Pikmin 3

The player controls a captain, which commands a horde of up to 100 plant-like creatures called Pikmin, and uses their unique abilities to explore the world, combat enemies, solve puzzles, and amass fruits. Pikmin can be directed to accomplish various tasks, such as building bridges, destroying barriers, collecting spoils, and defeating enemies. They come in various colors and different physical features that signify their special abilities and immunities to hazards. For example, Red Pikmin are immune to fire and are stronger than other Pikmin, Yellow Pikmin are immune to electricity and can be thrown farther, and Blue Pikmin are immune to water.

Pikmin 3 retains the Red, Yellow, and Blue Pikmin, and it also introduces two Pikmin types: the grey-colored Rock Pikmin, which can destroy tough barriers and are immune to being crushed by heavy objects; and the pink-colored Winged Pikmin, which can attack airborne enemies and travel through the air and over water. The game also retains the White Pikmin, which poisons enemies when eaten, and the Purple Pikmin, which have the strength of ten Pikmin, both of which are from Pikmin 2, but are only available in the side modes of this game.

In the year 20XX, the inhabitants of the planet Koppai are suffering from famine as a result of a "booming population, booming appetites, and a basic lack of planning". Having scouted multiple planets with their SPERO ships to find ones with resources, one returns positive after scouting the Pikmin planet, which they call PNF-404. It has an abundance of cultivable food, and so three Koppaite captains are sent to explore the planet and retrieve the food sources that will save their planet: the engineer Alph, the botanist Brittany, and the captain Charlie. S.

Drake, malfunctions and crash-lands, separating the three. Charlie falls to the Distant Tundra and meets the Yellow Pikmin, but is eaten by the Vehemoth Phosbat. Alph awakens in the Tropical Wilds and meets the Red Pikmin, who help him recover their ship. Alph learns that the "cosmic-drive key", which is required to return to Koppai, has disappeared following the crash.

Shigeru Miyamoto first hinted about the possibility of a new Pikmin game in a July 2007 interview with IGN, saying "I certainly don't think we've seen the last of Pikmin. I definitely would like to do something with them, and I think the Wii interface in particular is very well suited to that franchise." A later CNET.com interview in April 2008 reported that "For now, Miyamoto looks ahead to other projects for the Wii, mentioning his desire to continue the Pikmin series."

A new Pikmin game was confirmed at E3 2008 during Nintendo's developer roundtable, in which Miyamoto stated that his team were working on a new entry in the series. Details concerning gameplay and development were left unmentioned. At Miyamoto's roundtable discussion at E3 2011, Miyamoto stated that Pikmin 3 development was moved to Wii U, the Wii's successor. He said that the Wii U's HD graphics and secondary-screen GamePad would work better for it.

The game received generally favorable reviews. Most reviewers praised its well designed levels, high-quality graphics, and gameplay. In Japan, four reviewers from Famitsu gave the game a total score of 37/40, with one of the critics giving a perfect score of 10/10. The Sunday Times gave it 5 out of 5 stars.

8/10, praising its design but stating that it was too short. ITF Gaming gave it a 9/10 for its lush, well-crafted environments. Ben Croshaw of The Escapist praised the graphics, controls, and incentive for urgency, but critiqued the Wii U for not initially utilizing the touch screen as a means of individually selecting targets.