Pikmin short movies
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The Pikmin short movies refer to short animated films, showing Pikmin interacting with the environment of PNF-404 alongside Captain Olimar. These films are drawn using computer generated 3D graphics. The shorts were produced by TK3 Inc. and Nintendo Co., Ltd, and were animated by Dynamo Pictures, Inc., with Shigeru Miyamoto as executive producer. The three shorts are called "The Night Juicer", "Treasure in a Bottle", and "Occupational Hazards".
#1 The Night Juicer
This short features Captain Olimar, and red, yellow, and blue Pikmin, inside an unknown room, with captain Olimar using a small blender to make a juice-like drink. The three Pikmin see this, and go to investigate, only to see what appears to be a cut of Pikmin on a cutting board. Olimars turns to the Pikmin, and they begin to back away in fear. The three Pikmin begin pushing each other towards Olimar, and Olimar slowly grabs for them. The Pikmin, trembling in fear, bump into a box of pik-pik carrots, sending the carrots flying. Olimar, however, grabbed a few carrots, smiles at the Pikmin, and returns to the blender, the Pikmin frozen in fear. "The Night Juicer" is one minute and fifty-five seconds long.
#2 Treasure in a Bottle
This short beings off with a red Pikmin chasing after a large white butterfly, eventually coming across a Ramune bottle and sees the blue marble inside. By climbing a nearby plant, the Pikmin manages to eventually land inside the bottle's marble compartment. After a few attempts, the Pikmin lodges the marble inside the mouth of the bottle, where it falls, causing the red Pikmin to fall to the lower compartment of the bottle and become trapped. There, the Pikmin calls for help from a passing pair of blue and yellow Pikmin, which laugh at the red's plight. The trapped red also seeks helps from a fellow red Pikmin, who also laughs.
After assessing the situation, the blue, the yellow, and the red all begin thinking about ideas on how to free their trapped friend: The blue Pikmin gets an idea first; running off into the foliage and returning with a bucket of water; its idea is to fill the bottle with water and have the red Pikmin swim out. The trapped red, however, refuses, realizing it will drown. The second idea comes from the yellow, who runs off into the foliage and returns with a lit bomb rock. The red and blue flee, while the yellow lays the explosive beside the bottle, and runs away itself. The bomb rock explodes, sending the trapped red Pikmin and the Ramune bottle flying into the air, freeing the red. However, the bottle lands upright once again, and the red falls back in, landing at the bottom. The three remaining pikmin return to the bottle, seeing that the bomb rock did not work. However, after they witness a purple Pikmin and three blues attempt to capture a butterfly by forming a chain, they unanimously hatch a final plan...
The Pikmin call on more of their friends to form a huge chain that leads all the way to the bottom of the Ramune bottle. Ultimately, the trapped red Pikmin is freed, which it is quite thankful for. Before it returns to the ground with the group, it looks back at the marble, still sitting inside the bottle. The scene then changes, showing the red Pikmin sitting proudly atop the bottle as the other Pikmin carry it into the foliage with the purple Pikmin running slowly behind. The length of "Treasure in a Bottle" is eight minutes.
#3 Occupational Hazards
Length: 12:45
Bonus
A bonus was included with the shorts, two shorts exclusive to the 3DS version, and four available to both the 3DS and Wii U versions.
"TOHO CINEMAS 2012 Logo"
Length: 00:31
"TOHO CINEMAS 2013 Logo"
Length: 00:37
"Treasure in a Bottle: Storyboard by Shigeru Miyamoto"
Length: 01:23
"Occupational Hazards: Storyboard by Shigeru Miyamoto"
Length: 02:05
Easter eggs
- At 00:24 in "The Night Juicer", numerous articles and photos are posted on a bulletin board.
- Two photos feature Olimar's family, his wife, his son, and his daughter.
- Another photo features the "Pikmin" game art from the first game.
- Another photo features Olimar and the Hocotate ship from "Super Smash Bros. Brawl".
- There is also a news article that features Hocotate from "Pikmin 2".
- At 00:40 in "Treasure in a Bottle" shows a white butterfly throughout the short.
- "Treasure in a Bottle" features a Nintendo ramune bottle.
- At 02:54 in "Occupational Hazards", there is a green pipe which a red Pikmin pops out with lint portrayed similarly to Super Mario's hat, nose, and mustache. Numerous coins from the Super Mario Bros., as well as a short excerpt from "Super Mario Bros. Overworld Theme".
