Things not in Pikmin 4

Bulbmin, an example of something not present in Pikmin 4.

While Pikmin 4 contains the most amount of enemies, treasures, areas, caves, and Pikmin types out of any Pikmin game to date, there are still a substantial number of things not in Pikmin 4. According to an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, “One of our goals while developing Pikmin 4 was to include as many things as possible. It was our most ambitious project yet. It's part of why the game was in development for so long, and why we thought the Unreal Engine would be the best choice for this project. Unfortunately, we were not able to achieve our goal due to hardware and time limitations.”

Due to the fact there are many things present in previous titles, things planned for Pikmin 4, and just things not present in the game in general, this article will only cover notable omissions.

Areas

The Forest of Hope

The Forest of Hope is a recurring location in the Pikmin series, appearing in all entries up until Pikmin 4. It was in Pikmin 2 as the Awakening Wood, Pikmin 3 as its title screen area, and even in the Super Smash Bros. series as Distant Planet. Pikmin 4 removed the area, however. Developer notes in the game files suggest this was due to a dislike of how including the area so many times felt repetitive.

Below are several excerpts from the game files, machine translated from Japanese.

Text

• “希望の森エリアをこのセクションから削除してください。”
• “希望の森は削除される予定です。”
• “目覚めの森はここで何をしているのですか？”
• “このゲームにはポリカウントが低すぎます。”

Translation

• “Please remove the Forest of Hope area from this section.”
• “Forest of Hope will be removed.”
• “What is Awakening Forest doing here?”
• “Polycount is too low for this game.”

Despite this, the Sun-Speckled Terrace has many similarities to the area in terms of design, making it possible that The Forest of Hope was simply repurposed altogether.

The Distant Spring

Similarly to The Forest of Hope, The Distant Spring, later made into the Perplexing Pool in Pikmin 2, does not return in Pikmin 4. Pikmin 3 includes the area in the form of some instruments in its music, and in Hey! Pikmin's Secret Spot 12 the main object of the area is out of Olimar's reach, but in Pikmin 4 there isn't any use of or reference to the area.

Africa

Despite being the location of the events of Pikmin and Pikmin 2 (as seen in the opening cutscene), making a cameo in Pikmin 3, and being a fully explorable open world area in Pikmin Bloom, Africa does not make an appearance in Pikmin 4.

Test area

newtest, a testing area in Pikmin 2.

Previous games in the series have some form of unused test area in them. No such area has been found for Pikmin 4, accessed either through normal gameplay or through the game's files. Whether this indicates that the area was deleted or that the game was never tested is unknown.

The President's house

The house of the President, the White House, is not present in Pikmin 4, and cannot be seen from the not-quite-white house where gameplay takes place in the Hero's Hideaway. However, Pikmin Bloom lets the player visit this area, though it is behind a macrotransaction.

Characters

Mario

Mario is the main and titular character of Nintendo's lesser known Super Mario franchise. He does not appear in Pikmin 4, however Olimar's name in Japanese is an anagram of Mario, so it is possible there is a connection. Olimar can also ride on a green animal much like Yoshi, but even still Pikmin 4 does not contain Mario or Yoshi.

This absence of Mario is particularly notable considering he appeared in Pikmin.

The President

Although he makes a cameo appearance in Olimar and Louie's respective Voyage Logs, the President of Hocotate Freight does not appear in Pikmin 4 outside of images and text.

The President

The following article or section is in need of assistance from someone who plays Pikmin Bloom. Particularly: Ask if he plays Pikmin Bloom. If so, note his inclusion as a character in that game here.

The President of the United States does not appear in Pikmin 4 at all.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria does not make a direct appearance in Pikmin 4, but his influence may be felt. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand is famously one of the causes of World War I, which led into World War II, which impacted Nintendo's business throughout the mid-1900s, directly limiting the type and quality of products Nintendo could make.

Enemies

Hairy Bulborb

Hairy Bulborbs are not in Pikmin 4.

