Pikmin Forever

Pikmin Forever is a fan-made game by Scruffy, for the Wii U. It is a direct sequel to Pikmin 3, and its story essentially brings the story arc of the first three games to a conclusion: Captain Olimar must venture to PNF-404 one last time, and all along his latest and largest mission he discovers the true nature and purpose of Pikmin and the Onions. The gameplay of Pikmin Forever combines elements of all three canon games, while adding new types of Pikmin, a new feature to direct where Pikmin carry items, and new, physically dynamic enemies. It also features a revamped Challenge Mode and a Sandbox for creating Pikmin challenges. Its graphics improve upon those of Pikmin 3, with higher quality textures (and anti-aliasing), more realistic reflections, and better physically plausible shading.

Main game

 * Captain Olimar - the seasoned captain and friend of Pikmin; the protagonist of this story.


 * Edward - Koppai’s top Pikminologist, and one of Olimar’s biggest fans.


 * DELTA - a robot brought along to experiment with new advancements in explorer-technology relationships.

Bingo Battle/Sandbox-exclusive

 * Alph
 * Brittany
 * Captain Charlie
 * The President, formerly of Hocotate Freight, now of the KHA.

Plot
Years pass since Koppai’s expedition returned a success. Seeds from PNF-404 are successfully cultivated into life-sustaining orchards of food. Life flourishes on Koppai through sustainable practices, and fruit becomes their top interplanetary export. Their biggest investor is Hocotate; the two planets exchange so much business that eventually the leaders of Hocotate Freight propose to combine the agriculture of Koppai with the freight system and space program of Hocotate. The Koppai-Hocotate Alliance (KHA) is born, and soon their primary directive becomes to colonize PNF-404, the planet that had bestowed on the two worlds so much success. The KHA sends a preliminary research team of Koppai’s top Pikminologist (and one of Captain Olimar’s biggest fans), Edward, and his robot partner DELTA; to begin a colony on PNF-404 using the abundant resources they find there. Their ship, the KHA Lander, reports back that it successfully reaches PNF-404, but afterwards its signal goes alarmingly dark. It’s up to Hocotate’s veteran explorer, Captain Olimar, to rescue the team and collect enough resources to continue their colonizing mission. He ventures out in his own drop-ship, and makes the warp to PNF-404. As soon as he arrives, however, he collides with a large group of Onions floating in low orbit. His ship takes heavy impact, and begins plummeting to the planet’s surface, with the Onions following. As his ship catches fire, Olimar’s window is dislodged, and he flies from the cockpit, and the last thing he sees is a Red Onion approaching him, beaming him into its main chamber….
 * Prologue

Olimar awakens, and falls from the Red Onion’s bottom to the ground. He realizes his drop-ship has been destroyed, but the Onions still saved him; now all he recognizes is the Red Onion, its legs oddly rooted in the ground. The rest of the environment is uncharted, and while he admires the subtle quietude of the area (he names it the Glade of Daylight, he fears the onset of night and its predatory creatures. Surveying the environment, he spots a sprout by the Onion, and plucks it, rediscovering Red Pikmin. A seasoned explorer, Olimar is able to build up a team of Red Pikmin with which to scour the area. After conquering a new obstacle, a plastic mesh fence, he discovers a reluctantly familiar sight: the research pod of his old Hocotate ship, left abandoned on this planet. It seems to still be able to function, but its battery is uncharged and its combustion engine has 950 particulate units of fuel; it needs to burn 1000 metal units to charge the battery. Exploring further, he finds a metal object, the Beacon Staff (a house key), resting on some raised ground. He has Pikmin carry it back to the Hocotate pod, and it gives the pod the 50 metal units it needs to charge for the day, and begin floating again. Olimar is able to lift off in the pod for the night, though not to a significant altitude. Nevertheless, he realizes he can continue his rescue mission so long as can charge the pod with 1000 metal units each day.
 * Day 1, Glade of Daylight

Olimar continues to explore the area, looking for signs or signals from the missing research team. With the research pod, he explores the first new cave, the Reticulate Garden, in which he discovers White Pikmin, and unearths the first fossil for his records. After defeating a Burnished Cannon Beetle, he recovers a new metal object, the Ignition Courier (a remote car key). Rather than converting it into metal, it can be used to improve the pod’s transmitter. He does this the following night, and he picks up a small SOS signal coming from a nearby area, the Scalding Thicket.

