With the long-awaited Pikmin 3‘s release on Wii U imminent, many fans may have wondered why a 3DS release was not in order. The touchscreen-and-stylus style of gameplay seems like a natural place for the franchise to thrive, after all. In response to this notion, Shigeru Miyamoto explained to 4Gamer that the team had previously tried to create Pikmin on the 3DS and decided against it:
“The truth is we were doing prototype tests of Pikmin for the DS and 3DS but it turned into unit management with only the touch pen and no matter what it just didn’t seem like Pikmin.
Miyamoto ultimately came to the decision that the game’s controls were paramount, and the handheld touchscreen consoles were not doing it justice.
“We concluded that Pikmin is a game that revolves around action based on its controls and the strategy sits on top that. Although there are elements that are built on the strategy, there are other overall things that have to be well considered. This complete experience is an important element of Pikmin.”
Fortunately, unlike the failed prototype, Miyamoto’s expectations were met on the Wii U. According to the legendary game designer responsible for, among other things, Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, the Wii U’s GamePad fits Pikmin 3 well.
“[Pikmin 3] may seem difficult on first glance but once you try the controls, it’s easy. Even if you find using the pointer difficult, there is a control method using the GamePad similar to the previous GameCube titles that we’d like people to utilize. To that end, we hope people are able to look at this as a carefree, easy action game.”
Pikmin 3 is now available in Europe, Australia, and Japan, and will be released in North America on August 4.
