Pikmin V

Pikmin V is a standalone Pikmin game created by Dry Paratroopa. Although the game is intended to come directly after Pikmin 3, the V comes from the Roman numeral for 5, in case an official Pikmin 4 is ever made. It's also not directly a 5, either, so even an official Pikmin 5 wouldn't cause name problems.

Intro
The game starts with Olimar filling out some paperwork at Hocotate Freight. The paper he's looking at has a picture of Louie on it. He reminisces (recaps to the player) about the events of the first three games, over which time he has lost his ship, Louie (who he can't deny having grown sort of a bond with despite how ludicrous Louie is), and the President's trust from getting a company ship destroyed. Suddenly, he is called over the intercom by the President to come to the loading dock.

When he gets there, he is surprised to see Alph and Brittany there. Alph explains that he felt bad for losing Louie and for Olimar not having his ship, and that he wants to help. Brittany adds that she has become fascinated with PNF-404's wildlife and wants to study it thoroughly, and that Charlie will be staying on Koppai to oversee the growth of the seeds they brought back, which is going well. The President says that he will authorize Olimar to return to PNF-404 only if he finds a lot of treasure and any profit after buying the Dolphin goes to the company. He then unveils a new model of Hocotate ship that is pudgier and has a bay door at its base, but only one cockpit. Olimar gets in, Alph and Brittany board the S.S. Drake, and they blast off to PNF-404 once more.

However, upon reaching the planet, the Drake suffers a critical error and crashes down, ejecting Alph and Brittany in the process. Olimar has to make an emergency landing to go find them...

On the Planet
Shortly after landing on Overlook Hill, Olimar discovers the Red Onion. However, it is in hibernation mode; this concerns Olimar because hibernation mode only activates on Pikmin extinction.

Regions
There are four regions in the game, that are each divided up into three areas. The areas in a region are all connected. Each area has its own landing site; however, you can only land in one by default and have to find the other two on your own. Going to a landing site of an area that you are currently touched down in will allow you to move base over to the new site, and any Pikmin carrying objects will automatically redirect to the new site. Areas are about Pikmin 2 size, and each one except the last two has a Pikmin type somewhere in its midst. Somewhere in each region is a Pikmin 3-style boss, whose defeat will progress the story and usually unlock the next region. The exception to this is the first region, where the main boss is only a mini boss located in the first cave.

Additionally, each area except the first has one cave in it. The caves are almost nothing like Pikmin 2 caves, however. There will still be a prompt before entering a cave that lists the hazards inside of it, and the Ship will still send in its Research Pod to gather treasure. However, they are no longer randomly generated, instead being a lot more like dungeons filled with puzzles. Time no longer stops while inside of a cave: if the day ends while inside of a cave, you will be forced to leave, though you get to keep your treasure. At the end of each cave is a Pikmin 2-style boss (with two exceptions) that drops an upgrade once killed.

Below is the list of regions, areas, and caves:
 * Endless Plains
 * Overlook Hill (starting point)
 * Great Savannah
 * TBA (region boss) - Location of Alph
 * Mystery Crater
 * Distortion Hole (final boss) - cannot be visited until end of game
 * Dune Canyon
 * Gravel Desert (starting point)
 * TBA
 * Rusted Ravine (region boss)
 * Stone Abode
 * Sealed Valley - cannot be visited until S.S. Drake is recovered
 * Deep Palace (other region boss) - Location of Brittany
 * Verdant Forest
 * Silent Woods (starting point)
 * TBA
 * Polluted Swamp
 * Toxic Labyrinth
 * Mad Jungle (region boss) - Location of S.S. Drake
 * TBA
 * Polar Mountain
 * Clear Creek (starting point)
 * Crystal Spring
 * Snow Cliffs
 * TBA
 * White-Out Zone (region boss) - not connected to Clear Creek
 * TBA

Playable

 * Olimar
 * Alph (after first cave)
 * Brittany (after beating the Sandsifting Mawfish)

To be continued...