Pikmin 4 is a game full of wonder and whimsy. Between the beautiful graphics and serene art style, the satisfying yet somewhat challenging gameplay loop and all the small invocations made since the earlier Pikmin games, there’s so much to appreciate and love about this new entry. There’s also a lot to learn, though. Whether it be how best to explore the world, what colour Pikmin is best in combat, what the best upgrades for Oatchi are or even how to deal with a lot of Pikmin dying, there’s a surprisingly large amount to keep track of with this game. As such, we’re here to give you a hand on how best to approach Pikmin 4, for new and old players alike.
Here are 8 tips and tricks for Pikmin 4 that all players will want to know.
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Colour Matching and Majority Rule
There are many types of Pikmin in Pikmin 4 and you’ll want to build up your reserves of Pikmin as fast as possible. This’ll require a lot of work and a lot of carrying back pellets or corpses to sprout new Pikmin but there are two things to keep in mind when doing this.
We’ll start with colour matching. Specifically with Pellet Posies, matching the colour of the pellet to the Pikmin carrying it will sprout more Pikmin. For example, if Blue Pikmin carry back a regular red pellet, it will only produce a singular Blue Pikmin (should you have the Blue Onion, of course): if, instead, you have a Red Pikmin carry back the same pellet, it will sprout two new Pikmin, instead. Matching the colour of your Pikmin to the colour of your pellets is a great way to build up your ranks on mass, especially in the Base Camp before you set off for the day.
Matching Colours
Another thing to note regarding this is the majority rule. If multiple colours of Pikmin are carrying something back to base, the Pikmin which sprout will belong to the colour majority doing the lifting. Let’s use a 10 Pellet Posy as an example this time. If there are 4 Yellow Pikmin and 6 Red Pikmin carrying it, it will sprout Red Pikmin: if the inverse is true and there are 6 Yellows to 4 Reds, it will sprout Yellow Pikmin, instead. The best way to tell which Pikmin colour is currently the majority is that the number above the object you carrying will change to the current majority.
But what if the amount of Pikmin is perfectly equal? What if there are 5 Yellow Pikmin and 5 Red Pikmin? In this circumstance, the Pikmin type with the lowest overall body count will get the sprouts. This is so you can better build up your lesser-stacked Pikmin colours instead of overindulging in a single group.
While pretty basic, these tips are an important part of building out your army of Pikmin, especially in the early game.
Majority Rule
The Treasure Gauge Shuts Down
The Treasure Gauge is one of the first tools you can unlock after finding the Rescue Corp Scientist, Russ. It’s a handy tool that doesn’t have too many Raw Materials to create, making it a great pick-up early on.
The way it works is that, as you’re walking around the world, a bar in the top left of your screen will continually flash. As you get closer to a piece of Treasure, the bar will fill up more and more: once you’re standing right next to the treasure, the gold star at the end of the bar will light up. This is a great method of scoping out hidden pieces of treasure or some smaller ones you may have missed.
Whenever the area you’re in has run out of Treasure to collect, the Treasure Radar will beep a few times before blacking out, accompanied by a shutdown noise. This occurs in both the overworld environments and in caves or caverns, which is extremely useful for letting you know when you’ve fully completed a sublevel and can move on to the next. No more wandering in the dark, wondering if you’ve left behind a button or some other piece of obscure Treasure.
Treasure Gauge On and Off
The Power of Charging
Another early tool you’ll receive from Russ is the Charging Horn. This piece of gear allows you to sort of emulate how charging and rushing worked in the original Pikmin games: by holding down X, you can direct your Pikmin towards a single spot, allowing you to charge in as one big group.
The reason why charging is so strong is that it can save you a lot of time, as well as a lot of pain. Whether in combat or exploration, never be afraid to use charging to get things done quickly. Come across a massive piece of fruit you need to haul back to base? Instead of throwing Pikmin one by one, just rush it with the Charging Horn to instantly swarm as many Pikmin as you need. Found a Bulborb or some other enemy sitting in your path? Send your entire squad at them and, at least most of the time, they’ll be nothing by dust in no time flat. Want to sap some nectar as quickly as possible? Charge your Pikmin into it and watch the flowers bloom.
One big change with Charging compared to previous games is that you can only send your Pikmin in one direction, meaning that you have less control over them. Additionally, just pressing X once will only send your current group of Pikmin towards the target – Red Pikmin, for example – and you will need to continually press X a few more times to send the other Pikmin types, as well.
Despite being a bit clunky, Charging is still supremely powerful and something you exploit to the fullest in Pikmin 4.
The Power of Charging
Pick Up the Prototypes
Speaking of Russ, he’ll continually create new items and consumables for you to utilise on your journey. These include the explosive Bomb Rocks used to blast down tough walls, elemental gizmos that can burn, stun or freeze an opponent or just standard medical kits to heal you after a brawl. Each new item costs a different amount of Raw Materials to create.
Honestly, you can get by most of the game without these items (at least, in the early portions of the game you can), especially when you need those Resources for more important upgrades or environmental construction. However, something you may not know is that you can grab one copy of each item for completely free.
