The teacher Shigeru Miyamoto he asked himself during a round table on Pikmin 4how come the Pikmin series sell less of other Nintendo series, although for him it is really fun. His Mario house has many very successful series, such as Mario, or Zelda, while Pikmin is among the minor successes, still capable of selling millions of copies.
Teacher’s questions
Will Pikmin 4 be able to be more successful than the previous chapters?
Miyamoto hopes Pikmin 4 changes things and manages to sell well. According to him, it is the difference that makes the difference perceived difficulty of the titles in the series, which would also be one of the keys to the identity of the game. If removed, it would make players feel like they aren’t dealing with a Pikmin.
Miyamoto: “There have been three games in the series so far, from Pikmin to Pikmin 3, and personally I’ve always wondered, ‘Why haven’t sales exploded, even though they’re so much fun to play? Why do people find them so difficult?”
I understand that people find them more difficult because you can die. But I think the strength of the series lies in its relationship to mortality. If something is irreversible, you need to find a way to prevent unwanted things from happening. To try and prevent the Pikmin from dying, you need to practice “Dandori”. For me, that’s what makes this game unique. I think people find Pikmin’s mechanics difficult for two reasons: the controls and the depth of the game gameplay. I spent a lot of time thinking about how we could present these aspects as “interesting” instead of “difficult”.
We were discussing how we would like as many people as possible to play Pikmin 4, but if it doesn’t get enough of the essence of Pikmin, we won’t be able to live up to the expectations of those who have enjoyed the series so far. The first game had a deeper challenge, while the second was more expansive in terms of content, and with Pikmin 3 we’re back to something more like the first. But after thinking about it, I realized we can do both. We can keep the depth of the gameplay that makes Pikmin so interesting, while still providing the functional support to deal with the challenges related to the controls.”