Time for a new series of articles: Video Game Animated Adaptations! Let’s kick it off with a first entry about those cute little critters, the Pikmin!
In November 2014 Nintendo released Pikmin Short Movies for the Wii U and 3DS. The Wii U version is the HD one and the 3DS has the 3D effect available. It is a collection of three 3D animated shorts. They were produced by Nintendo and TK13, and were animated by Dwango. Shigeru Miyamoto was the executive producer and made some of the storyboards using Flipnote Studio.
Wonderful Short Movies
The first short of the Pikmin Short Movies, is called The Night Juicer. This is a minute and fifty five seconds long. It’s a bit funny but definitely the weakest of the three.
Second, is Treasure in a Bottle, which is eight minutes long. A red Pikmin sees something he likes in a bottle and tries to get to it. Captain Olimar isn’t in this one and shows that the Pikmin are quite entertaining on their own.
Last is Occupational Hazards, which is twelve minutes and forty five seconds long. I think both Treasure in a Bottle and Occupational Hazards are good but they definitely saved the best for last. In this one Captain Olimar and the Pikmin are collecting scrap for treasure like in Pikmin 2. It cuts between a few different scenarios at a time and is very cute and funny.
3D and HD
I originally bought this for my Wii U and loved it. I showed it to anyone I could. The visuals are just beautiful. While Pikmin 3 is gorgeous I can just imagine the day when a Pikmin game looks as good as these shorts. I got the 3DS version as a MyNintendo reward. It looks almost as good as on the Wii U and seeing it in 3D is a treat. There’s a few sections intentionally put for the 3D effect that I didn’t notice watching it over and over again on the Wii U. The 3DS version also has some additional extras including Toho Cinema promotionals.
Fast forward a couple of years to now, October 2020, and the Pikmin Short movies are now up on YouTube to celebrate the game coming to the Switch! So, now anyone can enjoy the little friends’ adventures!
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