Purple and White Pikmin will only be useable in Pikmin 3's challenge mode.
Take a look at this screenshot.
◊ It's the day select screen from Pikmin 3, but if you notice under Alph and Brittany's icons, you'll see icons that tell you how many Pikmin you have. Not counting the one that shows you how many Pikmin have died, you'll see that there are only five slots, and on the official Japanese Pikmin site
on the page that explains the Pikmin's powers and abilities, you'll see they only detail the main three plus Rock and Winged Pikmin. This, combined with the only times we've ever see Purple and White Pikmin is what can be assumed to be the Challenge Mode in the game, makes it highly likely that, along with Olimar, they have been Demoted to Extra and can't be used in the main story.- Confirmed.
Olimar, Louie, and the President will be playable in Pikmin 3.
Whether it's after the main plot of returning food to Koppai is wrapped up like how Louie was accidentally left behind in Pikmin 2, causing the President to take his place to find him, or a possibly an alternative DLC story line ala New Super Luigi U, considering you can control three captains at once in Pikmin 3, it would fit to have all of them work together. I do remember someone at Nintendo saying that Olimar will make an appearance in Pikmin 3 in some way...- Olimar is playable in Challenge and Bingo Mode; so is Louie, although he needs to be retrieved in each stage to be playable.
"Captain D" will be taking a more sinister role
In a recent interview, Miyamoto said you can use the game pad to switch between the three captains, and in the recent screenshots Captain D
◊ is noticeably absent. One could argue that he's been scrapped completely, but it would be a bit odd to scrap him completely when it was said he was one of the four playable cpatains at E3. As such, it could be possible his role was retcon'd into being the first true antagonist of the Pikmin series. (True, there is Black Hole Loan Sharks in Pikmin 2, but it was more of a background thing to give you a reason to collect the treasures. Capatain D would take a more proactive approach, constantly trying to sabotage your mission whenever he can...)- Jossed. Captain D doesn't make an appearance in the story, meaning he was scrapped. Though, another captain certainly pulls some antagonistic actions...
Olimar and Louie are missing!
And the new characters are a search team! Think about it, why wouldn't Olimar be present?- He's rich enough to retire after selling all those treasures?
- Jossed.
Pikmin 3's trip to the Pikmin homeworld will be for religious or spiritual reasons
I've always seen Pikmin as something of a metaphor for war, where you are a nation, the Pikmin are your soldiers, and the wildlife is the opposing side. So far, the motivations for fighting with the Pikmin in the two games have matched up fairly nicely with two major motivations for waging war: survival and capitalism, respectively. What's another huge reason people have wars? Religion. This could happen many different ways, but here's how I see it going down: Eventually, the President or Louie spills the beans about the Pikmin to someone, and the news spreads like wildfire. Some religious zealot hears about the Pikmin and decides that, as described, the Pikmin and their planet are close enough to her religion's version of heaven and angels that she decides she needs to go there. Realizing that the President of a major company probably has too many guards to threaten and that Louie is an incompetent pilot, she forces Olimar to take her there. Throughout the game, Olimar will be forced to help in her crusade to drive out the "demons" (wildlife) and find some MacGuffin she's convinced exists. After a while of being unable to find it, she goes crazy and abandons Olimar. The final boss would be a fight between Olimar's and her Pikmin armies, ala Pikmin 2 multiplayer. Needless to say, Pikmin 3 will be much Darker and Edgier than Pikmin 2.- Jossed, it's to avert a food-based apocalypse.
Pikmin 3 will feature Olimar's son.
It's been hinted by Shigeru Miyamoto that the Pikmin series would be a trilogy. As such, most loose ends would have to be tied up by the end of Pikmin 3. As such, one reoccurring topic that comes up throughout Pikmin and Pikmin 2 is Olimar's son. In Pikmin 1, he occasionally remarks about how his son would love to visit the Pikmin planet, being adventurous like his father. Likewise, in Pikmin 2, Olimar's son actually messages Olimar and the group, complaining that he didn't get to come along with him during the expedition. Since Miyamoto is known for creating games that often leave 100% happy endings, Pikmin 3 would be expected to leave all sides (save an antagonist) with a satisfactory ending. As such, his son wouldn't have his dream fulfilled unless he came along. Therefore, we can at least expect Olimar's son to see some screentime in Pikmin 3.- Jossed.
