“These are the first short films created by Nintendo Pictures Co., Ltd,” said the company on social media. “Nintendo Pictures will continue to explore new creative possibilities through video content.”

The short film essentially acts as a teaser for a new Pikmin-based project that Nintendo has seemingly been working on. The original teaser, which you can check out on YouTube, only really had hints of it being related to Pikmin in the form of a few musical cues, and objects moving around mysteriously. A second version of the teaser was released through the Nintendo Today app, which confirmed that Pikmin were responsible for the objects moving around.

For context, the teaser revolves around a baby, left alone for a few moments in its room, seeing its pacifier pulled out of its mouth and moving around of its own accord. This prompts the baby to playfully chase the pacifier as it makes it way around the room. The short film culminates with the baby slowly learning to walk on two feet in order to chase down the pacifier, at which point its mother walks in the room and is overjoyed to see her child walking.

Unfortunately, the Pikmin-ised version of the short film can only currently be viewed through the Nintendo Today smartphone app, which doesn’t really have any way to share its contents yet. However, it is very likely that the company will eventually release this second version of the teaser for everyone to see through the standard channels of the Internet like YouTube.

While the teaser works as a direct confirmation that Nintendo is working on something related to Pikmin, the company hasn’t yet confirmed whether it is a brand new game in the series, a spin-off title, or even just a more elaborate way to announce a Switch 2 Upgrade pack for Pikmin 4, which is currently available on the Nintendo Switch.

Speaking of which, Pikmin 4 was the last major release in the franchise, having come out on the Switch back in 2023. The title saw a fair bit of critical acclaim, including in our own review, thanks to its introduction of new features, like a space dog named Otachi that helps the players out throughout the game’s various missions. Interestingly, during the time of the game’s release, producer Takeshi Tezuka had also said that fans of the franchise wouldn’t have to wait for too long for the next game in the franchise.

The Pikmin franchise might be a niche one, but since its first release in 2001 on the GameCube, the series has been a fan-favourite owing to how well it mixes up real-time strategy gameplay with clever puzzles and fun stories.

The teaser largely revolves around a baby, left alone in its room by its mother, having its pacifier pop out of its mouth and being carried away by unknown means and the baby trying to chase it down. This is accompanied by a piano-centric musical score that emphasises the various beats of the tiny story being told throughout the teaser of a baby learning how to walk.

While the teaser itself might not include much to indicate that it is for a new Pikmin project, Nintendo has released another version that actually confirms the connection on its Nintendo Today smartphone app. Check it out here. There were some hints already in the teaser, however, aside like the fact that games in the franchise often revolve around tiny creatures moving around real-world objects, as well as a few musical cues from Pikmin’s soundtracks.

While there is no current way to share posts from the Nintendo Today app as of yet, the release of the Pikmin-ised version of the Close to You teaser on the app likely means that Nintendo will be bringing it to the rest of the Internet soon enough.

It is worth noting that Nintendo hasn’t yet confirmed whether this teaser is for a brand new Pikmin game, or if it is for an expansion to Pikmin 4 through a Switch 2 Upgrade pack. The title could also be a spin-off focusing on the side adventures of the eponymous floral creatures.

Back in 2023, Pikmin 4 producer Takashi Tezuka had also mentioned that we won’t be waiting for a new game in the franchise for too long after the fourth game’s release. “We’ll try not to let everyone wait,” he said in an interview.

The last game to have come out in the Pikmin franchise was Pikmin 4 on the Nintendo Switch. The title had become quite popular since its release back in 2023, and has since then sold more than 3 million copies. The title introduced with it a host of new features, including a new space dog, named Otachi, that helps the Rescue Corps to get through the game’s various levels. For more details, check out our review.

The first game in the series released in 2001 on the Nintendo GameCube and focused on the adventures of Captain Olimar, who finds himself crash landing on a mysterious planet. The title was noteworthy for having introduced the concept of a real-time strategy game that could be played entirely with a controller that also focused much of its gameplay on environmental puzzle solving.

The sequel, Pikmin 2, featured Olimar and his partner Louie who go back to the original game’s planet to find rare treasures. The title was critically praised for refining on the original’s foundations while also introducing new and clever gameplay mechanics as well as puzzles. 2013 saw the release of Pikmin 3 on the Wii U, which made use of the console’s unique GamePad controller to give players more control over their Pikmin.

