Pikmin 3 has resurfaced on the Wii U's eShop, undoing its sudden disappearance following the announcement of the game's deluxe edition on Nintendo Switch last month. The game came out for Wii U back in 2013, serving as the series' first mainline entry in almost 10 years. Pikmin 3 received strong reviews when it released, and is generally considered a solid entry in Nintendo's beloved, if underrepresented, strategy franchise.
Pikmin 3's announcement on Nintendo Switch wasn't exactly a surprise. Nintendo has made a pretty strong habit of porting its best Wii U titles to the new console, to make up for the older console's low sales and generally poor reception. The tradition began early, with a deluxe edition of not without some flaws. But these Switch ports of classic older titles don't come without cost, as Wii U owners were shocked to learn when Pikmin 3 vanished from the Wii U eShop not long after the announcement of Pikmin 3 Deluxe.
Those people can breathe easy, at least for now, because Pikmin 3 is back. As reported by Nintendo Wire, the game has reappeared in the Wii U eShop, at least in North America, along with all of its DLC packs. Fans can the game to their heart's content, but it might be worth doing so sooner, rather than later; there's no telling how long this reappearance will last, and the next time the game vanishes from the Wii U, it might not be coming back.
New Pikmin players have very little reason to pick the game up on Wii U, unless they don't own a Switch at all. Pikmin 3 Deluxe promises all the features of its Wii U counterpart and then some, including an enhanced story and new prologue and epilogue missions. Nintendo is also making the whole game playable in co-op for the very first time, and throwing in a few minor quality of life changes to boot. Unless new players just can't bring themselves to wait a month for its release this October, they might as well just save up for the superior new edition.
It's always sad to watch a console slowly lose developer . Even a relatively ignominious console like the Wii U still brought a lot of joy to a lot of people. The removal of Pikmin 3 is an unfortunate development, but an understandable and arguably necessary one. Nintendo has an eye for the future, and it should not be faulted for that, but it's still a bit of a bummer to watch a beloved game be stricken from the marketplace. Nintendo fans have every right to mourn its loss, but they should take solace in the fact that Pikmin 3 is moving on to bigger and better things.
Pikmin 3 Deluxe will be available on Nintendo Switch on October 30th, 2020.
Source: Nintendo Wire
