Shigeru Miyamoto is a legend in the industry, being the self-proclaim father of Mario whose influence has touched any number of games under the Nintendo umbrella. He still appears for major presentations, like in December 2020 when Miyamoto gave fans a tour of the Super Nintendo World theme park in Japan. One of the developer's biggest passion projects has been the Pikmin franchise, so it was little surprise to see him appear during the September 2022 Nintendo Direct for a brief Pikmin 4 teaser. The way he brought in Niantic's Pikmin Bloom was more of a surprise.

Pikmin has had a sparse release schedule. Following Pikmin and Pikmin 2, which released for GameCube in 2001 and 2004 respectively, it would take nearly a decade for Pikmin 3 to drop on Wii U. A Pikmin 4 was teased by Miyamoto as early as 2015, though some speculate this may have been referring to Arzest's 3DS spin-off Hey! Pikmin, released in 2017. Beyond re-releases like Pikmin 3 Deluxe, the only other title in the franchise so far is Pikmin Bloom; another take on the augmented reality (AR) formula of Pokemon GO. Miyamoto gave so much attention to Bloom during his Nintendo Direct segment that one has to wonder if it will include deeper ties to Pikmin 4.

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What is Pikmin Bloom?

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Niantic released Pikmin Bloom in October 2021, which serves as more of a pure exercise app than its previous venture with Game Freak. Where Pokemon GO has players walk around to find monsters populating the real world, Pikmin Bloom is more a pedometer that encourages walking for its own sake. There are gamified elements, collecting Pikmin Seedlings from nearby places and maturing those plant-like partners by accumulating enough steps. However, a lot of the ways a player will interact with their Pikmin come during the moments between exercise, as if capping off a good workout with some rewards.

The main appeal of this mobile game is that Pikmin can wear different pieces of decor based on the locale around which their Seedlings were discovered. Like Olimar or Alph travel with an army behind them, Pikmin Bloom thrives on letting players amass unique, named Pikmin wearing toy airplanes and scrunchies that pose for AR photographs. There's also a meta story behind Pikmin Bloom about beautifying the world by planting flowers, which Miyamoto highlights by showing local regions like Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo.

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How Pikmin Bloom Could Interact with Pikmin 4

Pikmin 4 Long Wait

It makes sense for a Direct to highlight games currently available in the Nintendo ecosystem, be it on Switch or smartphone. However, games like Splatoon 3 and Mario Strikers: Battle League appeared during the September 2022 Direct alongside announcements for new updates and events. Pikmin Bloom appeared with nothing beyond a basic rundown before Miyamoto moved on to "the main event," Pikmin 4.

While this could be the result of a deal with Niantic or basic subterfuge to have fans lean back before the surprising Pikmin 4 reveal, it's also possible that Pikmin Bloom will have an impact on the 2023 Switch title. Very little is shown in this initial teaser, just a few sweeping shots of environments like a park bench before Miyamoto announces Pikmin 4 will be played from a behind-the-shoulder angle rather than top-down as in the series' real-time strategy roots.

Pokemon GO is an interesting template for how interactivity between Pikmin 4 and Bloom could work. Trainers can link their Pokemon GO account to the Pokemon Home app, taking the monsters they catch in real life and transferring them to titles like Sword and Shield. This could work just as well for Pikmin Bloom's more customizable Pikmin, though it would have far less of an impact for a series where these critters can be gobbled up and never seen again.

Alternatively, playing Pikmin Bloom may offer some other benefit for Pikmin 4 players. Those with My Nintendo account data could receive unique cosmetics based on the decor in Niantic's mobile game, for example. Splatoon 3's SplatNet interactivity has showcased other ways in which smartphone apps can impact their console counterparts, even if it's as simple as tracking in-game systems like day/night cycles and weather patterns. Fans will have to wait and see for now, but Miyamoto's bizarre pitch for a year-old mobile game would make more sense if Nintendo wanted people playing it before Pikmin 4 launches.

Pikmin 4 launches in 2023 for Nintendo Switch.

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