What exactly IS Pikmin's genre? - Dandori Games 

“Comparing pikmin to itself doesn’t really say much” The MetroidVania genre chilling in the corner:

Personally I think the “dandori-lite” isn’t the most apt descriptor of all games in the broad genre, since the moment-by-moment micromanagement that the name implies is sometimes the first thing to go. What defined a Pikmin-like up to this point was the superficial element of being a guy followed by other guys. I would say something like “creature commander” would be more fitting, though it still risks confusion with the rts genre

Pikmin is like a squad commander puzzle game with lite rts elements I'd say and item collection

it’s a series where the third game makes people over enthusiastic at the produce section in grocery stores 😂 (me)

Im so glad someone big is talking about describing games like Pikmin as Dandori and Dandori-lite games since it just fits so perfectly!

It took me a few watches to get it, but now I agree completely. Dandori is a very apt description of what I love from Pikmin games and the experience that I seek in other similar games. Dandori to me is the emphases on making the most of each of my units to accomplish multiple tasks at once and efficiently. I truly think this is at the heart of the Pikmin experience. I think that many of the criticisms of the weaker aspects of the Pikmin games stem from this. If enemies are too easy to defeat, every action and every pikmin less important to your success. If the caves feel too frustrating or boring it may be because the player feels their individual actions or choices don't matter, their Dandori isn't being tested, only their patiece. An interesting case is the charge mechanic that replaced swarm. Charging your pikmin onto enemies to quickly overwhelmed them or at tasks to swiftly accomplish them with sheer numbers can feel awesome, but for some it also took away the feeling that every Pikmin under your command had a part to play. People have said that swarming felt more personal, and that you had control over each individual pikmin. That may be because you really did have finer control over your group, and despite charging being more efficient some people perfered the feeling of manuvering individual units rather than commanding a unified group. I think where Pikmin 2 and Pikmin 4 succeed is in giving the player the sense that they are taking control and carving out their own place in a world that is out to get them. By collecting treasure, clearing caves, and defeating enemies the game empowers the feeling of domination and accumulation of success. Where Pikmin 1 and 3 succeed is in giving the player sense of alienation and slowly achieving belonging and understanding of the world around them and their place in it. By collecting the objects you need, clearing the path for safer and more efficient travel, and always keeping an eye on the clock the game creates the feeling of duty to accomplish your goals and satisfaction when you are efficient with resources.

Food for thought: Are games like "Cook, Serve, Delicous!", Overcooked 1+ 2", and "Dinner Dash" "Dandori" games? They both emphasize time and resource management in a similar way to Pikmin even if they lack the commander and troops sthick people tend to associate with these games. Time - management is also a phrased commonly used to link those games together and that'd basically be the English translation of the phrase "dandori". I know its a weird suggestion since those games have a very different vibe from anything discussed in the video but the actual flow state of those games does feel very similar to a Pikmin 2, 3, or 4 challenge map.

For a while, even though DOOM itself was basically an expanded iteration of Wolfenstein 3D, first person shooters were all called "DOOM clones", any game with a large explorable hub world to tackle missions in your own chosen order was called a "GTA Clone", and of course there's the classic label of "Rogue-Like" for games that copied the permadeath and randomized level layout elements of one specific computer pseudo-D&D simulator. I think the same is going to happen with Pikmin, which would've had more imitators sooner if it wasn't such a slow-burn of a niche thing to like.

This was a really great video. It's something I hadn't thought about until now, but it does seem like games categorized as "Pikmin-like" do tend to get some hate for not being enough like Pikmin. I think people hear "Pikmin-like" and get the idea that said game is going to be like Pikmin is almost every way, which only leads to disappointment, so it's a good call to come up with some new terms that hopefully prevent unreasonable expectations from being set in the future. P.S. That diagram at the end is awesome

had not watched pikmin in a while then all of a sudden i get a lil notification and i’m back to watching pikmin! ( i’ve watched you before 1k so i’m glad this brought me back to pikmin)

I think the labels that fit Pikmin best are: Dandori Action Collectathon, or DAC. But to simplify it you can just call it a Dandori game, and Dandorilite is perfect!

Juste realized that Pikmin is a collectathon! Which explains why I love pikmin games so much :D Anyway, nice video buddy! Gotta say that I'm not 100% convinced by these genre names attemps but as you said we need to find a way to describe these kind of games!

Dandori-lite is a AMAZING Genre Name. I hope this gets Coined as the official title. #DandoriLite

I think it’s sim strategy and dandori. Regardless of what genre it is, I’m glad we can all love Pikmin for what it is.

Squad based RTS.

