“These are the first short films created by Nintendo Pictures Co., Ltd,” said the company on social media. “Nintendo Pictures will continue to explore new creative possibilities through video content.”

The short film essentially acts as a teaser for a new Pikmin-based project that Nintendo has seemingly been working on. The original teaser, which you can check out on YouTube, only really had hints of it being related to Pikmin in the form of a few musical cues, and objects moving around mysteriously. A second version of the teaser was released through the Nintendo Today app, which confirmed that Pikmin were responsible for the objects moving around.

For context, the teaser revolves around a baby, left alone for a few moments in its room, seeing its pacifier pulled out of its mouth and moving around of its own accord. This prompts the baby to playfully chase the pacifier as it makes it way around the room. The short film culminates with the baby slowly learning to walk on two feet in order to chase down the pacifier, at which point its mother walks in the room and is overjoyed to see her child walking.

Unfortunately, the Pikmin-ised version of the short film can only currently be viewed through the Nintendo Today smartphone app, which doesn’t really have any way to share its contents yet. However, it is very likely that the company will eventually release this second version of the teaser for everyone to see through the standard channels of the Internet like YouTube.

While the teaser works as a direct confirmation that Nintendo is working on something related to Pikmin, the company hasn’t yet confirmed whether it is a brand new game in the series, a spin-off title, or even just a more elaborate way to announce a Switch 2 Upgrade pack for Pikmin 4, which is currently available on the Nintendo Switch.

Speaking of which, Pikmin 4 was the last major release in the franchise, having come out on the Switch back in 2023. The title saw a fair bit of critical acclaim, including in our own review, thanks to its introduction of new features, like a space dog named Otachi that helps the players out throughout the game’s various missions. Interestingly, during the time of the game’s release, producer Takeshi Tezuka had also said that fans of the franchise wouldn’t have to wait for too long for the next game in the franchise.

The Pikmin franchise might be a niche one, but since its first release in 2001 on the GameCube, the series has been a fan-favourite owing to how well it mixes up real-time strategy gameplay with clever puzzles and fun stories.

The teaser largely revolves around a baby, left alone in its room by its mother, having its pacifier pop out of its mouth and being carried away by unknown means and the baby trying to chase it down. This is accompanied by a piano-centric musical score that emphasises the various beats of the tiny story being told throughout the teaser of a baby learning how to walk.

While the teaser itself might not include much to indicate that it is for a new Pikmin project, Nintendo has released another version that actually confirms the connection on its Nintendo Today smartphone app. Check it out here. There were some hints already in the teaser, however, aside like the fact that games in the franchise often revolve around tiny creatures moving around real-world objects, as well as a few musical cues from Pikmin’s soundtracks.

While there is no current way to share posts from the Nintendo Today app as of yet, the release of the Pikmin-ised version of the Close to You teaser on the app likely means that Nintendo will be bringing it to the rest of the Internet soon enough.

It is worth noting that Nintendo hasn’t yet confirmed whether this teaser is for a brand new Pikmin game, or if it is for an expansion to Pikmin 4 through a Switch 2 Upgrade pack. The title could also be a spin-off focusing on the side adventures of the eponymous floral creatures.

Back in 2023, Pikmin 4 producer Takashi Tezuka had also mentioned that we won’t be waiting for a new game in the franchise for too long after the fourth game’s release. “We’ll try not to let everyone wait,” he said in an interview.

The last game to have come out in the Pikmin franchise was Pikmin 4 on the Nintendo Switch. The title had become quite popular since its release back in 2023, and has since then sold more than 3 million copies. The title introduced with it a host of new features, including a new space dog, named Otachi, that helps the Rescue Corps to get through the game’s various levels. For more details, check out our review.

The first game in the series released in 2001 on the Nintendo GameCube and focused on the adventures of Captain Olimar, who finds himself crash landing on a mysterious planet. The title was noteworthy for having introduced the concept of a real-time strategy game that could be played entirely with a controller that also focused much of its gameplay on environmental puzzle solving.

