Nintendo released a new Pikmin 4 trailer out of the blue, and while it doesn’t show any gameplay from the upcoming Switch game, it does introduce a first for the series: character customization. Where previous Pikmin games had you playing either as Captain Olimar and friend or the intrepid trio sent to rescue them, you create your own hero this time.
The customization tools let you choose hairstyles, body types with no gender tags, and skin color, and it looks like there’s an option to customize your spacesuit as well.
That sounds like a small thing, and it is for pretty much any other game series. Pikmin isn’t any other game series, though. Of Nintendo’s first-party franchises, it’s changed the least in the two decades since the original Pikmin launched on the Gamecube.
Your task is the same as it was in Pikmin 3 – save Captain Olimar from yet another terrible fate – but with a player-created character, perhaps Nintendo plans to emphasize exploration and discovery over strictly guided story missions in separate locations.
The original announcement trailer seems to suggest that might be the case as well. There’s a notable lack of the high walls that usually separate stages in Pikmin, and every part of the backyard garden – save for maybe the underground – looks connected. Granted, Nintendo has barely shown anything about the game, so this Grounded-like zone could just be one area you visit.
Either way, hopefully the relaxed approach to who gets to be the hero in Pikmin 4 means we’ll see some other small-but-much-needed changes to the strategy series when Pikmin 4 launches on July 21, 2023.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF