Dandori Battles are special caves in Pikmin 4. While accessed from the areas in Story Mode, they function more like an alternative game mode, similar to 2-Player Battle in Pikmin 2 and Bingo Battle in Pikmin 3. There is also a mode accessed from the title screen that allows players to play Dandori Battles without any relation to Story Mode.
In Dandori Battles, the player (marked with blue) competes against their opponent (marked with pink) to see who can earn the most points, which are noted with a symbol resembling the letter D (
). Carrying treasures, pellets and enemies to the player's designated Onion earns the player points based on their weight, so that, for example, a Bulborb is worth 10 points while a Sunseed Berry is worth 3. The player with the most points when the timer runs out is declared the winner. Both participants use the same type of Pikmin. Unlike in other game modes, Onions in a Dandori Battle produce live Pikmin that do not go through the sprout stage.
Stages
There are 6 stages in Dandori Battle. They all have the same layout each time they are played.
Story Mode
In Story Mode, the Pikmin used are not the player character's, but rather are given to them at the start of the battle for that battle only. Anything collected is also not carried over after the battle. Each stage is ranked with a "Dandori Level" of 1 to 5, indicating the level of difficulty.
For the purpose of the game's overarching mission, the player must compete in Dandori Battles and win in order to be rewarded with a castaway that their opponent took possession of. Once that happens, the cave is closed and cannot be re-entered. However, after rescuing Corgwin, these battles can be replayed from the Rescue Command Post. To reach the main story's conclusion, the player must earn a bronze medal or higher in all 6 battles.
Medals
The player can earn medals based on how their score compares to their opponent. Only a bronze medal is required to win the battle, which involves simply having more points than the opponent, but silver, gold, and platinum medals can also be earned based on the size of the lead the player has upon the battle's end.
- Bronze: Win the battle (by at least 1 point).
- Silver: Win by at least 30 points.
- Gold: Win by at least 60 points.
- Platinum: Win by at least 100 points.
Locations
There is 1 Dandori Battle cave per area in Story Mode, but each stage is played sequentially and not tied to the area they are entered from. Below is a list of every Dandori Battle cave entrance available and how to access them.
- Sun-Speckled Terrace: near the third base, Meandering Slope, where a bridge must be built to access the ledge it's on.
- Blossoming Arcadia: near the first base, Fragrant Ravine, on top of a large box toward the center river.
- Serene Shores: near the first base, Blossoming Dunes, surrounded by water.
- Hero's Hideaway: found within a safe, needing the Courage Emblem, the Power Emblem, and the Wisdom Emblem's randomized numbers to unlock.
- Giant's Hearth: near the third base, surrounded by shallow water and a low ledge.
- Primordial Thicket: found on a ledge after a row of mushrooms Oatchi can jump across.
The player must complete the battles in the first three areas in any order to unlock Hero's Hideaway. From there, each area's Dandori Battle cave will need to be completed to unlock the next area (or in the Primordial Thicket's case, the Cavern for a King). While the first 3 stages can be played in any of the first 3 areas, the player can only enter Leafy Showdown in Hero's Hideaway, Hot Sandy Duel in Giant's Hearth, and Final Battle in Primordial Thicket.
Get Help
In Story Mode, if the player fails to earn a bronze medal, Dingo will offer to complete the challenge for them. 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.
This feature is only available if Dingo has been rescued, and if the player goes through with his assistance, the player will not be awarded any medals until they replay it themselves. Dingo cannot help the player in Leafy Showdown, which must be cleared manually.
Dandori Battle mode
Dandori Battle mode is a mode selectable from the title screen. Here, the player can challenge a second player or a computer-controlled player to a round of Dandori Battle. When challenging the computer, it is also possible for two players to team up, with the second player using the Pebble Pitcher similar to multiplayer in Story Mode. The options for player settings, presented upon selecting the mode from the title screen, are "P1 vs. CPU", "P1 vs. P2", and "P1 & P2 vs. CPU".
The same 6 maps from Story Mode are available to play on, however they must all be unlocked by playing the stage before it at least once (similar to Bingo Battle). Only Trial Run is unlocked by default. Levels are unlocked simply by finishing a battle, regardless of who wins. In order to unlock a stage, no matter what the current Story Mode progress is, the previous map must be completed first. For example, completing Trial Run twice does not unlock Dandori Castle. For asymmetric maps, the side of the map each player starts on can vary.
In addition to any of the 3 created player characters from the player's Story Mode save files, Shepherd and Collin are playable. Olimar and Louie can be unlocked as opponents after reaching certain points in any file of the main story. If a Dandori Battle is played before creating a character on any save file, only Collin and Shepherd are playable.
This mode allows several settings to be customized, unlike the battles in Story Mode. After selecting a stage, the player can change the Player Settings, Battle Settings, and Difficulty. Player Settings allows the player to select which characters are on each side; for player 1 the options are the custom characters, Collin, and Shepherd, and for player 2 or the computer player, the options are Olimar and Louie. Battle Settings allows the player to choose which of the 8 main Pikmin types appears in the battle, and to toggle Bonus Finds, Mystery Capsules, and Sneak Bombs on or off (they are all on by default, and the default Pikmin type is the one that appears in that stage in Story Mode). Difficulty allows the player to select how much of an advantage each side will get, between 5 options that change the starting squad size, starting number of Mystery Capsules, whether the Charging Horn is activated, and what Oatchi's or Moss's abilities are.
