Pikmin 3

Pikmin 3 is used to refer to the next, as of yet untitled, game in the Pikmin series, which was hinted at during E3 2008. Shigeru Miyamoto said, when asked about the Pikmin series, "We're making Pikmin." Nothing else about the Pikmin game in development was revealed, however. On 24th July 2008, Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed in an interview, "...They [the Nintendo development teams] are all working on new Mario, Zelda and Pikmin projects".

The announcement of the New Play Control! Pikmin games raised questions as to the feasibility of a Pikmin 3; following, in an IGN interview, it was made clear that the re-releases of Pikmin and Pikmin 2 are separate from Pikmin 3: Cammie Dunaway: It's not the Pikmin that Mr. Miyamoto referred to, no. Mr. Miyamoto referred to a new Pikmin, as opposed to the classics that are being re-released on Wii.

During E3 2009, Miyamoto said the following when asked about the lack of mention of Pikmin 3 during the Nintendo press conference:

I’m sorry. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to expand the team size very much, because we've been working on so many different games that we've shown off at the show. So the team is working very hard, but it's a bit of a small team." He also mentioned that his "basic idea was that the depth and simplicity of the controls were still there.

On 4th June, in a post-E3 2009 interview, Miyamoto had more to say on the game:

With Pikmin 3, we've got all the basics pretty much done. Now it's just a matter of how do we go in and fill that out? What sort of work do we give our designers? That team has been constantly been moving forward. So with a little time, we'll be able to make more progress and I hope we can bring you something that will make you happy.

On 19th March 2010, Pikmin 3 was revealed to be "well underway". The game will be on the Nintendo Wii.

At E3 2010, little more information on the game was given because the other games at the show would distract from it. "Rest assured, though, we are very hard at work on Pikmin."

In an IGN E3 2010 interview, Miyamoto stated that "[the development process is] maybe getting near to the point where we'll start increasing the team size."

In a recent July 1st interview Miyamoto said, "Among my present promises, I have to finish Pikmin quickly, so production is progressing extremely well."

Pikmin 3 was not mentioned at E3 2011, however, Nintendo's newly announced successor to the Wii, the "Wii U", contains backwards compatablitiy with Wii and 3DS games and therefore may shed light on Pikmin 3's prolonged absence.

On July 8th, 2011, a day after Nintendo's presetation at E3, Miyamoto apologized for Pikmin 3's absence once again, and then had this to say:

"We really did want to release Pikmin this year in honor of [the series' 10-year] celebration," Miyamoto told the crowd. "Earlier, someone asked if we're working on any other Wii games after Skyward Sword. Well, Pikmin was a Wii game we were working on.

"However, as we've been working on Wii U hardware and I've been looking at those high-definition graphics and that beautiful controller, i've been getting the feeling i wanted to see Pikmin there instead."

While another delay for the elusive Pikmin sequel won't satisfy most fans, Miyamoto mitigated the news somewhat by suggesting the delay won't be unbearably long.

"Since we've been working on Pikmin Wii for so long, maybe it won't be too long before we see it on Wii U," he teased.

He also joked that there was "one issue: So far, we've showed the structure of the Wii U experience and concepts of what can be done with the hardware, but we haven't announced any titles for the system. The corporate side of me wants to follow the precedent in not announcing any titles during E3. The other side, however, wants to tell you we're working on Pikmin."

So while this wasn't a direct confirmation, anyone capable of reading between the lines should expect to see Pikmin 3 shortly after -- or perhaps even at -- the Wii U's launch.

Past hints

Around the time of the release of the first Pikmin game, it was hinted at that Pikmin might be a trilogy.^{citation needed}

On July 30th, 2003, Pikmin's creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, said in an interview with Gamers Mark that he had already got the basic idea for Pikmin 3 in his mind.

On 12th July, 2007, in an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, an IGN interviewer asked if he planned to do anything with Pikmin. His reply was as follows:

I certainly don't think we've seen the last of Pikmin. I definitely would like to do something with them, and I think the Wii interface in particular is very well suited to that franchise.

On the 18th of April, 2008, Shigeru Miyamoto revealed in an interview on the topic of Wii Fit that he desired to continue with the Pikmin series:

As for what the developer would like to work on next, Miyamoto said he's looking forward to working on the Wii some more. He also reiterated his desire to make another entry in the Pikmin series of action strategy games.

On July 15th, 2008, during E3, Shigeru Miyamoto answered questions about a possible Pikmin 3:

There isn't anything that we can announce right now, but I’m sure we’ll probably do something with it.The Pikmin team is, of course, still there and maybe we’ll have something to talk about before too long.