The sequel, Pikmin 2, featured Olimar and his partner Louie who go back to the original game’s planet to find rare treasures. The title was critically praised for refining on the original’s foundations while also introducing new and clever gameplay mechanics as well as puzzles. 2013 saw the release of Pikmin 3 on the Wii U, which made use of the console’s unique GamePad controller to give players more control over their Pikmin.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Re-writing the rulebook of its already wildly creative, ultra-successful predecessor Breath of the Wild was no easy task for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom but this sequel is proof that lightning can strike twice. A vertically expanded Hyrule, deeper combat, and bold additions in the shape of the new Zonai devices gave fresh power to twist and mould practically any object which takes Link’s fancy. A towering achievement on Nintendo’s aging console.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

It’s safe to say that Nintendo knocked it out of the park with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, knitting together a complex web of intertwining systems with mechanics that let you express your creativity to the fullest resulting in an experience like no other. It takes everything that worked in the original, and amps it up to eleven – be it Link’s powers, the size of the open world, or the many options for tackling a dungeon or boss fight. Despite a few technical hiccups owing to the hardware limitations, Tears of the Kingdom is easily one of the best games that you can experience on Nintendo’s hybrid handheld.

Before we move ahead, do keep in mind that calling a game AA or AAA isn’t a measure of its popularity or quality so much as it is a measure of the scope of its production and its development budget, which means we might also talk about AA experiences made by companies that usually operate in the AAA sphere. With that out of the way, let’s dive right in.

DISCO ELYSIUM

You could call Disco Elysium a CRPG, and on paper, technically, you would be correct, but that would also be an incredibly reductive way to describe this masterpiece. From its surreal setting to its heavily flavoured and thematically dense writing, from its complete lack of combat to how bizarrely yet ingeniously it uses its RPG mechanics in conjunction with its storytelling, Disco Elysium is a singular game that’s unlike anything else out there.

Instead of Captain Olimar or the Rescue Corps, Pikmin 4 follows a recruit who must rescue the latter after their rescue attempt goes awry. Players command Pikmin, including new types that can bust through walls and the dog-like Oatchi to ferry them across the water and help fight off different threats. Night-time expeditions are also available in a series first.

Pikmin 4 performed exceptionally well at launch, with UK physical sales about 45 percent higher than Pikmin 3 Deluxe. It topped Japan’s physical sales charts for several weeks, even becoming the region’s best-selling title in September. For our thoughts on the game, check out our review here.

Other noteworthy sales figures include The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (20.28 million units), Super Mario RPG Remake (3.14 million units), Super Mario Bros. Wonder (11.96 million units) and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (60.5 million units). The Nintendo Switch has also sold 139.36 million units in its lifetime.

On the software front, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was the best-selling game of the year in Japan, with over 1.9 million copies sold. Other fellow new Nintendo releases also performed well, with Super Mario Bros. Wonder taking the No. 2 spot (over 1.5 million units sold), Pikmin 4 coming in at No. 3 (over 1.1 million units sold), Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe sitting at No. 7 (over 514,000 units sold), and Super Mario RPG bringing up the rear at No. 10 (over 447,000 units sold).

Square Enix’s Dragon Quest: The Dark Prince also performed quite well, selling over 510,000 units over the course of the year for a No. 5 finish in the annual charts. Notably, however, fellow Square Enix title Final Fantasy 16 failed to make it into the top 10.

On the hardware front, meanwhile, the Nintendo Switch was, unsurprisingly, the best-selling console of the year in Japan, having sold over 4 million units. It’s followed in second place by the PS5, and the two are separated by quite some margin, with the PS5 having sold over 2.5 million units- which was still a notable increase over what it managed in 2022 (more than double, in fact), owing to its supply constraints finally easing up this year. Xbox Series X/S performed poorly in Japan once again, selling just 141,000 units throughout the entire year.

In total, hardware spending in Japan in 2023 stood at 267.49 billion yen (up from 209.78 billion yen in 2022), while software spending stood at 136.38 billion yen (down from 165.04 billion yen in 2022). Overall, the gaming market’s spending in Japan in 2023 was 403.88 billion yen (up from 374.82 billion yen in 2022).

You can check out Japan’s full software and hardware charts for 2023 below.

