Miyamoto says Nintendo characters need to stay within their own IPs, except for Pikmin

If you’re wondering why Pikmin can be seen at Super Nintendo World, there’s a deliberate reason for that. Shigeru Miyamoto – the creator of various Nintendo franchises like Mario and The Legend of Zelda – says that the company’s characters are meant to “only exist within the IPs they are a part of”. However, Pikmin appears to be an exception to that rule.

Miyamoto said in an interview with IGN:

“When you look at characters like Mario or Splatoon, I made it a point to make sure they only exist within the IPs they are a part of, but Pikmin have this unique quality in that they can be right next to you as we speak. They can, at least in my mind, interact and mingle with any kind of IP. I thought the easiest and quickest way to really convey what Pikmin is was to just drop Pikmin in that world.”

Although Miyamoto didn’t mention it, there are technically a few other exceptions to the rule. Smash Bros., for example, is a crossover of every major franchise (and even third-party IPs). We also saw Mario Kart 8 bring in characters from The Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, and Splatoon.

Also on the Pikmin front, Miyamoto recently spoke about how he’s been wanting to grow the IP, and isn’t even ruling out something like a movie. Read his full comments here.

Thanks to Jake for the tip.