The year was 2014 and Nintendo was in one of the worst financial pickles that the company had ever seen thanks to the poor sales of the Wii U. You might think that this was no time for joviality, but this is Nintendo that we are talking about, and Miyamoto had other ideas.
Taking his favourite child, Pikmin, the legendary game designer announced that he was working on a series of short films that would help to promote the series’ third entry, Pikmin 3, which had released the year prior. It was a move that wouldn’t have made it onto many-a Nintendo fan’s bingo card, but the results were, to put it simply, wonderful.
The three short movies premiered at the 2014 Tokyo International Film Festival, before becoming available to download on the Wii U and 3DS eShops for $4.99/£4.49/€4.99. Before the service had a chance to close down, the shorts were moved onto the official Nintendo of America YouTube channel in 2020 where they have remained available to watch, for free, ever since.
‘The Night Juicer’, the first and shortest of the trio, shows a group of Pikmin’s confusion over Olimar’s nighttime juicing habits; ‘Treasure in a Bottle’ sees one red Pikmin doing everything he can to get his hands on a shiny marble, while ‘Occupational Hazards’ is all about Olimar’s attempt to clear a building site. Each takes place with no dialogue and is packed full of enough slapstick comedy to keep an audience of any age entertained.
With the release of Pikmin 4 coming our way next week, we thought this would be the perfect time to revisit the shorts for a final burst of Pikmin preparation and we have attached each of them below for your viewing pleasure.
Popcorn at the ready? Let’s dive in…
The year was 2014 and Nintendo was in one of the worst financial pickles that the company had ever seen thanks to the poor sales of the Wii U. You might think that this was no time for joviality, but this is Nintendo that we are talking about, and Miyamoto had other ideas.
Taking his favourite child, Pikmin, the legendary game designer announced that he was working on a series of short films that would help to promote the series’ third entry, Pikmin 3, which had released the year prior. It was a move that wouldn’t have made it onto many-a Nintendo fan’s bingo card, but the results were, to put it simply, wonderful.
The three short movies premiered at the 2014 Tokyo International Film Festival, before becoming available to download on the Wii U and 3DS eShops for $4.99/£4.49/€4.99. Before the service had a chance to close down, the shorts were moved onto the official Nintendo of America YouTube channel in 2020 where they have remained available to watch, for free, ever since.
‘The Night Juicer’, the first and shortest of the trio, shows a group of Pikmin’s confusion over Olimar’s nighttime juicing habits; ‘Treasure in a Bottle’ sees one red Pikmin doing everything he can to get his hands on a shiny marble, while ‘Occupational Hazards’ is all about Olimar’s attempt to clear a building site. Each takes place with no dialogue and is packed full of enough slapstick comedy to keep an audience of any age entertained.
With the release of Pikmin 4 coming our way next week, we thought this would be the perfect time to revisit the shorts for a final burst of Pikmin preparation and we have attached each of them below for your viewing pleasure.
Popcorn at the ready? Let’s dive in…