2023 software sales (followed by lifetime sales):

1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – 1,929,603 (1,929,603)
2. Super Mario Bros. Wonder – 1,549,401 (1,549,401)
3. Pikmin 4 – 1,119,027 (1,119,027)
4. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet – 907,432 (5,246,363)
5. Momotaro Dentetsu World: Chikyuu wa Kibou de Mawatteru! – 795,681 (795,681)
6. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 617,223 (5,631,598)
7. Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe – 514,581 (514,581)
8. Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince – 510,477 (510,477)
9. Splatoon 3 – 503,312 (4,191,126)
10. Super Mario RPG – 447,687 (447,687)

2023 hardware sales (followed by lifetime sales):

• Nintendo Switch – 4,062,609 (31,786,656)
• PS5 – 2,587,468 (4,964,857)
• Xbox Series X/S – 141,712 (540,107)

THE CREW MOTORFEST

The change in scenery in The Crew Motorfest from mainland United States to the island of Oahu was easily one of its biggest strengths. The open world clearly takes a lot of cues from the Forza Horizon series, and honestly, it’s better for it. With plenty of environmental variety, gorgeous locales, and a festive vibe throughout the map, The Crew Motofest’s open world is a fun one to simply exist in.

SONS OF THE FOREST

We’re pivoting here and going from a festive location to an oppressively dire one, but Sons of the Forest absolutely deserves its flowers. Even in early access forms, it’s one of the most memorable experiences of the year. Struggling to survive in its hostile and horrific world, which is so densely laden with atmosphere, remains an enthralling experience no matter how much time you put into the game.

DIABLO 4

Diablo joined the ever-growing list of franchises making the switch to an open world format, and it did so in mostly successful fashion. Though Diablo 4 loses the trademark claustrophobia that the series has always been known for in going for an open world setting, it balances the scales with a large, desolate, gorgeously designed map, which it crams full of addictive, repeatable content.

LIKE A DRAGON: ISHIN!

The Yakuza franchise, now known as Like a Dragon, has always excelled at crafting small but dense semi-open world maps, and Like a Dragon: Ishin! benefits from those strengths as well. In addition to boasting a smattering of engaging side content – something the franchise has always been known for – Ishin also boasts the unique strengths of its wonderfully atmospheric period setting, which it brings to life expertly.

LORDS OF THE FALLEN

Lords of the Fallen’s semi-open world approach is very much focused on tighter and linearly designed interconnected areas in the fashion of the Dark Souls series, and it boasts a lot of the strengths that those games do as well. Slowly unlocking the world and consistently making it slightly less hostile to navigate always remains a rewarding experience, made all the more compelling by the game’s dual realm system.

DEAD ISLAND 2

Dambuster Studios’ decision to develop Dead Island 2 as a semi-open world experience with a lot of open and explorable maps, rather than as a full-fledged open world title, proved to be quite a smart one. The zombie slasher-basher is able to exhibit an impressive level of variety in locations throughout its runtime, and each of them not only does a great job of capturing the vibe and personality of an LA setting, but is also rendered in visually spectacular manner.

EVERSPACE 2

Everspace 2 took a big swing with its switch to an open world format, and it’s safe to say at this point that the risk paid off. Exploring the vast expanses of space is always an alluring prospect in a gaming experience, and that’s basically what the entirety of Everspace 2 is built around. Thanks to a strong environmental design and flying and combat mechanics that never lose their sharpness, exploring the game’s map always remains enjoyable.

LIES OF P

There was a lot to love about Lies of P, as is evidenced by the widespread acclaim it has enjoyed, and its atmospheric gothic horror Belle Epoque setting had a big role to play in that. It brings the city of Krat to live in excellent fashion, and exploring its ominous and dilapidated remains is a consistently engaging experience, not least because of the incredible design and art style the game exhibits across its entire world.

WILD HEARTS

Map design and traversal are probably among Wild Hearts’ biggest strengths. Each of its unique open world maps are not only sufficiently large, they’re also gorgeous, vibrant, and brimming with a ton of environmental detail and diversity. On top of that, exploration and traversal is always a blast, thanks in large part to Karakuri devices and the emphasis placed on on-the-fly crafting.

HORIZON FORBIDDEN WEST: BURNING SHORES

The Horizon franchise has always excelled at putting players in incredibly well-realized post-post-apocalyptic renditions of real-world locations, and that’s very much the case in Forbidden West’s expansion, Burning Shores as well. It looks gorgeous, as is expected of the franchise, and the imaginative and visually striking way in which it portrays its version of a half-destroyed, half-sunken, volcanic Los Angeles is hard not to be impressed by.

