Pikmin Eco

Pikmin Eco "(ピクミンエコ)" is a fan-made game created by Sapphire7 for the Nintendo Switch as the unofficial sequel to Pikmin 3. While taking place after Pikmin 3, as confirmed by Professor Maple within the game, it's not directly coordinated to the canon game events similarly to the spin-off game Hey! Pikmin's connection to the main series. The game has the same type of mechanics from Pikmin 3, while also introducing new elements and game-exclusive elements, and returning the cave systems from Pikmin 2. This game brings back the multiple endings from Pikmin 1.

Characters
(contains spoilers)

Main

 * Steven - a young Koppai field man for E.C.O. (Environmental Conservation Observatory), and main protagonist of the game.
 * Maple - Hocotate head professor and biologist of E.C.O. (Environmental Conservation Observatory), and a BIG fan of Captain Olimar.
 * S.S. Dolphin - previous main ship to Captain Olimar, currently retired. Now works with Steven as a personalized A.I. system.
 * Captain D - The "anonymous" commissioner to E.C.O. for the main mission of the game's story. Once a trained spaceman for Captain Charlie's crew.

Side
(many of these side characters appear alongside Maple during her video transmissions to Steven, and don't have a big role in the story)
 * Yorkle - the stingy E.C.O. hired janitor from Koppai. His scenes typically complain about his work.
 * Daisy - Maple's younger, more competent sister. Often brings up Maple's short-comings during conversations.
 * Romm - A fellow Koppai professor of E.C.O.. Brings updates to E.C.O. business throughout the story as Maple's messenger.

Secret

 * Captain Olimar - the veteran worker under Hocotate delivery. He's mentioned often but only appears in the 100% secret ending after collecting all the artifacts and enemies.

Prologue
"Study our friends in the Stars!"

- Maple

The game begins with a informative video for the facility known as E.C.O.; a newly established environmental facility focused on studying alien life. The opening narrator explains the founding of the facility under Maple's father, who was funded by Captain Olimar himself to study the lifeforms on alien worlds, and how the facility's main goal is to understand the biology of life outside of Hocotate and Koppai, the main inspiration coming from Captain Olimar's studies on the Planet of the Pikmin. After the video, the scene cuts to the facility itself on an average work day. Maple, the current head of the facility is given a written letter by one of her workers, finding that it's a written request to the facility by an "anonymous" commissioner. Maple agrees to take the challenge, but since she hasn't received her piloting license she can't take the mission herself, so instead she calls upon one of her working biologists, Steven, to venture to PNF-404 and find the requested creature known as the "Oozore". Steve accepts the request and after being given the A.I. system, the currently retired S.S. Dolphin, he takes one of the facility's scouting ships and sets to warp speed to the planet.

Main Game
Steve manages to pilot the ship down onto the Planet of the Pikmin without much trouble, landing in a safe spot within the Cloven Gardens. After emerging, S.S. Dolphin goes over the basic study protocols with Steven (tutorial) before Steven can explore the planet. During this, Steven starts finding the local creatures, and after following one of them, discovers his first Pikmin; the Red Pikmin and their Onion. S.S. Dolphin recalls how much they helped Captain Olimar and how they can also help Steven with his mission to find the Oozore. With some direction from the S.S. Dolphin, Steven learns how to direct his group of Pikmin into doing tasks and defending him from enemies. The Red Pikmin also discover the first Artifact, which S.S. Dolphin encourages Steven to find more to better fund the E.C.O. facility. Steven starts finding a gray goo substance, and after scanning it, the S.S. Dolphin starts sensing a unique "metallic" signal from a nearby location. By the end of the first day, Steven reports his findings back to E.C.O., and Maple excitedly tasks Steven to find more new lifeforms for the study logs. Steven continues to track down the Oozore, following the signal coming from S.S. Dolphin. His tracking leads Steven into his first cave system, where he finds the Oozore moving around inside before slipping away. After defeating the first boss; the Spotty Bulbear, it spits out a Log Tape. Steven brings it back to the ship, and finds it once belonged to a previous unnamed explorer to the planet. The S.S. Dolphin suggests to collect more if they find some during this mission.

