Topic: Pikmin 3 Set For Spring 2013 Release

[NWR_Neal]

North America's launch window dreams might be dashed.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/32151

Pikmin 3 is scheduled for release in spring 2013, according to the latest Iwata Asks, focusing on the Wii U GamePad.

At Nintendo of America's Wii U Preview Event in September, Pikmin 3 was slated for a launch window release in North America. The launch window runs until March 31, 2013. Unless the game is released in the first 11 days of spring, which starts on March 20, then Pikmin 3 will miss the launch window. We have reached out to Nintendo of America for comment on Pikmin 3's release date.

In Japan, Pikmin 3 has been listed as a spring 2013 title since the September Wii U Nintendo Direct. In Europe, nothing regarding the game's release has been mentioned recently.

Wii Fit U and The Wonderful 101 are other games in this weird release date limbo. Like Pikmin 3, they were listed as launch window games in North America. In Japan, Wii Fit U was listed alongside Pikmin 3 as a spring release, and The Wonderful 101 was listed as TBA.

[cL7oud]

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!---------------------------http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyophYBP_w4

[Auggey]

Fine, it's not like they had eight years to get this thing on shelves... 

[Luigi Dude]

This isn't too surprising.  Unlike all of Nintendo's other launch window games, Pikmin 3 is a much larger and more complex type of game.  People have to remember just how much stuff was in Pikmin 2, and since Pikmin 3 is a sequel to that, it'll probably have even more.  Plus since HD development is still a new thing for Nintendo studio's, no surprise that a game like this is taking longer to make.

[Stogi]

Not surprising but this is really the only reason I'm buying the Wii U. If this were the electoral college, this game would be Florida pushing me over 270.

And I really hope they read my post about a dream (hahahahaahahaha) that mentioned ghost pikmin and implement that bastard into the game. Possessing creatures just sounds like something pikmin should have.

[AV]

Ok I'll accept a delay Nintendo (not that I have a choice) but now the expectations are much higher . This better have great gamepad support , online mode and be a major upgrade in gameplay concepts or else I'll and the media will be very angry an disappointed .

[TJ Spyke]

Vega, I don't think this counts as a delay. We have known for over a month that it was a 2013 release in North America, this news just narrows that time frame down (though I expected it to be a March release anyways).

[broodwars]

I wonder how weak Nintendo's Q1/Q2 2013 Wii U software lineup is if they've had to push Pikmin 3 back to prop it up.

Seriously, this game has been in the making for 8 years.  If the game isn't ready for showtime by now this project is more troubled than we thought.  This has to be a move to fill in software holes.  In the meantime, hopefully the team is still tweaking the game in response to feedback on elements like the controls.

[TJ Spyke]

I think it's silly to think they have been working on this game since 2004. It's been in development for awhile, but not for 8 years.

[ThomasO]

I think it's silly to think they have been working on this game since 2004. It's been in development for awhile, but not for 8 years.

They announced it in 2008. It would have started development in 2007 at the earliest.

[Luigi Dude]

The first time we even heard about the game was E3 2008 and that was Miyamoto saying they were working on a Pikmin game in one sentence during the roundtable discussion.  For all we know he could have been talking about a few people working on concepts at the time and actual development might not of started until 2010.  It been well documented Nintendo will work on concepts and planing of games years before development even starts.   

This isn't like Final Fantasy Versus XIII which was officially announced and been in actual development for over 6 years with still no release date still in sight.

[rialopablo]

I think it's a pretty smart move to set back a ‘few’ titles, since there are so many ‘hardcore’ games coming out.   Like; AC3 and BOP2.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

At one time, this would have made me a sad panda, but the launch window line-up is fairly replete in my eyes. I can wait a few more months for Pikmin 3.

[NWR_insanolord]

I really hope this is Nintendo taking steps to avoid the post-launch droughts they've run into before, like the utter wasteland on the 3DS from April through October of 2011, and that it isn't because of problems with development, but I know it's probably the latter.