Pikmin 4 Switch 2 Edition: Dandori Academy Tips and Mistakes to Avoid
Pikmin 4's Switch 2 Edition adds exam-style Dandori Academy stages, Oatchi voice commands and GameShare battles. Here's how the exam system scores and what to skip.
Pikmin 4 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Dandori Academy launched November 12, 2026, alongside a free demo. Image: Nintendo.
Pikmin 4 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Dandori Academy launched worldwide on November 12, 2026, bringing Nintendo's real-time strategy series to Switch 2 with sharper visuals, microphone-based voice commands for Oatchi and a new exam-style mode called Dandori Academy. Existing Pikmin 4 owners can buy the $9.99 Dandori Academy Upgrade Pack; new players get the full $69.99 Switch 2 Edition with the base game included. Here is what actually changed, how the exam system in Dandori Academy works, and the mistakes worth skipping on your first run.
What the Switch 2 Edition actually adds
The headline upgrade is visual: Pikmin 4 runs at a higher resolution in both TV and handheld mode on Switch 2, and the full digital download now sits at 12.8GB on Switch 2 versus 11.2GB on the original Switch. The bigger addition is Dandori Battles over GameShare, which lets a friend join a local or online match through GameChat without owning a copy of the game themselves, since their session is temporary and tied to yours. Oatchi also gains proper voice recognition through the Switch 2 system microphone, so you can call out short commands instead of only using the stick-and-button whistle controls. None of this touches the core story campaign; it is an expansion of the post-launch toolkit layered on top of the 2023 original, which Wikipedia's entry on the game still covers in full for anyone catching up on the plot and cast.
How Dandori Academy's exam system works
Dandori Academy is built around 72 stages total, mixing remixed Story Mode areas, Dandori Challenge layouts and a handful of brand new locations. They are not all unlocked at once: six stages arrive on the first Monday of each month, two apiece at Elementary, Advanced and Graduate difficulty, so the full roster will not be complete for almost a year. Three training stages are playable anytime and award medals, but they do not count toward monthly totals or rewards.
- Practice attempts can be run on any unlocked stage, any day, as many times as you want.
- Official exam attempts only open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
- Each stage normally allows one official attempt, though exams from past months stay open if you missed them.
- Redo Passes refresh your one shot: you get one per month automatically, plus one for every five practice runs, capped at five earned per month and six held at once.
Medal thresholds and how scoring works
Results are ranked from an unmedaled finish up through Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Master, with thresholds set per stage rather than a flat number across the mode. Platinum requires collecting everything within the time limit; Master asks for the same haul inside a tighter window and awards identical points to Platinum. Any time left on the clock after a full collection converts into bonus points at a rate of one point per second, which is often the gap between a Gold and a Platinum finish on a tight stage.
Setting up Oatchi's voice commands
Voice commands run through the Switch 2's built-in microphone and need to be enabled before a session, not mid-run, so check the settings menu the first time you boot the Switch 2 Edition rather than hunting for the toggle in the middle of a stage. If you want more detail, a separate article walks through the microphone permissions and recognized voice phrases on its own. Anyone who wants to loop in a friend without a copy of the game should also read Nintendo's own GameShare overview and FAQ first, since the guest session only lasts as long as the host stays connected.
Mistakes new players make
- Spending the one official exam attempt before practicing the layout. Dandori Academy rewards route planning over reflexes, so a blind first try almost always underperforms.
- Forgetting that exam stages hand you fixed gear and disable the Plucking Whistle. Oatchi also loses his hazard-countering equipment in these stages, so lean on fire-, water- or electric-resistant Pikmin types instead of Oatchi gadgets.
- Showing up on a weekday expecting to take an exam. Official attempts only open Friday through Sunday; everything else is practice-only.
- Burning Redo Passes on a low-stakes practice stage instead of saving them for a Friday exam where the higher score actually replaces your official result.
Quick checklist
- Pick the Upgrade Pack if you already own Pikmin 4, or the full Switch 2 Edition if you are starting fresh.
- Enable Oatchi's voice commands from the settings menu before your first session.
- Practice a stage until you can finish it comfortably, then save your exam attempt for Friday through Sunday.
- Track medal thresholds per stage rather than assuming Platinum always means "collect everything."
Pikmin 4 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Dandori Academy carries an ESRB rating of E10+ for Comic Mischief and Fantasy Violence, the same rating as the original release, so the exam stages are built for the same audience as the base campaign.