Nintendo’s ‘Close to You’ Short Ignites Theories from Pikmin to Baby Rosalina

Nintendo has once again stirred the gaming community with the mysterious release of a new animated short titled Close to You. The video appeared suddenly on the Nintendo Today app, YouTube, and across social media – completely unannounced and without a single word of context.

Fans were quick to start theorizing, as the short’s calm yet strange atmosphere seemed to carry the kind of layered symbolism that Nintendo loves to hide in plain sight.

The short, nearly four minutes long, depicts a curious baby chasing a glowing pacifier around a sunlit room. What might sound simple is elevated by breathtaking animation quality – every reflection, motion, and shadow polished to perfection. The background music instantly caught the attention of sharp-eared fans: it’s unmistakably from Pikmin 4. And just when that realization settles in, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it detail appears – a tiny, blurred Pikmin crossing the screen for a split second. That one frame sent the internet into overdrive.

Could this be a subtle teaser for a new Pikmin project? Many think so, but theories quickly diverged. Some believe Close to You might be an introduction to a spin-off or a short film expanding the whimsical world of Pikmin. Others suspect it’s connected to an entirely different branch of Nintendo’s universe. Chris Scullion from VGC suggested that the baby could actually be Rosalina from the Super Mario Galaxy series, possibly teasing an origin story for the upcoming Super Mario Galaxy movie.

Then there’s a wilder theory – that Nintendo might be working on a project centered around baby versions of its iconic characters: Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Baby Peach, Baby Rosalina, and perhaps even others from across the company’s universe. The idea of a Nintendo “babyverse,” possibly a whimsical animated series akin to Rugrats, is so bizarre that it almost feels plausible coming from a studio known for playful experimentation. The high production values of Close to You certainly hint that it’s more than a random creative short.

Still, with no official statement, the mystery lingers. Nintendo’s silence seems intentional – a strategy to let the fandom’s imagination do the marketing. Whether it’s teasing the next Pikmin chapter, a crossover project, or something brand-new entirely, one thing is clear: Nintendo hasn’t lost its knack for getting fans talking. And as always, half the fun is in the guessing.