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Miyamoto Talks Pikmin

by Max Lake - October 9, 2001, 3:43 pm EDT
Source: Cloudchaser Nintendo

Pikmin hits Japan this month and Shigeru Miyamoto is on hand to discuss his little ant-plants with Famitsu Weekly.

Cloudchaser’s Galloping Gaijin’s latest column has arrived and addresses Nintendo’s low-key GameCube presence in Japan, even as Microsoft prepares to storm the Fall TGS. It also features a translated Weekly Famitsu interview with Shigeru Miyamoto on the subject of Pikmin!

Here’s an excerpt:

Miyamoto: Did you feel the same about the Pikmin (characters), before and after playing the game?

Famitsu: Not at all. Actually, I didn't think of them as cute beforehand (laughs). It is funny to watch them following you in line, some tripping, falling or getting lost. When they group together, however, they become strong against enemies and barriers.

Miyamoto: They work very hard, don't they? But don't you think it's cruel to have to throw those hard workers at the enemy? (laughs).

Famitsu: (laughing) When you see them grouping together to fight a huge enemy, it does give you a good feeling.

Miyamoto: Yes, there is a joy in watching the weak becoming strong. For example, in RPGs, when you start, you are weak, so you can't fight evenly with the enemy. But after gaining health points and a higher attack level, you can win. You feel joy from increased numbers/figures in those games. In Pikmin, however, you can't defeat the enemy with one Pikmin, but with a hundred, you can do so easily. That is a feeling you can't get with just numbers/figures.

Famitsu: That's right, isn't it? In that sense the feeling is far more invigorating, and there is a real sense of accomplishment. That is something I never could have imagined before I played it.

Miyamoto: I knew you couldn't have, because the game looks difficult (laughs).

Famitsu: You feel differently once you've actually played it. You have plants and water in the background, and you get accustomed to the environment easily. I heard that you used the grass from your garden for the textures - is that true?

Miyamoto: Yes (laughs). Actually, we haven't used my garden that much, but we've used a lot of my neighborhood. As we videotaped the garden for some of the background, some staff wanted to do more, and went to some caves to tape them (laughs). I don't know were they are in the game now, but we enjoyed making the backgrounds, anyway (laughs).

Go check out the rest of the interview & more in the latest report from the Galloping Gaijin!

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