest of Hope. The stage could be based on the Awakening Wood as well, however. Finally, the Red Bulborb is much larger in Brawl then in the Pikmin games.

Gallery

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  The planet as seen in Pikmin.

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  The planet as seen in the Pikmin 2 intro cut-scene. The Ship's engine glows over what appears to be somewhere in Africa as it lands.

• Distantplanet1.PNG

  In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the Planet of the Pikmin is a stage known as Distant Planet.

Trivia

• The name "PNF-404" fits the naming nomenclature used by NASA to identify less important planets. The letters and numbers that make up the name, however, have a special meaning: 404 is an HTTP status code that means "Page Not Found".
• in pikmin, PNF-404 looks like the moon, because it is related to the moon that its so stupid.

See also

• Areas
• Hocotate

External links

• SmashWiki's article on the stage, Distant Planet

This article was a featured article from 18th August 2009 to 24th March 2010.