Pikmin 4

Pikmin 4 saw a stellar debut in Japan upon its launch last week with over 400,000 physical copies sold, and it has continued to enjoy strong sales in its second week. As per the latest weekly hardware and physical software sales charts released by Famitsu, Nintendo’s strategy title topped software charts for a second week running, with over 115,000 physical copies sold in Japan in its second week (taking its total physical sales in the region to over 517,000 units).

On its surface, Pikmin is a cute strategy game about growing little plant people and gathering treasure. Delve deeper into its lore, however, and you'll find fans debating the series' apparent commentary on human extinction, and all sorts of timey-wimey shenanigans going on to make its many story elements match up.

Nintendo has released a new accolades trailer, this time for Pikmin 4. Its long-awaited sequel in the Pikmin series was recently released for Nintendo Switch and garnered exceptional praise from critics. Check out some of it below.

Pikmin 4 has enjoyed a bumper debut in Japan. The long-awaited real-time strategy sequel released for the Nintendo Switch last week, and with three days on the market, topped the latest weekly charts for physical sales in Japan, as per data released by Famitsu. It’s also the biggest ever launch for a Pikmin game in Japan to date, exceeding what Pikmin 3 Deluxe managed upon its release for the Switch in 2020 (over 171,000 physical units sold upon release).

With a whopping nine varieties of Pikmin that can be found and used in Pikmin 4, there is almost always a Pikmin for the job. The further you get into the game, however, the more niche they become. None are quite as niche as the Winged Pikmin, however. Even after landing 100% in the base game, you only encounter these pink wonders once.

Pikmin 4 introduced arguably the most powerful variety of Pikmin – the Glow Pikmin. These green ghosts make every other Pikmin seem pointless because they do just about everything, and they do it very well. The catch with these little critters is that you can only use them at night during Night Expeditions. 

Kingdom Of The Beasts is one of the more difficult Caves to venture through in Pikmin 4. It is far larger than most up until this point, and it has multiple bosses guarding its highly sought-after treasure. Halfway through you fought the dreaded Empress Bulblax, but here, at the end, you face the true leader of the Bulborbs.

Pikmin might not be the most well-known series produced by Nintendo, but that doesn’t stop its charming array of characters from reaching cult super-stardom. Of course, the Pikmin themselves are front and centre, but following close behind are the adorable Bulborbs. Pikmin 4 continues this trend of Bulborb love, which should come to the surprise of no one.

Pikmin 4 is littered with subterranean caves that house all manner of monsters and treasures. Venturing into the depths of the earth is always dangerous, but early on, the dark doesn’t put up that much of a fight. Things change very quickly once you dare delve into the Engulfed Castle, however.

When Pikmin first graced our consoles back in 2001 we only had access to three types of Pikmin, Red, Blue, and Yellow. With each new game, more Pikmin varieties were added, and Pikmin 4 is no exception to that rule. In fact, Pikmin 4 brings back just about every type of Pikmin the series has had so far. That includes our personal favourite, the chunky Purple Pikmin. 

As reported earlier, Pikmin 4 topped Gfk’s UK physical sales charts on its debut. The sequel has sold 45 percent more than Pikmin 3: Deluxe (per GamesIndustry), but perhaps more interesting is the other new debut: The Sims 4 Horse Ranch.

Pikmin 4 launched for the Nintendo Switch last week, and though Pikmin hasn’t necessarily been a historically big seller for Nintendo, it has, nonetheless, kept its dedicated fanbase waiting for its next mainline entry for quite some time. That, it seems, has resulted in a solid debut for the game where UK retail is concerned.