Today’s Nintendo Direct had plenty of exciting news, but one of the absolute highlights was shown right at the beginning, a brand-new gameplay trailer for Pikmin 4. This trailer has given us a good look at new creatures and new mechanics that the newest entry in the franchise has in store — let’s dive in!
Right off the bat we can see that the three traditional Pikmin colors, Red, Yellow, and Blue, are back, and we’re shown them accomplishing tasks like breaking walls and fighting enemies, but also some newer tasks like pulling at roots to break up a clump of dirt, and what looks like building a wall that our adventurers can then climb up. Collecting various items as treasure looks to be back as well, with a team of Pikmin bringing a pair of binoculars back to the player’s tiny ship.
Up next is a brand new Pikmin type! Ice Pikmin are introduced and shown to be able to freeze enemies as they fight them, as well as freeze bodies of water for other Pikmin and the player to walk across.
Alongside these new Pikmin is the introduction of a brand-new character/creature named Oatchi. Oatchi is just about exactly what you’d picture if you thought of “a god from Pikmin,” and honestly I can’t tell if it’s cute or horrifying. Either way, Oatchi looks to be plenty helpful, as they’re shown breaking obstacles, dragging dead enemies like a Pikmin would, and ferrying the player and all of their Pikmin safely across a body of water. Oatchi can also sniff out castaways, and it looks like it’s up to the player and their Pikmin to rescue them.
We got a good look at some brand-new and returning enemies, including what looks to be baby Burrowing Snagrets and the return of Pikmin 2’s Empress Bulblax and her Bulborb Larvae.
The trailer then ends with an ominous nighttime scene featuring a Bulborb and several glowing piles of something similar to konpeitō, a Japanese sugar candy. The Bulborb takes a few small steps and briefly looks around before its eyes begin to glow a harsh red, and it walks off screen. The trailer then fades to black and finally, gives us a release date for Pikmin 4, July 21st, 2023.
See anything that I missed? Let us know down in the comments or over on Twitter, and make sure you’re following Nintendo Wire for all the latest information about Pikmin 4!
Direct trailer
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Written by Jaxson Tapp
As a lover of gaming and the written word, Jaxson currently fills his time not only with playing games, but also writing about them. Ready for anything, Jaxson’s passion for puzzle games, JRPGs, tough platformers, and whimsical indies helps him bring a well-rounded opinion to Nintendo Wire’s reporting.
