Pikmin 3 Deluxe demo instantly unlocks a new difficulty in the full game, if you can beat it

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Transfer your progress, too

(Image credit: Nintendo)

A Pikmin 3 Deluxe demo is going up on the Nintendo Switch eShop tonight, and it doubles as a headstart into the full game.

Pikmin 3 Deluxe is an updated version of the former Wii U exclusive, bringing the original game to Switch with a number of updates and improvements. The full game won't be available until October 30, but Nintendo revealed during its latest Treehouse Live presentation that the new demo coming tonight will let you transfer your saves. You don't have anything to lose if you want to start playing early.

On top of giving you a headstart into story mode, if you finish the demo you'll also instantly unlock Ultra-Spicy difficulty to use in the full game. This new difficulty mode caps the total number of Pikmin you can have out on the field at once to 60, so you'll have to be even more deliberate about your color composition (and not let too many of them get gobbled up by bulborbs). Nintendo's teasing other perks in the main game for finishing the Pikmin 3 Deluxe demo as well.

Other new features coming to the game include splitscreen co-op support for Story Mode, which was formerly single-player only. There are also a number of new Side Stories that star Captain Olimar and Louie, showing what they were up to both before and after the events of the main story. If you enjoy meeting the strange fauna of the Pikmin's world, you'll enjoy filling out the new in-game Piklopedia with entries for each creature as well.

See what else is on the way with our guide to upcoming Switch games.

Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan
Former GamesRadar+ News Writer

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar+.