Pikmin 4 uses the Unreal Engine, making it the first Nintendo-developed console gamenote Yoshi's Crafted World also used Unreal Engine, but Good-Feel developed that game instead of an internal Nintendo team. Some of Nintendo's mobile games have also used the Unity engine, such as Super Mario Run and Mario Kart Tour. to use a third-party Game Engine.
Sometime from late June to early July, the majority of the game's data was leaked due to datamining the demo. Most details about the Piklopedia, Treasure Hoard, and miscellaneous items were posted online, as well as numerous story-related images.
Just a few days before the game released, the game's entire ROM was leaked online due to some stores selling the game early.
Inspiration for the Work: During the development of the game, Shigeru Miyamoto noted that Pikmin games have a reputation for being a lot more difficult than they're actually designed to be. He hypothesized that this is because even small failures in the game lead to Pikmin dying, and players are disinclined to let Pikmin die. He then wondered if there was a way to make the game difficult that felt more approachable and less punishing to players. This lead his team to come up with the Dandori system, putting the emphasis on tight management of time instead of raw combat.
Saved from Development Hell: After seven years of silence after being mentioned off-hand as being "very close to completion", the game finally saw an official announcement in September 2022, releasing the following July. It would later be explained that the game was stuck as a low priority project with a small team when Miyamoto made that original statement, unable to ramp up to full production due to a lack of staff until several years later.
Sequel Gap: While there have been two spin-off titles in the interim, the last mainline entry (Pikmin 3) released just over ten years prior, beating out the nine-year gap between Pikmin 2 and Pikmin 3.
Shrug of God: Pre-release, though the game's promotional material said the game picks up where Pikmin 3 left off, the actual devs were intentionally coy on 4's placement on the timeline, opting to leave it up to interpretation. That being said, it is heavily suggested through Olimar's (and Louie's) journal entries, as well as the "Olimar's Shipwreck Tale" side campaign and various pieces of in-game dialogue, that it is an alternate continuity to the events of the Pikmin (2001).
What Could Have Been: The dev team mentions in Nintendo's Ask the Developer feature that an early gameplay idea was controlling Pikmin enemies like the Bulborbs. When they couldn't form a coherent mechanic from controlling all the different creatures, they reduced the scope to one brand new creature, which became the Rescue Corps' Canine Companion Oatchi.
, the game finally saw an official announcement in September 2022, releasing the following July. It would later be explained that the game was stuck as a low priority project with a small team when Miyamoto made that original statement, unable to ramp up to full production due to a lack of staff until several years later.