- The entire worth of the crane in "Occupational Hazards" in Pokos is 10,000,000,000,000,007, or ten quadrillion and seven pokos.
- In "Occupational Hazard", there is a scene where a red and blue Pikmin are running beside each other in an attempt to evade a rampaging Bulborb. During this scene, a police siren can be heard, referencing how police lights are generally red and blue.
- At 09:20 in "Occupational Hazards", there is a remixed variation of the theme of the Final Trial.
History
In an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto in March of 2013, the creator of the Pikmin series announced Nintendo was working on a cartoon based on the franchise. In the interview, Miyamoto revealed that these cartoons would be released at some point in 2013 but before the next game in the series, Pikmin 3, which was still in development. The idea was to distribute them as Nintendo 3DS videos, and he considered the idea of selling them if they become something bigger.
The idea for these cartoons came around when Miyamoto was trying to "give more life to the Pikmin characters". When asked if this was an attempt to make the 3DS less of a gaming-centric console, Miyamoto declared he hadn't thought about it that way. Instead, it's just taking advantage of the Pikmin series, and expanding its potential. If the idea flourishes, Nintendo might do cartoons on other franchises as well.
In September of 2014, Miyamoto announced that three short animated movies would be shown at the Tokyo International film festival, which will happen from October 25 to 31. These short movies will be titled The Night Juicer, Treasures in a Bottle, and Occupational Hazards.
On the 25th of October 2014, the movies were premiered at the Tokyo Film Festival. They will be making their way into the 3DS eShop at a later date. According to IGN, Miyamoto has completed 20-30 short films, yet has only left the three movies listed above for public viewing.[1]
Post-premiere interview
After the shorts were presented, Shigeru Miyamoto and Dwango chairman Nobuo Kawakami held a press conference, and revealed more info on the shorts. The following list of tidbits has been gathered:[2]
- The three Pikmin shorts ("The Night Juicer", "Treasures in a Bottle", "Occupational Hazards") are coming soon to 3DS.
- They’d considered doing something like this for Nintendo’s characters many times in the past, but avoided it because of the difference between an interactive game and a film.
- Another reason is that a film requires much more ‘setting in stone’ about the characters and world that could be limiting for the company when it comes to future games.
- However, with Pikmin they’re very small inside the game and you can’t see them well without zooming in close. So he thought shorts might be a good fit for the Pikmin series as it’d allow there to be more focus on the actual Pikmin.
- Storyboards for the shorts were made by Miyamoto using Flipnote Studio 3D, an app never relased in the West.
- Made by an external CGI company. They also produced the opening of the 2012 E3 Presentation, where Miyamoto was followed by CGI Pikmin.
- They originally intended to make ten 3-minute short films, but after making the first one they decided on making longer ones. The 2nd is 8 minutes and the 3rd is 13 minutes long.
- The 3rd film features 500 Pikmin on screen at once and Pikmin covered in mud, which are things they can’t do in-game.
- The models used are based on the game’s models, but as the CGI required about 10 times the fidelity of that in the latest game, so the 3D models in the shorts themselves are mostly new.
- Miyamoto says the live-action Super Mario Brothers film was an interesting interpretation of the universe. When he first read the script, it was a heart-warming tale, like a Disney movie from his childhood, but it gradually evolved into the movie we know today. He thinks it’s interesting what a different interpretation can bring.
- Release timing for the Pikmin shorts unannounced; may be compiled together with the logo-movie for Toho Cinemas (which also features Pikmin) when released on 3DS.
- Plans on releasing world-wide; no language to localize.
- Pikmin 3 demo is in the works.
- Miyamoto wants the short films to be a gateway for some to play the Pikmin games.
Nintendo Direct
On November 5th, 2014, Nintendo released the Pikmin shorts, for both 3DS and Wii U. The 3DS version featured 3D elements to it, while the Wii U version is in HD. The full bundle costs $4.99/£4.49/€4.99.
References
External links
- Nintendo Everything's article on the post-premiere interview
- The Guardian's article on the short movies, with a quick video documentary containing snippets from the movies
- My Nintendo News' article after the movies' premieres
- Polygon's article about the short movies' premieres
- Polygon's article about the interview