Looks like Zero added this to the game database over seven years ago.

And the demo is finally out! It's very fun. It feels just like Pikmin while also feeling like it's pushing the series forward into new territory. You'd think adding a dog would clash with the game's mechanic, but he fits right in and adds a lot of depth.

I want to play more!

I enjoyed what I played of the demo, but man, sometimes Nintendo can be REALLY bad with text heavy tutorials. Just let me play the damn game! But it was really charming and I could definitely see myself playing more.

Though I should probably go back and play Pikmin 1 and 2 first...I've only played Pikmin 3. I don't know if the other games can top P3 for me, except considering how cumbersome it was to play on Wii U.

@PogueSquadron

The first one can be interesting to revisit. You'll see the games have come a long way, and that Pikmin 3 improved a LOT of elements, particularly the pathfinding.

I wouldn't especially recommend 2. Maybe if you really, really like 1. But 2 is in some ways not as good.

The demo was fun, but yeah, way too wordy. I guess I understand that this will be a lot of people's first Pikmin game but still, they could have shortened it. Especially since the dialogue isn't the most flavorful/funny I've seen from Nintendo.

I was warned ahead of time about the chattiness, and coming off of Final Fantasy XVI's demo that was 80% cutscenes, I must have been acclimated to it. There's a grandiose Twilight Princess esque quality to the prolonged prologue that it's endearing to see Pikmin pushing into. I hope it's indicative of the rest of the game being larger in scope and a lot more difficult.

I just wish they could do a lot of this dialogue in an overlay while you're running around. That way, you can still read it, but those who have the jist can just do their own thing. I thought in a post-Breath of the Wild era we might be past these kinds of tutorials, but here we are.

I'd love to check out P1 because it is indeed on my Gaming Bucket List (was too busy playing Rogue Squadron 2 and Smash around the Gamecube launch window). $30 USD is a little steep for this though, considering it's pretty much an emulated Gamecube game. Probably will never see this on sale though, so I'll probably have to just save up some coins to make the purchase more justified.

So how are we feeling about this?

I'm a big fan so far! I've only played for a few hours, but those have been pretty great. Pikmin 3 really blew my mind, and this hasn't quite reached those levels for me (not yet, at least), 'cause it doesn't have Brittany's wonderful snark and I'm not feeling the music as much, but going about Pikmin business with my Pikmin friends is still an absolute delight!

I think what surprises me is how relaxing the game feels. Not sure if I'll be missing the pressure to find food or to do stuff in a set amount of days or not, but right now it's just friggin' sweet to sit back and explore and collect.

Outside of the opening hour which was way too chatty and sluggish, I've been enjoying this quite a bit! It's a really tight, streamlined and fun game. There's plenty to do and there's very little downtime outside of when things get chatty on occasion. The new gameplay elements work well overall and there seems to be a large variety of enemies.

I find the super-streamlined approach to be something of a double-edged sword, as I find myself mowing down foes (and even some minibosses) so quickly they can't even get an attack in. It's very fun but also pretty easy, with a few too many things being automated. And what's with the lame pseudo co-op?? Dandori challenges are great at least.

It's an addictive and appealing game overall.

@TriforceBun
You do feel a bit OP a lot of the time, and I don't like how that translates into making the night missions seem cosy rather than threatening. I get that Nintendo wouldn't want to make some sort of Dying Light equivalent here, but given how the nights in previous games have been treated like certain death as soon as the sun goes down, this doesn't feel right.

Still, the regular missions' variety, the amazing map designs and the Dandori challenges and battles are absolutely terrific. The depth the game has, and the potential that depth has to create some interesting strategy puzzles is pretty huge, so I hope Nintendo will shower us with more challenging DLC in the future.

I look forward to playing this in a couple of years, but first, I must play Pikmin 2!

Got into this a bit more today. Is there really no time element at all? Kind of feels weird for a Pikmin game to throw that away. Part of the appeal to me of the older games was trying to do a bunch of things in the cleanest way possible to get as much done as I could in a single day. Don't get me wrong, Pikmin 3 was so generous with its time system that you'd almost have to go out of your way to run out, but it was still there as a vague pressure!