I didn’t know there was a scrapped DS pikmin game

I was right this way hype! I agree ive played some Dandori games before and my favorite is the Wild at heart, personally i found it really charming and it stands completely alone as a game for its uniqueness and absolutely gorgeous art style

well, that's ideal.

intriguing.

watching this gave me some inspiration for a dandori game. my initial idea is managing a squad of fantasy soldiers through a battle field, maybe you could get more troops by helping out local villages. definatly need more time to cook but i have hopes for it

Pikmin is its own genre. :)

This is so Pikminy

In this same vien, I'd suggest putting the games "Kingdom" to the Dondori genre list. It's a sidescrolling game where you, the noble, move around, collect taxes, and give out the money to build up resources and defenses.

I suppose that if I were to make a Dandori game, I probably wouldn't have much of a pitch for it aside from making the generic units mice and scaling up the environments a little from the more ant-like stuff that seems to be typical, and add a lot more platforming elements with your "captains" being rats and thus even more agile as well as justifying their clearly higher intelligence. Part of this is also because I have an existing stable of like 30 mouse and rat OCs to pull from and have always loved adventures at mouse scale.

I've had an idea for a wave based Base-Defense Bullethell Roguelike that has elements similar to Voidigo, Don't Starve, Risk of Rain, and Feature Dandori-esque management of little goobers that automate gathering and fight for you, just ideas though lmao, I haven't prototyped it. I've already specced into a lane-RTS I'd want to do that prior.

I mostly just say it's a RTS collectathon, because the goal of the game is to collect items and the gameplay uses time to force you to strategize (as opposed to a turn based strategy game where you aren't limited by time). You have a limited amount of time to spend each day working on collecting as many items as possible. An RTS collectathon...

Its an RTSVania change my mind

Is Kirby Mass Attack a Dandori-Lite game?

I’ve been calling the genre action-RTS, but as you say, other games with the dude controlling dudes formula being written off as “Pikminlikes” can be really reductive when those games aren’t trying to be Pikmin. Little King’s Story’s development started as a city builder and ended up much closer to a Zelda-like adventure game, and Tinykin is a platformer for Pete’s sake. They’ve got their own goals and it’s unfair to dismiss them based on superficial mechanics

cannot wait for nintendo to send a cease and desist on this guy’s game

Bet bet

Im curious how if you'd categorize the labors of Hercules games in here and other similar logistic task management games.

very interesting subject!

Is lobotomy corporation dandori?

Agree with a lot of what was said. I just don't like the name "dandori-lite" (first, focus on the "lite" part). Lite is an awful word sound wise (imagine a non-native English speaker): it has many similar words, such as "like" and "light" (these words are much more common than "lite" to a non-native speaker -- I've spent a long time thinking that "rogue-like" and "rogue-lite" were the same, because they sound the same). I'm not sure what would be better to put there. I like "pikmin-like". Because it is kinda what people are already using for. And my first thought is "Look! There is a bunch of pikmin following me". If I understood well, you don't like "pikmin-like" because these games don't quite capture the essence of pikmin. I don't think that's a problem. See, there are 2 kinds of "rogue-like" ("rogue-lite" not included): [a] games like rogue (turn-based dungeon crawlers); [b] games with permadeath and randomized world generation. There exist an argument to say that the essence of rogue is in [a], but the most common for people to remember is something like [b]. Also, focus on the games you call "dandori-lite". They are more focused on on dandori or lots of pikmin following me? Maybe "dandori" should not be in the name.

Why not squad management istead of dandori-lite I mean, you manage, a squad, it speak's for itself

Stopping people from saying first

Pikmin is pikmin

Pikminy

Dandori is the perfect name for a Genre

Just found this planet and also learned of the Distant Planet. So this game is still in development? Any updates you can show? Seems like the last updates are ~2 years old now. I'm very interested in the progression of the game!

Sounds like an essay

oatchi

Nintendo has a habit of creating genres don't they?

HI VANTAGE

I think Patapon also have its own style being pikminy at the same time. Idk, what do you think?

Pikmin is an RTS with action adventure elements, so why don't we just use the term "Action RTS"? i think that label fits most of these other games pretty well too

At this point we should call that genre "Pikmin-like" or "Dandori-like".

I propose a different label for non-core pikminlike games since "Dandori-lite" is a bit....odd and still feels like calling something a "pikminlike" because of the words popularization origin. I'd best describe the main gameplay aspect as "Hoard Swarmer" and I'd say that words perfectly as a genre tag for these games; taking control of a hoard of people, pikmin, creatures, etc. and swarming them around enemies or whatever else you may have to.

Where can we find your game ? and is there a way to play it (even a demo) right now ?

It always bothered me that tinykin is called a pikmin like,its just a 3d platformer with tiny guys as the gimmick, i want more games like pikmin in my life. Just downloaded The Wild at Heart, maybe this one?

350th like, 88th comment

1h ago