Pikmin 4 (Wii U)

Pikmin 4 is a real-time strategy game developed by BallsAngus and BallKing025. It takes place after the events of Pikmin 3, and is the 4th installment in the pikmin franchise. It will be released in 2016 exclusively for Wii U and 3DS.

New features include online multiplayer, many new pikmin, and enhanced graphics.

Plot
After Alph, Charlie, and Brittany return form Koppai, they use the seeds from PNF-404 to help bring life to Koppai, creating a happy civilization. However, Koppai's ruler tells the 3 heroes that the seeds aren't enough to feed the entire planet. So, Alph, Brittany, and Charlie are sent back to the Pikmin planet. Louie goes back to the planet to collect some samples of life on PNF-404. Both ships do not see each other flying, but they do result in a collision. Louie wakes up in the Vast Plains, only seeing that his ship's both flying capabilities and vocal chords are destroyed. Louie befriends some red pikmin and quickly carries the engine back to the ship. Alph wakes up in Silver Lake, only to find himself in the darkness of nighttime. He hears the roar of a bulborb, and takes refuge in a giant lunchbox. The next morning he finds some cyan pikmin, and helps them free their onion. Louie lands to save him, and both take part in constructing a bridge. They explore the area, soon finding an ominous cave. They go inside and find the S.S Drake. However, a giant drenchworm, the Fireworm, attacks the crew. After defeating it, Alph recovers the S.S Drake, and Louie and Alph go their separate ways.

Note: From this point and on until the final area, the player will play from two different perspectives, the Hocotation and the Koppaians.

Alph finds Brittany's signal in Paradies Forest. She is sitting on a tree. When Brittany sees the S.S Drake, she is relieved. but falls off the tree into a small hole. Inside the hole are 3 purple pikmin. Brittany sees them standing next to a Violet Candypop Bud. She witnesses it evolve into the first purple onion. It sprouts a purple seed, and Brittany helps increase the purple population. After she escapes the hole with the help with the purple pikmin, she and Alph are reunited. They break down a wall, and see 3 eggs. When they approach it, they are engaged into a battle with the Aero Snagret. After defeating it, they collect more fruit, and eventually meet up with the White Pikmin (The white pikmin may be found on another day depending on the player's skill).

Meanwhile, Louie continues his search in the Bulbous Tar Pits. There, he encounters the Black Pikmin. Louie, however, did not find anything in the area. So he decided to go back to the crash site, the Vast Plains. He figured something might be there, because it wasn't far from the formidable oak, the final area in Pikmin 3. With the help of the Black Pikmin, Louie locates something good on the other side of a crystal gate. Louie tries blowing the gate up using a bomb rock located next to him. However, he blows himself up in the process, and he lands next to the Rock Pikmin. After increasing their numbers, Louie breaks the gate using the Rock Pikmin. They find a signal close to their area, but the ship calls it a day, preventing them from taking a look at it.

Alph and Brittany set out to find Charlie. They go to the Thirsty Desert, encountering the Winged Pikmin.

Locations
Vast Plains Silver Lake

Paradise Forest

Bulbous Tar Pits

Thirsty Desert

Pikpik Canyon

Sandy Beach

Iron Mines

Volcanic Island

Altitude Valley

New Pikmin
Cyan Pikmin: Resistant to freezing

Black Pikmin: Resistant to Tar

Brown: Covered with fur;can be thrown farther than other pikmin; Can dig underground with claws.

Iron: Used to create pikmin upgrades

Orange: Explosion Resistant

Green: Resistant to Acid

Rainbow: Resistant to all hazards EXCEPT eating. ONLY a maximum of 10 per game.

Scrapped Pikmin
Maroon Pikmin: Resistant to dehydration. Reds replaced maroon Pikmin, due to their resistance to fire.

Shadow Pikmin: Can blend with the shadows. Can attack shadow enemies. Moved to Pikmin 5.

Yarn Pikmin: Great Weavers. Moved to Pikmin 5.

Pikmin Upgrades
Iron pikmin are obtained to create upgrades, which make pikmin stronger.

Iron Counterparts:

Knight (Red): Can ride Bulbmin; Higher resistance to attacks

Cyborg (Yellow): Can shoot Lasers, weigh 2 pikmin.

Submarine (Blue): Shoot Missiles; only available underwater.

Air Striker (Winged): Can ride a jet that shoots missiles (10 damage).

Bomb Rock Pikmin (Rock): Explode upon impact.

Speed Boot Pikmin (White): Super Fast; Shoots poison through dart gun.

Metal Fist Pikmin (Purple): Strong as 20 pikmin

Freeze Trooper (Cyan): Shoots freeze darts.

Ninja (Black): Throws Tar Shurikens.

Fan Pikmin (Maroon): Prevents pikmin dehydration (scrapped)

Wolverine (Brown): Has metal fur and claws.

Assassin Pikmin (Shadow): Silent but deadly. (Moved to Pikmin 5)

Shear Pikmin (Yarn): Whip + Shears = Awesomeness. (Moved to Pikmin 5)

Cannon Trooper (Orange): Shoots Bomb Rocks (20 sec reload time).

Acid Gunner (Green): Shoots Acid from machine gun.

Sniper (Camo): Merging one with 2 iron pikmin will create a sniper pikmin. Shoots from a far distance.

Gamemodes
Mission Mode: Easy, Normal, Hard, Insane, or Pixtreme difficulties.

Story: The original story

2-P Bingo Battle: 2 player Battle

Online Multiplayer: Play with friends online

Online Gameplay
A new addition to the pikmin franchise, players now have the option to play online with friends. Normal servers can hold up to 4 players, but private servers can hold up to 10 players. There are a total of 3 gamemodes online, being Mission, Story, and battle. In Mission, it is basically challenge mode, but with people online. Story is story, but is completed online with friends. you can save your progress and leave the game. You can log onto the Story mode server at any time. Finally, battle is the online version of 2P Battle. You can have a 2v2 match, or have a 5v5 team battle (or 2v2 on normal servers).



