The upcoming Nintendo Force magazine features a look at Pikmin 4, confirming that the press will have or has already had hands-on time with it. This usually happens immediately before or on the day of a Nintendo Direct.

Scan:

Source

Update:

alternative cover for the Nintendo Force Magazine

Source

Ohh, fun! Looks like they'll be showing at least something for Fire Emblem and Bayonetta 3 as well, then.

If that is true then the game is probably really close

I've been seeing this a lot today. The next issue is going to talk about the game, but there's still been no official info from Nintendo. Sorry folks, I wish it was a leak too. https://t.co/Umabpjw6Rt

— Arlo 🐀 (@ArloStuff) January 6, 2018

Why does it say March/April 2018?

EDIT: Never mind...

I don't think they know any more than we do. Nothing completely new in that list, some already old news like Doom n Zelda dlc. If, say, Animal Crossing, Metroid, Pokemon, etc. were to be covered, they'd be mentioned, especially before the likes of Style Savy (no offense if that series is actually good). Also still using "Fire Emblem for Nintendo Switch" when it would most certainly be given a name on it's reveal. Sounds like speculation/games they'll talk about regardless of new info, rather than already knowing what's in the direct.

Update:

alternative cover for the Nintendo Force Magazine

That's a nice ass cover.

Why would a small fan magazine know the content of a big Nintendo Direct. Use some common sense people.

If they're actually going to bother with Pikmin 4, it would be nice if they forgot whatever kind of BS they were going for with P3, and go back to what actually made the first two good. Namely:

1. Manual stick swarming for the Pikmin. Them removing that from P3 was facepalm worthy, seeing as how it was literally half of the gameplay strategy in the first two games, and NOT having in 3 made the game, especially during boss battles, quite tedious to play.

2. Actual CAMERA zoom, which they also nonsensically took out of P3. It's kind of nice to be able to zoom in or out so you can get a better strategic look at what's going on in a given situation.

3. Collecting treasures. I get them going for something "fresh" in P3 with the fruit, and I had no problem with that. What I DID have a problem with, is that you collect, at least as far as I ever saw, ZERO treasures. Finding and collecting funny human junk is a HUGE part of the fun and charm of the series, removing that was also pointless.

4. As a bonus, it'd be nice if Nintendo would STOP with the "One Save File Per Profile" bullshit. They themselves established multiple save files all the way back on the NES, and I have never yet heard a single apologists argument that NOT having multiple save slots was somehow "better", that was even remotely sound. It's kinda nice to be able to make a NEW save file, so you can possibly go experiment, and if it doesn't work out, you can go back to your OLD file to pick up where you left off. Multiple save files have been an expected feature in gaming for the last few DECADES. Nintendo need to get their heads out of their asses, and realize that only giving people one slot, especially for games like Zelda or Pikmin, is flat out bad game design.




If Nintendo COULD actually produce a Pikmin 4 that is what 3 should have been, if they could actually make a game on par with the original Gamecube games, then I'd be thrilled, because it happens to be one of my favorite franchises. But honestly, while Pikmin 3 wasn't a BAD game, it WAS a bad PIKMIN game. After waiting years for its release, and it being my most anticipated Wii U game back then, I found it incredibly disappointing. It really kinda felt like the team who made P3 had never played the first two games, because they obviously didn't seem to understand what made them good, or even made them function for that matter.

I'd love for Nintendo to actually get it right again.