Key facts
- Pikmin 4 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Dandori Academy launches on Nintendo Switch 2 on November 12.
- Dandori Academy will grow to 72 stages released over time, with difficulty levels that let players pick exams matching their skill and earn in-game medals.
- The port offers sharper detail through improved high-resolution graphics on the Switch 2, whether played on a television or in handheld mode.
- Players can speak voice commands to Oatchi, the dependable space dog, through the Nintendo Switch 2 system's built-in microphone during gameplay.
Nintendo released a four-minute overview trailer for Pikmin 4 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Dandori Academy, which launches on Switch 2 on November 12.
Pixelkin describes the Switch 2 Edition as an enhanced version of Pikmin 4, which originally launched on Nintendo Switch in 2023. Nintendo says that 2023 game has surpassed 3 million copies sold, making it the top-selling title in the franchise.
Owners of Pikmin 4 on the original Nintendo Switch can buy an eShop upgrade pack for $9.99 instead of repurchasing the full game. The physical edition retails for $69.99.
A free demo arrived on the Nintendo eShop on November 2, covering Sunspeckled Terrace and two Dandori Academy stages. Progress made in the demo transfers to the full release.
Nintendo says Dandori Academy will grow to 72 stages released over time, with difficulty levels that let players pick exams matching their skill and earn in-game medals. The mode works as a timed treasure rush: players practice freely during the week and get one scored attempt on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays, with online leaderboards tracking scores. It demonstrated the academy using the Gargantuan Garden stage, where players scoop up gold nuggets before the clock runs out. Pixelkin describes special timed challenges and limited-time events within the academy that test Pikmin skills.
The port offers sharper detail through improved high-resolution graphics on Switch 2, whether played on a television or in handheld mode. Nintendo lists the improved visuals among the Switch 2-specific features, alongside Dandori Academy exams and microphone support.
Nintendo released English and Japanese versions of the overview trailer alongside a set of TV commercials, including a Dandori Academy spot and one featuring Pikmin and Fuka Koshiba. The company also published a written game overview.
Players can speak voice commands such as Rush and Go to work to Oatchi, the Rescue Corps dog, through the Switch 2 system’s built-in microphone during gameplay. The microphone lets players direct the Rescue Corps dog without using buttons.
Dandori Battles support a friend on the same system. GameShare lets someone join locally without owning the game, and GameChat does the same online.
Players can create and customize a small explorer who guides plantlike Pikmin through the world. The game includes fire-resistant Red Pikmin, Ice Pikmin that freeze bodies of water, and Glow Pikmin that light the way forward at night. Nintendo describes Pikmin as small plantlike helpers that players grow, pluck, guide and send into battle, leaving the creatures’ fate to the player’s decisions.
Nintendo declared November 1 an annual Pikmin Day during a surprise Direct on YouTube on October 31, with series creator Shigeru Miyamoto making the announcement. The stream went live on October 31 in the United Kingdom, already November 1 in Japan, and ran for roughly nine minutes. He tied the date to the first Pikmin game on GameCube from 2001, where red, blue and yellow Pikmin first appeared. Pikmin Day happens every November 1 alongside other fan celebrations like MAR10 Day and Pokémon Day.
If you imagine those three Pikmin as the number one, that makes November 1st, Pikmin Day!
Shigeru Miyamoto, Stevivor
Nintendo Pictures produced the 40-second Hello! Pikmin animated shorts; two episodes are available now on the Nintendo Today app and YouTube channel, with one new episode each month starting in December. The first short, titled #01 Frog, debuted during the Direct and shows a Pikmin meeting a toad. Japanese actor Fuka Koshiba presented it, and Nintendo introduced her as a new Pikmin ambassador.
She voices Kiki’s Delivery Service, knits Pikmin hats shared on social media, and appears in a TV commercial for the Switch 2 Edition.
Pikmin Bloom, Niantic’s free mobile game for iOS and Android, receives a Secret Caves update in Winter 2026. Completing Dandori Academy exams unlocks cave maps sent as postcards for underground battles and treasure.
A Treehouse presentation of the new port streams on Nintendo’s official YouTube channel, and a Treehouse Plays broadcast went out at 9 AM PT on the day of the Direct. The Direct included no word on adding Pikmin 1 or Pikmin 2 to the Switch 2 Nintendo Switch Online GameCube library, even though players can buy both older games separately on the eShop. Nintendo did not announce a new Pikmin game. According to Game Informer, the stream told viewers that players can play all Pikmin titles on Switch and Switch 2.
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