{"id":810135,"date":"2023-07-18T09:26:02","date_gmt":"2023-07-18T13:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nintendoeverything.com\/?p=810135"},"modified":"2023-07-18T09:26:02","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T13:26:02","slug":"nintendo-devs-reveal-pikmin-origins-started-out-on-n64","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nintendoeverything.com\/nintendo-devs-reveal-pikmin-origins-started-out-on-n64\/","title":{"rendered":"Nintendo devs reveal Pikmin origins, started out on N64"},"content":{"rendered":"

The original developers behind Pikmin have discussed the game’s origins, including how it was originally being developed for the N64.<\/p>\n

Masamichi Abe, who was director at the time, said in a new interview published today that “discussion of this project started during the transition from Super NES to Nintendo 64, so we had a strong aspiration to utilize its ability to display a large number of characters on screen.” Shigefumi Hino, who also was director, added that it was originally “envisioned a game that would control a lot of characters with AI.” The interview includes a number of concept art \/ images as well, and character designer Junji Morii talked about being inspired by Tim Burton.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Abe, Hino, Morii, and Shigeru Miyamoto shared the following on Pikmin’s origins, N64 ties, and more:<\/p>\n

Abe:<\/strong> Hino-san originally came from an artist background, so he was handling character design and world creation, while I was in charge of game mechanics and stage design. This project wasn\u2019t initially an action game, was it?<\/p>\n

Hino:<\/strong> Yes, that\u2019s right. Back then, we envisioned a game that would control a lot of characters with AI. The game we had in mind included creatures with AI chips in their heads to make them think a certain way, and you would control them by swapping their chips. So, players would control them by assigning \u201cthought chips,\u201d such as “combat,” “heal,” or “help friends,” to each of them. As they explored the map and gained more experience, their chip capacity would increase. In other words, they’d become smarter. At the same time, we added personalities such as grumpy and cowardly via \u201cemotion chips,” and depending on which emotion chip the character had, the response, such as “attack” or “defend,” would change. And so, we were experimenting with these kinds of prototypes with Kando-san.<\/p>\n

Kando:<\/strong> I was still a newbie programmer in my first year around that time. After joining Nintendo, I was assigned to this team and got a mysterious specification document from Hino-san, completely out of the blue. (Laughs) I devoted myself to experimenting with what kind of actions I could apply to a large number of characters with AI.<\/p>\n

Morii:<\/strong> I joined the team as a designer about a year after Kando-san. By then, the game was already bustling with little creatures.<\/p>\n

Hino:<\/strong> At the time, our vision was to have a top-down view of the game on screen, so we made the gender and personality of each character identifiable from what’s on their head.<\/p>\n

Wow… That’s worlds apart from the Pikmin we all know.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hino:<\/strong> It looks a bit Yoshi-like, don\u2019t you think? (Laughs) But we felt it lacked impact as a character.<\/p>\n

Miyamoto:<\/strong> There were also conversations about making a character that girls around the age of high school would find cute, right?<\/p>\n

Abe:<\/strong> Yes. So then Morii-san drew a pile of sketches, and this design was selected by unanimous decision.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t