Hairless Bulborb

While Bulborbs are hairless, there is no appearance of an enemy called Hairless Bulborb in Pikmin 4, which is further compounded by the fact that a form of the Shaggy Long Legs does appear hairless in Pikmin 4, as the Baldy Long Legs, but since there is no Shaggy Long Legs proper in the game, the adjective "Baldy" on that enemy's name is a red herring, which coupled with the fact that an arachnorb's default state is to not have hair, indicates that the Shaggy Long Legs is the only creature in the family with a name that discriminates its hair, but seeing as the Baldy Long Legs exists and is purposely named such in both games it appears, it is possible the term "Baldy" is not a red herring in the first place and is a valid word for an enemy's name even when it wouldn't ordinarily make sense, therefore making it so that a Hairless Bulborb, despite the term "Hairless" also being a similar red herring, could exist within a Bulborb's name in that exact form, but does not either due to an inconsistency or because of a lack of Hairless Bulborbs in the game, if the hair on all other Bulborbs is thought to not exist in the first place, which is something never addressed in any of the characters' notes, and thus, a detail that is also not present in Pikmin 4.

Ujadani

Ujadani are not at all present in Pikmin 4 even though being one of the best enemies in the franchise. Those little bugs are so good, but sadly, no-one even thought of adding them in because half the people didn't even knew it existed!

Invisible Smoky Progg

Artwork of an invisible Smoky Progg.

No invisible Smoky Progg can be found in Pikmin 4. It is unknown if an invisible Smoky Progg refers to a new enemy entirely or to a state that the regular Smoky Progg can be in. Because it cannot be seen, it is unknown how many times it is present in the game, if at all.

Emporer Bulblax

Despite popular belief, the Emporer Bulblax is not present in Pikmin 4.

Emperor Bulblax

The Emperor Bulblax does not appear as an enemy in Pikmin 4 in any capacity. In all of its encounters, it takes on the role of a boss instead.

The President

See also: Emperor Bulblax.

See also: Sovereign Bulblax.

The President does not appear as an enemy in Pikmin 4.

Vespiquen

While Vespiquen was present in Pikmin 3 as one of the game's five major bosses, it does not return in Pikmin 4.

Creeping Chrysanthemum

The Creeping Chrysanthemum, an enemy originating in Pikmin 2, does not return in Pikmin 4. A brand new enemy, the Creeping Chrysanthemum, fills a similar role of mimicking a bunch of flowers, however.

kakureimo

kakureimo, an unused enemy from Pikmin 3, does not appear in Pikmin 4. This confirms that it wasn't cut due to time constraints, it just wasn't interesting to begin with.

Turtle-like enemies

What a turtle-like enemy could look like in Pikmin 4.

There is no enemy in Pikmin 4 that is styled to appear or act like a turtle. While real-world turtles would not make for a very hectic fight, there have been turtle-like enemies in other games that are much more stylized and energetic. Their omission may be due to licensing issues with Nintendo, who own the copyright for stylized turtle-shaped enemies.

Munge Dweevil

The Munge Dweevil is a species of Dweevil "exclusive" to Pikmin 2. Exclusive is in-between quotes because a very similar enemy, the Venom Dweevil, is in Pikmin 4. Both spray poisonous gases that only White Pikmin are immune to, but both are different colors, have different adjectives in their names, and are given different scientific names.

It's very likely that the Munge Dweevil changed its name to the Venom Dweevil to be more accurate, but failed infamously because it should actually be named Poison Dweevil instead. White Pikmin are victims of this classic blunder as well, though that blunder in and of itself is not present in Pikmin 4.

Treasures

Data Glutton

While the Data Glutton is not in Pikmin 4, the Buddy Display and Memory Fragment Series occupy a similar niche of "treasure which shows a cute image of domestic animals that the characters puzzle over".

Duracell™ branded batteries

Since their removal in Pikmin 2 (Nintendo Switch), Duracell™ batteries or other products have made no appearances in the Pikmin series. This hints that Nintendo and Duracell™ seem to be on bad terms.

Golden Grenade and Golden Sunseed

The two golden fruits from Pikmin 3, the Golden Grenade and the Golden Sunseed, are replaced in Pikmin 4 with the Golden Sniffer. Given the Golden Sniffer's large size, one popular theory is that the models for both fruits got melded together and sculpted to the shape of a pear.

