Most Wanted:

Pikmin 4 Concepts

By Brandon Sultana

September 7th, 2015

 

 

Eurogamer today dropped a huge bombshell in revealing an interview with Miyamoto that not only announced that Pikmin 4 is in development, but that it’s almost complete. This gives a very unique scenario, where we know that a game is almost done, but have absolutely no information on it. Because of this, I figured it’d be a nice idea to detail what I’d like to see in the sequel, before we get official details on the project, which will presumably be shown in the near future.

 

Keep it on a Console

So we don’t even know which system this game is coming on. Some of the ideas include Wii U, 3DS, New 3DS, and Home/Portable NX. Personally, I don’t really care what it ends up on, so long as it stays on a home console that I can play on a TV. One of the defining features of the series is the photo-realistic graphics, so downgrading from the beautiful Pikmin 3, to the low resolution 3DS would be a big step down, unless they stylized the graphics in some way. Additionally, with the small screen and lower power, having many Pikmin on screen simultaneously will be difficult, or even impossible on a handheld system, so I think keeping it on a home console will be crucial.

 

Don’t over-complicate it

When you make sequels to games a lot of times the focus is to make it bigger than the previous versions. For example, every game in the Pikmin series has increased the Captain count by one. I don’t think continuing this trend for Pikmin 4 would be wise, as four captains would really be pushing it in terms of simplicity. We know Pikmin 3 was planned to have 4 characters, so Nintendo might agree and they cut a character for that exact reason, so I think the game might stick with the 3 captain limit. The game should also mimic Pikmin 3, in that it introduces new Pikmin but didn’t increase the Pikmin count by removing previous typings. 5 types is perfect and shouldn’t be increased, even if it means cutting Rock and Flying Pikmin. Lastly, I’ve also seen people say that if the game were to be put on the more powerful NX, that the total Pikmin cap of 100 should increase, but once again, this will over do it and just make the game a bit too unwieldy if you ask me. The game needs to be simple, yet complex at the same time, and I think Pikmin 3 had the perfect balance.

 

Bring back the Dungeons

So while Pikmin is a franchise that I love, there is one game that stands tall above the rest in the series, being Pikmin 2, and a lot of my love for that game stems from the addition of randomized dungeons which added a ton to the game. First and foremost, they increased the game’s length dramatically, making the game much meatier than its prequel or sequel. They also provided a lot of challenge to the game, and created tons of tense moments due to the random generation. Despite the tenseness from enemy encounters, they also weren’t timed, allowing for a nice contrast to the rush of the above ground gameplay. You basically got two totally different gameplay styles, where you rush to get as much as you could above ground, while below ground, you were encouraged to take your time and take care of enemies slowly. I think seeing tons of dungeons in Pikmin 4 would be a huge improvement, and I’m sure they could find cool and interesting ways to expand on the idea.

 

Give the game cool amiibo functionality

Nintendo have finally been giving their games better amiibo functionality as of late, and I feel that Pikmin 4 could have some cool ideas up it’s sleeve. If you want to go ABSOLUTELY CRAZY, you could maybe scan in figures and get challenge maps related to the character. Scan in a Samus Amiibo? Get a stage based off of Norfair or something. Of course this is totally unrealistic as it would require A LOT of work, but it’d be an amazing idea. A more realistic Amiibo concept would maybe scanning in Amiibo would grant you an item related to the character (Mario’s hat, a Pokeball, Star Rod, etc.) that could appear on a special challenge map. The more you have the more items appear on the map. Additionally, scanning them in could unlock them in a Treasure Gallery similar to Pikmin 2, with Olimar even having notes about the item. Maybe he can talk about what it was like meeting the characters in Smash Bros? But that’s still just a pipe dream

 

Give us Completion Incentives

When I 100%ed Pikmin 3 I was left… a little disappointed. Really, the only difference between the Good, Medium, and Bad ending in the game was just some text in the game’s closing epilogue, which wasn’t rewarding at all. Pikmin 1 and 2 rewarded the player with special cinematics, which wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things, but were definitely much better than the lackluster Pikmin 3 bonus. At the very least, this game should reward players with a similar special cutscene, but if they want to go above and beyond, they can make something unlockable by completing the game, which can range from concept art, to a whole new mode. I’d LOVE a sandbox mode where you are given maximum of every type of Pikmin and you can choose your squad and just mill around the levels from the main game. The driving point of the focus is exploring and collecting. You should be rewarded for doing such.

 

 

Also don't just tease the game for like... six years again. Pikmin 3's development cycle was painful