Pikmin 4 programming director: “We don’t work on a game with the goal of to make Mr. Miyamoto happy”

Game Informer managed to chat to both Pikmin 4 chief and programming director Yuji Kando and Pikmin 4 planning director Yutaka Hiramuki. In the wide ranging interview, the Nintendo employees were asked about working with Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the adorable Pikmin franchise and were specifically asked How do you feel about that process of working with a legend like Miyamoto? Mr. Kando replied by saying that he “always feel honored to be able to work with Mr. Miyamoto. With that said, I hope people don’t take this the wrong way, but we don’t work on a game with the goal of “to make Mr. Miyamoto happy.” They were also asked if Mr. Miyamoto statement back in 2015 was inaccurate, as he previously said that Pikmin was “nearing completion” though the game wasn’t released until this year. Read on for their answers.

In the Ask the Developer interviews for Pikmin 4, Shigeru Miyamoto said, “My words carry a lot of weight, people would get flustered if I said something even remotely random.” Do you have an example a strange or random bit of feedback Miyamoto offered during Pikmin 4’s development? I imagine it is scary to have Miyamoto look at your game and offer feedback. How do you feel about that process of working with a legend like Miyamoto?

Kando: I always feel honored to be able to work with Mr. Miyamoto. With that said, I hope people don’t take this the wrong way, but we don’t work on a game with the goal of “to make Mr. Miyamoto happy.”

The important thing is how deep of a discussion we can have about the game, and those discussions are the times when we see how thoroughly we thought through the game design. So in that sense, yes, we do get nervous going into a discussion with Mr. Miyamoto.”

 In 2015, Shigeru Miyamoto said in an interview that Pikmin 4 development was “very close to completion.” Was that statement inaccurate at the time?

Kando: After the development for Pikmin 3 ended, we started development for Pikmin 4 as a small team.

As we made several attempts and tried out various things, there were moments when we could see the game take shape, but since we had to prioritize other projects, we weren’t able to create the development team framework needed to complete the game. But the fruits of our labor during that time lead to the result of what Pikmin 4 is today.

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