Pikmin 4 Shown At Nintendo Direct, Releasing In July

We got a fresh look at Pikmin 4 during today's Nintendo Direct, alongside a July 21 release date. The new trailer showed off some of the game, including a look at the different types of Pikmin in the game and their unique skills, like Red and Ice Pikmin. It also revealed Otachi, a dog-like creature, that can be mounted and ridden around the environment.

During the trailer, a rescue mission is attempted, where the main character needs to battle a large bug to save a fellow explorer. At the end of the trailer, it shifted to nighttime, where one creature's eyes turned red and appeared to become more aggressive. The Ice Pikmin have unique abilities and are able to freeze water. Other colors of Pikmin, like Blue and Yellow, were also shown, but no unique abilities were shown off.

Previously, we had only seen one brief teaser trailer for Pikmin, after which creator Shigeru Miyamoto explained that this game would be taking place closer to the ground, for a more Pikmin's-eye-view. Miyamoto also said that the team had been working on a new, more intuitive way to control Pikmin. Pikmin 4 has been in development for some time--Miyamoto may have referenced it as early as 2015--but it was only officially announced last September.