Pikmin 4 confirmed, "very close to completion"

[Hero of Legend]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-07-20-pikmin-4-in-development-and-very-close-to-completion

Pikmin 4 is in development and "very close to completion", Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto has exclusively confirmed to Eurogamer.

Speaking during an interview held back in July, Nintendo's top designer revealed that work on a fourth major Pikmin game was well underway.

"It's actually very close to completion," Miyamoto said. "Pikmin teams are always working on the next one."

Nintendo then confirmed the news to Eurogamer in a separate statement:

"We can confirm that Pikmin 4 is in development but that is all we can confirm at present."

YES! I would actually like it if maybe they did a dual release ala Twilight Princess (and likely Zelda U) where it's on both Wii U and NX with better visuals and 1080p personally.

Can we please go back to Pikmin 2's style with the dungeons that had no time limit, and all of that awesome stuff to collect? I honestly was underwhelmed with Pikmin 3 and the rather boring collecting of fruit, the cast didn't charm me half as much as Olimar, Louie, and the President also.

And please bring back Purple and Whites in the main story.

Edited September 7, 2015 by Hero of Legend

[DiamondX]

Already a new one? I think they should let it for  the NX... it would be a great start for it

[jords]

I loved pikmin 3 so I think it's safe to say that I'm excited for this. I wanna play as olinar this time though.

[Diogenes]

Pikmin didn't click with me when it first came out, but I ended up getting 3 after trying the demo they put out and I really enjoyed it, so I'm glad to hear there's another one on the way. 

 

Can we please go back to Pikmin 2's style with the dungeons that had no time limit

Maybe my opinion would be different if I had played 2, but not having a time limit feels like it defeats the purpose of the game, kind of. Proper time management just seems like too important a piece of the puzzle to leave out.

[Wraith]

Maybe my opinion would be different if I had played 2, but not having a time limit feels like it defeats the purpose of the game, kind of. Proper time management just seems like too important a piece of the puzzle to leave out.

The time limit is still there when you explore the overworld, but there's no limit on the number of days you can spend on the planet. Pikmin 2 makes up for it by having a much greater emphasis on exploration and combat throughout the Cave. It's genuinely fun to try and find as much treasure as you can and come out with as much Pikmin as possible. You also can't restock your Pikmin while you're in a Cave, so the challenge becomes more about resource management and less about time management. It ended up being my favorite game in the series.

 

Anyways, I never expected there to be a fourth Pikmin, and especially not this soon, since they consistently sell pretty badly. I'm glad Miyamoto believes enough in the concept to keep making them. You'd think this series would end up like Metroid or something. This is one of my favorite Nintendo franchises so I'm glad to see it's not dead.

 

[Kaze no Klonoa]

It's interesting that this announcement was from a interview dating back in June. Who knows how far they are in progress beyond "almost finished", this could very well be a early 2016 release if possible.

[KHCast]

Nintendo's release windows really at this point to me aren't to be trusted lol.

[Thigolf]

It's interesting that this announcement was from a interview dating back in June. Who knows how far they are in progress beyond "almost finished", this could very well be a early 2016 release if possible.

I highly doubt that. Their entire E3 focused on games coming out late 2015/early 2016, if they would've even planned to release the game in that timeframe, I doubt they would've left such a major announcement out. If I had to guess, it's probably a Launch game (or at least Launch window) game for the NX.

The whole announcement seems so bizzare to me - just randomly name dropping the game as an announcement, pretty much going "Oh yeah, we're working on Pikmin 4, by the way" is so weird. But hey, I'm glad it's coming.

Edited September 7, 2015 by Thigolf

[Gregzilla]

Wow, I did not expect this at all, especially so soon and without warning.  I absolutely love Pikmin, and I always thought the series deserved more praise and attention than it gets, so I'm always up for more.  

Though on the topic of 2's caves, I definitely hope we DON'T go back to that.   I thought they made 2 feel a lot more lifeless and level editor-y than the other two games.

[Celestia]

So far the only Pikmin thing I've played so far is 3's demo. It was so fun that I'm excited for this without even fully playing one of the games. #fakePikminfan

 

Seriously though, this really came outta nowhere, huh? If the game is actually "close to completion", I wonder how soon we'll get some footage or screenshots.