Path Destroyer

The existence of a Path Creator implies the existence of a Path Destroyer, which is not a treasure in Pikmin 4.

Gameplay mechanics

Lie down

Lie down remains absent like in Pikmin 3, as it was replaced by Go Here!. Nevertheless, if a leader suffers a sufficiently violent impact, they will be forced to lie down, albeit temporarily. In addition, many castaways lie down throughout the story of the game, but it is unknown how they do this given they are not player characters, and the only way to use the feature is by the player pressing the appropriate button.

Wii Remote compatibility

Like all prior entries (including Hey! Pikmin thanks to the Wii U eShop exploit), Pikmin 4 originally was going to have the option to play with the Wii Remote controller, as evident by several unused sprites for buttons.

When asked, Pikmin series director Takeshi Kitano commented “We had to remove [the Wii Remote controls] from [Pikmin 4] because we learned midway through development that [Nintendo] never developed a sensor bar for the console.”

Lucky Block

Despite appearing in Pikmin Adventure, Lucky Blocks do not return in Pikmin 4. It's possible this is due to licensing issues with Microsoft, who currently own the rights to all Lucky Block content.

Side Stories

Side Stories, much like other side modes, are absent in Pikmin 4. This is likely due to almost all of the game’s content being centered around the Story Mode, leaving little opportunity for the developers to include any smaller side campaigns starring otherwise secondary characters.

The following is a list of Side Stories present in Pikmin 3 Deluxe that are not found in Pikmin 4.

Day	Pikmin 3 Deluxe	Pikmin 4
Flower Garden	Yes	No
Inside Forest	Yes	No
River	Yes	No
Tundra	Yes	No
Pikmin Reunion	Yes	No
Creature Hunting	Yes	No
Land, Sea, and Sky	Yes	No
First Part Found	Yes	No
Team Monster Hunt	Yes	No
Channel Gone Dry	Yes	No
Looking for Louie	Yes	No
Big Fruit Carnival	Yes	No
Another Part Found	Yes	No
The Ship Restored	Yes	No

Smash Ball

Smash Balls are items in the Super Smash Bros. series games that once broken allow a fighter to unleash a powerful Final Smash move. They made their debut alongside Captain Olimar in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and both have been present in every Smash game since. Olimar's Final Smash involves him hopping onto his ship, and flying off into low atmosphere as enemies chew anything left behind during the night. All of these aspects are present in Pikmin 4 besides the Smash Ball, leaving the reasons for its exclusion unknown.

The President

As opposed to Pikmin 2, it is not possible to play as a company president in Pikmin 4. As a direct consequence, it is also not possible to see any company presidents get injured by getting bitten, crushed, burnt, shocked, blasted with high-pressure water, blasted with an unnamed high-pressure, non-flammable liquid, blasted with high-pressure acid, blasted with a high-pressure corrosive liquid, blasted with high-pressure gas, get caught in an explosion, or get picked up by a Dweevil in Pikmin 4.

Progress bar

The loading screen progress bar is something that both is and is not in Pikmin 4. It depends on the version of the game.

Real time Moss growth

Unlike Oatchi, whose physical appearance changes over the course of Pikmin 4’s Story Mode, Moss always remains the same.

Pikipedia

A few games include in-game encyclopedias that allow the player to learn more about a given subject in the game, but Pikmin 4 is not one of them. It does contain a Piklopedia, but not a Pikipedia, meaning it has no pages, images, links, editor projects, or objective text.

Minor things

• The rest of Olimar's hair.
• The hole in the Cookie of Nibbled Circles.
• The exclamation mark in Go Here!
• Massive multiplayer online open-world gameplay.
• Massive multiplayer offline open-world gameplay.
• Scripulous Fingore.
• Hotels (despite the Insect Condo existing).
• Counter Strike: Source textures.
• Misspellings, unless "Pikmin" is counted as one since it is not present in the dictionary.

See also

• List of things in Pikmin 4
• List of things that were in Pikmin 4
• List of things that weren't meant to be in Pikmin 4
• List of things not everyone knows is in Pikmin 4
• List of lists