It didn’t take very long for Nintendo to completely quelle all excitement around its Pikmin short. After debuting a few days ago with invisible creatures before getting reuploaded with everyone’s favorite sentient plants, Nintendo has now confirmed that the “Close to You” animated short is the first (of many to come) to be animated by Nintendo Pictures Co. Ltd. The company made a post on Twitter to explain the news.
We hope you enjoyed the two “Close to You” videos released on October 7 and 8.
The second video is available on Nintendo Today!, a free app available on your smart device.
These are the first short films created by Nintendo Pictures Co., Ltd.
Nintendo Pictures will continue to… pic.twitter.com/GKizLT0Ckv— 任天堂株式会社 (@Nintendo) October 9, 2025
For the past few days, the internet was alight with speculation of what Nintendo’s mysterious short could be. At first, many thought it was a teaser for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, but people quickly noticed similar motifs to music from the Pikmin series. The way objects were moving in the short lent credence to that belief, so then guesses shifted to either a Pikmin 5 reveal or some kind of announcement for a Switch 2 Edition of Pikmin 4. Turns out, it was simply a short for the sake of it that shows off the talented work Nintendo Pictures Co. can achieve.
If you’re wondering where Nintendo Pictures Co. came from, the story predates the Switch 2 by a few years. Back in 2022, Nintendo acquired Dynamo Pictures and would later rebrand the studio as “Nintendo Pictures Co.” in October 2022. This is actually part of what led to the company working on Death Stranding 2 that we reported on earlier this year. In the time since Nintendo has owned the company, its work has been relegated to motion capture and some CG work for games such as Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Super Mario RPG, and Hatsune Miku Expo 2023. “Close to You” is the first non-game related project it has done specifically for Nintendo.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
