Pikmin 4 Switch 2 Edition Release Time: When It Unlocks on November 12

Pikmin 4 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Dandori Academy unlocks on Nintendo Switch 2 at 12:00 a.m. local time on Thursday, November 12, 2026. Nintendo’s store listing gives the release date as November 12 and attaches no launch hour. Our Pikmin 4 hub keeps the date, the prices and the download sizes in one place, and the Pikmin Day Direct on October 31 said only that it “launches November 12th”. So the download follows the eShop’s standard midnight rollout: 12:00 a.m. in your own region, with the United States on midnight Eastern, which means West Coast players get it at 9 p.m. PT on November 11.

In short:

1. Pikmin 4 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Dandori Academy unlocks on Switch 2 at 12:00 a.m. local time on that day.
2. In the United States that is 12:00 a.m. ET on November 12, or 9 p.m. PT on November 11 out west.
3. The UK gets it at midnight GMT, Central Europe at midnight CET, Japan at midnight JST, Sydney at midnight AEDT and Auckland at midnight NZDT. New Zealand is first, the US last.
4. No pre-load start time is published. Nintendo lists the download at 11.3 GB on Switch and 12.8 GB on Switch 2, and the Upgrade Pack at 1.2 GB.
5. The Upgrade Pack is $9.99 for anyone who already owns the Switch game. Nintendo has not published a price for the complete Switch 2 Edition yet.

When does Pikmin 4 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition unlock?

Nintendo’s store listing for Pikmin 4 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Dandori Academy is still marked “Coming Soon”, with the release date under the details and no hour anywhere on the page. The Upgrade Pack listing puts it the same way, showing “Releases 11/12/26” on the product page and a release date of 2026-11-12 in the page data.

The Pikmin Day Direct on October 31 confirmed the date in Nintendo’s own words: “Pikmin 4 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Dandori Academy launches November 12th.” No hour, no minute, no pre-load window. When a Nintendo store page publishes a date with no time, the download lands at 12:00 a.m. local time, and that is the pattern we documented for Monster Hunter Wilds on Switch 2 on December 4, for Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Switch 2 on November 5 and for It Takes Two on Switch 2.

What time does it unlock in the US?

Nintendo rolls Switch 2 eShop releases out at midnight Eastern Time for the whole country, so everyone in the US gets the download at once on New York’s clock. That is 12:00 a.m. ET on November 12 in New York, Atlanta and Miami, and 9 p.m. PT on November 11 in Los Angeles and Seattle. On the West Coast, that lands on the night of Wednesday.

US daylight saving ended on November 1, 2026, so the clock is on standard time that week: 9 p.m. Pacific and 12:00 a.m. Eastern. If you plan to buy it on launch night, buying on Wednesday evening gives the eShop the whole night to download it.

What time does it unlock in the UK, Europe and Asia?

In the UK the eShop flips at 12:00 a.m. GMT, and in Central Europe at 12:00 a.m. CET, both on November 12. Japan gets it at 12:00 a.m. JST, Sydney at 12:00 a.m. AEDT and Auckland at 12:00 a.m. NZDT.

The table is also the launch order. New Zealand’s midnight comes first in absolute time, and the US unlock lands roughly 18 hours later, so anyone outside North America can be playing while the US is still asleep on Wednesday night.

Can you pre-load it?

Not on a published schedule. Nintendo’s own store page says that pre-ordering the Upgrade Pack lets you “be ready to play the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition at launch”, but it publishes no window for when that download starts. The Upgrade Pack listing also warns that “information related to the game, including ratings and download size, may not be finalized at time of preorder”, so treat the file sizes as estimates.

The sizes, as Nintendo lists them: 11.3 GB for Pikmin 4 on Nintendo Switch, 12.8 GB for the Switch 2 Edition and 1.2 GB for the Upgrade Pack. Clear the space before launch night.

What does it cost?

The Upgrade Pack is $9.99, and it needs a copy of Pikmin 4 on Nintendo Switch to work. The original game is $59.99 on the eShop. Nintendo has not published a price for the complete Switch 2 Edition, so buying both parts today comes to $69.98. Anyone starting fresh will pay less for the bundle if Nintendo prices it under that number. Our Pikmin 4 Switch 2 Edition guide has the full price breakdown, what the upgrade adds and what happens to save data.

Can you try it before November 12?

Yes. Nintendo announced a free demo on November 2 in the Pikmin Day Direct, and it covers the game’s opening area, Sun-Speckled Terrace, plus two Dandori Academy stages. The demo runs the Switch 2 Edition version, so it is the right place to try the exam mode. The Direct also sets out how the exams work: they are held every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, you get one attempt each, and you earn medals for how you do.

What arrives on launch day?

Dandori Academy is the exam mode at the center of the Switch 2 upgrade: a series of stages where you send Pikmin out to collect treasure as fast as you can. Nintendo’s listing says the full run is 72 stages released over time, spread across difficulty levels, with in-game medals for your scores.

Three more additions come with the upgrade pack. Voice commands for Oatchi let the dog listen through the Switch 2 system microphone. Dandori Battles put you against a friend on the same system, or against someone who does not own the game through GameShare and GameChat. The third is higher-resolution visuals for the Switch 2 system. Online features, GameChat included, need a Nintendo Switch Online membership and a Nintendo Account.

What Nintendo has not said yet

• The launch hour. The store page lists November 12 and no time attached, so every regional time on this page follows the eShop’s standard midnight rollout, not an announced moment.
• The price of the complete Switch 2 Edition. The listing is marked “Coming Soon” with no price attached.
• How saves carry over. Nintendo’s upgrade pack support page says that after you upgrade, the original Nintendo Switch game can still be played on Nintendo Switch, while the Switch 2 Edition’s features and content only run on Switch 2. Nintendo does not spell out how a save transfers between the two.

We analyzed Nintendo’s store listing, its Upgrade Pack listing and the Pikmin Day Direct on November 2 and put the published dates, sizes and prices side by side. The finding that matters for launch night is that Nintendo fixed the date and left the hour out, so every clock time here comes from the eShop’s own midnight rule instead of an announcement. Two numbers are worth acting on. The 12.8 GB Switch 2 download decides how much space you need free. The $9.99 Upgrade Pack only helps if you already own the Switch game, such as a player who bought the original release. For anyone starting fresh, the missing bundle price is the only open question, and we track the date on the Release Calendar.

Edited by Kerwin Stewart, Editor-in-Chief · How we report