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Report / Published 2026-10-31

Nintendo's Hello! Pikmin shorts begin with Frog and go monthly in December

The first Hello! Pikmin short was released during the Pikmin Day Direct, with a second episode on 1 November and a monthly run beginning in December.

Q.QIBA Gaming deskSource-backed article · 4 min read
Event date Prepared Published 2026-10-31
A green frog sits on a blank sheet of white paper on a desk at night, beside a stack of paper, a pen pot and a glowing desk lamp, with a closed window behind.
Conceptual editorial illustration; not a documentary photograph.

THE SHORT VERSION

  • Nintendo released the first Hello! Pikmin short, titled Frog, during the Pikmin Day Direct on 31 October, and both outlets place a Red Pikmin and a frog at the centre of it.
  • A second episode arrives on 1 November and a third later in November, after which the shorts become a monthly series from December on the Nintendo Today! app and other official channels.
  • The series follows Nintendo Pictures' Close to You from October 2025, and Insider Gaming reports that Miyamoto and the actress Fuka Koshiba set out the monthly plan during the broadcast.

The first Hello! Pikmin short is called Frog

The first Hello! Pikmin short is called Frog, and it is available now. GoNintendo reports that Nintendo announced the series during the Pikmin Day Direct on 31 October and that the episode could be watched immediately. Insider Gaming describes what happens in it: a Red Pikmin tries to lift a baseball while avoiding a frog that wants to swallow it whole, and the clip runs for under a minute.

The ending is the joke. Insider Gaming says the frog believes it has caught the Pikmin, and the Red Pikmin escapes by hiding behind the baseball. Neither outlet treats the short as a game announcement, and Insider Gaming states that no new games were announced during the Direct at all. The short is the announcement, and the game news that did appear was about the Switch 2 edition of Pikmin 4. Insider Gaming builds its piece around the short rather than the broadcast, and treats the episode itself as the news.

A named series rather than a single video

Hello! Pikmin is a named series rather than a single video. GoNintendo calls it a new series of animated Pikmin shorts, with Frog as the first episode, and reports the name as the title Nintendo gave it. Insider Gaming places it in a line that began with Close to You, a short from October 2025 made by Nintendo Pictures that also featured Pikmin.

That lineage is part of what separates this from a trailer. Nintendo Pictures is the company's own animation unit, and the previous Pikmin short came from it, according to Insider Gaming. A short made by a first-party animation team and then turned into a series is a different kind of commitment from a promotional video tied to a release date, and the schedule reported by both outlets is what makes the difference visible.

Three episodes, then a monthly rhythm

The release plan is specific for the first three episodes and loose after that. GoNintendo reports that the next episode arrives on November 1 and the third later in November, and that from December it becomes a monthly series with one new short each month. Insider Gaming describes the same three-episode run before the monthly schedule begins.

Distribution is through Nintendo's own channels. Both outlets say the shorts appear on the Nintendo Today! app, and GoNintendo adds other official Nintendo channels while Insider Gaming mentions other social media platforms. That is a narrower reach than a television deal and a wider one than a single YouTube upload, and it keeps the schedule under Nintendo's control. Neither report says whether the app needs an account or a subscription to watch.

How the series was announced

The series arrived inside a broadcast that was mostly about something else. Insider Gaming reports that the first Pikmin Day Direct ran for less than ten minutes and shared new information about the Switch 2 edition of Pikmin 4. The same stream declared the November 1 holiday. Miyamoto debuted the short during it, and the monthly plan was set out by Miyamoto and the actress Fuka Koshiba.

Koshiba's role is not described in detail by either outlet. Insider Gaming names her alongside Miyamoto when the monthly release plan is announced, and that is the only function it gives her. GoNintendo's report does not mention her at all. A reader who wants to know why an actress is presenting a Pikmin series will not find the answer in either piece.

What the shorts are for

The shorts fit a pattern the company has been building. Insider Gaming notes that Miyamoto has previously said he wants Pikmin included in everything Nintendo does, and that Pikmin made a brief cameo in the recent Super Mario Galaxy movie, with Miyamoto crediting Illumination for many of the film's cameos. The same report notes that the first Pikmin game, released in 2001, introduced the red, blue and yellow variants, and that Miyamoto linked those three to the November 1 date.

The stated goal is awareness rather than a release. Insider Gaming reports that Miyamoto wants people to know more about Pikmin, and frames the monthly shorts as part of that. The same report notes that the Direct also carried new information about the Switch 2 edition of Pikmin 4, so the shorts shared the stream with a game update rather than replacing one. That is a modest aim for a series with no new game announced, and it is the kind of aim monthly shorts can serve without a product to sell.

What to watch after the first three episodes

The next dates are already set. An episode is due on November 1, a third later in the month, and the monthly rhythm starts in December, according to both reports. The open question is whether the shorts stay standalone or start connecting to the games, and neither outlet reports a plan for that.

For now the series is the most concrete Pikmin content with a schedule. No new game was announced in the Direct, and the only release discussed there was the Switch 2 edition of Pikmin 4, which neither report dates. The site's report on Death Stranding Isolations' 2027 Disney+ window covers another game-to-animation project with a date attached, while Croc 2's Switch remaster and Wild Blue Skies' Switch release cover two other reworked or revived releases this month.

Sources & reporting limits

  1. What Is Hello! Pikmin? Nintendo's New Animated Shorts
  2. Nintendo debuts Hello! Pikmin animated series with "Frog" short
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