Olimar lands in this new area, and begins tracking the SOS signal. In order to reach it, he discovers Yellow Pikmin. He notes that the Yellow Onion seems to melt into the ground and re-materialize into the Red Onion to merge with it; this same decomposition into the ground allows the Onions to venture underground with Olimar. He notes that, although separate entities, the Onions may be connected in some way.
 * Scalding Thicket

He finds Purple Pikmin in another cave, the Buried Bole, and discovers how to convert Pikmin into Rock Pikmin in a different cave, the Acoustic Crevasse. In order to finally reach the signal he seeks, he must use a geyser to reach the top of a large tree, called the Emperor’s Crown. There, he battles a formidable creature, the Emperor Bulblax. It coughs up the robot DELTA when defeated.

The robot explains that their KHA Lander had confronted a huddle of Onions above the atmosphere; although she suggests they could have been watching the planet, she cannot quite compute the real reason they were idling within the line from Koppai to PNF-404. All she knows is that she, Edward, and the Lander all landed in separate areas; DELTA climbed this tree to get a better survey of where Edward may have landed. She suggests they head to the area far over which the Onions had gathered, which she says is near the summit of the mountains in the distance. At the end of that day, the two realize that the mere Hocotate pod cannot carry them up a mountain, but they do see what appears to be an explorer’s tag signal in a nearby area, which Olimar names the Luxuriant Lakeside for its immense grasses.

In the new area, the two leaders now hunt down the source of this tag signal, it must be Edward! They notice wild Blue Pikmin, but they cannot reach the Onion with only two explorers. So they continue their tracking, deep into a cave called the Mycelial Burrow. They see something illuminating one sublevel, and in it discover a Mushroom Onion with bioluminescent Mushroom Pikmin, whom the explorers befriend. The Mushroom Onion merges with the Master Onion seamlessly, still by materializing through its roots. At the final sublevel the explorers find another formidable creature, the Angling Rhizomander. When it is defeated, it leaves behind the tagged explorer: Olimar’s former partner Louie, left on the planet for years. A Common Glowcap grows out of his head and he has no need for a helmet; Olimar dubs him Loucap. He does not talk coherently anymore, but he seems to remember Olimar and shows him what he had been guarding from the Rhizomander: a piece of the Hocotate ship’s hull. Olimar figures that Louie must have tried to return home in the Hocotate ship, and failed, causing the ship to crash-land in many pieces and for him to require the aid of the Mushroom Onion. Returning the part to the Hocotate ship, the explorers realize they can give the ship the power to ascend the distant mountain, if they can collect the rest of its hull. Returning to the surface, the three explorers can now access the way to the Blue Onion, and rediscover Blue Pikmin. The Blue Pikmin help the explorers recover another piece of the Hocotate ship’s hull, a radar that can locate the rest of its hull. It seems that 14 other hull parts rest in the three areas they have visited so far, in sections previously inaccessible without Blue and Mushroom Pikmin. They carry out a grand search for these parts, while still charging the pod for takeoff each day.
 * Luxuriant Lakeside

When all 16 hull parts have been collected, the Hocotate ship is again properly functional, albeit very dilapidated. In particular, its engine is very worn: the ship does not ascend much higher in the sky than the pod did. Still, an extra effort from the ship lands the explorers partially up the distant mountain, on a frosty crag they name the Forbidding Precipice. DELTA’s sensors indicate that the KHA Lander in which DELTA and Edward arrived is somewhere in the area; the explorers hope that, wherever it is, its superior engine can lift them to the summit of the mountain. In this area they meet Lichen Pikmin (and are surprised by the variety of Pikmin by this time), and can get Winged Pikmin from Candypop Buds. Both types help them find the KHA Lander, after a clearing in a large snow cave called the Flurry Shelter.
 * Forbidding Precipice

DELTA sees the Lander just out of reach; it appeared to have been able to correct its flight and evade a crash landing. However, she is suddenly abducted by yet another formidable creature, the Helmeted Iceweavil. Winged Pikmin and Lichen Pikmin both are needed to defeat the creature, and when the battle is won, DELTA is released. Her damage is critical; Olimar quickly returns her to the KHA Lander. 10000 metal units are required for Olimar to make the repairs, which he states are crucial; they need all the help they can get. The final area cannot be entered without repairing DELTA, although the toll for charging the KHA Lander is now only 500 metal units (instead of 1000 for the Hocotate ship). If 100 Purple Pikmin are aquired, the Hocotate Ship (1000 weight) can be carried to the KHA Lander for the 10000 needed metal units. Once DELTA is repaired, the KHA Lander can reach the final area, the Canyon of Moonlight.

