Pikmin Timeline Story Recap – What Happened Before Pikmin 4?

So, find a comfy spot, send the resident species of a small planet off to get you some delicious snacks, and let’s jet off into the wonderful world of plotmin… [Oof – Ed.]

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Pikmin Series Story RecapSo, Is Pikmin 4 A Series Retcon / Reboot?

Pikmin Series Story Recap

In truth, the Pikmin series is hardly bursting with narrative, but there are still some dramatic developments throughout the series just waiting to be uncovered.

What follows is a per-game story breakdown, so that we don’t get tangled in the intricate series-spanning story threads, plot twists, and unpredictable character arcs… ahem…

Spoilers abound, naturally.

Pikmin

In space, no one can hear you scream. Fortunate, really, because we imagine that there would have been quite a lot of it in the opening cutscene to this first game in the series.

Captain Olimar is taking an intergalactic vacation from his home planet of Hocotate when his ship, the S.S. Dolphin, collides with a meteorite and crash lands in a nearby mysterious land (later designated PNF-404). Olimar is knocked unconscious, but soon wakes to find the Dolphin in ruin and the planet’s atmosphere containing high amounts of oxygen — a big no-no for his species.

Fortunately, the captain soon discovers a small red creature that he names a Pikmin (based on its visual similarity to Pikpik Carrots back on Hocotate), and he realises that the creature is easy to command, carrying out his every wish with the blow of a whistle. Stumbling across the Pikmin’s ship — which Olimar names The Onion — he realises the potential of the species and begins breeding more of them to help assist him in finding the missing parts of his ship.

With only 30 days until Olimar’s life support runs out, the team explores the planet rapidly, searching for parts during the day before jetting off into the sky at night to avoid the dangerous nocturnal wildlife.

Ultimately, Olimar is able to find all of the parts of the Dolphin (and two new species of Pikmin — yellow and blue) and jets off to return home to his family, leaving the Pikmin behind.

At least, that’s one ending — the canonical one, probably. If Olimar does not manage to collect at least 25 parts of the S.S. Dolphin, his attempted takeoff is a failure and the ship crashes back onto PNF-404, greatly injuring Olimar in the process. In this ending, the captain’s broken body is carried by the Pikmin back to the Onion, where it is transformed into a Pikmin-like seed (lovingly named either Olimin or Pikmar) which grows from the ground.

Didn’t expect to be dealing with multiple timelines in the Pikmin series? It only gets weirder from here…

Pikmin 2

Following the successful ending of the prior game (the one where Olimar isn’t reborn as a plant-man), Pikmin 2 begins with the captain returning to his home planet, swinging by his workplace at Hocotate Freight before seeing his family. Not cool, man.

It is here that he meets the President of the company, who informs him that a shipment of Golden Pikpik Carrots — being transported by Olimar’s co-worker, Louie — was eaten by a “ravenous space bunny”, leaving the company in considerable debt. The President sells off the S.S. Dolphin, hardly making a dent in the repayments, which causes Olimar to drop his bottle cap souvenir from PNF-404 to the ground in shock. The cap rolls along the floor and is picked up by the research pod of a nearby ship, which values the item at 100 Pokos (Hocotatian currency), lowering the debt to a nice round 10,000.

Impressed by the value of these off-world goods, the President immediately sends Olimar and Louie back to PNF-404 to collect more treasures and pay off the company’s debt. Yep, Olimar not getting to see his family is something that you’ll have to get used to.

The pair crash land (unsurprisingly) on the planet and set about accumulating treasures, once again with the help of the Pikmin. Their search leads them into a system of underground caverns and to the discovery of two new Pikmin species (purple and white).

Having made light work of pillaging everything of value that the planet has to offer, Olimar blasts off back to Hocotate with his haul and shows it off to the President. Wait a minute, just Olimar? Yep, that’s right. In a rush to return the treasures, Olimar accidentally leaves Louie on PNF-404 (we say ‘accidentally’, but our view of Louie only really sours from here). Being the hero that he is, Olimar immediately flies back to the planet with the President along for company and begins the hunt for his companion.

The pair find Louie at the bottom of a dark cavern, ‘napping’ on top of a huge creature called the Titan Weevil (although Olimar suspects that Louie might have been controlling it all along). With the help of the President, Olimar defeats the creature, saves Louie, and returns home to Hocotate.

