Pikmin 3 Deluxe (NSP, XCI) ROM + v1.1.1 Update

Pikmin 3 Deluxe is an enhanced rerelease of Pikmin 3 for the Nintendo Switch. It was released worldwide on October 30th, 2020, and features a large number of changes to the original game and several new additions, including the return of the Piklopedia, the Side Stories game mode, and multiplayer gameplay in Story Mode. Explore PNF-404 planet with three explorers and use different types of Pikmin to collect fruit and grow your squad. Complete set requirements in Mission mode and compare your scores with the world via online leaderboards.

GAMEPLAY

The player controls a captain who commands a horde of up to 100 plant-like creatures called Pikmin and uses their unique abilities to explore the world, combat enemies, solve puzzles, and amass treasures. Pikmin can be directed to accomplish various tasks, such as building bridges, destroying barriers, collecting spoils, and defeating enemies.  They come in various colors and different physical features that signify their special abilities and immunities to hazards. For example, Red Pikmin are immune to fire and are stronger than other Pikmin, Yellow Pikmin are immune to electricity and can be thrown farther, and Blue Pikmin are immune to water.

Pikmin 3 retains the Red, Yellow, and Blue Pikmin, and also introduces two Pikmin types: the grey-colored Rock Pikmin, which can destroy tough barriers and is immune to being crushed by heavy objects; and the pink-colored Winged Pikmin, which can attack airborne enemies and travel through the air and over water.  The game also retains the White Pikmin, which poisons enemies when eaten, and the Purple Pikmin, which has the strength of ten Pikmin, both of which are from Pikmin 2, but are only available in the side modes of this game.

The player controls up to three captains and switches between them to accomplish tasks and solve puzzles. The initial release of Pikmin 3 offered three control schemes: the Wii U GamePad, Wii U Pro Controller, or Wii Remote (Plus) with the Nunchuk accessory. A downloadable update on May 30, 2014, adds stylus control on the GamePad. In all cases, the Wii U GamePad has an overhead map on its touch screen and is used to access the similar-looking KopPad.

Which the captains use for communication and to view the map and other statistics. The KopPad allows players to map the captains’ routes and take photographs which could be uploaded to the now-defunct Miiverse. Aside from the single-player story campaign, the game features a split-screen two-player multiplayer mode called Bingo Battle, in which each player has a 4-by-4 grid of items to collect, and must compete to get four-in-a-row on their board.

Mission Mode is a single-player or cooperative multiplayer experience where the players are presented with a task based on Pikmin fundamentals, which must be completed in a limited amount of time. There are three trials present within Mission Mode: Collect Treasure, where the players must collect all the fruit and enemies on the map using a set amount of Pikmin before time runs out; Battle Enemies, where the players must kill all the enemies on the map as quickly as possible; and Defeat Bosses, which allows the players to rematch the bosses from the story mode.

PLOT

In the year 20XX, the inhabitants of the planet Koppai are suffering from famine as a result of a “booming population, booming appetites, and a basic lack of planning”. Having scouted multiple planets with their SPEROS ships to find ones with resources, one returns positive after scouting the Pikmin planet, which they call PNF-404. It has an abundance of cultivable food, and so three Koppaite captains are sent to explore the planet and retrieve the food sources that will save their planet: the engineer Alph, the botanist Brittany, and the captain Charlie.

However, upon landing on the planet, their ship, the S.S. Drake, malfunctions and crash-lands, separating the three. Charlie falls to the Distant Tundra and meets the Yellow Pikmin, but is eaten by the Vehemoth Phosbat. Alph awakens in the Tropical Wilds and meets the Red Pikmin, who helps him recover their ship. Alph learns that the “cosmic drive key”, which is required to warp back to Koppai, has disappeared following the crash.

Alph finds Brittany in the Garden of Hope and rescues her with help from the Rock Pikmin, and they rescue Charlie after the S.S. Drake crashes in the Distant Tundra and Brittany discovers the Yellow Pikmin. The trio recovers some of Captain Olimar’s lost data files and finds out that he has the key, having mistakenly thought it was a treasure. Later, they mistakenly rescue Louie from the Twilight River after receiving his SOS message that was meant for Olimar.

He steals their food supply and Charlie’s rubber duck and escapes to his and Olimar’s destroyed spaceship in the Garden of Hope. They retrieve and interrogate him, and he tells them that Olimar is at the Formidable Oak. There, the captains and the Pikmin defeat a mysterious life form known as the Plasm Wraith to save Olimar, and he returns the cosmic drive key to them. The three use the key for the ship, offering Olimar and Louie a ride back to Hocotate, and they return home as the Pikmin wave goodbye.

The game’s ending varies based on the number of fruits the player retrieved during the game. If the player collects all the fruits, the narrator states that the three have completed their mission to restore life in Koppai and that the S.S. Drake’s crash-landing may not have been an accident. In a post-credits scene, some Pikmin sees a flaming object falling to the ground and runs to it. An additional story in Pikmin 3 Deluxe, “Olimar’s Comeback”, reveals the object to be a pod containing Olimar and Louie, who were sent back to the planet by the president of Hocotate Freight to retrieve and repair the destroyed spaceship they left behind.