Pikmin 3 Comes to the Switch in October With New Levels

No big Direct presentation on the horizon? That's no problem for Nintendo, apparently, as it just pulled a repeat of its out-of-the-blue Paper Mario reveal with the announcement of Pikmin 3 Deluxe. A new, expanded Switch version of the Wii U title just got a reveal trailer out of the blue and a release date: October 30, 2020.

This re-release will add a handful of improvements, features, and new playable content to Pikmin 3. Of particular note, on top of including all of the DLC stages from the Wii U original, Pikmin 3 Deluxe will also include brand-new side missions starring Olimar and Louie. These missions plus the Story mode support two-player co-op and can be played with a standard Switch in Tabletop mode, where each player uses a single Joy-Con.

Also new to the Deluxe release are "a variety of difficulty settings, lock-on targeting and optional hints[.]" It's not clear if the new difficulty range will include harder options well-suited for returning players, but here's hoping the settings help Pikmin first-timers get acclimated.

Word of a Pikmin 3 release for Switch has been floating around for a while. Back in May after the reveal of Paper Mario: The Origami King, GamesBeat's Jeff Grubb reported that Pikmin 3 Deluxe was planned for release in 2020 along with Switch remasters of select 3D Mario titles.

Pikmin 3 Deluxe will be a full-price release for the Switch, coming in at $59.99. It's not a brand new Pikmin—it's been quite a while since Nintendo's discussed making a sequel—nor is it something new and unexpected, but this does start to fill out the back half of Nintendo's 2020.