Pikmin, the Forgotten Nintendo Franchise

Pikmin has always been one of Nintendo’s less-loved franchises. It’s a real-time strategy and puzzle game that can be simple or complex! This year, Pikmin fans got a surprise coming their way after a fourth game was going to be released this summer. After ten years of having no fourth game, it was a shocker that no one knew the game finally came out! But why did no one know of this small franchise’s release? It simply never gained the right amount of traction.

     Pikmin has only had four games in the 22 years it's been a franchise, with Pikmin coming out in 2001, Pikmin 2 in 2004, Pikmin 3 in 2013, and Pikmin 4 in 2023. The fanbase has almost always been small but still beloved by the few who knew of it. It never had the traction that TLoZ or Mario did, but it is still loved. Recently, Jacksepticeye even did a playthrough of a bigger game, Tears of The Kingdom, from the Zelda franchise. Despite this, there’s still nothing on Pikmin 4 after all this time.

     But with the new release of Pikmin 4, a whole new generation of players and fans arose! So many individuals have played the past games (Pikmin 2, most commonly) as well as the new one! Old Pikmin fans and new alike have been bonding with one another about the fantastic little helpers that are Pikmin. Pikmin fans have been overjoyed and well-satisfied at another game finally coming out for the first time in 10 years.