Though there’s no concrete answer on that question yet – there rarely is with Nintendo, after all – it does seem like the company wants to avoid another ten-year gap between instalments. Speaking recently to Eurogamer, when asked if the wait for Pikmin 5 is going to be another long one for series fans, veteran Nintendo producer Takashi Tezuka – who recently also served as producer on Pikmin 4 – said, “We’ll try not to let everyone wait.”

Not a concrete confirmation by any means, and sure, it took eight years for Pikmin 4 to release after Nintendo had said it was nearing the completion of development, so you can never really be too sure with this franchise- but there’s certainly cause for optimism, especially given the success Pikmin 4 has enjoyed.

In our review of Pikmin 4, we awarded it a score of 9/10, saying, “Pikmin 4 is well worth the long wait, and the best iteration of Nintendo’s unique and charming strategy series to date.” Read the full review through here.

According to legendary Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto, who has been closesly involved in the development of all Pikmin games, the reason for that may be the series’ perceived difficulty. More specifically, he says that comes down to its controls and its “depth of gameplay”.

“There have been three games in the series until now, from Pikmin to Pikmin 3, and personally I’ve always wondered, ‘Why haven’t they exploded more in sales even though they’re so much fun to play? Why do people think they’re so difficult?'” Miyamoto said in a recent Ask the Developer interview published by Nintendo.

“I get that people find it more difficult when death is a factor,” he said, referring to how stressful many players find it to see the in-game deaths of Pikmin, which is a common occurrence in the series. “But I think the franchise’s strength lies in its relationship with mortality. If something is irreversible, you need to figure out a way to prevent undesired things from happening. To try to prevent Pikmin from dying, you need to practice ‘Dandori.’ To me, that’s what makes this game unique. I think people find Pikmin difficult for two reasons: the controls and the depth of gameplay. I spent a long time mulling over how we could convey these points as ‘interesting” rather than ‘difficult.'”

Pikmin 4 chief director and planning director Yuji Kando also chimed in, talking about how the game’s development team strove to make it a more accessible and newcomer-friendly experience, while ensuring that it still retained the series’ core premise of “Dandori”, which is a Japanese word for “thinking about planning and efficiency in advance to get things done smoothly”, as Nintendo puts it.

“Looking at players’ reactions to the first three games, I’ve also thought really hard about how to get more people to play this game,” Kando said. “In the early stages of development, we prioritized ease of play and experimented with making the controls easy enough for those who aren’t used to playing games. We also tested improvements to the camera and AI. Also, it just doesn’t feel like a Pikmin game to me if it’s not like the first one. That is, if it doesn’t have this Dandori element where players learn and become more efficient through repetition.”

Pikmin 4 is out today on Nintendo Switch. Nintendo also released Switch ports of Pikmin 1 and 2 earlier this month, while Pikmin 3 Deluxe is also available on the console.

Whether you’re revisiting the original duo in preparation of the upcoming fourth instalment’s launch, or if you’re about to jump in for the first time so you an familiarize with the franchise, these HD ports are very easy to recommend. The actual remastering job here is minimal, which is a bit disappointing, but the timeless qualities of Pikmin 1 and 2 haven’t lost any of their charm, and playing both of these games is as weirdly addictive as it has ever been.

"The actual remastering job here is minimal, which is a bit disappointing, but the timeless qualities of Pikmin 1 and 2 haven’t lost any of their charm, and playing both of these games is as weirdly addictive as it has ever been."

As Nintendo has often does over the years, it took a big, experimental swing with its first crack at the real-time strategy genre, and on top of that, did it for a console. But Pikmin is, of course, no ordinary RTS- rather than constructing buildings and building up armies to expand your empire, you pluck plants from the ground to make up an army of adorable plant-like critters, the eponymous Pikmin, and then issue them commands to gather items to bring them back to your ship. Sure, there’s a healthy dose of combat in there, but first and foremost, Pikmin is a game about exploring environments and collecting obstacles.