Snapshot of Online Menu

Gameplay Mechanics
Weather:

Weather is a new feature of the pikmin frachise. There are different types of weather, each with their own pros and cons.
 * Sunlight:
 * The default weather, there are no additional effects. It is the most common weather, except in Paradise Forest and Silver Lake. There is a 25% chance the weather will change during a sunny day, and a 45% chance of clouds appearing.


 * Cloudy
 * The second most common weather, cloudy is a weather when clouds cover the whole sky (I mean, obviously). It is just like sunny weather, both having no effect on the gameplay. however, cloudy weather may have wind too. There is a 40% chance of rain occurring and a 15% chance of a thunderstorm occurring.


 * Windy
 * Windy weather can occur at any time. The wind may occasionally blow pikmin and even items back.


 * Thunderstorm
 * One of the more dangerous weathers of the game, thunderstorms usually occur when you see dark, heavy clouds at the end of day cutscene or on the map. Thunderstorms ALWAYS come in with lightning, heavy rain, wind, and occasionally hail, making it hard to get any work done during a thunderstorm. Lightning can come down and electrocute an explorer or kill pikmin.


 * Sandstorm
 * If strong winds blow in desert areas (or more specifically, the Thirsty Desert), it will result in a sandstorm. During a sandstorm, it is hard to see whats going on, and pikmin may occasionally get killed.


 * Heat Wave
 * Usually only occuring at the Vast Plains and Thirsty Desert, a heat wave is when the sun causes intense heat. pikmin may die from dehydration if you stay in one place for too long. Throwing them in water and calling them back will do the trick. Many places, such as ponds, would be dried up, making new areas and items accessible.


 * Tornado
 * A giant spinning vortex of force, the Tornado is a weather phenomenon that may occur during thunderstorms or cloudiness. The tornado rips apart everything in its path. It will kill the pikmin and it will kill you, especially flying objects and debris.


 * Hurricane
 * The rarest and most dangerous weather, hurricanes can rip the map apart in minutes. They usually last for 3 days. The map goes back to normal the next day. Hurricanes are like thunderstorms but triple the power. Along with heavy rain, wind, lightning, and hail, hurricanes can bring giant storm surge waves and even tornadoes. Talk about disaster.


 * Rain
 * The third most common weather, rain can come in 3 levels. Level 1, which is basically sprinkling. 2, which is normal -medium rain. And 3, which is flash flood level. Levels 1 and 2 don't harm your pikmin, but Level 3 is enough to flood the whole map.


 * Flash Flood
 * Flooding is both good and bad. It can open up new areas similar to heat wave, but it gives other pikmin beside bulbmin, rainbow, and blues a disadvantage. Winged pikmin can be hit by water droplets.


 * Snow
 * Snow only occurs in Silver Lake. Pikmin can freeze and can open up new areas.


 * Ash Storm
 * Only occurs in Volcanic Island, ash storms only occur when the volcano erupts. Ash storms bring in raining magma. Tough Luck. Red pikmin along with the magma suit X is recommended. The magma will result in an instant death.

Story Mode Difficulties:

Easy difficulty. Enemies have lower health, days are longer at 20 min, disaster weathers are more rare. Nectar is VERY easy to find. You can have 15 Rainbow pikmin per game instead.
 * Easy (Winged Pikmin Icon)

Normal Difficulty. Enemies have default health, days are a default 14 minutes, and disasters have a normal chance of occuring. Only 10 Rainbow pikmin.
 * Normal (Red Pikmin Icon)

Hard Difficulty. Enemies have more health, days are 10 minutes, disasters occur more often, Nectar and Candypop Buds have a lower chance of appearing. Enemies can spot you at a farther distance.
 * Hard (Purple Pikmin Icon)

Insane Difficulty. Enemies have WAY more health. Days are 9 minutes, disasters occur SO OFTEN, WHAT IS THIS A NIGHTMARE?! Nectar and candypop buds are rare, Iron pikmin are harder to get, more enemies are added into maps.
 * Insane (Shadow Pikmin Icon)

Pixtreme Difficulty. Enemies are SUPER POWERED HP MONSTERS. Days are nothing, so HURRY UP! Disasters occur regularly, nectar and candypops are jewels to you, iron pikmin are scarce, and there are so many enemies that you have to defeat something every 2 seconds. Unlocked when all difficulties are complete in story mode.
 * Pixtreme (Knight Pikmin Icon)

Controls
This section is still under development. However, the controllers you can use are:
 * Gamepad
 * Wii Remote
 * Pro Controller

Bosses
Fireworm

Airborne Snagret/Aero Snagret

Thorny Devil

Emperor Scworpion

Ultimate Crawmadus Maximus

Empress Snapipede

Dragonwing

Tryhorn

Illusion Wraith

Trivia

 * The main menu screen for Wii U takes place in Paradise Forest, a location in pikmin 4, while the title screen for 3DS taks place in Sandy Beach, with Volcanic Island in the distance.
 * It is planned to be released on February 2016.
 * This game introduces the most enemies and mini bosses of the pikmin franchise.
 * The Koppaians encounter the following Pikmin: Cyan, White, Purple, Brown, Green, Winged.
 * The Hocotatians encounter these Pikmin: Red, Yellow, Blue. Orange, Black, Rock.
 * Both groups find the Iron and Rainbow Pikmin.
 * By the final area, you have all the pikmin types at your side, inside the Rainbow Onion.