Nintendo Just Made November 1 Official Pikmin Day With a Surprise Direct

Nintendo surprised everyone this morning with a Pikmin Day Direct hosted by Shigeru Miyamoto himself. He teased it on X a few hours earlier, promising "a video covering Pikmin-related information" and warning fans that there would be "no information about new games" (Nintendo of America).

The video runs about nine and a half minutes, and it officially makes November 1 Pikmin Day. Miyamoto's reasoning is adorable. Red, blue and yellow Pikmin debuted in the first game, and he explained that "if you imagine those three Pikmin as the number 1, that makes November 1st Pikmin Day!" (Final Weapon).

What is Hello! Pikmin?

The biggest reveal is a new series of animated shorts called Hello! Pikmin. Nintendo is making it with its own animation studio, Nintendo Pictures (Noisy Pixel). The first episode played at the end of the Direct. The shorts follow the Pikmin as they go about their day. (Our productivity would also drop if we could watch tiny plant people all day.)

A second episode is coming soon. After that, new ones will drop every month starting in December on the Nintendo Today app and Nintendo's social pages (Final Weapon).

What's coming to Pikmin Bloom?

Pikmin Bloom, the walking game for phones, gets a big update called Secret Caves this winter. You can send a squad of Pikmin into a cave on their own, tell them to attack creatures and call them back with your whistle. Any treasure you find goes into a new collection (Noisy Pixel). You can even earn special cave maps by taking quizzes in the new Switch 2 version of Pikmin 4.

What about Pikmin 4 on Switch 2?

The Direct also gave a quick refresher on Pikmin 4 Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Dandori Academy. Nintendo first announced it in September, and it comes out on November 12 (Nintendo). It adds voice controls, so you can give Oatchi commands by talking into the Switch 2 microphone. There's also a Dandori Academy mode with weekend exams, leaderboards and 72 planned stages (Final Weapon).

My read is that this is exactly how Nintendo should treat a series that sells well without ever being the loudest game in the room. A cute holiday, a short film series and a couple of solid updates keep Pikmin fans happy between big releases. A Pikmin show from Nintendo Pictures also feels like a natural next step after the Mario movies. Happy Pikmin Day, everyone.

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Images are official screenshots and art from Pikmin 4 Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Dandori Academy, from Nintendo.