Nintendo producing Pikmin cartoon shorts

Nintendo is producing a series of 3DS cartoon shorts featuring Pikmin, in conjunction with an external animation studio.

8

Nintendo is producing a set of Pikmin cartoon shorts, meant to be viewed on the 3DS. Senior managing director Shigeru Miyamoto is personally overseeing the production, and suggests they'll be released some time before Pikmin 3.

Polygon reports that Miyamoto is working hand-in-hand with an external animation studio. He created mock-ups using the 3DS Flipnote Studio, and then sent them to the director of the shorts so they could discuss them. In Japan, Nintendo worked with Toho Cinemas to get the video placed in 60 theaters.

Miyamoto says the animated shorts are meant to give the Pikmin characters more personality. The first short features a knife-wielding Captain Olimar slicing up and drinking what appears to be a red pikmin, but as the camera pans back it's revealed that he was just cutting and blending carrots. "I thought it would be fun to have a scenario where it seems like he is going to eat the Pikmin," Miyamoto said. "So it's kind of dark, but he doesn't eat them."

Miyamoto says the company hasn't considered moving into making the 3DS more of an entertainment platform, but acknowledged that they sell Shaun the Sheep video shorts. The Pikmin videos could be sold "if they're popular." As for fears that Miyamoto may take a step back from Pikmin, he reassured, "That absolutely won't happen. It's just a fun side project with Pikmin."

Editor-In-Chief
From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 11, 2013 11:40 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Nintendo producing Pikmin cartoon shorts.

    Nintendo is producing a series of 3DS cartoon shorts featuring Pikmin, in conjunction with an external animation studio.

    • reply
      March 11, 2013 12:07 PM

      "I thought it would be fun to have a scenario where it seems like he is going to eat the Pikmin," Miyamoto said. "So it's kind of dark, but he doesn't eat them."

      Every day he goes a little more insane.

      • reply
        March 11, 2013 12:09 PM

        Sounds kinda like the Smurfs. Wasn't Gargamel's goal to eat them at some point?

      • reply
        March 11, 2013 2:59 PM

        I think you're going a little more insane.

      • reply
        March 11, 2013 4:31 PM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          March 11, 2013 4:40 PM

          So tiresome.

        • reply
          March 11, 2013 5:04 PM

          I agree. Gaming should be about profits and the bottom line, not about people getting together and having fun.

        • reply
          March 11, 2013 6:20 PM

          Miyamoto is still good for the company, and the company owes him almost everything. His "insanity" is the main reason Nintendo is a $14b company. He can do whatever he wants, and nearly everything he makes is gold. So, they will need to find the next Miyamoto, but there's no rush to get rid of the original one.

      • reply
        March 11, 2013 7:40 PM

        FUCKING SPOILERS, SHIGGY

Hello, Meet Lola