After Pikmin 4, you start the game as the player from Pikmin 4, who we'll call Lisa, Oatchi, and Olimar (who has joined the Rescue Corps and quit Hocotate Freight.) You recieve more distress signals from PNF-404. Except, instead of being in Sun Speckled Terrace or whatever, you land ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PLANET. New areas, new creatures, nothing's the same except for A. the concept of Pikmin, B. regional variants of existing species (like a green bulborb or something) and C. some invasive species (maybe like Empress Bulblax or something) and species that are just everywhere (think wolpoles.)

All Pikmin from previous games? Gone. You have a new roster now! The only Pikmin from previous games that stay are Glow Pikmin for night expeditions.

So there's 5 new Pikmin types.

The Molten Pikmin are without an Onion, and can set things on fire and melt metal. Molten Pikmin look like melted iron, and they only last 2 minutes before fully turning into sludge and dying. They aren't limited to caves but you can't bring them out of caves or into caves.

The Wild Pikmin are a dark olive Pikmin, with moss and sticks all over them. They do have an onion, however when you get them, they immediately begin doing their own thing. Going off attacking pellet posies, or creatures, or whatever. You can only briefly control them with a whistle to get them back to your squad. To make up for this, the Wild Pikmin are a little good at everything. They can fight a little better than base stats, thrown a little higher than base stats, swim for just a little bit, and take down moss that's in the way.

Wooden Pikmin are sturdy and do a good job at carrying objects (carrying power of 2 Pikmin) and when killed, whatever creature killed it will get splinters and take damage over time. The Wooden Onion is a light tan, much akin to the Wooden Pikmin. The Wooden Pikmin are actually the same species as the Rock Pikmin, but instead of inhabiting a rock, the Wooden Pikmin inhabit half of a mannequin.

Sheetmin are weak but can maneuver through small spaces with ease and glide through the air. The Paper Onion is striped, like a sheet of lined paper. Same goes for the Sheetmin. Their facial features are drawn on. Makes you wonder how they're living.

And finally Creaturemin, which take over an enemy as its host (like a Bulbmin) and gain the abilities that the enemy had. They do have an Onion, unlike Bulbmin, which is an orange color. Plus they can be brought out of caves. When a Creaturemin Pellet is brought back to the Onion, you can't pluck the new Creaturemin. Instead, you must then bring back a dead body to the Onion, and then you can pluck the new Creaturemin. The Creaturemin Onion is found late-game due to it being excessively overpowered (you could easily make a boss Creaturemin.)

All the new Pikmin types have a cherry blossom-style flower on their heads.

Oh yeah Glow Pikmin are here too I guess

So basically the story of the game is you get the distress signals and whatnot, which I went over at the start, do the tutorial and stuff, but then Lisa gets kidnapped by a Bulbmin named Berry and a dark blue leafling (which is Louie.) Then the new, NEW recruit has to step up alongside Olimar to rescue Lisa and whatnot. So blah blah blah, you have to track Louie down and save other leaflings in the process, yada yada. The real interesting part comes in at the final area, where you start finding... the Pikmin from previous games? That's odd. You're on the other side of the planet! Eventually, you track down Leaflouie and Berry to some sort of abandoned brick-built ruins. There, you find the true antagonist... THE ONION.

This isn't the Wood-Wild-Sheet-Creature Onion. This is the Red-Blue-Yellow-Purple-White-Rock-Winged-Ice Onion. The Hive Onion. It's giant now, and it sensed you, from the other side of the planet. You forgot about it. And now it will make sure you're forgotten too.

It turns all of the Rescue Corps into leaflings, and takes back all of your Pikmin that existed in the previous games, leaving you only with Wooden, Wild, Sheetmin, Creaturemin, and also some Molten that occasionally spawn in. You need to fight the Rescue Corps defending each root of the Hive Onion (the Onion now has 4 roots,) and unroot the Hive Onion so you can best it in battle. Each root has 2 RC members protecting it, with the exception of the final root, which has Lisa and Leaflouie. You only do one root at a time, since taking on 8 people at once is way too much for anyone to handle.

The first root is guarded by Collin and Shepherd, who use a mix of Red, Blue, and Yellow Pikmin. The second root belongs to Russ and Yonny, who use Purple and White Pikmin respectively. The third root is protected by Dingo and Bernard, who use Rock and Winged Pikmin respectively. Finally, you take on Lisa and Louie, with Lisa using just Ice Pikmin, while Louie uses both Ice Pikmin and Bulbmin. After you dig up each root, you can send your Pikmin up to the Hive Onion to attack it. After finally digging up every root and dealing the last blow, there's one last blow to be dealt.

You climb up on top of the Hive Onion and violently tear off the giant flower on the Hive Onion, only for it to be a giant Creaturemin low on health that was controlling the Onion all along. It runs away, but you chase it into a dead end and strike it down. The Hive Onion joins your team and you get access to all the previous Pikmin. As for the Collosal Creaturemin, let's say it... made plenty of new Pikmin.

After that you probably like unlock some new areas or something to rescue people in idk