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Miyamoto on Pikmin 3 and death, DS/3DS experiments, inspiration and a 4th playable character
A portion of a 4Gamer interview with Miyamoto...
4Gamer: Due to the way the Pikmin feel more like living things, I think you also feel a lot more sad when a Pikmin is killed by an enemy like a Bulborb. Thinking of it logically, you know that even if they die you can always get more and it’ll be fine but somehow it still doesn’t feel good.
Miyamoto: It hits you harder even more than war movies, no? (laughs) I think it’s good to have chances to consider things like that. In the movie “Saving Private Ryan," the theme is that of an extreme decision to possibly lose many to save one person but what was the person who made the decision thinking? I’ve considered things like this while at work.
Though I didn’t specifically consider something like that when making Pikmin, when you create things based on the natural way of things, sometimes unexpected things do happen and if you can say that what you just saw in the game made you feel something you hadn’t until that point… if you can say you’ve have the chance to experience that, I think that is something appealing about that game as a product.
Even when making 1, when the Red Pikmin are just staring at you or you watch the Pikmin looking up at the rocket flying away, you feel mixed things. I think it’s good to experience feelings like that.
4Gamer: So the head count was made to fit what the game system needed.
Miyamoto: That’s right. When we were making it, we solidified a lot of things. One of which was that it was fun to have three heroes.
To tell the truth, for last year’s E3 presentation, there were actually four heroes. However, when it came to the controls of swapping between four, there were points where it got complicated and in the end, we dropped down to three.
4Gamer: I wondered if in addition to increasing the amount of heroes and Pikmin if the strategic elements of this game had also been improved. Did you consider improving those elements even thought it is an action game?
Miyamoto: The truth is we were doing prototype tests of Pikmin for the DS and 3DS but it turned into unit management with only the touch pen and no matter what it just didn’t seem like Pikmin.
We concluded that Pikmin is a game that revolves around action based on its controls and the strategy sits on top that. Although there are elements that are built on the strategy, there are other overall things that have to be well considered. This complete experience is an important elements of Pikmin.
4Gamer: It’s conjures up the image a soccer or baseball game. That never occurred to me…Still, Pikmin can be seen as a type of RTS game as well. Could you tell us any thoughts you have on that?
Miyamoto: I know RTS games are popular overseas but when we were making the game, we made sure to not start from that idea. If I look back on it, a long time ago there was a PC game called M.U.L.E. I had made exclusively action games but at some point vaguely felt like “ahh, I want to make a game like that." There are parts of Pikmin 1 that are connected to that.
4Gamer: So the planet-discovery strategy came from that game!
Miyamoto: Well, it’s not like we were imitating M.U.L.E. but some part of the finished product was inspired by it.
Still, it’s not that we looked at a well known game and made something from that. When looking at the all new product we stuck with making, even though we did something simple, I do feel it came to have a depth similar to RTSes, However, it’s not that Pikmin is an RTS. It’s an action game and I think it is it’s own new genre that nothing else resembles.
Still, in a way, I think Pikmin 3 does have the potential to be received by players in America with as much zeal as PC RTS games.
Full interview here
4Gamer: Due to the way the Pikmin feel more like living things, I think you also feel a lot more sad when a Pikmin is killed by an enemy like a Bulborb. Thinking of it logically, you know that even if they die you can always get more and it’ll be fine but somehow it still doesn’t feel good.
Miyamoto: It hits you harder even more than war movies, no? (laughs) I think it’s good to have chances to consider things like that. In the movie “Saving Private Ryan," the theme is that of an extreme decision to possibly lose many to save one person but what was the person who made the decision thinking? I’ve considered things like this while at work.
Though I didn’t specifically consider something like that when making Pikmin, when you create things based on the natural way of things, sometimes unexpected things do happen and if you can say that what you just saw in the game made you feel something you hadn’t until that point… if you can say you’ve have the chance to experience that, I think that is something appealing about that game as a product.
Even when making 1, when the Red Pikmin are just staring at you or you watch the Pikmin looking up at the rocket flying away, you feel mixed things. I think it’s good to experience feelings like that.
4Gamer: So the head count was made to fit what the game system needed.
Miyamoto: That’s right. When we were making it, we solidified a lot of things. One of which was that it was fun to have three heroes.
To tell the truth, for last year’s E3 presentation, there were actually four heroes. However, when it came to the controls of swapping between four, there were points where it got complicated and in the end, we dropped down to three.
4Gamer: I wondered if in addition to increasing the amount of heroes and Pikmin if the strategic elements of this game had also been improved. Did you consider improving those elements even thought it is an action game?
Miyamoto: The truth is we were doing prototype tests of Pikmin for the DS and 3DS but it turned into unit management with only the touch pen and no matter what it just didn’t seem like Pikmin.
We concluded that Pikmin is a game that revolves around action based on its controls and the strategy sits on top that. Although there are elements that are built on the strategy, there are other overall things that have to be well considered. This complete experience is an important elements of Pikmin.
4Gamer: It’s conjures up the image a soccer or baseball game. That never occurred to me…Still, Pikmin can be seen as a type of RTS game as well. Could you tell us any thoughts you have on that?
Miyamoto: I know RTS games are popular overseas but when we were making the game, we made sure to not start from that idea. If I look back on it, a long time ago there was a PC game called M.U.L.E. I had made exclusively action games but at some point vaguely felt like “ahh, I want to make a game like that." There are parts of Pikmin 1 that are connected to that.
4Gamer: So the planet-discovery strategy came from that game!
Miyamoto: Well, it’s not like we were imitating M.U.L.E. but some part of the finished product was inspired by it.
Still, it’s not that we looked at a well known game and made something from that. When looking at the all new product we stuck with making, even though we did something simple, I do feel it came to have a depth similar to RTSes, However, it’s not that Pikmin is an RTS. It’s an action game and I think it is it’s own new genre that nothing else resembles.
Still, in a way, I think Pikmin 3 does have the potential to be received by players in America with as much zeal as PC RTS games.