In the latest Nintendo Direct, Nintendo showed off a ton of Pikmin 3, as well as providing
some additional information on it. So we're going to do what we do best, and that's analyze
the footage to see what secrets it might be hiding.
But please make sure to check out our previous analysis videos if you haven't already, as
we'll be referring to them throughout the video.
So the new footage opens up with an up-close look at the 3 characters you'll be playing
as, Alph, Brittany, and Charlie.
But wait a second...
At last year's E3 Nintendo announced there would be actually be four playable characters,
A, B, C, and D. Now aside from the new names, A, B, and C appear mostly unchanged.
So it looks like poor D didn't make the cut
And it seems unlikely he'll pop up as a fourth later, seeing as the how the screen for the
Ship's Log only has three captain slots.
Of course, he might still pop up in some other kind of role, perhaps back on their home planet?
As for the renamed characters, you may have noticed that their names all start with the
same letter now as they did at last year's E3. So A became Alph, B, Brittany, and C charley.
But did you notice their new names are also extremely similar to the first three letters
of the NATO phonetic alphabet, which was a system developed in the 1950s to ensure there
was no confusion when speaking letters over the phone or radio, and is still used today
by the army.
So by those standards, the letter A would be Alpha, which is pretty damn close to Alph.
C is for Charlie, which is exactly the name of the captain here.
And B would be Bravo, which makes Brittany the odd one out in that her name the furthest
from the NATO phonetic alphabet. But hey, they both starts with Br, so it's close enough.
So that's a neat little touch that's easily missed. Oh, and if the D character still is
in the game, we might expect him to be named something close to "Delta" by that same standard
Okay, that's enough name talk--it's not like we're picking out baby names here.
But let's talk a little more about those 3 characters, which Iwata noted are from the
planet Hocktie, which is facing a major food shortage. So the three set out on a voyage
into space in search of food. But like in Pikmin 1, they have some kind of mishap and
end up crash landing on a strange planet, which is full of Pikmin of course
And it appears the characters are all separated in the process.
Now Pikmin 2 did something similar where both of the playable landed in different areas
of the same level, but end up regrouping by the end of the first day
But this time, it seems at least two of them will be starting off in entirely different
levels, as we can see Alph lands in a pleasant, spring-like area, whereas Charlie has the
misfortune of landing in an area covered by snow.
Unfortunately, the footage doesn't explicitly reveal where Brittany ends up, but we do have
some idea of when she shows up. If we take a look at the Day selection screen again,
we can see that the Second Day is titled Where's Brittany, which could mean a few things.
For one, it seems pretty clear that you'll start the game as Alph, seeing as he's the
only character displayed on that same screen for Day 2
This also suggests it'll be impossible to find Brittany on Day 1, as the first day in
both of the previous Pikmin games were basically highly structured tutorials, which means the
player here would have found her in Day 1 if it were possible.
In fact, we can see she doesn't show up in one of the Ship's Log's character slots until
Day 4, which means that Alph found her in Day 3 in this case--though in one of the clips,
we can see actually see her out in the field on Day 2, but you might be able to regroupe
with her as early as the second day
Which makes it likely that she actually does crashland in the same level as Alph,
Now as you might have noticed, Charlie hasn't appeared in the ship's log at all, suggesting
you won't regroup with him until later in the game.
While we're on the Ship's Log, it also confirms the order in which you'll be finding at least
two types of Pikmin. Not surprisingly, it looks like you'll be finding the red ones
first, which we also got to see in this clip. And it looks like the Rock Pikmin will show
up next, with you being able to find them as soon as day 2.
Now although none of the other Pikmin appear on this screen, we can see in one of the clips
that Charlie actually might be the first to encounter the yellow ones.
But wait just a second, yes again If we look at the day counter in the top-right corner,
we can see that he actually encounters them on Day 1. What the heck? How is it possible
that you're playing as the Captain on Day 1 when it seems he doesn't regroup with the
others until much later? Especially because another clip confirms you'll also be playing
as Alpha on Day 1.
Maybe you can actually choose who you starts as on the first day?
Or maybe you actually switch between the characters even though they're apparently not in the
same level, although we think this is a huge stretch? It's also possible that Day 1 is
unique in that you might control all 3 characters, perhaps helping the others get to a safe place
until Alph can reunite everyone.