CYBERPUNK 2077: PHANTOM LIBERTY

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (in conjunction with Update 2.0) uplifts so much of the game in so many ways, including its open world. For starters, the new district of Dogtown is easily among the best areas in the entire map, and somehow manages to boast an impressive level of density and variety in spite of its smaller size. Beyond that, the underlying systems also see significant improvements, which breathes new life into all of Night City, even beyond the walls of Dogtown.

SEASON: A LETTER TO THE FUTURE

Given how dense and eventful 2023 has been for gaming, SEASON: A Letter to the Future has slipped under the radar for money, but those who’ve played it will gladly tell you how good it was. Exploration in the game is deliberately slow-paced and encourages you to take in its gorgeously rendered environments, memorializing them in anticipation of an upcoming catastrophe. With its stunning visuals to the melancholic vibe, SEASON leaves a lasting impression.

FINAL FANTASY 16

Final Fantasy 16’s decision to not have an open world setting may have proved controversial, but the game still placed plenty of focus on exploration. Traveling throughout Valisthea, Clive and his companions explore a variety of different locations, from forests and cities to deserts and wastelands, and though the level of freedom they offer can vary, overall, the game rewards exploration just enough to ensure that it remains an important part of the experience.

STAR WARS JEDI: SURVIVOR

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor obviously excels at being a Metroidvania game, build as it does on the solid foundations of its predecessors, but on top of that, it also expands significantly with semi-open world elements sprinkled in as well. The planet of Koboh in particular is particularly expansive, offering a massive amount of play space in which to navigate excellently crafted areas and discover all manner of optional content, secrets, and more.

HOGWARTS LEGACY

An open world Hogwarts game has been something many people have dreamed of for years, but Hogwarts Legacy proves equal to those lofty expectations. Iconic, memorable locations from in and around Hogwarts are brought to life with incredible authenticity and detail, and the game does an excellent job of thoroughly immersing you in its world. Meanwhile, exploring the vast areas around the castle itself – whether you’re flying through the air or remaining grounded – also never loses its charm.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s open world perhaps doesn’t make the same kind of impact that its predecessor did, owing simply to its familiarity, but make no mistake about it- it’s a far, far better version of it. On top of retaining the incredible design and traversal mechanics of Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom also makes a number of smart and significant changes to the otherwise familiar Hyrule, while also adding in a staggering amount of new real estate in the form of the Sky Islands and, much more significantly, the unsettling Depths, which is an entirely new, mind-bogglingly massive underground map that you can spend dozens upon dozens of hours in.

BALDUR’S GATE 3

Baldur’s Gate 3 might not have a traditional, seamless open world structure, but you’ll struggle to find many games that place as little limits on players as Larian’s RPG does. There’s no shortage of large, open, freely explorable locations throughout the game, and each of them is brimming with engaging, incredibly designed, and expertly written quests that emphasize player agency and choice-and-consequence mechanics above all else. What’s even more impressive is just how organic exploration in Baldur’s Gate 3, how seamlessly and easily all the content available in the game seems to flow into each other, and how, no matter what you’re doing, you always feel like you’re headed in the right direction and making progress.

ALAN WAKE 2

Remedy Entertainment has always been associated with tight, linear design, and while Alan Wake 2 obviously still does exhibit those strengths, it blends them with a more open-ended structure. Across Saga and Alan’s stories, there are four large semi-open world hubs to explore, each bringing with it its own unique and incredibly crafted areas, with plenty of optional content and hidden rewards tucked away. That structure fits particularly well with the game’s more deliberate pacing as a survival horror experience.

PIKMIN 4

Pikmin has always placed a great deal of emphasis on exploration, but never has that been truer than in Pikmin 4. With the almost complete removal of time limits, the game allows players to explore all of its maps at their own pace, and boy is it a rewarding experience. With secret collectibles, hidden dungeons, optional battles, shortcuts to unlock, and more, each of its large and intricately designed maps remains a constant joy to explore, not least because of how the game contextualizes the scale and size of each of these locations.

MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN 2

You’d think that having a third successive game set in the same open world New York map would be a bit boring, but Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 circumvents any potential issues in a number of key ways. For starers, the map is a significantly larger one, thanks to the addition of Queens and Brooklyn, while it also feels much more lived in, dense, and dynamic. More crucially though, making your way through the map is also more enjoyable than it has ever been, thanks to a combination of significant improvements made to the already excellent traversal mechanics.

STARFIELD

Bethesda Game Studios has always had an incredible knack for crafting immersive open worlds, and though Starfield’s open world structure is quite different from the studio’s past games, here at GamingBolt, we found it to be just as magical, and just as easy to get lost in. From the typically strong and captivating lore to the vast, endless amounts of content on offer, from the variety it exhibits across its four main locations to the absolute freedom the game affords to players, from being able to plant your flag on desolate planets and build massive outposts there to creating your own ship and flying it through space, Starfield’s open world had a grip on us in a way very few open worlds have managed in recent memory.

GOD OF WAR RANGAROK

God of War Ragnarok’s approach to wide-linear design differs a bit from its predecessor, because rather than using the hub-and-spoke design of the 2018 title, it instead takes you to numerous larger maps throughout its experience, and it’s a change that works out for the best. In addition to boasting excellent design that constantly encourages exploration, God of War Ragnarok’s maps also exhibit an impressive amount of visual and design variety.

RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE

The Resident Evil franchise has always held up exploration as one of its key pillars (with some notable exceptions), so expanding that to a setting that emphasizes that aspect even more heavily felt like a natural step forward in Resident Evil Village. The titular village is a large environment that remains immensely fun to navigate throughout the experience, especially as more of it opens up over time, while at the same time, through the four main areas connected to the village, the game also delivers the tight, claustrophobic design the series is known for in spades.

ALAN WAKE 2

Where the original Alan Wake was a hyper-linear series of shooting galleries, its sequel goes in the exact opposite direction. Alan Wake 2 revels in slowing down the pace and allowing players to thoroughly immerse themselves across its main locations, where you have quite a bit of freedom to explore at your own pace (the rewards for which are almost always well worth the effort). Backtracking through older locations also always remains satisfying as you gain access to previously inaccessible sections, while there are, of course, plenty of meticulously crafted linear sections to enjoy as well.

PIKMIN 4

Exploration is king in Pikmin 4 in a way it never has been in any previous Pikmin games. By almost completely removing the concept of time limits, Pikmin 4 lets you explore every nook and cranny of its areas to your heart’s content, without anything urgently pushing you towards your next main objective, and that is reflected in the way the game’s maps are designed as well. Each of them is significantly larger and boasts impressive variety, not only in visual terms, but also in terms of how you interact with the environment and make it easier to navigate for yourself and your army of Pikmin.

LIKE A DRAGON: ISHIN!

Like all other RGG Studio games, Like a Dragon: Ishin! focuses on depth and detail over pure expanse. The bulk of the game takes place on one not-all-that-big map set in Edo-era Kyoto. As far as pure map design in the series goes, this isn’t a particularly special map- it’s good, but nothing that stands out. What pushes it over the edge is the incredible sense of place and atmosphere that it drips with, properly recreating the architecture, layout, and aesthetic of Japan in the dawn of its modern era. RGG Studio has made a lot of great maps- few are as memorable as this.

UNCHARTED: THE LOST LEGACY

Uncharted 4 introduced elements of wide-linear and semi-open world design to Naughty Dog’s traditionally hyper-linear series, and its standalone follow-up, The Lost Legacy, took that to even greater heights. Though those design sensibilities are limited only to the early sections of the game where you’re exploring the Western Ghats of India, that section is also surprisingly sizable, and leaves quite an impression. From navigating the terrain, both on foot and in a four-by-four, to uncovering its secrets and optional content, it stands as one of the game’s strongest sections.

SUPER MARIO: BOWSER’S FURY

People have been wondering what an open world Mario game would look like for a long time, and never have we come closer to seeing what something like that would look like than with Bowser’s Fury. Released to the world as a standalone addendum to Super Mario 3D World’s Switch port, Bowser’s Fury is an incredible four-hour romp that somehow manages to perfectly blend Super Mario’s tight platforming and level design with open-ended design and an emphasis on exploration. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing more of that from the franchise in the not-too-distant future.