[Wraith]

 Though on the topic of 2's caves, I definitely hope we DON'T go back to that.   I thought they made 2 feel a lot more lifeless and level editor-y than the other two games.

I think they could take the concept and tweak it so it's more organic than the Caves were. Like, make little "dungeons" that each have their own theme. Imagine coming across like a hollow tree stump or the inside of a house even a partially sunken boat that you have to use the blue pikmin to get to and having that being the  "dungeon" you explore. It'd be kind of like Zelda, but I think it could work. 

[DiamondX]

Wait, 2 had unlimited days? That makes no sense as in the first game SPOILER ALERT:

30 days is the maximum the costume can resist, and after 30 days Olimar and Louise should die as the oxigen is toxic for them

[Wraith]

Wait, 2 had unlimited days? That makes no sense as in the first game SPOILER ALERT:

 

Hidden Content

In the original Pikmin, Olimar crashed on the planet by accident as he was passing by so he wasn't actually prepared to stay on a hostile planet for days, so he didn't have the resources. In Pikmin 2 they came prepared to explore the planet for an extended period of time.

[Sean]

Would be cool if they re-released the other two games in some capacity so I can play the whole trilogy (I have 3 but haven't dived into it yet). I wouldn't even mind if they just put up the New Play Control versions on the eshop and called it a day

[DiamondX]

Oh, makes sense now. Thanks!

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Nintendo's been known to keep games under wraps for longer than they should, and, it's been pretty obvious that they were keeping most of their Q1/2 Wii-u titles underwraps, I'd say this could likely be a spring release since we don't have a big first party mid spring title yet, though there's also 2 mystery games(from Retro and Next Level games) for the wii-u that are due out next year as well

[JaidynReiman]

Nintendo's been known to keep games under wraps for longer than they should, and, it's been pretty obvious that they were keeping most of their Q1/2 Wii-u titles underwraps, I'd say this could likely be a spring release since we don't have a big first party mid spring title yet, though there's also 2 mystery games(from Retro and Next Level games) for the wii-u that are due out next year as well

Technically, we don't know anything about Retro or Next Level Games' projects. We don't even know if Next Level is making a Wii U game. There was a rumor, and they confirmed they have a Wii U dev kit, but that could've been shifted. Retro's was confirmed to be Wii U, and I'd bet its probably still set for Wii U.

 

It's interesting that this announcement was from a interview dating back in June. Who knows how far they are in progress beyond "almost finished", this could very well be a early 2016 release if possible.

Doubt its early 2016. Probably Spring or mid-Spring at the earliest.

 

Nintendo's been known to keep games under wraps for longer than they should, and, it's been pretty obvious that they were keeping most of their Q1/2 Wii-u titles underwraps, I'd say this could likely be a spring release since we don't have a big first party mid spring title yet, though there's also 2 mystery games(from Retro and Next Level games) for the wii-u that are due out next year as well

This is true about Nintendo being known to keep games under wraps longer than they should. That said, at least Pokken Tournament is coming around roughly Spring next year. Pikmin could be around that time, or maybe it'll be Q4 (we know nothing about Q4 barring most likely Zelda Wii U launching then, though people do speculate the NX will launch then, which I highly, highly doubt).

 

I highly doubt that. Their entire E3 focused on games coming out late 2015/early 2016, if they would've even planned to release the game in that timeframe, I doubt they would've left such a major announcement out. If I had to guess, it's probably a Launch game (or at least Launch window) game for the NX.

The whole announcement seems so bizzare to me - just randomly name dropping the game as an announcement, pretty much going "Oh yeah, we're working on Pikmin 4, by the way" is so weird. But hey, I'm glad it's coming.

IF, and that's a BIG IF, the NX launches next year, Pikmin 4 is probably a launch title. However, I highly doubt it is. If the game is supposedly "nearly complete," it had to have been in development for some time already. I don't see an NX title being that far along by this point. We don't even have any evidence the NX has been shown off for much longer than this past year, though there's plenty of rumors that sprang up just after it was revealed to be in development.

Is it likely they've already given people NX devkits? Yes, because devs need to start games 2-3 years in advance. We've gotten a lot of rumors of that happening this year. If that's the case, the likelihood of the NX launching next year is very slim, because there's simply not enough time to get devs on board for the system.