This might make sense considering Day 1's a normally a tutorial level anyway, so why
not get all 3 characters in on the action?
And since we already know Alph we be encountering the Red Pikmin, and Charley the Yellow, this
might mean that Britney will be handling the Blue ones.
Now let's look a little more at Alph's Day 1 footage. Like in past games, it seems he'll
start with a small group of Red Pikmin, but he's going to need 16 more if he wants to
move that cardboard box there, which looks like it'll require 20.
Fortunately, he can increase the Pikmin's numbers by having them take pellets found
in the flowers back to the the Onion.
But in order to make use of those pellets, he'll first have to find the Onion, which
is basically the Pikmin's portable home.
Now in previous games, you would come across the Onion just lying there on the ground,
but this time, it seems to be growing as part of plant that you'll have to knock loose by
throwing Pikmin at it.
But once he has, we can see that it looks pretty different from the onions in past games,
scuh as how it changes to a Bright Red color upon dropping to the ground?
And in another clip, which shows The Onion fully operational, it actually appears to
be two colors: gray and red. Yup, you guessed it--the same two colors as the two Pikmin
types currently in your possession, being of course, the Red and the grey Rock Pikmin
And in yet another scene, we can see it's Red and Yellow--reflecting the Red and Yellow
Pikmin in your control. Although there are rock Pikmin here too, so maybe the Onion cycles
between colors?
Basically, between this, and the fact we only ever see one Onion, it seems all Pikmin will
now share the same home, instead of having a different onion for each color.
And while we're talking about things that have changed, look at your ship! It looks
substantially different from the ones in past games. Which makes sense given that your characters
are from a completely different planet than the captains of previous games.
In addition, if we go back to that first Onion clip, we can see Alph actually talks during
the game itself. This might suggest a stronger focus on the story--maybe your characters
will actually talk to each other throughout the game?
Speaking of the characters, we can see that they function very similarly to the pair in
Pikmin 2. Once you regroup with them, you can switch between them at will to manage
different Pikmin groups all over the map. And it seems they'll each have their own set
amount of health too, just as in Pikmin 2
But now, they can actually travel by themselves to where you need them simply by tapping a
location on the map displayed on the Gamepad
In fact, the GamePad appears to play a large role in the game, so much so, that it's actually
been given its own in-game name: the Koppad. It displays a perpetual map that you can easily
scroll around by dragging your finger, which displays the areas of the map you've explored,
as well as important things, such as your teammate and Pikmin locations.
In addition, we can see it has a few other functions too.
Of course, there's a compass in the top-left corner, but there appear to be 5 buttons below
too
The planet-shaped one, we're guessing, takes you to the map. Similarly, the camera on the
far right likely activates the camera mode that iwata's talked about before, where you
can snap pictures and share them to Miiverse.
Okay, so those two were easy, but what about the Pikmin icon? We think it might bring up
a star screen that displays all of the relevant info on your Pikmin, such as how many you
have in total and are out in the field, broken down by color.
Then there's a fruit button , which we're guessing displays all the Fruits you've found,
similar to the Treasure screen from past games.
And finally, we have this odd yellow icon, which looks like a page. WHat could this be
about?
As it turns out, that same icon actually also appears in the world itself, just behind the
wall in this clip. We think it's page-like icon might mean it's an information spot,
so when you touch it on the world map, that info will be transferred to your Koppad for
review.
And speaking of keeping track of things, Iwata confirmed that the 30-day time-limit from
Pikmin 1 won't be returning. But that doesn't mean it'll be nearly as leisurely as in Pikmin
2.
Now we already kow your goal is to find food. Specifically, fruits, such as Strawberries,
Pears, Cherries, and Oranges as shown in the trailer?
But why fruits? So you can take their seeds back home to plant them, silly. But that doesn't
mean the rest of the fruit goes to waste, as you'll be able to convert it into juice
to use it food to feed your 3 characters.
Because without keeping them adequately fed, you won't be able to complete your mission.
So even though there's no hard time limit, like Pikmin 1 per se, there is a soft one
that you'll have to actively work at to keep it at bay.
Now Iwata was a little vague on the exact details of this mechanic, but we think we
have some idea of how it works.
In the footage, we can see that a strawberry--or a Sunseed Berry as the game calls it, is enough
to fill one entire bottle.
And if we look close, the bottle appears to have a number 3 on it, which might suggest
it's good for 3 servings, or one for each character.
