“Why aren’t sales exploding?” Mario’s father wonders why this Nintendo license is avoided by gamers

game news “Why aren’t sales exploding?” Mario’s father wonders why this Nintendo license is avoided by gamers

Pikmin, a license that is already over 20 years old

From 2001 players who follow Nintendo Play on GameCube or wait for release. The console was launched in September 2001 in Japan, then came to the United States in November before launching in Europe, Australia and Brazil in 2002. For most players, therefore, Pikmin is part of the starting lineup of this console, which, despite its capabilities and its games, will encounter the rise of DVD and with it the PlayStation 2.

The first work of the Pikmin license is sold for more than a million units worldwide, to which is added total copies of the reboots sold on Wii and Switch. The success of the license The work conceived by Shigeru Miyamoto was enough to initiate the development of a second work, which was published in 2004

. Nintendo is obviously interested in this franchise, but it will be nine years before the WiiU comes out on top for Pikmin 3. A fairly popular work whose sales will increase enormously thanks to the Deluxe version released on Switch and sold over 3 million copies.

So we are 10 years after Pikmin 3 was first released and Pikmin 4 is finally available. Oriented to Real-time strategy and thinkingThe Pikmin franchise invites players to take on the role of an explorer who lands on an uncharted planet and needs to repair his ship by finding treasure with the help of plant creatures called Pikmin.

There are different ways and that’s what you have to do Use them intelligently to solve puzzles, defend yourself and advance. In the fourth work, for the first time, we can customize an avatar that will be sent to rescue a rescue team that is a victim of an accident while trying to find Captain Olimar. With this episode The w orld of the game opens up a bit

and we enjoy a lot of content that is likely to delight fans.

Modest sales because of the difficulty? Miyamoto answers

Nevertheless, Pikmin license sales have never increased. Not that they’re bad, but they don’t quite match the number of other major Nintendo licenses. A situation in which asked Shigeru MiyamotoDesigner of the license that we know came up with Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda, Starfox or even F-Zero and… Wii music.

With every release of a game from Nintendo’s in-house studios, the company releases one Interview series entitled “Ask the Developer”.. We take this opportunity to recommend that you read The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom books, which are very instructive if you’re interested in the making of the game. But let’s get back to our Pikmin. In the latest episode of a new interview series, Shigeru Miyamoto I wondered why sales of the license didn’t skyrocket as was the case with Mario Kart.

So far there have been three games in the series, from Pikmin to Pikmin 3. And I’ve always wondered, ‘why haven’t the games sold so well if they’re fun? Why do people think they are so difficult?”

The person interviewing Miyamoto then suggests that sales are “modest.” can be precisely related to the difficulty licensed games. We assume that this approach is not the most widespread among Nintendo and therefore may put some players off these games. For Miyamoto, this difficulty is part of the DNA of the license, but the license has evolved several times

about it without changing the image of the series. Anyway, the question of accessibility arose during the development of Pikmin 4, which was its role attract a wider audience without neglecting the strategic aspect of the game or its puzzles:

We’ve discussed how we’re going to get as many people as possible to play Pikmin 4, but if it doesn’t feel like Pikmin, we’re not going to live up to the expectations of those who have enjoyed the series so far. The first game offered more of a challenge, while the second game was richer in content and in Pikmin 3 we went back to something closer to the first game. But after thinking about it, I realized we could do both. The depth of play that makes Pikmin so interesting is retained while providing the functional support to overcome the challenges surrounding the controls.

For Miyamoto, the fact that people find Pikmin is difficult would therefore come from the depth of the gameplay and the large number of commands integrate. However, he hopes that this fourth installment will break that image of a difficult game a bit Replace it with the designation of a challenging but accessible game to all.

As far as sales go, we’ll have to wait a little longer to find out if Pikmin 4 is the work that allows the series to explode in the eyes of the general public. Before we leave you, let us remind you The first two games are now available on Switch through a special compilation called Pikmin 1+2.

---