LIES OF P

Soulslike design has become like a second language to many by now, but even though there’s no shortage of games that try their hand at it, very few of them in recent years have done it as well as Lies of P. The city of Krat is massive and winding, and making your way through its intertwining areas that loop in and around themselves never loses its spark. It helps, of course, that the game looks as gorgeous as it does, because around nearly every corner is something new and exciting to see.

LORDS OF THE FALLEN

Developer Hexworks said prior to Lords of the Fallen’s launch that it was building the game as a Dark Spuls 4.5, and while the Soulslike action RPG doesn’t quite hit that level of quality, it does have plenty of the right elements in place. Its expansive world, though not fully open by any means, encourages exploration constantly, which is made that much more interesting by the game’s dual realm mechanic. That feeling of gradually mastering and unlocking the world around you is one of the biggest strengths of the Soulslike genre, and Lords of the Fallen delivers that in spades.

MONSTER HUNTER RISE

Monster Hunter Rise continued the move towards more open maps that Monster Hunter World started. Rise’s maps are actually smaller,and have less going on than World’s, which had a lot of environmental effects and interactions independent of the player. What Rise’s maps do have, however, is design that is perfectly tuned to all the wonderful new traversal tools the game gives you in the wirebug and the Palamute. The act of actually moving through the maps to find the monsters has never been as fun in Monster Hunter as it is in Rise, and the traversal tools, as well as the maps designed around those tools, are both to credit for that.

OUTER WILDS

Outer Wilds’s exploration serves as the perfect marriage between gameplay and narrative, thanks to how intrinsically those two elements are tied together throughout the experience. In each loop, the more you explore, the more you learn the Nomai, the solar system they once used to be spread out across, and the time loop that it’s currently caught in, and the game paces that almost to pitch-perfection. Pretty much the entirety of Outer Wilds is unlike anything else you’ll play, and how rewarding it makes its exploration through narrative discoveries contributes to that uniqueness massively.

STAR WARS JEDI: SURVIVOR

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was a solid first foray into Metroidvania design for Respawn Entertainment, and with its sequel, Jedi: Survivor, the developer expanded that idea with significantly larger play spaces. There are, of course, plenty of Metroidvania locations scattered throughout the game, but the Koboh map in particular is where Jedi: Survivor taps into a much more expansive and open-ended design style. And it does that excellently, somehow managing to sprinkle that large, semi-open world map with plenty of Metroidvania design elements.

PREY

Prey’s Talos I is probably the best setting we’ve ever seen in an Arkane game, which, as those who’ve played other Arkane titles will tell you, is high praise, to say the least. The space station is not only dripping with atmosphere, it’s also spectacularly designed. Navigating its environments and slowly being able to unlock more and more of it as you grow more powerful makes for an incredibly satisfying and organic progression curve throughout the experience.

DEATHLOOP

Deathloop is decidedly more linear than most other Arkane titles (Prey especially), but in spite of being much more focused on action and forward momentum, it does still retain its fair share of the open-ended design that you expect to see in the studio’s games. There are multiple maps to explore, and going out of your way to do that is always encouraged. Not only do you learn more about the world and the people you are targeting, you’re also constantly treated to the incredible art design that’s so abundantly found throughout Deathloop’s world.

SNIPER ELITE 5

The Sniper Elite franchise probably doesn’t get as much credit for its level design as it should, and Sniper Elite 5 exemplifies that perfectly. Every single map is designed as an incredible stealth sandbox where player freedom is emphasized first and foremost. By allowing you to constantly discover new and creative ways to tackle obstacles and sprinkling in a healthy dose of optional content, every map in Sniper Elite 5 becomes an absolute blast to explore as thoroughly as possible, while also making replays that much more rewarding.

By comparison, Pikmin 3 Deluxe was released in December 2020 on the Nintendo Switch and sold 2.4 million copies over the next two years. Pikmin 4 debuted strong in the UK and Japan, becoming the best-selling game for the latter in September. That’s pretty good, considering its development was first announced in 2015.

While retaining the classic action-strategy gameplay of earlier titles, Pikmin 4 introduces new Pikmin species and Oatchi, who serves as a mount and bodyguard. There are also activities like Night Expeditions are also available, as players battle waves of enraged enemies during the night. Check out our review of the game here.