Pikmin: Sinister Incinerator

Story
Olimar, Louie and the President return to Hocotate shortly after the events of Pikmin 2. Upon their arrival, the President receives a message from a Government Pod which is apparently from Hocotate's Mayor. In the letter, the Mayor congratulates Hocotate Freight for their expeditions and offers for the crew to return to the planet and find "the rest of the treasures" with the promise of endless prosperity. But weren't they all salvaged during the events of Pikmin 2? Apparently not, as the Government Pod implants a program in the ship which increases its capabilities to detect valuable artifacts. Without a second thought, the President boots Olimar and Louie back into the ship. They are launched back to the planet, where they discover that the new program stops their ship from leaving the planet until all the valuables have been accounted for. They will slowly come to realize that they are being forced to work for a mysterious employer- and he's certainly not the Mayor of Hocotate. Only the Pikmin will be able to set their leaders free...

World Map
There are seven areas and 24 dungeons.
 * Desert Oasis
 * Highland Field
 * Mountain Springs
 * Ancient Wetland
 * Forest Depths
 * Penumbra Plains
 * The Portal

System and Rating
It would be for Wii, but it is unlikely the game will ever really be made. It would most likely be rated T for frightening images, mild blood and fantasy violence. Frightening images are mostly towards the end, though.

Info

 * The next game in the trilogy lineup is Pikmin: Redemption.

Controls
Being on Wii, it would of course have controls with the Wiimote and Nunchuk, but for sake of keeping with the classic scheme players would be given the choice of using a Gamecube controller instead. Controls remain mostly the same.
 * START/PAUSE- Brings up pause screen.
 * Control Stick- Move your active pilot.
 * A- Punch, Pluck and Throw Pikmin.
 * B- Whistle.
 * C-Stick- Swarm Pikmin group.
 * X- Disband group temporarily.
 * Y- Switch control between pilots.
 * Z- Switch camera angle.
 * L- Swivel camera.
 * R- Zoom in and out between far, medium, close, and ground level.
 * D-Pad- Up and down for equipped items/sprays. Left and right while holding A to select Pikmin types to throw.

Pikmin Types
All types of Pikmin return in this game, along with two new types and another Pikmin-esque creature.


 * Red Pikmin
 * Yellow Pikmin
 * Blue Pikmin
 * Purple Pikmin
 * White Pikmin
 * Black Pikmin
 * Green Pikmin
 * Bulbmin
 * Blue Bulbmin

Enemies
Enemies from Pikmin 1 return alongside Pikmin 2 foes, and of course a bunch of new enemies as well. The number of bosses since Pikmin 2 has doubled, just to give an estimate of how many enemy types you'll encounter in the game. For a pretty much comprehensive list of all the enemies, check out Pikmin: Sinister Incinerator Piklopedia. A few enemies from Pikmin 2 do not return however, such as Mitites, Pikmin 2's cannon beetles and the Antenna Beetle. Bosses are listed with a few stats in Pikmin: Sinister Incinerator Bosses, a separate page which also helps because there are a couple of bosses which will not be listed in the Piklopedia for various reasons.

What Happened to Challenge Mode? Two-Player Mode?
Sorry! This is just a story-mode type game.

Difficulty Factor
This game is much harder than Pikmin 2. But think about it- it's balanced pretty easily. After all, you can spend days harvesting sprays and growing the right Pikmin for tackling the especially tough later dungeons and the bosses that dwell inside them. Here's a good strategy for getting through dungeons: enter with a perfectly prepared team, and try and complete each sublevel with a minimal number of deaths. Because the game saves after you enter the dungeon or move on to the next floor, you want to have the best-equipped party for tackling each floor. If you don't do this, the forces you lose early on will keep you from passing the harder floors later in the dungeon. To help ease the pain a little, there's also a Pikmin: Sinister Incinerator Survival Guide.

Challenges
NOT CHALLENGE MODE. There are a few challenges to check off which can be viewed from the title screen. For each challenge you complete, you get a little extra something. Here are the challenges!
 * Recruit 20 Blue Bulbmin: Party Swap! Allows you to alternate party members after you rescue the President. In other words, Olimar and Louie can spend a day exploring, and the next day Louie and the President can go somewhere as well.
 * Defeat the Luminous Spectralid: Optional Alternate Title Screen! You can fly the Luminous Spectralid around the planet's different areas from the title screen! It can help you understand quicker paths through areas faster.
 * Finish in 30 Days or Less: Optional Alternate Title Screen #2! The same, only this time you're Olimar flying around in the S.S. Dolphin.
 * Finish Without Losing a Pikmin: Pikmin Mode! A very odd version of the game. Olimar is replaced with a Red Pikmin and Louie is replaced with a Blue Pikmin. The President is replaced with a Purple Pikmin. You can toggle this mode on and off.
 * Finish Without Using a Spray: Extra moves for pilots! You can choose to instead of spray spicy or bitter spray to swing your nearest Pikmin without throwing it (down) or to send up a temporarily distracting flare (up). These extra moves have some cool side effects! The flare can knock flying enemies out of the sky if timed perfectly, and swinging a Pikmin is like an awesome punch that deals extra damage, especially when wielding a Purple Pikmin. This can greatly change the gameplay!
 * Complete All Challenges: Unlock an extra "dungeon" somewhere in the game, Secret Cinema.

Treasure Locations
In every area except for the seventh, there are 10 above-ground treasures, making up exactly 20% of all treasures in the game. The other 80% are scattered throughout the dungeons. The final dungeon in area seven also has no treasures, and the last dungeon in area six has only one treasure, the 300th in the game and the last one. Most of the areas have under 50 treasures total, but areas four and five have over 60 treasures each!

Lastly: Trivia and Development Notes

 * Ideas for various enemies were first formulated on Portal-Kombat's user page on Pikipedia, but due to the clutter it was moved to Pikcanon-NOT.
 * An early idea for the final boss was a massive mushroom cloud shaped like a Puffstool called "Puffstorm." Although the final boss turned out differently, the intro cutscene in which the cloud becomes the boss was based off of that idea.
 * One of the original concepts of the game was that there would be rain which filled up certain areas at specific times or stormed down, making Blue Pikmin even more crucial. The Penumbra Plains would've had acid rain which only Green Pikmin could resist.
 * The Vicious V-Bug was one of the first planned enemies, despite its overbearing insignificance.
 * Portal-Kombat once had a list of 300 planned treasures and treasure names which was actually half complete, but due to an unexpected deletion, all the names were lost. The frustration was too much for Portal-Kombat to go back and do them again, so the treasures will remain nameless, save for the six Dark Spores and the President, who is the 300th treasure, similarly to how Louie was the final treasure in Pikmin 2.
 * The graphics of this game were conceived as nearly identical to the graphics of Pikmin 2.
 * As for information about PSI on Pikcanon-NOT, Portal-Kombat plans to gradually add templates to all the enemies in the game to highlight the areas and dungeons in which they appear, and maybe (no promises) actually write walkthroughs for the dungeons. At the same time though, Portal-Kombat wishes to begin work on Pikmin: Distant Planet.