Rumor: Pikmin 3 Port Possibly Coming to Nintendo Switch
It has been almost 5 years since Shigeru Miyamoto, famed Nintendo designer and producer, stated that Pikmin 4 was “nearing completion” all the way back in 2015. Obviously, that statement has fallen through, seeing as Pikmin 4 has yet to be released or even revealed in any substantial way. The title’s status was even further updated at E3 2017 by Miyamoto, saying that development on Pikmin 4 was ‘progressing.’ Unfortunately, Miyamoto and Nintendo have been all but radio silent on Pikmin since then, and fans are chomping at the bit to hear more about the series.
While Nintendo has yet to say anything official about any recent development for the Pikmin series since E3 2017, there may be something stirring for the series behind the scenes. It was discovered recently that Nintendo’s official website for Pikmin 3 was taken down somewhat recently, and some observant fans took notice. Some are even speculating that this corroborates the recent rumblings of a Pikmin 3 port heading to Nintendo Switch.
Pikmin has always seemed like a series that had a small, but dedicated fanbase attached to it. While the series has never been one of Nintendo’s top contenders like Mario or Zelda, there’s no doubt that it’s a franchise that’s important to Nintendo and Miyamoto, personally. The Pikmin series was the brainchild of Miyamoto in the very early days of the GameCube’s development, which he attributed to his love of gardening at the time. It would be extremely unlikely for Miyamoto to abandon one of his and Nintendo's most beloved franchises.
While the mainline additions to the series have lain dormant since Pikmin 3 launched on the Wii U back in 2013, the latest entry was actually on the 3DS. While it’s debatable whether or not the middling entry, Hey! Pikmin, should be considered a mainline entry or a spinoff, the title was released over 2 years ago and was the last entry in the series. However, rumors surrounding the series have started to pick up steam in recent months.
The first of these rumors to pick up steam came from the co-founder and Chief Content officer of IGN, Peer Schneider, through Twitter. During a recent discussion about Wii U ports on the Nintendo Voice Chat podcast, he offered up some insider insight into the rumors saying “one of them is a nine out of 10 for me, and one of them is more of a six out of 10..." This has led some fans to speculate the former entry could be Pikmin 3, while the latter was possibly Wonderful 101 – both of which are among the handful of most wanted Wii U ports on Switch.
While the official Pikmin 3 website being taken down could simply be nothing, it could very well point to a possible port or HD collection for the series. Back in 2018, Nintendo went back and renewed trademarks for many of their older and storied series’, with Pikmin being among the many trademarks that were renewed. Needless to say, the franchise is far from dead, but fans will have to remain patient until official news on the series is revealed.
Pikmin 3 was released for the Nintendo Wii U in 2013.
Source: Nintendo Life
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