A core loop that sounds that mundane on paper shouldn’t work as well as it does in Pikmin games, and yet it does- for several reasons. One of them is the packaging that the games wrap this premise in. The environments you’re exploring are the colourful and vibrant remains of an Earth-like planet (which like is Earth, but that’s never officially confirmed), and the objects you’re collecting are the remnants of that planet’s inhabitants, from bottle caps and batteries to fruit and flowers. You and your army of Pikmin are all small, miniscule creatures, which means you’re vieweing these very human environments through the perspective of heroes who view them as large and sprawling.

The Pikmin games have a wonderful knack of looking at the mundane through the most curious of lenses, and everything they deliver through that lens ends up blossoming with an incredible amount of charm and child-like wonder. Seeing a rusty old tin can in the distance shouldn’t provoke excitement in you, and yet when you lay your eyes on it, you can’t wait to make your way over there and bring that worthless trinket back to your ship- because to you and your Pikmin, it’s immensely valuable. A paper bag shouldn’t be an obstacle that impedes your progress, and yet small as you are, it’s a veritable roadblock for you, one that you cannot get past unless you have the right Pikmin (and enough of them) in your small army. It’s been over two decades and three games since the inception of these ideas, but even now, they don’t feel played out in the slightest.

"Seeing a rusty old tin can in the distance shouldn’t provoke excitement in you, and yet when you lay your eyes on it, you can’t wait to make your way over there and bring that worthless trinket back to your ship- because to you and your Pikmin, it’s immensely valuable."

Pikmin 1 is, of course, the purest distillation of tha tgameplay loop. Like all other games in the series, it plays out from day to day, and with time limits in place (which – don’t worry – only sounds intimidating), tasks you, Captain Olimar, with gathering parts of your broken ship after a crash-landing from different environments. With Olimar’s life support only having 30 days of juice in it, your goal is to explore different parts of the planet, find all 30 parts of your ship, repair it in full, and rescue yourself. There’s a decent variety of environments on offer, each bringing with it new enemies to deal with, obstacles to surpass, and items to collect, while throughout your journey, you also meet and enlist the aid of three different kinds of Pikmin, each with their oqn unique abilities.

Pikmin 2 takes that formula and adds more complexity to it, as you’d expect from an ideal sequel. In addition to the returning Red, Blue, and Yellow Pikmin, the sequel also introduces White and Purple Pikmin. In addition to exploring various different environments, now, you can also explore multi-level caves to find treasures. And of course, with the central mission in Pikmin 2 being to gather enough treasures to pay off the crippling debt on your financially stricken employer, rather than a race against time in a self-rescue mission, there’s no overarching time limit. You still have until nighttime every day before having to return to your ship, but there’s no hard 30-day limit like there is in the original.

Both games stand the test of time wonderfully well. Not only is there something weirdly compelling and addictive about their core gameplay loop (more so in Pikmin 2, perhaps, thanks to its added complexity, especially with two characters now being playable rather than just one), they also control incredibly well. The New Play Controls from Pikmin 1 and 2‘s Wii ports have been used here as well, and just as it did back them, the control scheme works very well, especially given the kind of games these two are. Additionally, Nintendo has also applied controls similar to Pikmin 3 Deluxe, so even if you just want to play using sticks and buttons rather than motion controls, Pikmin 1 and 2’s controls are still incredible accessibly, intuitive, and easy to grasp.

"Pikmin 1 and 2 might be two decades old, but they’re still as fun as they were back when they first released."

If there’s one area where I’m a tad disappointed with these HD ports, it’s the actual porting quality. Both Pikmin 1 and 2 have received resolution bumps, in addition to some quality-of-life changes and polishing touches here and there, and both are now displayed in a widescreen resolution- but that’s pretty much it. If you were expecting something here on the same level as the mind-blowing Metroid Prime Remastered earlier this year (a game that released under similar circumstances), you’ll walk away disappointed with how conservative and low-effort these ports feel.

But then again, if all you want to do is play these games and enjoy their timeless charm, you can’t go wrong here. Pikmin 1 and 2 might be two decades old, but they’re still as fun as they were back when they first released. Timeless game design, intuitive controls, oodles of charm and personality, and an addictive gameplay loop come together to make for two of the weirdest and most oddly compelling real-time strategies games you’ll ever play. And with Pikmin 4 finally approaching is long-awaited launch, this is the perfect time to jump back into the series’ past and marvel at how well it holds up.

