Nintendo‘s short film Close to You is the kind of tease that launches a thousand theories. The four-minute-long clip shows a baby taking their first steps as everyday objects — most notably a pacifier — start moving on their own: no narration, no title cards, just melodic tunes. Although comments are disabled on the YouTube video, conversations and speculations continue off-platform. Many fans believe that Close to You smells like Pikmin.
What’s particularly fanning that flame is the music used in this mysterious teaser video. Sharp-eared fans might notice that the piano melody closely echoes the main Pikmin theme. It’s so subtle, only Captain Olimar himself would catch, as the familiar ‘dooo-dodo-do-dooo’ motif is reworked into a softer piano arrangement at the 0:29 mark. There is also a lot of blue, red, and yellow imagery in it.
You might wonder, “Why reference Pikmin when no Pikmin actually appear?” Funny enough, it tracks with the official Pikmin lore. Niantic’s Pikmin Bloom spin-off describes Pikmin as “mysterious plantlike creatures [that] can’t be seen with the naked eye.” It neatly explains why toys and blocks appear to move by themselves around the baby in Close to You.
Interestingly, Nintendo might’ve been building up the resources to do full-blown in-house animation projects. In 2022, the Kyoto-based game company acquired Tokyo’s CG studio Dynamo Pictures and rebranded it into Nintendo Pictures. The acquisition document explicitly mentioned it was to ‘strengthen the planning and production structure of visual content.’
Dynamo Pictures itself was involved in several big projects related to video games. Such as Monster Strike the Animation, Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, Resident Evil: Vendetta, and even the Pikmin Short Movies that were distributed exclusively on eShop. What’s more, the studio is also credited in Pikmin 4 as Nintendo Pictures. If “Close to You” is a proof-of-concept for a Pikmin movie adaptation, then Nintendo’s pipeline is in place and it’s ready to go again.
Strategically, this short also fits the company’s broader push beyond games. It has said its core plan is to ‘expand’ the number of people who ‘have access’ to Nintendo IP. Not just through games, but theme parks, merchandise, and again, visual content.
Pair that with The Super Mario Bros. Movie‘s box-office haul and the upcoming sequel, which no doubt will become another hit. The idea of Pikmin — or Nintendo Pictures — finally taking the big stage doesn’t sound so small anymore.