Following the signal by the S.S. Dolphin, Steven continues to track down the Oozore through numerous locations on the planet; Shimmering Seaside, Bounty Canopy, and Crumble Quarry, all the while finding more Pikmin types, collecting artifacts for the E.C.O. funding, and studying more lifeforms along the way. During his time tracking down the Oozore, he finds more the identity of their commissioner (and in the log tapes) by the name of Captain D, learning more about him as he continues his search. Eventually, Steven finally corner the Oozore at Mount Metal, and the Oozore finally fights Steven!

Ending
After defeating the Oozore, Steven is encouraged by S.S. Dolphin to complete the mission to bring the Oozore back with him, but before Steven could, the Oozore drops one final Log Tape. This tape reveals that the previous captain is actually a hunter, and he wants to use the Oozore's metal to create weapons against the lifeforms on the planet, also revealing Captain D as his "possible employer". the S.S. Dolphin though believes that it could've messed with the video while it was holding it, giving the idea that it could be corrupted data and as such, not entirely true. This leaves Steven with a choice to either complete the mission or to leave it behind. Reluctantly, but whole-heartedly, Steven decides to leave the Oozore alone, despite the S.S. Dolphin's confusion. Still, the S.S. Dolphin understands Steven's decision and they start heading back towards the ship. Steven gives one more goodbye to the Pikmin that helped him all along the way as he boards the ship, and turns it to warp speed back towards home. On the way, he receives a message from Maple, and he reveals the log tape to her. Maple is shocked by the news, and is glad he did the right thing to leave Oozore behind. On arriving back to the planet, Steven gives all the Log Tapes to E.C.O. for analysis and shares his findings to the rest of the staff there. He is rewarded a badge for his expedition, along with a bonus reward for "Species logger of the year" given by Maple herself.
 * Leave Oozore

In an ending cutscene, Captain D arrives to get the Oozore from Maple and Steven, only to be informed that they couldn't find it throughout the whole expedition, which makes him angry and storming out of her office. After he leaves, giving up on the goal, Steven gives a small piece of Oozore still stuck on the final log tape to Maple, who keeps it as personal study. In this alternate ending, Steven takes the Oozore anyway believing the log tape is made up to trick him. The final epilogue scene plays out normally except that the Oozore is given to Captain D by the end of the cutscene. Steven briefly wonders for a moment if the Log Tape is true, but shrugs it off and gets back to work.
 * Take Oozore

100% Secret Ending
After collecting all of the Artifacts and enemy logs, a new log video is shown after the end of that day. Maple congratulates Steven for all of the work, and plans a big reward whenever he gets back home. Before she can end the log, she receives a surprise visit from Captain Olimar himself, which makes her freak out in excitement to see him, to the point of almost fainting. Captain Olimar tells Maple how much work they've done and how impressed he is in their work, and tells Steven that he himself has a gift for him once he gets back. This ending will unlock the Platinum Whistle.

Mechanics
Pikmin Eco mirrors many of the same mechanics from Pikmin 3, but alongside these the game includes new mechanics which are unlocked throughout the gameplay in form of artifacts collected from Bosses (excluding the Spotty Bulbear and the Oozore):

S.S. Scanner
This is an upgrade to the S.S. Dolphin's camera A.I. function. Upon bringing up the camera, the player has the option to scan Enemies instead of taking pictures, allowing the player to add creature data to the Piklopedia without the need to kill the enemy and bringing it back to the ship.

Hoverpack
This addition to the backpack allows Steven to temporarily hover off of the ground for a short amount of time (maximum of five seconds after upgrading it), which allows Steven to explore areas otherwise inaccessible. This becomes an essential item when fighting the Emperor Bulblax and Hex-at-Legs later on in the game.