Castaway

Castaways are people stranded on PNF-404 in Pikmin 4. It is one of the player's missions to find and save all of them, whether they be missing members of the Rescue Corps or civilian castaways.

Castaways are typically found in the final sublevel of a cave and have to be carried back to the S.S. Beagle, upon which they are called rescues. They all have a weight of 3 (contrary to the weights of characters in previous entries: 4 in, 1 in , and 5 in ), and a maximum number of carriers of 6. The following day, they can be talked to at the Rescue Command Post. Some rescues unlock features like the Piklopedia, or give the player side missions to complete. Each rescue also earns 1 Pup Drive for Oatchi, which can be used to unlock new abilities for him.

Certain castaways have instead been turned into leaflings and must be rescued by completing a Dandori Challenge or a Dandori Battle.

Rescue order
While castaways are found at specific locations, and these locations can be visited in any order, the order in which castaways are rescued will always be the same. For example, no matter if the player's first rescue is in the Last-Frost Cavern or the Crackling Cauldron, it will always be Russ that is saved. Leaflings are unlocked separately from other castaways, and do not follow the same trend, being found at specific Dandori Battles or Dandori Challenges.

While Shepherd is counted as a rescue, she is not a castaway as she is found in a different context, where instead of taking her to the S.S. Beagle, the player just has to defeat the 3 Bulborb Larvae surrounding her in the Burrow of Beginnings.

The following is a list of non-leafling castaways in the order they are rescued:

Special cases
There are a few castaways that do not adhere to any specific rescue order, instead they are found in specific locations or points in the story.

The following is a list of special castaways in the order the player will encounter them: