Game Intro

Guide to the Pikmin 3 Deluxe game intro, covering the initial tutorial segments with Charlie and Alph, introducing Yellow and Red Pikmin, and basic controls.

In 20xx, the inhabitants of Koppai, a planet “at the far reaches of space,” struggles to feed the growing population due to inadequate crisis planning and growing appetites. The food supply is rapidly dwindling. As such, the Koppaites send out unmanned spacecraft called SPERO to search for food. The mission initially sees no results. Fortunately, the final SPERO discovers a planet, PNF-404, that has edible matter for the Koppaites to harvest for their survival. To this end, Koppai sends three astronauts to PNF-404 to harvest and bring back home edible matter; the crew unfortunately crash-lands on PNF-404 after something unclear happens during the landing sequence.

Day 1

Distant Tundra 1 (First Visit)

This is a tutorial segment involving Charlie and Yellow Pikmin. The game begins with Captain Charlie waking up in a snowy area and being gawked at by bizarre yellow creatures with large ears and leaves for hair. The yellow creatures quickly bolt as Charlie stirs. He then gets up, regains his wits about him, and realizes that he and his crew were scattered across PNF-404's surface. He then pulls out his KopPad and tries to call the ship and contact his crew. After receiving no response, Charlie sets out to find Alph and Brittany, his crew members.

You can now control Charlie with either the left joystick or the joystick on the Nunchuk. Walk a few steps and Charlie will notice the yellow creatures perched on a leaf. The path forward is blocked by a cluster of Spotcaps, or the Pikmin 3 equivalent of mushrooms. Go left and you'll see even more yellow creatures sitting on a rusty can. The yellow creatures will then notice Charlie and approach him. Charlie will then hypothesize that whistling will scare them away. Move the cursor onto the yellow creatures using either the left joystick or the joystick on the Nunchuk and press the on-screen button prompt to whistle. The captain's hypothesis proves to be false as the yellow creatures surround him. Desperate to lose the mob, Charlie decides to try to throw the yellow creatures away. Aim at a Spotcap and press the on-screen button prompt to toss a yellow creature. The flung yellow creature will land near the Spotcap and start attacking it. Throw a few more and Charlie will prompt you to dismiss the mob using an on-screen button prompt. Press the button shown onscreen and the yellow creatures will disperse and start attacking nearby Spotcaps.

After recapping the controls, Charlie will decide to try to find a use for the yellow creatures. Whistle them back under your control by sweeping the cursor over them while holding down the whistle button. Once they're back under your control, backtrack to the barrier of Spotcaps. Walk up to the Spotcaps and then press the disperse button. The yellow creatures will automatically start tearing down the Spotcaps.

Once the Spotcaps have been destroyed, whistle the yellow creatures back to your side and head forward. An unbreakable-for-now Crystal Nodule blocks the left path, so continue forward until you reach another mushroom barrier. Throw your followers onto the Kingcap (the huge Spotcap) and they'll start tearing it and the other mushrooms down to clear a path. Go into the cave and you'll come out in a sidescrolling section. Simply go left and into another cave. It's dark in here and enemies are present, so walk near the glowing blue fungi to light things up somewhat. The light will scare away the enemies. Either throw the yellow creatures at the enemies or disperse your squad near the enemies to have them fight the enemies. You might have to chase one or two of the enemies down to finish them all off. Once the last enemy dies, a cutscene will play in which something semitransparent will scare off your squad and attack Charlie. The screen then fades to black.

Tropical Wilds 1 (First Visit)

This is another tutorial segment involving Alph and Red Pikmin. After Charlie gets attacked, the game then switches over to Alph, the engineer of the PNF-404 mission crew. Alph, whose name I keep mistyping as “Aplh,” lands in a small pond at an oddly low speed. He and the other two crew members fell from, at the very least, low orbit. Wouldn't the gravitational pull turn them into screaming hot, screaming fast objects? How did they survive such a fall?

Regardless, Alph wakes up just in time to see their ship, the S.S. Drake sputter by and crash offscreen. Alph gets up, recalls the crash, and then declares that he needs to find Brittany and Charlie. The game then turns back to normal gameplay with you now in control of Alph. Head out of the pond and towards the clearing between the foliage. Waiting for you, and possibly spying on you, is another plantlike creature similar to the yellow creatures that Charlie encountered. This creature, however, is red with a pointed nose and no ears. Alph and the red creature will startle each other, causing the latter to scurry away.

Follow after it down a ledge once you're back in control. Walk a bit and you'll see it again. It skitters towards two more of its kind attempting to reach a red orb with a propeller on top and holes around the bottom. The red creatures can't get it off of the branch that it's stuck on, however. The game will prompt you to whistle at the red creatures in the same fashion as that of Charlie. Move the cursor over to the red creatures and press the whistle button. Once the red creatures are at your side, move the cursor over to the red orb and throw your three groupies at the red orb just as you threw the yellow creatures at the Spotcaps earlier in Charlie's segment. Once all three of the red creatures have landed on the red orb, they'll pull it off of the branch and to the ground. The red orb will then spring to life and sprout yellow legs. This red orb will be important in a bit, but, for now, leave it alone and turn the camera to the right using either the right joystick or turning Alph and pressing C on the Nun