Pikmin 4 Preview: The sparkling return of the Pikmin
It’s been a decade since we last saw a new Pikmin game. Sure we had Pikmin 3 Deluxe for the Nintendo Switch in 2020, but we haven’t had a true sequel to the series since 2013. Pikmin 4 was officially announced in 2015 by series creator Shigeru Miyamoto, and after years of silence, we finally got our first look at the game in September 2022.
After years of waiting, it’s almost here, and after getting the chance to sample the first two areas of the game, I feel like I can confidently say it’s been worth the wait, and an ideal title for old and new fans alike.
The story follows similar beats to the previous three games, you're stranded on an unknown world following a failed attempt to rescue Captain Olimar, who's somewhere on the planet. Your objective is to repair your ship by fueling it with "sparklium", power source found on sparkling real-world objects, as well as rescue your missing crewmates, Olimar, and any other castaways you find. For the first time in the series, you get to create your own character, and while it's a nice addition, the customisation options were pretty limited so don't expect it to capture your exact likeness. It's not Elden Ring, but it does the job.
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To complete your objectives you'll need to harness the power of Dandori, a Japanese term for making the most of your day through organisation and good time management. To do this, you'll tame Pikmin, colourful little creatures that come in several variations, all of which have their own strengths and weaknesses, which you'll learn as you meet them. You've also got a new addition to the team, Oatchi, a loveable space dog who essentially acts as a large Pikmin, in addition to a traversal option. You and your Pikmin squad can ride Oatchi, who can swim across large bodies or water and jump to add some light platforming to the game, a new layer of exploration previous games didn't have.
All the basics are explained to you through several tutorials, which I found to be pretty tedious at first given I already knew most of the ins and outs of the series from playing the first three games. However, given how Pikmin 4 could potentially be someone's first Pikmin game, I can understand why they were included, and thankfully, they can be skipped at the press of a button for Pikmin veterans. I would recommend playing the first three Pikmin games before 4, all of which can be found on the Nintendo Switch Eshop, and will serve as a better introduction to the series.
The game controls really well, mostly due to the new targeting system for throwing Pikmin. The game will automatically lock on to enemies or objects that the Pikmin can interact with making it easy to assign your squad to whatever you want moving out of the way first. However, this can sometimes be a double-edged sword, as you can't cycle through targets, meaning sometimes you have to awkwardly shuffle things to get a lock on what you actually want. AI is improved too, and the Pikmin are much more responsive to commands in my opinion. In my gameplay, they always chose the quickest route when taking treasures back to the base, and would instantly return to me if I felt a tactical retreat or new objective was in order.
Easily one of the biggest highlights of the game for me was the exploration, and Nintendo have outdone themselves when it comes to the environments. One of the core appeals of Pikmin was seeing things from a smaller perspective, where everyday objects could look like mysterious titans and Pikmin 4 incorporates that idea into each area beautifully. The first area, Sun-Speckled Terrace, is a gorgeously crafted garden showered in glimmering sunlight, with towering plant life and enormous outdoor furniture. Future areas keep the theme of real-world locations seen from smaller eyes, and it makes exploration an absolute joy, especially collecting everyday objects as treasures, like fruits, toys, tools and even a huge Gameboy Advance, which made my retro-heart swoon. Aside from the world above ground, there are also plenty of adventures to be had underground, with the return of Caverns from Pikmin 2. These are mini-dungeons that contain treasures, dangers, and castaways, many of which feature unique challenges or conditions. I loved playing through these, and found them have just the right amount of challenge whilst being a pleasure to explore, much like the overworld.
The Pikmin also make exploration fun, since they all have their own unique abilities and uses. During my time with the game, I got to meet five types of Pikmin, Reds, Yellows, Blues, Rock Pikmin who return from Pikmin 3 and one of the new species, Ice Pikmin. All the different colours have their own powers and resistances, such as Reds being fireproof, Yellows being shock-resistant and Blues being able to swim. Some Pikmin are more suited to combat too, with Rock Pikmin packing a lot of punch, especially when thrown, and Ice Pikmin being able to freeze enemies. At the start of the game, you're limited to 20 Pikmin in a squad, which can be increased by finding onions. The Red, Yellow and Blue Pikmin can be spawned by bringing pellets and defeated enemies back to your base, whereas other types must be found in the wild.
Combat isn't much different to the first three games, boiling down to throwing an avalanche of Pikmin at an enemy to overpower it. If you haven't got many Pikmin in your party you may have to be tactical in where and when you throw them but if you've got a large group, there isn't much that can stand in your way.
While combat leaves a bit to be desired, the game more than makes up for it with a new form of challenge, Dandori Battles. This is without a doubt my favourite part of the game so far, and sees the player face off against a rival with their own Pikmin squad, in a battle to see who can collect the most treasure under a strict time limit. These were a lot of fun, and I'd purposefully go out of my way to find them while exploring each area. In my opinion, they're the culmination of what Pikmin is about, strategically organising your squad to get the most work done in as little time as possible, and it was a blast competing against an AI that seemed to have its own strategy in mind, sometimes involving sabotaging what I was doing by stealing my items or attacking my Pikmin.
As someone who's 100% completed all previous games in the series, I can confidently say that Pikmin 4 has a very strong opening. The old gameplay has been faithfully recreated with some new bells and whistles, and combined with the stunning world-design and new features/Pikmin, Pikmin 4 feels like a game that's been almost a decade in the making, I can't wait to see everything it has to offer.
Pikmin 4 will be released for the Nintendo Switch on the 21st of July. A free demo of the game is currently available on the Nintendo Eshop.
Topics: Nintendo, Nintendo Switch