In the third game, purple pikmin will be immune to something, too.
Two reasons:- Yellow pikmin gained immunity to electricity in the second game...
- ...But they lost the ability to carry bomb rocks. (Purple pikmin may lose some weight next time...)
- Jossed.
There will be a hug command in Pikmin 3.
Because such a thing would just be the cutest thing, wouldn't it? And very heartwarming as well.- That's not too far-fetched, actually. There was a hug button in the wii remake of "A boy and his blob" that didn't do anything but look cute. I'm not saying it's likely, but it's not impossible.
- Jossed.
The next Pikmin game will involve colonization.
Considering all the resources on the Pikmin planet that the Hocotatians will collect, I can imagine that a future trip will bring a colony to the planet.- Jossed.
The Hocotate Ship will be refurbished and be called the S.S. Revolution in the third game
Remember how the S.S. Dolphin was a Mythology Gag about the Gamecube's codename in development? I think the Hocotate Ship will either be refurbished with new parts and be called the Revolution in reference to the Wii's codename in development.- Wouldn't calling it the S.S. Cafe make more sense?
- By the time of the above writing, Pikmin 3 wasn't confirmed for the Wii U.
- Jossed. It's actually in worse condition than it was in Pikmin 2 because of the Mireclops...
There will be new Pikmin introduced in Pikmin 3, complete with new immunities and hazards.
One of my guesses would be a green or pink Pikmin, and maybe a new hazard would be ice which would freeze Pikmin that aren't immune.- Assuming that frozen Pikmin does become a hazard, it could even give the red Pikmin another utility by making them capable of thawing their already-frozen brethren (in a similar fashion to how blues can rescue those who are drowning). They'd probably still need to be possible to freeze, however.
- Confirmed. We have both Rock Pikmin who are immune to crushing and Winged Pikmin that can fly over hazards.
Pikmin 3 will feature ecological disaster.
When someone else does find out about the Pikmin planet, they send yet more expeditions to it to harvest treasure and wildlife; only unlike Olimar (relatively speaking), they do so with little concern for their impact on the planet's ecosystem, causing many species to become endangered as their numbers are ravaged by cultivated Pikmin squads. When the President hears about this, he asks Olimar to go back to the Pikmin planet to drive out the poachers and establish a nature reserve, as a way of repaying the planet for all the riches it's given them.- Jossed.
There will be a Chuggaaconroy story about Steve in the 3rd game.
You can never be sure.- Probably good for Chugga's sake, this is jossed.
Alternatively...
There will be a function to name the different colors/stages of Pikmin. The default name for Red Leafs will be Steve.- Jossed.
New colors for Pikmin 3 will be green and orange.
That's what I'm guessing, at least. If the new Pikmin colors (if any) appear in Pikmin 3, orange and green are all they need for a complete rainbow of Pikmin.- Before Pikmin 2 was announced, I had a dream that orange Pikmin would appear in Pikmin 3 (I can't remember what happened in my dream-version of Pikmin 2) and would be able to burrow underground so you could go in underground areas. While that did end up being the case in Pikmin 2, I wonder if the part of my dream with orange Pikmin in the 3rd installment will come true... (Granted, my dream sequence did go all the way to Pikmin 8 where it was pretty much Antartica, but still)
- Jossed. They're pink and (technically) dark gray.
The pink Pikmin with wings we see in the first trailer...
...will be able to be thrown farther than other Pikmin, just like how yellow Pikmin can be thrown higher than others.- Jossed. They have the same throw length and hight as normal Pikmin, although their flight allows them to reach higher up areas that even Yellow Pikmin can't reach.
Potential Pikmin 3 DLC storyline.
After the events of the main game, the S.S. Drake arrives at Hocotate Freight. After Olimar & co. explain everything, the president reminds Olimar and Louie that the company is still in debt, and he can't afford a replacement ship. Charlie gets an idea, and the Koppaites take Olimar and Louie back to Koppai, where Olimar and Louie get a new ship to return to PNF-404 in, this time accompanied by the scrapped fourth captain. The three captains and the Pikmin (which may include the Purple and White variations) thus begin their search for treasure (and food for Louie).- Sort of confirmed. In Deluxe, there's a new campaign taking place after the main story where the President sends Olimar and Louie back to PNF-404 to recover the Hocotate Ship and collect treasure.
