Pikmin 4 is finally available on nintendo-switch. To support the release of this game event as it should, nintendo publishes a new volume of his series “Developers have their say“. The opportunity to learn more about the development of the game but also to discover the genesis of the entire series and to learn how the pikmine have been created.
The Nightmare Before Christmas of the Pikmin
The idea germinated at early 90s during the transition between super nintendo and the nintendo64. Masamichi Abe And Shigefumi Hinothen directors, started working on the project which was very different from what the game later became on gamecube. The idea was to allow the player to control lots of small creatures controlled by the AI thanks to small chips inserted in their head which made it possible to assign them simple tasks like fighting, healing, helping… Many prototypes were made with the help of Yuji Kandothen a very young programmer at the time, and the first little creatures were imagined; creatures far enough away from pikmine current who could be male or female.
Afterwards, Junji Morii found in the credits of lots of games nintendo (of Pokemon Stadium To Everybody 1-2 Switch Passing by Nintendogs or Mario Kart: Double Dash!!) a finally created the pikmine with many sketches inspired by… Tim Burton ! An unexpected reference (which we actually find on the first sketches of the characters who look like drawings by the director of Beetlejuice) and which went in the direction of the developers who sought to create “a mysterious, darker and more adult world” that the productions nintendo usual.
Junji Mori:
At the time, I particularly liked the world of Tim Burton (3), so I wanted designs that were not only cute, but also strange, with a certain emotional weight. That’s why I drew my sketches this way, in a style where the scribbled lines overlap.
But Tim Burton is not the only source of inspiration for the developers who, thrilled by the sketches of Junji Morii have “fueled their imagination“while watching a cult French animated film from the 70s: The Savage Planet of Rene Laloux And Topor ! An animated film with strong, nightmarish and unforgettable images that have, to say the least, “taken aback” the developers. If you do not know this major work of French animation, you can watch a trailer HERE. We don’t really know what’s left of it in the games, but the information is very interesting and we can imagine the heads of the developers discovering this “traumatic” film…
Subsequently, the developers have “watched all kinds of films, including independent European films or art house films“rare and experimental and they also read the book of Richard Dawkinsentitled ” The Selfish Gene » (« The Selfish Gene “) containing ” full of information about the strange ecology of living things“.
Shigefumi Hino:
Until then, Nintendo games were strongly associated with the vivid and colorful designs of the Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda series. This is what prompted me to take this bold step of portraying a mysterious, darker and more adult world. As a result, we said to ourselves: “We are going to watch a film together, to seek inspiration! » and our choice turned to an animated film entitled « The Savage Planet »
. We all looked taken aback, looking at him. (Laughs)
*Animated film released in France in 1973, using a production method called “cut-out”. In Japan and the United States, it was released under the title “Fantastic Planet”.
Who would have thought that the creation of pikmine was also “dark” and that the developers had come to seek inspiration, in particular, in France? Obviously, many other steps were necessary before the first pikmine don’t land on gamecube and we may have the opportunity to talk about it in a future article. In the meantime, we cannot advise you too strongly to read the new volume ofDevelopers have their say “devoted topikmine full of information and anecdotes, by visitingNintendo’s website . We also invite you to discover in detail the first sketches of thepikmine designed by Junji Morii in the style of Tim Burton
on this page. As a reminder, Pikmin 4 will be available in July 21, 2023 exclusively on
nintendo-switch
READ OUR PIKMIN 4 TEST HERE
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Read our preview of PIKMIN 4 HERE
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