Pikmin 4 Nintendo Switch 2 Edition launches on November 12 and a demo will be released tomorrow

Pikmin 4 Nintendo Switch 2 Edition launches on November 12, accompanied by a new mode called Dandori Academy.

Nintendo confirmed the date during yesterday’s surprise Pikmin Day Direct, which also revealed that a demo would be hitting the Nintendo eShop on November 2. Any progress you make in the demo will carry over to the full game if you purchase it.

Dandori Academy is a timed exam mode. The Direct introduced one of its exams, Gargantuan Garden, which challenges players to collect gold nuggets before time runs out (thanks, Insider Gaming).

The Switch 2 edition will also allow you to give voice commands to Oatchi, the game’s pet dog. If you already own Pikmin 4 on the original Switch, you can purchase an upgrade pack from the eShop.

Nintendo had warned before the broadcast that there would be no announcement of new games. Instead, Shigeru Miyamoto introduced Japanese actor Fuka Koshiba as the series’ new ambassador, and Nintendo confirmed that today, November 1, is now Pikmin Day.

Pikmin 4 originally launched on Switch in July 2023. The Switch 2 edition is one of Nintendo’s two big releases this month, alongside The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake on November 5.

Legendary Nintendo developer Shigeru Miyamoto – who made classic games such as Super Mario 64 and produced The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – recently claimed that the rise of generative AI tools would not necessarily replace human talent.