And based on what Brittany's says, it appears that you'll be eating at the end of each day,
and by the looks of it, one daily serving might be all you need.
So basically, it seems each fruit might buy you an extra day.
And assuming that's the case, that might mean the player here only has two days left before
they run out of food.
Which means it's probably going to be a constant struggle to find enough food fast enough to
ensure you don't run out. So much so that there's a constant reminder of how many juice
bottles you have left as you play the game, displayed right below the day counter
Now you might have noticed that the juices collected by the player so far are all different
colors, which makes sense as the juice will match the color of the fruit it came from.
In which case, the Orange juice obviously probably came from an orange, whereas yellow
could be from a banana or lemon, and the blue could be from a grape or an eggplant. But
we can't help but wonder if the different juices might have different effects too, sort
of like a power-up or something?
So what happens if you run out of juice? According to Iwata, you won't be able to continue your
game, which is where the game's Ship Log comes into play. The Ship Log allows you to restart
from apparently any of the days you've previously played, which is a feature that returns from
the Wii release of Pikmin 2.
And it seems you'll be also be able to access the Ship Log at any time from the pause screen.
Though you can also choose to immediately restart the day you're currently on, or just
end that day prematurely, if you want to switch levels
Now there are a few other details about the Ship Log I wanted to point out. Now as we
mentioned, it seems each day will be named. Which at first seems a little odd, because
Pikmin's not really a linear game. After all, how could each day have a set name if you
are free to pursue whatever objectives you want.
But we think we have a couple possible explanations. Both of which stem from the fact
One: If the names are generated automatically, they're probably given after the fact, based
on what you accomplished, which would be similar to Captain's Log in Pikmin 1, where Captain
Olimar provided a recap of the day's events--only now in shorter form.
Though our second idea is that maybe you can actually name each day yourself--it would
certainly help you remember what happened on each one!
Either way, both ideas are supported by the fact Day 4 here, which we're guessing is the
current day, doesn't have a name yet. Which means they're only given a name after you
finish them
Alright, it's time to move onto the actual gameplay itself
First off, we can see a lot of elements return from previous games. For one, we can see that
some flower pellets still cycle through colors before you knock them down. And since one
of those colors is grey, this confirms that Rock Pikmin will indeed be getting their own
pellets too
Speaking of flowers, if we look at the bottom-right corner in this scene, we can see the Burgeoning
Spiderwort flowers from Pikmin 2 return. Which, as you may remember, provide the berries used
to create the sprays that can power-up your Pikmin, suggesting those too are back.
Electric gates appear to be back as well, which means that Yellow Pikmin are likely
still the only ones immune to these. Though they do look a bit different this time
And in another scene, we can actually see a similar gate that's apparently already been
disabled
And while we're talking about gates, if we pause this scene just as the camera stars
moving, we can see what appears to be a Stone Gate, similar to the ones in Pikmin 1. In
that game, you needed to use Bomb Rocks to take them out--could those be returning as
well?
Then there's the geiser, returning from Pikmin one, that allows access to out of reach areas.
And unsurprisingly, the 10-second countdown at the end of each day is back too
And we can see what looks to be another geyser in this clip--although there's no water, and
it looks slightly different from the first one. This might actually be a cave entrance,
returning from Pikmin 2.
It's hard to tell if we're right, since there's no interior footage of the caves in this footage.
But as you might recall, a very cave-like sequence appeared in December's Nintendo Direct.
So if this does indeed mean caves are back, we don't know if they function the same way.
That is, are they still randomly generated? And does time stop when you're inside them?
But based on this clip, it sure looks like they're a lot bigger and more open than before.
Oh, and if we take a look at the map here, that sure does look like a cave that the character's
walking too, doesn't it?
Moving on, we get to some some more returning enemies as well, such as the Burrowing Snagret,
FIrery Blowhog. Dwarf Bulborbs, Wollywog, Wogpoles, and Armored Cannon Beetle--which
by the way, the Rock Pikmin seem to mostly be immune too, as they simply get buried by
the rock attacks instead of taken out completely.
But it's not just returning enemies we get a look at--take the Pyroplasmic Sloochs here
that that we've seen in previous footage. And then we have also have two enemies we've
never seen before too.
If we zoom in on the top-left cortner of this clip, we can see a purple enemy spring up
out of the water.