This game was reviewed on the Nintendo Switch.

The Switch versions of Pikmin 1 and 2 are based on their Wii release, which added the New Play Control updates, allowing players to use the Wii’s motion controls. On the Wii, however, neither of the two games featured updated visuals, which means fans of the franchise will be able to experience the GameCube classics with updated graphics for the first time. Of course, the mark up here isn’t on the same level as something like the gorgeous Metroid Prime Remastered, but it’s still a noticeable bump.

Meanwhile, in the press release announcing Pikmin 1+2’s launch, Nintendo also confirmed a physical release for the HD remasters. Both games are available digitally via the eShop right now, and can be purchased either individually or as a bundle. On September 22, meanwhile, a physical release featuring both games will also become available.

The series’ next mainline instalment, the long-awaited Pikmin 4, launches on July 21.

As rumoured, Nintendo has announced HD versions of Pikmin 1 and Pikmin 2 for the Switch. In fact, much like it did with Metroid Prime Remastered earlier this year, Nintendo has not just announced the Pikmin titles, but shadow dropped them. Both games are available digitally via the Nintendo Switch eShop starting today itself.

Of course, Pikmin 3 Deluxe launched for the Nintendo Switch back in 2020, which means that all mainline Pikmin games are now officially available on the platform. As unlikely as it may have seemed at one point, it’s finally a good time to be a Pikmin fan again.

@Pyoro_ND – a leaker who has started becoming prominent only recently, thanks to accurate leaks for a number of titles – has been teasing out quite a few of those aforementioned rumours, having recently claimed that a new mainline 2D Mario game will be announced at the Direct. In addition to that, the leaker has seemingly dropped hints for a couple more announcements.

Courtesy of a tweet that contains a Detective Pikachu GIF, @Pyoro_ND has sparked speculation that Detective Pikachu 2 might finally get its official reveal. The game was confirmed to be in development as far back as 2019, and though there have been next to no updates on it since then, reports last year suggested that the game was “nearing release”.

Meanwhile, the leaker has dropped a separate tweet in another tweet, simply saying, “Everybody 1-2-Pikmin!” Though it might be referring to the recently-announced Everybody 1-2-Switch! and the upcoming Pikmin 4 (the latter of which is confirmed to be making an appearance at the Direct, with the former also likely to do so), it might instead be teasing a remastered launch for Pikmin 1 and 2. Pikmin 3 Deluxe is, of course, already available on the Switch.

Of course, it’s best to take this with a grain of salt for now, as is the case with any leak, especially ones that are this vague, though with the Direct coming up in just a few hours, at least we won’t be in the dark for too long.

There’s also a chance that the recently-announced Persona 3 Reload also gets confirmed for the Nintendo Switch, given the fact that Switch listings for the RPG remake have been spotted on retailer websites a few times now.

Good morning. pic.twitter.com/gAWq0zkpbI

— Pyoro (@Pyoro_X) June 20, 2023

Everybody 1-2-Pikmin!

— Pyoro (@Pyoro_X) June 20, 2023

Outer Wilds

The set-up of Outer Wilds, Mobius Digital’s stellar open world adventure game, is that you’re an intrepid explorer in a solar system that’s going to end. You have 20 minutes to explore nearby planets, solve mysteries and determine why the sun is going supernova and destroying everything. Spectacles like planets that are only explorable during certain time periods, shifting gravity and much more make the exploration a treat (and discoveries are tracked throughout all playthroughs).

Often, it’s the former. Being able to swim in video games, strangely enough, isn’t something that happens a lot. In this feature, we’ll be taking a look at fifteen unfortunate characters in games who’re terrible swimmers.

JOHN MARSTON (RED DEAD REDEMPTION)

The good old wild west isn’t a place where swimming is a life skill that you absolutely need to have- and John Marston takes that to heart. Put him in any body of water for even a second, and he’ll sink faster than a ton of bricks. The series is well aware of this, and takes every opportunity to poke fun at the outlaw’s inability to swim in Red Dead Redemption 2.

]]> https://gamingbolt.com/15-heroes-who-shockingly-cant-swim/feed 0 400955