Shigeru Miyamoto has given the Pikmin faithful their own holiday. Nintendo announced Saturday that November 1 is officially Pikmin Day — starting this year and, as Game Informer put it, presumably continuing forever.

The declaration came alongside a batch of franchise updates from Nintendo, the most concrete of which is a Pikmin 4 demo coming soon to Switch 2. The demo gives Switch 2 owners a free entry point into the 2023 strategy title ahead of its enhanced release on the new hardware, and signals Nintendo's continued push to refresh its first-party catalog for the console.

A dedicated day for Pikmin fits the series' odd place in Nintendo's portfolio. It has never been a Mario-scale seller, but it's a personal favorite of Miyamoto's and one of the company's most distinctive franchises — and Pikmin 4 became the series' best-performing entry, suggesting the little plant creatures finally found their audience after two decades.

Nintendo has leaned harder into franchise-branded calendar moments in recent years, with Mario Day (March 10) as the template: a recurring date that reliably carries announcements, sales, and merchandise. If Pikmin Day follows that model, November 1 just became a date worth watching annually. For now, the takeaway is simpler — a demo is on the way, and the Switch 2 Pikmin push is officially underway.