With the KHA lander indeed picking up a signal of an explorer near the summit of the mountain, Olimar quickly sets a course for the Canyon of Moonlight. The moonlight is not from the usual moon in the sky, however; the canyon itself contains several small round moons floating just above the ground, connected to the ground by thick roots that resemble those on the Onions. Dormant Onions also rest on some of the moons; they are smaller than most Onions and cannot be activated. Most of the area’s terrain has been eroded by the gravity of the moons; the explorers and Pikmin must hunt down Edward's signal by carrying items and battling enemies between moons. There is no metal in the area; every day spent there cannot be earned back. Eventually the explorers traverse the puzzling environment, switching between gravities and using the skills of all eight Pikmin types as well as their own teamwork. After the final bridge is completed, they discover that Edward is inside a larger moon with no connecting root. The moon’s gravity attracts the explorers, and they attempt to unearth Edward in the sandy terrain, but suddenly, four gigantic legs erupt from the surface of the moon. The Lunar Long Legs attacks, and a climactic battle begins!
 * Canyon of Moonlight

When the Lunar Long Legs is defeated, its head explodes, leaving only its disintegrating particles, the Nucleic Vault (a large metal shovel head) which it ingested, and Edward; the Pikmin recover everything. Once Edward comes to, he duly thanks the explorers for rescuing him from the beast. He observed that the beast was camouflaged as a moon in order to prey on animals that came here; before he was caught, Edward managed to discover what the moons (which he calls Onion moons) are, and by extension, what Onions are. The Onion moons are fledgling PNF-404s, young planets, that would one day separate from PNF-404 and become planets with life of their own. The Onions are composites of all types of life, and their roots connect all the life of PNF-404 in one big network. Pikmin were the first step of Onion evolution: plant-animal creatures that could feed nutrients to the Onion. These moons are the last step of Onion evolution: young planets that will propagate not only the Pikmin species but all life on PNF-404, all thanks to the Onions. Edward realizes that Olimar must have been the catalyst for the whole process when he first visited the planet; that is why the Onions followed Olimar wherever he went, but never left the planet to which they were tied. This is also why Onions were always active since Olimar’s first visit, and why their look and behavior evolved overtime. The Onions in the atmosphere were not only watching over their embryonic planets; they were also waiting for Olimar to come again and help guide their project with his leadership. Olimar takes all of this in, and at least comes to the conclusion that PNF-404 should not be colonized. Hocotate and Koppai have tampered with the Onions enough, and the resulting evolution of life-forms is far too dangerous to live with. Solemnly and sincerely, the explorers say goodbye to the Pikmin and blast off in the KHA Lander using the metal the Lunar Long Legs dropped. The crew warps away, never to return to PNF-404 and its planetary sprouts.
 * Conclusion

Based on the amount of metal units brought back to the KHA divided by the days spent, the player receives a rank.

Piktop
Rather than the KopPad in Pikmin 3, the KHA outfits the researchers and Olimar with a new device called a "Piktop", which contains a map of the area (as it is discovered), Pikmin records, and data files, like the KopPad. There are some new features, however.

Destination Select
The most urgent goal for Olimar each day is to collect enough metal units to power his ship for the night. To this end, he salvages metal objects; the more metal they contain, the more metal units they are worth. The bodies of enemies contain some metals (bosses, especially metal-based bosses, carry a large amount), so a new feature of Pikmin Forever is being able to select whether Pikmin carry defeated enemies to the Onion or Olimar's ship, by touching the carried enemy on the Piktop. Pikmin can also carry obstacle components, such as bridge fragments or hay, to different locations by selection, and those components can be removed and placed somewhere else.

