Pikmin 4 devs on how Oatchi came to be, considered letting players ride and control creatures

The space dog Oatchi is a brand new addition for Pikmin 4, and Nintendo has now discussed its origins while also providing other interesting insight. This comes as part of an official interview published today.

The company’s Yuji Kando revealed that one idea that came about early on was letting players control a Bulborb. Continuing on from that, Nintendo then considered letting players “ride and control various creatures in the story”. However, “it became difficult to weave it all into a coherent game.” Oatchi was born from these ideas.

You can find the full interview excerpt regarding Oatchi in Pikmin 4 with Kando, Yutaka Hiramuki, and Shigeru Miyamoto below.

Now I’d like to ask you about the newly introduced character, Oatchi, the space dog. I assume he has a lot to do with the Dandori gameplay, but how did he come about?

Kando: Miyamoto-san mentioned earlier that the Pikmin series hadn’t seen huge sales. At the beginning of development, we were seeking what would become the selling point of this game, both in terms of gameplay features and in terms of being eye-catching. So, the first idea was that it would be interesting to have the player control a Bulborb, one of the native creatures, and have it chow down on Pikmin. The controls would be simple, yet give a sense of satisfaction to players. Above all, it’d be visually striking.

Are you serious?! Controlling a Bulborb would’ve caught people’s attention for sure.

Kando: Stemming from this idea, we considered letting the player ride and control various creatures in the story, but it became difficult to weave it all into a coherent game. Ultimately, we decided to add Oatchi as a partner creature that the player could switch to from the main character. As a playable character, you can have him throw and call Pikmin, but he can also be used as a sort of “mega Pikmin” who possesses the power of 10 Pikmin.

Is there a reason you chose a dog as the player’s partner?

Hiramuki: He’s slightly different from the dogs you see on earth… he’s a space dog! His canine nature allows us to incorporate him into the story as a Rescue Pup who sniffs out lost castaways. As Kando-san said, Oatchi is the player’s partner. So you can ride on him with Pikmin and train him to do different things to improve his utility. Essentially, we were able to solve two problems at once with a single idea.

Miyamoto: A good idea is something which solves multiple issues at once.