Whenever Russ creates a new item, it’ll be deemed a Prototype. You can claim these Prototypes from Russ for free, allowing you to then purchase more for Raw Materials. While you’ll be coming back more regularly for resources like Bomb Rocks, having a free Emergency Kit on you at all times is going to come in handy eventually. Whenever you end a new day and come back to base camp, make sure to stop in at Russ and check if he has anything new for you to scoop up.
The Lab’s New Toys
Getting Oatchi New Gear
The final thing you need to know about Russ is that he offers many different upgrades for Oatchi. These usually come in the form of new collars for him to wear which will give your lovable Rescue Pup resistant to everything from fire to ice to electricity.
While these are usually posited as great aids for combat, they’re more useful for exploration. If Oatchi is immune to electricity, it means he can help Yellow Pikmin break down any electrified walls you find throughout the game. The same goes for if he’s immune to freeze as he can aid Ice Pikmin with the icy gates.
When paired with certain Pup Upgrades like those that increase his attack power, these gear upgrades can massively help cut down on time as you explore Pikmin 4’s world. While there isn’t a time limit, you still want to get as much done as possible in a given day and allowing Oatchi to help out with pesky annoyances like walls or fire geysers is a massive help. These upgrades will cost a decent chunk of Raw Materials, though, so keep that in mind.
Oatchi’s New Threads
Buried Below
Sometimes, you’ll notice something in the world that just seems… off. Maybe the Treasure Gauge pings something right next to you but you cannot see it: maybe there’s an odd bit of wall that seems far bigger than those surrounding it. Sometimes these are just oddities but, more often than not, it’s because something is buried underground.
Some objects you find around the world will be in various stages of burial, with large pieces of them sticking straight out of the earth to signify that something is there. This isn’t always the case, though, and some of the most annoying treasures in the game cannot be seen with the naked eye. They’re buried in locations with no evidence of anything being there save for the beeping of your Treasure Gauge.
The best case scenario for these situations is to just start throwing Pikmin. Yellow Pikmin are the best at digging but any colour will do. If your hunch is right, your friends should start exhuming whatever lurks deep below the ground. The main tip here is to keep an eye on the environment, especially in situations where something should be there but isn’t: one of the most irritating to many will likely be the Potato in the Sun-Speckled Terrace which is buried underground in a very obvious area.
Buried Treasure
Ice Pikmin’s Combat Prowess
Ice Pikmin are a new addition in Pikmin 4 and they are very special indeed. Whenever you throw an Ice Pikmin onto an enemy, you’ll see a light blue circle begin to build up around the enemy’s health bar. Once that bar fills, the enemy will become frozen for a short time, allowing you and your Pikmin to wail on it to your heart’s content.
On the positive side, freezing enemies is a great way of shutting them down and stopping them from moving, especially on larger enemies like Bulborbs or Snagrets who have the potential to kill a lot of Pikmin in a short space of time. Speaking of, freezing an enemy just as they’re about to eat a Pikmin (which is signified when you hear the Pikmin screech) will save them, so long as you can defeat the frozen foe.
That being said, there is one big weakness to Ice Pikmin’s freeze that you need to consider: shatter. When you defeat a frozen enemy – whether it be by pure Pikmin might or a Rush attack from Oatchi – they will shatter into a thousand pieces, leaving absolutely nothing behind save for some nectar. There will be no corpse to transport back to base camp, meaning that you cannot sprout any new Pikmin: on smaller enemies, this isn’t a massive deal but on larger ones who can potentially sprout upwards of 20 to 30 Pikmin on their own, it’s something you need to consider.
So, in short, Ice Pikmin are arguably the best Pikmin in combat but they do have some severe drawbacks to their power. Learn to use their freezing powers wisely and you’ll rule this new planet, your frosty friends at your side.
Power of Ice Pikmin
Accepting Pikmin Death
Lastly and as morbid as it sounds, death is a part of life and an everyday occurrence in Pikmin 4. Whether it’s you slaying hostile beasts to survive or them turning you into a nice snack, you’re never too far from death’s door. That’s why one of the best tips we can give any player starting Pikmin 4 is to prepare yourself for those losses.
It can be disheartening to go into a cavern and, because of one small mistake, lose half of your Pikmin to a careless monster or attack you should have avoided. If you don’t mentally accept that, at some point, you are definitely going to lose large swathes of Pikmin, later stages of the game are going to become extremely punishing and mentally taxing.
Pikmin is supposed to be a fun game – albeit, one with copious amounts of plant death – and you don’t want to stress yourself out over something small. Pikmin numbers can be replenished extremely easily and the lack of a time limit means that you can take each day slow and steady: if you need to spend a day building up your Blue Pikmin numbers because of an unlucky run in a cave, you can!
Don’t deliberately play stupid by baiting your Pikmin into near-death situations. However, always be prepared to see a few Pikmin fall in the line of duty.
Accepting Pikmin Mortality
Those were some quick and handy tips that you should know about Pikmin 4.
