Pikmin 4 Trailer Shows Off Character Creation, Leaves Some Wondering about Future Nintendo Direct

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Pikmin 4 Trailer Shows Off Character Creation, Leaves Some Wondering about Future Nintendo Direct

Nintendo released a new trailer for the upcoming Pikmin 4 this morning, revealing some new story details and a character creation mechanic for the game.

Running for just over a minute, the trailer is dubbed over with pulpy narration describing the basic setup of the game. Captain Olimar, returning character and protagonist of the first two Pikmin games, seems to have crash-landed again on PNF-404, the mysterious Earth-like planet that serves as the series’ setting. The narrator goes on to explain that Olimar’s distress signal is received by the Rescue Corps, represented in the trailer by seven silhouettes. Six of these appear to be the series’ typical bulbous helmeted explorers and one of whom appears to be the new dog-like character Oatchi, who was revealed in the game’s last trailer. The rescue corps, however, also crash-landed, leaving it as the player’s job to rescue both them and Olimar.

The trailer shows off a new character creator, where players get to design their own take on the newest recruit to the Rescue Corps, whose job it is to save the rest. The creator will allow players to choose their character’s skin tone, body and head shape, hairstyle, and facial features, and possibly more. This kind of customization is new to the series, which had previously only featured distinct, pre-set playable characters.

Between this trailer and a few other recent announcements, including last week’s Everybody 1-2 Switch reveal and an update to the Nintendo Switch Online library announced last night, some Nintendo fans are beginning to wonder if this could mean Nintendo is skipping out on their usual June Nintendo Direct presentation. “Nintendo Direct” was briefly trending on Twitter following the trailer drop, as journalist and YouTuber Austin John put it, “not because one was announced but because this trailer tweet makes one less likely.” There is reason to believe Nintendo could buck their usual tradition considering that they did so last year, releasing presentations focused entirely on Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and third party Nintendo Switch releases rather than their usual big Direct. With so many first party announcements already, Nintendo may be gearing up to do something similar this year.

Either way, Pikmin 4 is set to release on July 21. Preorders are available now on the Nintendo eshop.

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