PNF-404

PNF-404 is a planet from 250 million years in the future that traveled 250 million years back to see her past again.

## Bio

**PNF-404** is the planet that *Pikmin*, *Pikmin 2*, and *Pikmin 3* take place on. In the first two games, she lacked a proper official name and was often referred to as the "**Planet of the Pikmin**" or the "**Pikmin Planet**". The inhabitants of Koppai named her PNF-404 when they discovered her in *Pikmin 3*. In the *Super Smash Bros. series*, she is known as "**Distant Planet**".

## Story

In the first *Pikmin* game, Olimar crash lands on this uncharted planet during his vacation after his ship is struck by an asteroid. Due to the planet's atmosphere being filled with a dangerously high concentration of oxygen, he must escape the planet before his life support system fails.

In *Pikmin 2*, Olimar returns to the planet with his new companion, Louie, in search of treasure, in order to rescue Hocotate Freight, the company he works for, from bankruptcy.

In *Pikmin 3*, the inhabitants of Koppai discover the planet in an attempt to find food on other planets and name it PNF-404. They send Alph, Brittany, and Captain Charlie to the planet to bring back food, in order to save their planet from starvation.

## Similarities to Earth

Many of the environments and climates of the areas on PNF-404 resemble terrain on Earth. The areas in the games contain environments that can be found similarly on Earth: forests, rivers, wastelands and tundras are just some of the examples.

Most of the vegetation on PNF-404 also exist on Earth, with some even sharing the names we are familiar with. Most of the charted plants in *Pikmin 2* are like this, but some of the background shrubbery is also quite similar to fauna and flora found on Earth. Some of the *Pikmin 2* treasures and all of the *Pikmin 3* fruits are also objects that exist on Earth, and are described to be much like the ones on our planet.

In the first game, Olimar stated that the atmosphere is composed of oxygen, a component of the air that humans need to breathe, but also an extremely toxic gas in higher concentrations. Despite the fact that no moon is ever seen orbiting the planet in either *Pikmin* or *Pikmin 2*, Olimar confirms in one of his voyage logs that the planet does in fact have a "pale white moon". It can be seen in the *Pikmin 3* intro cutscene.

## Human-made Items (proof that PNF-404 is a future earth)

Some of the elements found in PNF-404 appear to not be natural, but rather, made by sentient beings. Drawing the parallel with Earth, these objects are very likely made by humans. Tin cans, as well as many other human-made objects and structures from modern times, can be found lying around (for example, parts of Perplexing Pool appear to be the remains of a bathroom, and a Ramune bottle in The Forest Navel), and most of the "treasures" found in the second game are human-made. Nearly all of the treasures in *Pikmin 2* and every treasure in *Hey! Pikmin* are artificial. These even include many items that are registered trademarks of companies on Earth, such as Duracell and 7-Up.

## PNF-404 as Earth's Future

There are many strange creatures seen on the planet throughout the games, most of them being hostile. Perhaps this is an entirely new age where humans have died out and many other creatures have come to coexist. The Geiger Counter is constantly in action, implying that there is strong and constant radiation. That could explain why there are no humans any more, and also why all creatures on PNF-404 look so different compared to how animals looked when humans were alive. In fact, many creatures resemble evolved or mutated versions of real-world animals, such as Wollywogs and Anode Beetles, which resemble frogs and ladybugs.

In the first two games, PNF-404 is made out to look like present-day Earth. From space, PNF-404's geography appears to match that of Earth's, and the second game more clearly proves this, as when Olimar lands on or leaves the planet, his ship is shown to be heading towards or coming from Africa. The Hocotate ship even states at the time of the discovery of the Spherical Atlas that it exhibits PNF-404's geography as seen from space: both this and the Geographic Projection are two halves to a globe that clearly shows Earth and its countries.

*Pikmin 3* seems to retcon that in favor of an entirely new look, with it being heavily based off the scientific hypotheses of how the Earth's surface would look like in 250 million years, known as Pangaea Ultima. Besides being wider, the only major difference is that a small peninsula attached to what would've been Asia in the theory was changed to the island with the Formidable Oak. Almost all of the game's levels are more composed of natural elements rather than man-made remnants, and the small amounts of evidence of humanity left are heavily deteriorated, more-so than in the earlier games, to justify that it has been millions of years after humanity. All of the fruits in the game are based on real fruit, however, many of them are found in places where they wouldn't be able to grow, or with other fruit that they aren't grown near.

## Locations in PNF-404

Tropical Wilds (Antarctica)

Garden Of Hope (Australia)

Distant Tundra (Europe and Asia)

Twilight River (Africa, North and South America)

Formidable Oak (India)