 

I think Pikmin 4 will be a late Wii U title, not an NX launch title.

[Salamander]

Nintendo may sometimes keep games under wraps longer than they should, but they're also prone to announcing things too early - like Yoshi's Woolly World and Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem, which had blatantly barely started development when they were announced, and Smash Bros. Wii U, which hadn't begun development at all.  (I feel like we knew about Pikmin 3 many years in advance, too?)  To a certain extent you could apply this as well to things like Zelda Wii U - we've known for years that it existed, but the way Nintendo handles its main console Zelda titles is to give a respectable tidbit that makes it look like more is on the horizon and then hold on for more than a year before saying anything else about them... and I'd also say the same about NX, where everyone with a brain knew that of course Nintendo was developing a new console because the big three will always have their next console in development as soon as the last one is out, they aren't just sitting around twiddling their thumbs, but just giving it a codename made everyone assume that it was a formal announcement rather than just emphasising that fact of yes, of course they're working on a new one, like always.  (In that respect, though, Nintendo's big mistake was mentioning the name NX (even though it almost certainly won't even be called that); if there wasn't a new name to cling onto, I don't think people would've jumped the gun in the same way.)

[JaidynReiman]

Nintendo may sometimes keep games under wraps longer than they should, but they're also prone to announcing things too early - like Yoshi's Woolly World and Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem, which had blatantly barely started development when they were announced, and Smash Bros. Wii U, which hadn't begun development at all.  (I feel like we knew about Pikmin 3 many years in advance, too?)  To a certain extent you could apply this as well to things like Zelda Wii U - we've known for years that it existed, but the way Nintendo handles its main console Zelda titles is to give a respectable tidbit that makes it look like more is on the horizon and then hold on for more than a year before saying anything else about them... and I'd also say the same about NX, where everyone with a brain knew that of course Nintendo was developing a new console because the big three will always have their next console in development as soon as the last one is out, they aren't just sitting around twiddling their thumbs, but just giving it a codename made everyone assume that it was a formal announcement rather than just emphasising that fact of yes, of course they're working on a new one, like always.  (In that respect, though, Nintendo's big mistake was mentioning the name NX (even though it almost certainly won't even be called that); if there wasn't a new name to cling onto, I don't think people would've jumped the gun in the same way.)

They've mentioned code names in the past; namely Code Name Dolphin for the Gamecube and Revolution for the Wii.

 

And yeah, this is true. They're prone to both keeping games under wraps longer than they should and announcing things too early. So this isn't all that surprising.

 

I think Miyamoto simply didn't feel comfortable showing Pikmin 4 off at E3. And when it is officially announced, we'll also finally get the Pikmin Amiibo (probably just Pikmin itself, or maybe Pikmin and Olimar separately).

[Marcello]

 That's cool. Makes sense, I think. They can easily use a lot of assets from 3 to keep the budget and development time down. Hopefully there'll be better ground textures, though.

Release date, I'm guessing October. Pokken will probably be the big May game and Zelda will be Holiday. Not sure what else there is next year.

Technically, we don't know anything about Retro or Next Level Games' projects. We don't even know if Next Level is making a Wii U game. There was a rumor, and they confirmed they have a Wii U dev kit, but that could've been shifted. Retro's was confirmed to be Wii U, and I'd bet its probably still set for Wii U.

 Next Level Games is making Federation Force.

[JaidynReiman]

 That's cool. Makes sense, I think. They can easily use a lot of assets from 3 to keep the budget and development time down. Hopefully there'll be better ground textures, though.

Release date, I'm guessing October. Pokken will probably be the big May game and Zelda will be Holiday. Not sure what else there is next year.

 Next Level Games is making Federation Force.

 

Next Level Games is also rumored to be working on a Wii U title, though. Yes, we know about FF, but that's not what I meant. They confirmed they have a Wii U dev kit, that much we know. FF is also a relatively more simplistic title from what we've seen, so they probably don't need as much manpower on that one.

 

Next Level could've maybe shifted their development to NX, but I doubt that, because its iffy they have a big enough team to produce an NX title and FF (then again, FF will be out next year, so by then they can shift resources around).