No online multiplayer for Pikmin 3 on Wii U

Pikmin 3 on Wii U will have local multiplayer but not online multiplayer, creator Shigeru Miyamoto has confirmed.

"You have to be very careful that you don't drop frames as you're trying to sync up with other players over what could be a very great physical distance, over the internet," Miyamoto explained to IGN.

"But in the situation of Pikmin, for example, since you would have lots of individual, small creatures, the Pikmin, whose every movement and location is going to be really important in the game, it would be very difficult to sync up over an internet connection.

"So what we've decided to do is focus on the single-player and local multiplayer aspects, which are really fun. But unfortunately, no online multiplayer for Pikmin 3. But the co-op local multiplayer is really fun."

Pikmin 3 was the star of Nintendo's E3 2012 press conference. It not only looked impressive, with photo-real backgrounds juxtaposed with cartoon Pikmin characters, the game also showcased what the Wii U GamePad controller was all about. In Pikmin 3, the GamePad offers a more tactical map layout, and touch-screen play. You can choose to use either that approach, or the Wiimote and nunchuk.

Miyamoto said the increased CPU power of Wii U meant Nintendo could project cursors on to objects to show you exactly where a Pikmin would land. This was one of the reasons Nintendo felt Wii U was better suited to Pikmin 3 than Wii.

"Fundamentally, I would say that the game didn't change all that much," said Miyamoto of the difference between Pikmin 3 on Wii and Pikmin 3 on Wii U.

"Rather, we saw the CPU power and HD resolution offered by the Wii U and simply thought that was the best platform possible for that game, allowing you to see the whole map at one time and things like that. Going back a little bit, I would have to say that we really debated what kind of game we should make Pikmin 3.

"Having played them," he added, "you must know that Pikmin and Pikmin 2 themselves are very different games from each other. We had a bit of a discussion internally about which direction we should go for Pikmin 3. And at the same time we were also trying out different experiments on the DS and the 3DS and the Wii to see which platform the game would work best on.

"We had decided on Wii when the possibility of putting it on the Wii U became available, as we began to see what that framework was going to look like. At that time we definitely decided, okay, this is going to be much better on Wii U. Nothing huge changed in terms of the fundamental concept."