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Miyamoto - Pikmin 3 wouldn't be same on Wii, HD on Wii would have been great, 4K talk

by rawmeatcowboy
18 July 2013
GN Version 4.0
4Gamer: At the moment, when comparing the amount of Wiis and Wii Us sold, since there is a difference of about ten fold between the two, the initial plan to release the game on Wii or alternatively do a multiplatform development would lead one to assume that would allow the most people to play the game. But, clearly, there are reasons why it had to be on Wii U.

Miyamoto: From Nintendo’s stance, we also need to sell Wii Us but that’s not the only reason. (laughs)

Also, if we had made it on Wii, while I am sure we could have, when you think of needing to get everything moving together, clearly Wii U was the better overall choice. After making it and seeing the results, if it hadn’t been on Wii U, we wouldn’t have been able to make the same game at all.

It all came together as a cohesive unit from a combination of elements that are only possible because of the Wii U as well as motion controls carried over from the Wii. The Wii U was not a piece of hardware designed specifically for Pikmin but Wii U was the most fitting piece of hardware to create Pikmin.

4Gamer: For this game, when I saw the high quality rendering of the little Pikmin, I really got the benefit of HD because of the Wii U. Could you tell me more about that?

Miyamoto: I felt like I wanted to go to HD sooner.

Even for the Wii, no matter how much it made the system cost, it would have been great if it were HD in the first place. However, it was going to take some time for HD televisions to become common and we felt that until that point was reached, there would have been no point for Wii to be HD.

From our point of view, once the subsequent generation to Wii came around, HD televisions would be more common and we felt it would be time to make our games in HD then. However, HD became more common about 2 to 3 years earlier than we had anticipated. A main part of that was that the prices for HD televisions manufactured overseas had gone down at an unthinkable pace.

So, as a result, while we were right in the middle of selling the Wii, the TVs in people’s living rooms (editors note: in Japan) were slowly becoming HD sets. Overseas especially people had never so rapidly and drastically changed their hardware to the newest technology but in America as well HD TVs became standard little by little.

4Gamer: HD TVs are standard now but 4K TVs are also coming out.

Miyamoto: Yeah. When it comes to games, I don’t see the need for Zelda in 4K but for Pikmin, making it 4K compatible could possibly further show more small detailed Pikmin moving around, show things from an even further perspective, and being able to see more may make a more fun game.

Full interview here