Camera/Mic
The camera in the Piktop is improved over the previous game's camera, with an option for manual depth of field and an option for a short burst of photographs. The camera can also recognize the most prominent subject of a photo: any photo of an enemy, plant, or Pikmin will be added to the Piklopedia (this is the only way to get visuals of an something in the Piklopedia). The Piktop also has a microphone that can record up to 5 seconds of audio, and store up to 6 recordings. Recordings of enemy or Pikmin noises can be saved to the Piklopedia, clearing up the Piktop's save space.

Day start
Each day is now 15 minutes long, and the Sun Meter is divided into 15 increments. Even in caves, time passes, so if the day ends any cave is exited. However, at the beginning of each day, the player can choose from different landing sites in each area (once they are discovered), allowing easier access to a cave that had to be exited.

Leader strengths
There are minute but significant abilities each of the leaders in the game has:
 * Captain Olimar can pluck Pikmin faster than the other two leaders, and Pikmin follow him and his group-move objectives in a tighter line than with the others, making it easier for him to sneak past enemies.
 * DELTA can run slightly faster than the other leaders, though the other leaders keep up when following her. Her expands faster, but lasts a little less time.
 * Loucap can carry a weight of 3 alongside the Pikmin, but only when no Pikmin are following him. His carrying counts as Mushroom Pikmin in choosing which Pikmin receive the spoils. He can manually stop carrying at any time.

Any leader in Bingo Battle and the Sandbox has no special strength, unless the strengths of the leaders are allowed in the Sandbox.

Pikmin types

 * Red Pikmin - These fierce Pikmin are immune to fire, and can ignite their stems on fire geysers to carry fire with them.
 * White Pikmin - These swift Pikmin are immune to poison and release venom when consumed. They can run and dig objects faster than all other types, and their beady red eyes can detect completely buried objects, such as fossils.
 * Yellow Pikmin - These energetic Pikmin are immune to electricity, and can conduct and store it from electric arcs. They are thrown higher than other types.
 * Purple Pikmin - These burly Pikmin weigh and carry 10 times more than other types, and land with a thud that can briefly stun enemies or break up loose ground.
 * Mushroom Pikmin - These odd Pikmin light up dark areas with their bioluminescent mushroom-caps. They can optionally be thrown so that they bounce off their cap and travel another throw’s distance. They cannot latch onto most beasts, but enough impacts from them can knock a beast over. A group of them will also marginally improve the speed and attack power of other Pikmin.
 * Blue Pikmin - These aquatic Pikmin can swim and thrive underwater, and rescue drowning Pikmin (within a distance limit). They can drink water to store it, and stored water will flower them over time.
 * Lichen Pikmin - These trooping Pikmin are immune to pollutants. They can also break down rock and ice, and although their attack is weaker than other types they attack the fastest of all types. They can travel in water, but they float and move more slowly.
 * Winged Pikmin - These flying Pikmin can easily traverse obstacles like water, and can lift up special obstacles. A new gameplay object, the paper towel. allows Winged Pikmin to carry up to 50 non-Winged Pikmin over obstacles.
 * (Rock Pikmin) - This is not a true type of Pikmin in Pikmin Forever, but rather a power-up for any Pikmin type. By harvesting rubble, one earns more rock coatings. When holding a Pikmin, that Pikmin can be converted into a Rock Pikmin temporarily. Rock Pikmin are thrown like a track-and-field hammer, they inflict 10 times the damage of a normal Pikmin hit. After one impact with an enemy or obstacle, the rock coating breaks and the Pikmin returns to its normal type.
 * Challenge Pikmin - This is a non-canonical type of Pikmin only found in Challenge Mode. Rather like Bulbmin, they are immune to all hazards except explosions, blunt force, and pits. However, they must drink green nectar within 90 seconds or they will die: their leaves/buds/flowers wilt from green to brown as their hydration runs out. When they drink green nectar, they are flowered and the time resets. Most enemies in Challenge Mode drop green nectar when defeated, at least when Challenge Pikmin are present.
 * Pikgems - These non-canonical Pikmin are only found in Challenge Mode. They resemble crystal Bulbmin. They are immune to all hazards, including blunt force, and have the attack power of Purple Pikmin. They cannot become Rock Pikmin, and they cannot be converted via Candypop Bud. Collecting Gems in Challenge Mode will allow the player to substitute Pikgems for any Red, White, Yellow, Purple, Blue, or Challenge Pikmin in any stage, helping overcome a particularly difficult challenge.

