Pikmin 3 Beta Elements

Pikmin 3, like other games, had a Beta version that never made it to the public. While no one has been able to go into the game's files to get unused content as of now, some Beta Elements that never made the light of day are known by looking at early trailers and footage. Hopefully, over time, unused data will be able to be observed from the game's disc itself.

Unused and Changed Characters

Brittany

Brittany had a minor change. In the Beta Version, Brittany's suit was yellow, and her concept art was as well. In the final version, her suit was changed to Red. Her original concept art also lacked glasses, which she has in the final game.

Early concept art of Brittany, showed of at E3 2012.

Brittany in her yellow suit in the Beta version of the game.

Character D

The unused Character "D" as shown at E3 2012.

There was one character that never made it into the game in any footage whatsoever, and was scrapped. He was showed off at E3 2012, and all that was underneath him was D. With an interview with Miyamoto, he stated that there were 3 captains playable at one time, suggesting Character D was scrapped, since he was never shown in any footage. Since Alph, Brittany, and Charlie all had the first letter of their name under their art at E3 2012, it is sometimes suggested by fans that the characteristics of Character D were given to Drake. It is unknown if this is true, but it is a faulty theory because Drake shows little character traits. A possible reason for the scrap could've been due to the constant switching around between characters, and adding a fourth character would've added to the chaos. 

Pikmin 3 Logo and Light Engine

In the original introduction of Pikmin 3, the logo contained a 3 made of violet flowers, to resemble the flowers of the Rock and Winged Pikmin.  In the final game, these flowers were changed to orange, possibly to represent Ultra-Spicy Spray. Also, the earliest footage of the game showed that the game was originally much dimmer than the final version, although this was most likely due to the fact that the lighting engine probably wasn't complete at the time it was shown.

Pikmin 3's original logo and darker setting.

Pikmin 3's final logo and more lit-up design.

Scanning

In an early build of the game, the scan feature would cause the camera to enter a tilt-shift mode to focus only on the creature, and the creature would highlight in blue. The name of said highlighted creature was then displayed in simple blue text above it. This was greatly changed in the final game, which displays the name in a box in the lower right corner. This name is surrounded by strange characters, presumably of the language of Koppai. With the update released on May 29th, 2014, the scanning featured two new images on the left side of the screen. One shows how to make the Pikmin charge, and the other shows how to cancel the lock-on. The images shown correspond to the controller that is currently in use.

The beta version of Scanning.

The Scanning GUI in the final game.

Whistle

Originally, the whistle in Pikmin 3 had a smaller radius than in the past two games, and lasted for a shorter length of time. This was later changed to be slightly

Red Character Whistling

larger and longer, and included the ability for the Whistle to call Winged Pikmin by raising off the floor after fully expanding to create a cylindrical beam of light.

Throwing Captains

Notice how high up the red character is compared to the blue, his starting point.

In the early footage shown of the game, the captains were first shown to have the ability to toss one another to access new locations. At this point in development, the captains were thrown much higher than they are in the final game. This change was most likely made to rid the game of some areas where players could easily break the barriers.

Rock Pikmin

In the earliest footage shown of Pikmin 3, Rock Pikmin had a slightly different appearance, with slightly darker coloration and dark-coloured limbs. They also had made different sounds that sounded like lower-pitched versions of common Pikmin sounds. Each Rock Pikmin was also shaped slightly differently (e.g. some were shorter but wider). This made them seem more like real rocks, but the feature was removed in the final game.

Original Rock Pikmin

Final Rock Pikmin

Rock Pikmin in the E3 2012 demo. Some are shaped differently.

Crystals

In the earliest footage of Pikmin 3, Crystals were much more opaque. In the final game, they were changed to be completely transparent.

Crystals, as they looked in the game's early production.

Crystals, as they appear in the final game.

Changed Weights

Insect Condo

In the 2012 demo of Pikmin 3, the Insect Condo was shown as one of the fruits returning from Pikmin 2. In this footage, it required only 8 Pikmin to carry it, as opposed to the 10 required in the final game.

Medusal Slurker

In the E3 2012 demo, the Medusal Slurker required 7 Pikmin to carry, while in the final game, it can be carried by 6.

Unused Names

Combustion Berry

In the 2012 demo for Pikmin 3, the Golden Sunseed was referred to as the "Combustion Berry", sharing the same name as a fruit treasure that appeared in Pikmin 2.

Pyroplasmic Slooch

In early footage the Pyroclasmic Slooch was one of the first new enemies revealed, and its name was instead "Pyroplasmic Slooch", a one letter difference from its current name. 

Unused Areas

In the E3 footage of the beta of Pikmin 3, there was an area shown off and was seen as a very water and log based area, this area did make some appearence in the game however, for example it is seen in the title screen and it can be seen on the map screen before choosing where to land.

A map of the areas in pikmin 3 with the unused area circled.

This unused area also is represented in mission mode as the Shaded Garden, it may seem as though, with garden in the name that it was a representation of the Garden of Hope, but the Garden of Hope has almost no connections to logs at all, and the unused stage had alot of connections. The unused area most-likely was going to contain Blue Pikmin as the species found and it is also probable that the Quaggled Mireclops, a very water and log based boss, was going to be the main boss of the area.

A part of the unused area

An image of the unused area, notice that there is alot of water.

A throwing puzzle in the unused area, notice the logs and lillypad.

An image of the unused area showing the characters riding a lilypad down the stream.

Another image of the player riding the stream.

An image of the player throwing Brittany across the logs in an early puzzle.

An image of the beta title screen which gives a good look at the area's layout.