In an extra cutscene, ‘Louie’s Dark Secret’, that comes as a reward for perfecting Challenge Mode, it is revealed that Louie was the one who ate all of the Golden Pikpik Carrots in the first place, plunging the company into debt. If you hadn’t already caught on, this guy is the worst.

Pikmin 3

Due to population growth, food shortages, and a “general lack of planning”, the planet Koppai is on the brink of extinction. As a last-ditch attempt to prevent the inevitable doomsday, three explorers named Alph, Charlie, and Brittany board the S.S. Drake and fly to a planet they believe to be uncharted in the hope of bringing back seeds to cultivate their home world.

This planet is, of course, PNF-404 and, obviously, the trio crash land on it and are immediately separated. After briefly exploring the environment alone (and stumbling across the previously unseen Rock and Flying Pikmin along the way), the trio are reunited and realise that the S.S. Drake won’t be able to get them home without its Cosmic Drive Key, which must have broken off during the crash. Captain Charlie reveals that he found a data file saying that someone called Captain Olimar (ring any bells?) has the Drive Key and the trio set about looking for signals to find him.

Having spent some time scanning for signals and making juice from the planet’s wild fruit to keep them alive, the team picks up a reading from an explorer that must be Olimar. They go to the site and find who they believe to be the wanted captain (though it is, in fact, Louie) and rescue him from a huge creature, the Scornet Maestro. Louie’s suit puts him in an enforced sleep, so the Koppaites take him back to their ship for further questioning in the morning.

Surprising nobody, the next day comes around and Louie once again proves that he is the worst by stealing all of the explorer’s juice supplies and running off into the forest. Alph, Brittany, and Charlie quickly catch up with him and, tying him up in their ship, Louie reveals that the real Olimar has actually been kidnapped by a giant gold creature called the Plasm Wraith, which is holding him captive at the Formidable Oak.

The team instantly sets off and Louie explains that he and Olimar were sent back to the planet to try and find more treasures so that they could buy back the S.S. Dolphin. Still no family time for Olimar, it seems.

With the help of the Pikmin, the Koppaites free Olimar and safely return him to Hocotate. In the game’s closing narration, the narrator questions why so many ships have crash-landed on the planet (it’s about time somebody asked that) and suggests that maybe it was no accident — duh, duh, duuuuuun!

Pikmin 3 Deluxe

The Deluxe Switch version of the third entry added a little extra epilogue content.

Having been dropped back on his home planet by the Koppai crew, the President of Hocotate Freight is in disbelief that Olimar would leave the company’s ship behind on the planet and demands that he and Louie instantly return to PNF-404 to retrieve it.

The pair do as they are told and set about rebuilding the ship from all of the parts that they find strewn across the planet. After a swift 10 days, Olimar and Louie find all of the required parts and finally, finally, return home.

At least, for now…

Hey! Pikmin

Hey! Pikmin is a spin-off 3DS title and adds very little to the main Pikmin story from the mainline games, but it’s worth mentioning regardless.

Returning from a delivery, Olimar and the S.S. Dolphin II get caught in a meteorite shower which brings them crashing onto a nearby planet (can you guess which one it might be?).

With the help of the local Pikmin, Olimar reloads his ship with 30,000 Sparklium (the ship’s fuel source) in order to return home. This is light work for the now-experienced captain, and he eventually jets off back to Hocotate. Job done.

Speaking of spin-offs, there’s also the mobile game Pikmin Bloom. But story-wise, there’s nothing there you have to worry about there. Phew!

So, Is Pikmin 4 A Series Retcon / Reboot?

Now that you are up to date on the Pikmin storyline so far, the opening prologue in the Pikmin 4 demo might seem a bit off.

It appears to tell Olimar’s story from the first game (going about rebuilding the S.S. Dolphin), though there are some notable changes including the presence of Moss, the final house location, and the fact that he seemingly never returns home by himself.

Do we have a series retcon on our hands? Are we witnessing the birth of a Pikmin timeline to rival the controversial Zelda equivalent!? In truth, we don’t know yet.

Pikmin 4 might be retelling the story of Pikmin 1 that turns a blind eye to what we know happened in the original game, though there could also be something else going on here. Remember, the first game does have different endings depending on how successful Olimar is, so might there be potential for some wibbly wobbly timeline crossovers? That’s one theory.

A Pikmin multiverse? Now that wasn’t on our bingo cards for 2023…