Areas
Areas in Pikmin Forever are even larger than in Pikmin 3, and they are in one piece rather than multiple pieces. Caves can have multiple sublevels, but the sublevels are not random and are generally very large compared to the cave environments of Pikmin 2.

Glade of Daylight

 * Reticulate Garden
 * Polished Flatland
 * Surge Cave

Scalding Thicket

 * Buried Bole
 * Acoustic Crevasse
 * Saturated Temple
 * Emperor's Crown

Luxuriant Lakeside

 * Mycelial Burrow
 * Arthropod Sanctum
 * Ceramic Rift

Forbidding Precipice

 * Hole of Heat
 * Frozen Fault
 * Flurry Shelter

Canyon of Moonlight
The final area of the game, without metal or caves. It functions mainly like, with a large complex puzzle leading up to the final boss battle.

Objects
These are any enemies or items carried by Pikmin.

Enemies
The enemies in Pikmin Forever are far more dynamic than ever before. Rather like the Swarming Sheargrub from Pikmin 3, many enemies can roam far beyond their spawn points, even of their own volition; most insects can cling to walls. Enemies can lose their balance from Pikmin impacts or falling off ledges, and their animations and movement speed change based on where and how many Pikmin are attacking. Overall, they respond to changes in weather and become generally more active as a day progresses. Most of the enemies from Pikmin 2 return, their appearance and behavior updated. Many new enemies also debut, along with several old and new bosses. The final boss, the Lunar Long Legs, is larger than any enemy in Pikmin Forever or the canon series.

Metal
Metal is required for the Hocotate ship and the KHA to convert into powdered fuel. The Hocotate ship requires 1000 metal units each day to charge its battery; the KHA Lander requires 500. Metal can be found in metal objects, which are listed in the mentioned article, or in defeated enemies.

Ship parts
Eventually in the story, Olimar, DELTA, and Loucap must collect the 16 missing parts of the Hocotate ship in order to improve its flight capabilities. These are located inside the bosses of caves and in hard-to-reach sections of above-ground areas.

Upgrades
There are some objects that do not get turned into metal powder, but instead can add upgrades to either the ship, spacesuits, or the Piktop. These will be listed soon.

Fossils
Fossils are optional collectibles in the story mode. All fossils are completely buried, requiring White Pikmin to find them. Finding and recovering one will send its data to the Piklopedia, and update Olimar's journal with a fossil record. There is one fossil for every enemy listed in the Piklopedia.

Gems
There is one Gem in the main game; it unlocks Challenge Mode when collected. Collecting a well-hidden Gem in Challenge Mode will earn the player 5 Pikgems to substitute in a difficult challenge. There are a total of 50 gems in Challenge Mode.

Challenge Mode
Pikmin Forever has a huge Challenge Mode; there are 100 different challenges to complete. The challenges can have varying rules and varying twists, also introducing Challenge Pikmin and Pikgems. Completing a challenge unlocks a prize to be used in the Sandbox; completing a special requirement in the same challenge (i.e. no Pikmin lost) wins the player a special prize. The challenges are unlocked in a web layout; that is, completing a challenges unlocks branches to new challenges.

Bingo Battle
Bingo Battle returns in Pikmin Forever; the major addition is that battle stages created in the Sandbox can be played in Bingo Battle mode, in addition to the pre-made stages.

Sandbox
The Sandbox is a feature in which players can design Pikmin challenges by placing down leaders, Pikmin, enemies, items, and environmental objects. There are many options to it, most of which are unlocked by completing regular and special goals in Challenge Mode challenges. The fully unlocked Sandbox includes:
 * Several types of Challenge Mode rules, or Bingo Battle rules.
 * Preset environments to choose from, plus a sculpting tool and environmental objects for creating terrain.
 * Up to 4 leaders.
 * Any type of Pikmin Forever Pikmin, and their Onions.
 * The entire Piklopedia of enemies.
 * Any metal object, a series of treasures, and fossils to create objectives.
 * A palette of hazards and obstacles.
 * An array of lighting and music to choose from.