Still, otherwise it seems pretty tight. I like the dog.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule
Nice write-ups. I'm glad to find someone else who felt that Pikmin 2 could be genuinely unnerving, and the series started to shift away from that with Pikmin 3. I'm not sure how I'd rank them myself, but possibly 2 > 3 > 1. They're all pretty close and cool in their own ways. Do they have some creepy and freaky creatures in Pikmin 4? The handful of bosses I've seen so far have been cool enough.

I think my favorite part of the last two games has been the challenge modes though; going for platinums in these levels is Pikmin at its finest IMO.

@Zero
This is similar to Pikmin 2 in that there's still a time-of-day element, just not a day limit specifically.

I keep wanting to post, but waiting until I have the time to write long impressions, time I don't have right now!

I guess for now I'll say that Pikmin 4 is very fun, and it absolutely does not replace 3. Which is fine by me, especially since 3 Deluxe is on the Switch as well. In fact, the whole series is on the Switch, and that's great.

I'm enjoying the exploration a lot, the game looks gorgeous, Oatchi is a very good boy, etc. I do feel the almost complete absence of multitasking: I'm halfway done with the 4th area, and truly the only times I've felt it necessary to separate from Oatchi was to solve puzzles. It was not for efficiency. The fact that Oatchi and the player character have different abilities get in the way of that a bit.

But again, that's ok. This is, like, almost the character-action take on the Pikmin formula. Your little spaceperson has now been given a powerful, upgradeable new weapon to deal with the dangers of the Pikmin world… and they're pissed.

Maybe once I start replaying the Dandori challenges to improve my scores, I'll discover that multitasking is key. But right now, I find that having my trusty steed always near me for when I need to dispatch enemies in one powerful charge, or for when I simply need to jump, is way more useful.

@TriforceBun I felt like Pikmin 2 still had some timed stuff? Maybe I'm just remembering it all wrong.

Ooh, I've just started checking out Olimar's Shipwreck Tales (something you unlock by rolling the credits). I love it.

I can only echo everyone else here. The beginning is way too chatty, and the load times are a bit lengthy, but everything else is kind of awesome. They definitely made some big changes to the Pikmin formula, but it's such a smooth, frictionless, well-paced experience. I've only 100%'d the first level so far, but it was absolutely delightful. And the integration of modern hooks like unlocks and ability upgrades is very clever. I dunno if this will be the entry that catapults the franchise to new sales heights, but it definitely has mainstream crossover potential. Like the new Extreme album.

Extreme and the Switch are on fire!

Seriously, what a great little system. I love it as much as I hate my PS5.

So I've done pretty much everything, outside of getting all platinum medals in the challenges. 40 hours (and counting, probably)!

My one recommendation when tackling the post-credits content would be to do the Olimar side missions and what they unlock before trying to get all treasure. Since it will make farming purple pikmin easier.

I'm trying to finish up Olimar's Shipwreck Tales right now, and what a great bonus that mode is! There's even music playing and everything. Overall, as a package, Pikmin 4 is one hell of a game. Game of the year contender for me, even though I have to say I prefer Tears of the Kingdom and probably Octopath Traveler 2, but it's close!

Ok so... what do the screws do? You can target them and throw pikmin at them but nothing seems to happen?!

I'm loving the post-game too!

...is it even a post-game? They've taken the Mario approach of showing you the credits halfway through! I like it. Any excuse to make the game harder.

I've heard that the story ends up going nowhere and is just a bunch of random nonsense. Should I lower my expectations accordingly? Tears of the Kingdom burned me here hard. I'm fine with playing a game that doesn't have a story! Don't pique my intrigue if you're not going to commit to doing anything interesting with it!

Kojima does this thing where he'll raise a ton of questions in the first hour of the story, then not address any of them, roll the credits, make you think the game is over... and then suddenly blow your mind be directly answering everything during the epilogue. Nintendo does this exact same thing, except for the part where they answer your questions during the epilogue. I know just as much about the Zonai after 100,000 words of dialogue as I did at the start of the game...

...sorry, sorry, I'll stop.

Seriously though, the Pikmin 4 post-game is hard and great. I'm surprised how meaty it is!