In a July 18 blog on the official Nintendo website, the developers of the upcoming Pikmin 4 talked in depth about the franchise as a whole heading into their latest release. These same developers released some early concept art of Pikmin, and despite how cheery the game can be, the art seems a little more scary.
In the first designs of Pikmin and also in more detailed art, the vibe was even self-described from Nintendo as “eerie.” Even after that start, the process was shown as the game developed into what it is today, more colorful and mysterious.
All this information comes from a Japanese interview with a group of developers from both the early days and modern times of Pikmin.
The point of the game was to control groups of people, not just individuals like their popular franchises around that time in between the Super NES and the Nintendo 64, with Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. The original design for the creatures you’d control, as developer Shigefumi Hino said, was “Yoshi-like.”
Not only was the gameplay meant to be different, but after coming up with the original design, they wanted to go for a different vibe, away from their popular franchises.
They wanted the design to be popular with high-school girls, but also wanted the feel of the new game to be a “somber, mature, and mysterious world,” akin to Tim Burton’s films or old animated French films from the ‘70s.
Related: Pikmin 4 will have split-screen multiplayer, according to leak
This is where the nightmare-like sketches come to reality, with the art striking more of a similarity to Junji Ito’s horror works than anything Nintendo would make.
While that eery style was the goal in the early stages, it changed as the development progressed on the original Pikmin. Then, as the franchise’s games went on, each one had its own style and feel, with the gameplay staying mostly the same. Now, with the fourth installment, the goal is to have all Pikmin players enjoy the latest game in the series, both in style and gameplay.
Top developer Yuji Kando specifically said, “There were completely different takes on how Pikmin games should be between those who liked the style of Pikmin 1 and those who preferred that of Pikmin 2, so maybe Pikmin 4 can finally bring the debate of ‘Pikmin 1 people’ versus ‘Pikmin 2 people’ to an end.”
Pikmin 4 launches on July 21 on the Nintendo Switch.
