Dandori Challenge
Dandori Challenges are special caves in Pikmin 4. While accessed from the areas in Story Mode, they function more like an alternative game mode, similar to the Challenge Mode from Pikmin 2 and Mission Mode from Pikmin 3. These challenges are directed by leaflings, and completing a Dandori Challenge allows the player to rescue that very same leafling castaway. Pikmin from outside the challenge cannot be taken inside, and the player will instead receive some Pikmin from the leafling directing the challenge. Once completed, a challenge cave is closed so that the leafling does not enter again, but the challenge can be replayed from the Rescue Command Post once Jin is saved.
Unlike Dandori Battles, completing Dandori Challenges is not required to progress the game's main story.
Gameplay
Dandori Challenges are treasure-collecting missions, where the player is given a time limit to find and collect all objects around a special sublevel. These objects include treasures and enemies, which must all be carried back to the S.S. Beagle in order to contribute to the player's score. Points have a symbol resembling the letter D and are measured using the weight of everything collected, so that, for example, a Bulborb is worth 12 points while a pile of gold nuggets is worth as many points as its number of fragments. If everything is collected in time, each remaining second adds one bonus point. The player can earn medals based on their performance. Only a bronze is required to complete the challenge and bring back the leafling, which usually involves collecting only a handful of the treasures and enemies, but silver, gold, and platinum medals can also be earned, the latter being obtained by collecting everything. Because the goal is to collect treasures and enemy carcasses, the stage ends when there is nothing left to collect. If an enemy was killed while frozen by Ice Pikmin, no corpse will be left, meaning the player loses out on some points. The point requirement for a platinum medal matches that of delivering everything to the S.S. Beagle, so while this can make the player miss a platinum medal at first, it is still possible to make up the difference with the time bonus when the stage ends. Each stage is ranked with a "Dandori Level" of 1 to 5, indicating the level of difficulty.
As described by the challenge-giver, the treasures are fake, and anything collected is not kept after the challenge. The same applies to piles of raw material, which can only be used to build structures within the challenge. Likewise, the Pikmin given to the player inside the challenge belong to that person and cannot be taken out. Throughout the challenge, the leafling in charge will stand in one spot in the sublevel and watch the player as they work. While they are reachable, they cannot be interacted with. If the challenge is passed, the leafling will be overwhelmed by the player's dandori skill, get dizzy from all the work, and faint shortly after awarding the player 30 pieces of raw material, allowing it to be rescued. If the player fails the challenge, the leafling will give them 10 pieces of material as a reward for participating the first 5 times, and 1 piece of material thereafter.
List of stages
- Dandori Day Care
- Hotshock Canyon
- Rockaway Cellars
- Test Tubs
- Ice-Cross Course
- Hefty Haulway
- Aerial Incinerator
- Strategic Freezeway
- Planning Pools
- Toggle Training
- Cliff-Hanger's Hold
- Oasis of Order
Additionally, there is a special Dandori Challenge cave called the Trial of the Sage Leaf, which functions differently and is listed separately in-game.
Locations
There are 1-3 Dandori Challenge caves per area, but since players can play each stage sequentially, none of them (other than the Trial of the Sage Leaf) have a specific location to enter from. Below is a list of every Dandori Challenge cave entrance available and how to access them, listed in the order of their slot on the details screen of the area selection menu. Each slot will fill in accordingly with the name of the Dandori Challenge played via the respective cave entrance.
- Sun-Speckled Terrace
- Near the 3rd base, Meandering Slope, a cave is surrounded by a pool of water. 20 Ice Pikmin are needed to freeze the water surrounding it, and Oatchi must jump onto the high ledge.
- Blossoming Arcadia
- After building the climbing wall near the 3rd base, Misshapen Pond, the cave can be found in the raised area.
- A bridge near the 2nd base, Sunwashed Plateau, must be built to reach an area with a reinforced wall that must be destroyed with 3 bomb rocks, and the cave is located on the other side.
- Serene Shores
- After clearing Engulfed Castle, the player will emerge from a different entrance located in an elevated area of the level only accessible in this manner until a nearby paper bag is pushed. The entrance to the Dandori Challenge is in a nearby alcove.
- Underwater in the large pool near the 2nd base, Water's Edge. A submerged dirt wall blocks the entrance to this area, though Oatchi can swim over it at high tide.
- Hero's Hideaway
- At the top of a stepladder which requires manipulating the nearby fans around the kitchen island to reach. Oatchi and the leader must split up to press the buttons accordingly, though no Pikmin are required.
- Giant's Hearth
- At the top of the fire pit, on the side that's only accessible by using a fire starter to reach the protruding bricks that allow Oatchi to jump all the way to the top.
- Past a sprinkler on the plateau near the 1st base, Line of Logs.
- Near the entrance to Dream Home, can be accessed either by pulling down a clipboard to bridge the gap above or by turning off a sprinkler below and using a fire starter to reach the alcove.
- Primordial Thicket
- On a plateau in the center of the area, a long bridge must first be built near the 3rd base, Maple Bridge.
- Near the 2nd base, Autumnal Gully, across a pool of mud that is shallow and easily crossed.
- By the mud pool with the Beckoning Mannequin, White Pikmin must be tossed up a ledge to destroy 3 poison geysers and move a cardboard box that becomes a bridge from a nearby ledge to access the cave.
Get help
If the player fails to earn a bronze medal on a challenge, Dingo will offer to complete the challenge for them if he has already been rescued beforehand. If the player selects "Get Help" from the following menu, he will proceed to do so (shown with a blank screen, text boxes, and random sound effects), and the victory cutscene will play like normal as if the player had completed it themselves.
Overtime
When replaying a stage through the Rescue Command Post, the player can choose to work overtime to complete the challenge past the time limit if they failed to earn a platinum medal by collecting everything. The cost of doing so is that these results do not get reflected in the game's records. This is similar to the after hours feature in Pikmin 3 Deluxe.
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
 Japanese |
ダンドリチャレンジ? Dandori Charenji |
Dandori Challenge |
 French (NoA) |
Défi Dandori | Dandori challenge |
 German |
Dandori-Herausforderung | Dandori challenge |
 Portuguese |
Desafio Dandori | Dandori challenge |
 Spanish (NoA) |
Desafío Dandori | Dandori challenge |