Then if we pause the geiser clip here, we can see a pair of odd, almost skeletal-looking
enemies.
Beyond the enemies, there are a few new environmental things I wanted to point out.
For one, it appears to be Raining in scene. And because it's only day three, we're guessing
this is the same area as many of the other scenes from the trailer--which didn't feature
rain. So maybe the weather might actually change in some of the levels now?
More importantly, there's a freakin' slide in the snow level--weeeeee!
And then we get another look at the glass gate, which only Rock Pikmin can break through.
Now let's talk about the user interface a bit.
it appears that the cursor now changes color to reflect which Pikmin type you have selected,
which should make it just a little clearer who's next in line. And there's not a number
next to your cursor which displays the amount of Pikmin of that color currently in your
possession
Now if you've played the original games, you might remember how much of a pain it could
be to keep track of the Pikmin colors you were throwing since the game could only displaye
the color of the next one, which wasn't of much help when you were throwing through them
too fast to react.
But this time, the game actually displays the order that of the next 3 color groups,
so in this case, it's showing that once you've exhausted your yellows, the blues are next,
followed by reds. And any teammates in your possession can appear here too, also unlike
the previous games, as they can now be thrown too, as seen in previous footage. Oh, and
in you were wondering why those icons were crossed out occasionally, it likely just means
a particular Pikmin group isn't available either due to being too far aay or incapacitate,
as in this case
Along those same lines, if we check out this clip, did you notice how the Pikmin now warp
from the group to Olimar's hands when he's throwing them? Although it may not look as
nice as smooth as previous Pikmin games where the Pikmin dynamically rearranged themselves,
it should help make it clearer how many Pikmin of each type you have left without them moving
around constantly.
Speaking of Pikmin numbers, we noticed the game sometimes now displays the amount of
Pikmin of the selected color left in the field who aren't currently under your control. But
it only appears in this one scene. So we're guessing it might only appear toward the end
of the day, when you need to hurry up and retrieve your Pikmin before night falls.
Finally, the same sun-meter that measure the time at the top of the screen, as well as
the 10-second countdown at the end of the day bth return too
And bu the way, all of the interface elements that appear in the game's world itself, such
as the cursor, or the numbers displayed above an object being carried by Pikmin, all appear
to be holographic, as if being projected, which is a really cool touch.
Now once you actually finish a level, you're able to watch a replay of the action on the
Gamepad, while the TV displays the stats of what's happening. And it appears you'll be
able to watch the footage at either 5x or 10x the speed.
And if we take another look at the Ship's Log, we can see it reveals it a few final
details. Of course, it shows how many fruits you've found and the amount of juice you have,
but it also shows the amount of each type of Pikmin--as well as the amount of Pikmin
you've lost.
But as you might have noticed, there are only 5-Pikmin slots, even though there are 7-types
total: Red, Blue, yellow, Rock, Winged, and Purple and White
And we're guessing the two that got sidelined are the Purple and White ones, which means
they're, once again, not primary Pikmin types. So it seems you won't be able to grow them
again, and instead can only transform existing ones into them, perhaps by way of the same
flowers from Pikmin 2.
Now in Pikmin 2, those two types actually lived in the ship instead of the onion, but
seeing as the ship has no holographic display in which to interact with unlike the Pikmin
2 one, we're guessing they might actually live in the onion this time.
Okay, we're nearly done here, but as usual, there are still just a few final details left.
First up, did you notice all of the Pikmin glow and sparkle when being thrown? Could
they be stronger while flying through the air? It sure looks that way based on this
poor Dwarf Bulborn who gets flattened by a few of them!
Next, we actually get to the Winged Pikmin side-by-side with the non-winged ones for
the first time, and it looks like they'll travel just like the group does, only overhead.
And in case you're wondering, it appears you won't find actually get your first fruit until
day 2, if Alph's text is anything to go by.
Finally, in this scene, did you notice there appears to be a face in the side of that hill?
But that's not any face. That's the face of the Company President from Pikmin 2. So is
this just a cute reference, or might it be a hint that the company president, and maybe
Olimar might be returning too?
And with that, we're done covering everything we could dig up on Pikmin 3.
As usual, let us know if we missed anything by posting in the comments.
Thanks for watching and makes sure to stay tuned to GameXplain.com for more on Pikmin
3 and other thing gaming too.