Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto experimented with Pikmin on the 3DS, but difficulty in controlling the game is the reason why Nintendo decided not to move forward with development.

In an interview with the Japanese gaming site 4Gamer, and translated by CVG, Miyamoto spoke of the difficulties in a handheld version of the game. Miyamoto said, "The truth is we were doing prototype tests of Pikmin for the DS and 3DS but it turned into unit management with only the touch pen and no matter what it just didn't seem like Pikmin."

Miyamoto cites one of the highlights and most important aspects of Pikmin is ease of control, and moving the game to the handheld simply eliminated that very important element of the game.

Pikmin 3 is coming to Wii U on August 4. For more on the game, check out our latest preview.

[Source: 4Gamer via CVG]

Our Take
Managing Pikmin on a DS or 3DS certainly would be a different gameplay experience, but I am surprised to learn that Miyamoto thinks it would be in conflict with Pikimin's core tenets. As one of the most influential and important people in the world of video games, though, I trust his judgement.