Close to You, but not even close to an answer.
In recent years, Japanese entertainment juggernaut Nintendo have seemingly become increasingly fond of using mysterious and vague trailers to generate viral marketing for their upcoming projects, as exemplified by the first teaser for Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club (2024), which just showed the game's antagonist creepingly staring at the camera for 15 seconds.
Slightly less creepy, but just as unexpected was the sudden upload of a short movie titled Close to You to their Nintendo Today app and social media channels on October 7, 2025. Once again, fans have been left wondering if the video, for which the company hasn't provided any context yet, may serve as a teaser and if so, for which project.
A Generic Short?
The short film, which is about four minutes long, depicts a baby chasing after its pacifier, which seems to be carried by tiny invisible creatures, and causing a mess in its room in the process. Eventually, it starts to learn how to walk, just as its mother returns, who then hands the baby its pacifier, with the screen fading to black and ending the short.
The art style and character designs of the 3D computer-animated short have been compared to those present in the works of veteran animation studio Pixar, albeit sometimes unfavorably so, with some viewers criticizing them as generic. Though the baby specifically does somewhat resemble the Super Mario character Rosalina, sporting similarly-colored hair, eyes and clothing.
The short is generally light on sound effects, instead synchronizing the background piano music to the events on-screen. Said track includes passages which seem to pick up the leitmotif of the main theme of Nintendo's Pikmin video game series. Other background details include fictional children's books titled "Adventure On the Tree" or "Whose chick?" as well as paintings of animals.
Very Specific Theories
Given that the company behind the short film is Nintendo, many fans assume that it may be teasing an upcoming video game, perhaps one related to Super Mario Galaxy and Rosalina's backstory therein, coinciding with the upcoming movie and recent collection re-release. Others are hoping for a new Pikmin game, given the recurring leitmotif, the titular tiny creatures' tendency to carry things as well as Shigeru Miyamoto calling them invisible to humans in the past:
"All over our world, there are unusual creatures called Pikmin, and they are invisible to the naked eye. And now, using Pikmin Bloom and your smartphone, you’ll be able to find them all over." – Shigeru Miyamoto
Some have also speculated that Close to You may be a teaser for a series of Pikmin (or generally Nintendo-themed) short movies, which would not be completely unprecedented, seeing as Nintendo has previously released high-quality 3D-animated shorts based on the franchise in the form of The Night Juicer, Treasure in a Bottle and Occupational Hazards in 2014. These were produced by Dynamo Pictures, who were purchased and renamed Nintendo Pictures in 2022.
Some even claim that a blurry background movement in one shot may be a visible Pikmin, though to us, it looks more like one of the baby's building blocks being carried by another invisible creature. Whatever the case, when remembering that the mystery of the Emio trailer from July 10, 2024 was revealed on July 17, viewers could expect not to be left in the dark for too long.
A Half-Surprising Reveal
And indeed, on October9, 2025, the company uploaded another version of the short movie exclusively to its Nintendo Today app, with the Pikmin now visible, confirming at least that fan theory. Notably, any reuploads and analyses of the new version have been taken down by Nintendo, likely in an attempt to increase the appeal of their app.
Aside from this leading to another round of fans criticizing the company's alleged overreach in protecting their brand presentation, they were in for yet another disappointment when theories speculating that the short movie may have served as a teaser were effectively disproven by the company, who made them out to merely be the initation projects for Nintendo Pictures:
"We hope you enjoyed the two “Close to You” videos released on October 7 and 8. [...] These are the first short films created by Nintendo Pictures Co., Ltd. Nintendo Pictures will continue to explore new creative possibilities through video content."
All hope may not be lost yet, however: Seeing as the production of these kinds of animations usually doesn't come cheap, the release could perhaps serve as a marketing move to generate general interest in the franchise, which the company may seek to capitalize on in the near future. Until then, fans will just have to take the short movie for what it is.
But what do you think? Could the short film secretly be a teaser for an upcoming Pikmin game, film or series? Or may it be something else entirely? Let us know in the comments!