We chat with Shigeru Miyamoto about the whereabouts of the previously confirmed Pikmin 4, learning that it's not something that the company has had time to work on lately.

With less than a year before Nintendo launches its new console, codenamed the NX, there's still a lot that gamers don't know about the platform. More importantly, outside of the fact that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be arriving on NX hardware, not all that much is known about the games that fans can expect from the Big N on the system. At this point, one of the more obvious additions to the hardware's library would be the previously confirmed Pikmin 4, but there's been radio silence on the subject in recent months.

After Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed that Pikmin 4 was "close to completion" during E3 2015, fans have been wondering just where and when it may end up. We were fortunate enough to have the chance to speak with Miyamoto during E3 2016, where we asked a medley of questions to the famed game creator. Curious about the lack of information on the latest Pikmin, however, we couldn't help but inquire about the status of the project.

"Yes, you are right, and we're working on [Pikmin 4]. So, you know, when we're in development we have to create a list of priorities and it has been hard to kind of fit that into that list, but we're hopefully starting to see that on the list now."

Understandably, Nintendo has been hard at work on developing a new console, and presumably there is a laundry list of software that takes priority over the likes of the Pikmin franchise. While perhaps not an ideal statement in the eyes of gamers that have been waiting on the return of Captain Olimar and co., it does make sense if Ninty has plans on pursuing a broader consumer base with its new platform using its absolute biggest franchises right from the get-go.

Now, if the title was truly nearing completion a year ago, then which priorities did the firm place ahead of the game? It's known that a brand new Mario title is in the works, but there are a number of other possibilities that could have uprooted the firm's initial Pikmin 4 plans. Mobile game development – coupled with plans for a major a push into animation – are likely culprits in terms of distracting Miyamoto, but there's little question that the numerous studios at Nintendo's disposal would have had to have been assigned other priority projects in order to pull their attention away from the game.

Just what those titles are will remain a mystery for now, but Nintendo can't be all that far away from pulling the curtain back on its lineup of games for NX – the console is set to launch in March 2017, after all.