WithPikmin 4finally being revealed after many years seemingly stuck in development limbo, players will finally be revisiting PNF-404, an eerily familiar planet that everyone is convinced is less Earth-like and more so just the actual Earth. Since the firstPikmingame, fans have speculated on the mysterious world Olimar and company explored across the series and tried to understand how it wound up as it is in the games. Between anemphasis on environmental storytellingand tidbits of in-game descriptions, players have slowly pieced together an idea of what they believe happened to Earth and, by extension, to the rest of humanity.
Pikmin 4now has the opportunity to continue this breadcrumb trail of storytelling that began with the firstPikmingame. From the brief glimpses of footage shown for the game, audiences have already seen thatPikmin 4will be visiting what appears to be a garden or backyard, suggesting the game’s setting might be closer to the remnants of civilization than previous games. Since humanity’s fate has so far been left to fan theories,Pikmin 4could finally let players take a deeper look into what happened to the humans and the left behind Earth that is free for Pikmin, Bulborb, Snagret, and more to roam.
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Pikmin, A Nuclear Apocalypse, and 250 Million Years In The Future
While other games such asPikmin 3 DeluxeandHey! Pikminexist within the franchise, they are either spin-offs or remakes, so the main body of the series consists of three main games:Pikmin, Pikmin 2,andPikmin 3. It’s in these three games that players can carefully glean details about PNF-404 and its relationship to Earth through environmental elements, treasures, or in-game descriptions. These range from subtle nods such as tin cans or cardboard boxes unsuitable for Olimar’s size to more direct examples, with treasures referencing notable brand names like a Duracell battery or a 7-Up bottle cap.
However, in the firstPikmin, one of the ship pieces Olimar needs to collect is the Geiger Counter, though he admits he doesn’t know what it’s for despite the noise it makes. For players in the know, a Geiger counter is a tool used to detect radiation, recognized for its unmistakable clicking sound. InPikmin, the Geiger Counter is shown to be constantly active, implying that PNF-404 has high levels of radiation everywhere. Putting two and two together has led fans to believe that humanity was wiped out via a nuclear apocalypse, with any surviving creatures adapting followingthe radioactive fallout.
Despite good evidence for this theory, it hasn’t been officially confirmed, but what fans have been able to work out is that PNF-404 is likely Earth over 250 million years in the future. The reasoning behind this comes fromPikmin 3following a redesign of the planet from the first two games. The island’s geography shows a clear resemblance to real-life models of “Pangaea Proxima,“a well-known idea based on continentsrepeatedly breaking up and reforming under the supercontinent cycle. Add this to the increased levels of radiation and many are convinced that PNF-404 is a very distant future Earth that suffered nuclear devastation.
Pikmin 4 And Addressing Humanity’s Fate
It’s incredibly likely thatPikmin 4will continue thePikmintradition of teasing out small details about the fate of planet Earth and the people who used to live on it. Though there may be some challenges that would need to be addressed, such asPikmin 3showing man-made elements more heavily deteriorated than earlier games compared toPikmin 4’strailer not reflecting this. An easy reason for this would be thatPikmin 3is set afterPikmin 4, explaining why everything still looks in good shape, but thenPikmin 4would need to ensure it doesn’t contradict any other games' continuities.
Alternatively, Nintendo might not need to address these at all and instead use the latest game as a pseudo-soft reboot, especially with how longfans have been waiting forPikmin 4. For instance, Nintendo could finally determine a solid timeline for Earth using the same storytelling techniques it has relied on thus far, such as introducing treasures like dated newspaper clippings referencing rising threats of nuclear war to locations based on doomsday shelters and bunkers. By focusing on not just adding superficial details but instead officially confirming what actually happened to PNF-404 and humanity,Pikmin 4would become the most meaningful entry yet.
Pikmin 4is set to release in 2023 exclusively for Nintendo Switch.
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