In this mode, the shortcut buttons are fixed to the defaults, and are mostly unbound except for the following (sideways Joy-Con does not have any bound shortcuts):
/ 
left: Survey Drone.- / down: Idler's Alert.
Bonus Finds
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During a battle, certain types of treasures or enemies will be Bonus Finds, where they will be worth more points than usual. The normal number of points that that object gives will be multiplied by a number from 2 to 5. Bonus Finds are random and can be any object currently in the stage except a Golden Sniffer or a Dandorium weight.
At the start of the battle, there will be one type of Bonus Find with a 2x multiplier. At some point during the battle (the time varies by stage), a second Bonus Find will be added with a 3x multiplier. If all objects of one type of Bonus Find are collected, that Bonus Find will be rerolled to be something else. When the second Bonus Find is added or when a Bonus Find is rerolled, if one player's score is considerably lower than the other, the lower-scoring player will get a larger multiplier than the higher-scoring player (3x instead of 2x, or 5x instead of 3x).
In Story Mode, the Bonus Find feature is introduced in Battle in a Box and applies to all later stages. It can be toggled for any stage in Dandori Battle mode.
Mystery Capsules
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Mystery Capsules are special items that appear around a stage throughout a battle, and are spheres with a yellow base and transparent top with a blue question mark inside. Collecting one by walking into it or having a Pikmin carry it to the player or Oatchi/Moss will give that player a random powerup. Powerups can then be used by pressing 
. Up to 5 powerups can be stored but only the type of item shown in the HUD can be used. 1 or more Mystery Capsules can spawn in the stage every 30 seconds.
In Story Mode, Mystery Capsules are introduced in Dandori Castle and appear in all later stages. They can be toggled for any stage in Dandori Battle mode.
| Icon | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| File:10 Pikmin P4 icon.png | Quick Pik | Adds ten Pikmin to the player's squad, of the Pikmin type used in the battle. |
| File:5 Glow Pikmin P4 icon.png | Quick Glow Pik | Adds five Glow Pikmin to the player's squad. |
|
Lightning Shock | Causes a Lightning Shock to strike at the opponent, and stuns all enemies in the stage. |
|
Mine | Gives the player a mine. |
|
Trackonator | Gives the player a trackonator. |
| File:Ink P4 icon.png | Bewilder Bomb | Makes a ink drop fall at the opponent, making their Pikmin and space dog panic. |
|
Rock Storm | Makes boulders fall at the opponent's location. |
|
Warp | Warps the opponent to a random location on the map. |
|
Ultra-Spicy Spray | Uses an ultra-spicy spray on all the player's Pikmin. |
Sneak Bombs
The Sneak Bomb is a unique item that spawns at a random location a few minutes into the battle (the time varies by stage). It resembles a bomb rock, but is larger and sits on a wooden platform. It can be carried towards an opponent's Onion, and upon reaching the Onion, it will explode and cause that Onion's player to lose points. The number of points lost to a Sneak Bomb is proportional to the victim's score.
The points lost to a Sneak Bomb will be ejected as Dandorium weights, which can be carried back to either Onion. These weights are solid and bronze-colored, with each one featuring a numerical label that indicates its weight. If the Sneak Bomb goes inside of the Onion of a player with 0 points, a Dandorium weight of 5 pops out and the targeted player's points stay at 0. Additionally, no matter how high the target score, the player whose Onion was detonated will not lose more than 100 points.
Sneak Bombs weigh 5 units with a maximum carrier count of 10. They have a unique radar map icon.
In Story Mode, Sneak Bombs are introduced in Leafy Showdown and appear in all later stages. They can be toggled for any stage in Dandori Battle mode.
Object spawning
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Objects can spawn during the middle of a Dandori Battle. While most objects spawn at the start of the battle, some objects will spawn at specific times during the battle to add more objects to the stage, and some objects will respawn some time after they have been removed from the area. Defeated enemies may respawn and collected treasures may reappear, depending on how recently they were defeated or collected and what other objects are nearby. Some objects will not respawn.
Gallery
The Sneak Bomb as seen on the results screen.
The Mystery Capsule as seen on the Tablet's Radar Map.
Trivia
- All treasures in Dandori Battles are returning collectibles from Pikmin 3, specifically fruits and Gold Nuggets. The only exception to this is the Golden Sniffer, which is an altered version of the Tremendous Sniffer, another fruit from Pikmin 3.
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
 Japanese |
ダンドリバトル? Dandori Batoru |
Dandori Battle |
 Dutch |
Dandori-duel | Dandori duel |
 French |
Duel Dandori | Dandori duel |
 German |
Dandori-Duell | Dandori Duel |
 Italian |
Battaglia Dandori | Dandori battle |
 Portuguese |
Batalha Dandori | Dandori Battle |
 Spanish |
Batalla Dandori | Dandori battle |