Nintendo declares Pikmin Day and announces Switch 2 Pikmin 4 Edition

Nintendo presented a roughly nine-minute Pikmin-themed Direct on YouTube on Oct. 31, 2026, with Shigeru Miyamoto declaring Nov. 1 as the first annual Pikmin Day and revealing Pikmin 4 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Dandori Academy for a Nov. 12, 2026 launch. The broadcast went live on Oct. 31 in the UK, already Nov. 1 in Japan, and served as the platform for announcing the first annual Pikmin Day alongside updates across the franchise.

Miyamoto, Nintendo’s creative fellow and the creator of the Pikmin series, said during the presentation, “Starting this year, we’re going to start calling November 1st Pikmin Day.” He explained the choice by pointing to the original red, blue and yellow Pikmin standing side by side, which resemble 11.1, and tied the date to the first Pikmin game on the Nintendo GameCube in 2001.

The roughly nine-minute broadcast included no new Pikmin game and no details about Pikmin 5, and Nintendo did not announce Pikmin 1 and 2 joining the Nintendo Switch Online GameCube library on Switch 2. Both Pikmin 1 and 2 can be bought individually on the eShop, but the Direct did not address their addition to the GameCube library on Switch 2. Miyamoto also said, “If you imagine those three Pikmin as the number one, that makes November 1st, Pikmin Day!”

Pikmin 4 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Dandori Academy launches on Nov. 12, 2026, and a free demo arrives on Nov. 2, 2026. The demo covers the opening area, Sunspeckled Terrace, plus two Dandori Academy stages, and save data carries over to the full game. Existing Pikmin 4 owners on the original Nintendo Switch can upgrade for $9.99 through the Nintendo eShop, while the physical edition retails for $69.99.

Dandori Academy is a timed treasure-rush mode with 72 stages released over time, and players can practice freely during the week before a single scored attempt on Friday, Saturday or Sunday to earn medals and post times on online leaderboards. The Gargantuan Garden stage demonstrated players scooping up gold nuggets. Limited-time exams arrive every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, letting players compete on strategy as part of the Switch 2 Edition.

The Switch 2 version adds improved, higher-resolution visuals and lets players use the console’s built-in microphone to give voice commands to Oatchi, Rescue Corps’ dog, such as “Rush” and “Go to work.” All four mainline Pikmin games will be playable natively on Switch 2, and Pikmin 4 has sold more than 3 million copies, making it the best-selling game in the series.

Miyamoto announced Hello! Pikmin, an animated series made with Nintendo Pictures, the studio formerly known as Dynamo Pictures. The first short, “#01 Frog,” shows a red Pikmin approaching a seemingly sleeping toad to steal a baseball, only to find the toad is awake and hungry. Miyamoto presented the humorous animation during the Direct as part of the new animated series he is making with Nintendo Pictures.

It aired during the Direct, which also followed Nintendo Pictures’ 2025 short “Close to You” and Miyamoto’s 2014 Pikmin animations “The Night Juicer,” “Treasure in a Bottle” and “Occupational Hazards.”

A second Hello! Pikmin episode arrived on Nov. 1, 2026, and from December 2026 new shorts will release monthly through the Nintendo Today app and other Nintendo channels. Fuka Koshiba joined Miyamoto on the broadcast as the new ambassador for the Pikmin franchise and introduced the first short. Miyamoto recruited her “to build more excitement about Pikmin going forward,” and she is best known as the voice of Kiki in Kiki’s Delivery Service.

She also knits Pikmin hats that she shares on social media.

Pikmin Bloom, Niantic’s free mobile game for Android and iOS, will add a Secret Caves feature this winter. Players send a group of Pikmin into underground caves to battle enemies and collect treasure, which joins a new in-game collection, and they can command the Pikmin to attack or use the whistle to call them back. Cave maps come from in-game postcards, Dandori Academy challenges or quizzes in Pikmin 4 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition.

Nintendo Treehouse hosted a Treehouse Plays stream at 9 AM PT on the day of the Direct, marking the occasion on its official YouTube channel. Pikmin Day will recur every November 1 and joins MAR10 Day and Pokémon Day on the fan calendar.