About

Pikmin 4 is the sixth installment of the puzzle strategy video game Pikmin designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and developed by Nintendo. The fourth main edition of the game on console comes a decade after the release of Pikmin 3 in 2013, and its 2023 release date was announced during the September 2022 Nintendo Direct showcase.

History

On September 17th, 2015, Pikmin creator Shigeru Miyamoto discussed the development of Pikmin 4 in an interview with Eurogamer.^[1] He asserted that Pikmin 4 "was in development" and was "very close to completion." However, in a subsequent 2016 interview with GameRant, Miyamoto alluded to delays in the game's development, saying that it fell down Nintendo's list of priorities in a busy year.^[2] In a 2017 interview with Eurogamer, Miyamoto assured that the game was "progressing," and that it was "very close to completion."^[3]

On September 13th, 2022, Nintendo held a Nintendo Direct presentation announcing new games for its Nintendo Switch console, including a new Fire Emblem game, as well as a Legend of Zelda sequel to Breath of the Wild. Pikmin creator Miyamoto announced the 2023 release of the fourth main title during the presentation, along with a 30-second release trailer that was posted to YouTube^[4] on September 13th by Nintendo's official channel. The teaser gathered over 400,000 views in nearly two days (seen below).

Online Presence

The fourth main edition of Pikmin has been highly anticipated for nearly a decade, with Pikmin 3 released in 2013 and Pikmin 3 Deluxe in October 2020. Since late 2015 when Miyamoto discussed the development of Pikmin 4 for the first time, various discussions, speculations and memes have appeared online, though the early 2020s saw a significant amount of such posts after the deluxe edition of Pikmin 3 was released.

On July 31st, 2021, Twitter^[5] user @rubynesoberi posted about the /r/Pikmin subreddit, noting their anticipation of a new game. The post gathered over 8,000 likes and over 1,000 retweets in nearly 15 months (seen below).

On September 12th, 2022, Twitter^[8] user @dreampachi made a tweet referencing the Pikmin fandom's reaction to the Nintendo Direct announcement, which resulted in a massive increase in posts online relating to Pikmin 4 across the internet. The post gathered over 30,000 likes and 3,000 retweets in roughly three days (seen below).

BROOOOOO THE PIKMIN FANDOM IS WILD 💀💀💀💀 pic.twitter.com/g08y3e7x1T

— Pachi/Gil (@dreampachi) September 12, 2022

On September 13th, Redditor^[6] Joey5729 reacted to the announcement of the new Pikmin game following the Direct presentation and reveal, gathering over 1,800 upvotes in nearly two days (seen below).

Also on September 13th, Twitter^[7] user @bonniemvo tweeted about the new game's release, gathering over 16,000 likes and 2,000 retweets in nearly two days (seen below).

Various Reactions

Search Interest

External References