Mushroom battle

Mushroom battles are a feature of, unlocked at level 8. Mushrooms of various colors and sizes appear around the world, and players can send groups of Pikmin to attack them. Multiple players can join a battle, and participants will receive fruit and a postcard as a reward, and a score that measures how well they did. Up to three mushroom battles can be done by a player in a day, but additional battles can be joined by spending a Mushroom Recharge Ticket.

The amount of Pikmin that can be sent on a mushroom battle by a player will increase over time based on the player's level, starting at 10 Pikmin and reaching a maximum of 40 Pikmin. The mushroom battle selection screen lets the player choose which Pikmin to send and shows the strength of the squad and how long the battle will take. The higher the strength, the faster the Pikmin will be at completing the battle. Up to 5 people can battle a single mushroom at once, each sending their own groups of Pikmin, and after reaching this number, additional players can join (up to a maximum of 20) by using a Mushroom Recharge Ticket.

Mushrooms
Mushrooms grow at points of interest in the real world, similar to Big Flowers. They can only be seen and interacted with when they are less than 600 meters away from the player. After the mushroom is destroyed, it grows back in the same location 5 minutes later, without any input. As of the server update on 1, mushrooms that have not been cleared for a certain period of time will automatically regrow. Although the exact duration required for this is not yet known, it is suspected to be 7 days at most. Whether regrowth is automatic or following the destruction of the previous mushroom, the mushroom type that grows is randomized.

Mushrooms come in various types that differ in size and color. The hierarchy of the sizes are small, normal, large, and giant, with each size increasing in health. The larger the mushroom, the bigger the reward for destroying it. There are 11 colors of mushrooms – 8 regular colors, and 3 elemental types. Fire Mushrooms can only be fought by Red Pikmin, Water Mushrooms can only be fought by Blue Pikmin, and Crystal Mushrooms can only be fought by Rock Pikmin, while all other types can be fought by Pikmin of any type. The color of mushrooms determines the type of nectar players can get as a reward.

Process
When a mushroom is selected, either from the map screen or expedition list, the camera will focus on the mushroom, with a photograph of its corresponding real-world landmark behind it. The screen displays some basic information about the mushroom, such as its remaining health, the time left until it is destroyed, and the rewards for destroying, as well as circles that can be filled with icons of the Miis of the players who have joined the battle. There is a Join button which progresses to the selection screen. The button will be grayed out if the participant limit has already been reached. If the player has run out of daily tries, a Mushroom Recharge Ticket will be displayed inside.

In the selection screen, the player can manually choose which Pikmin to send, or have the game automatically select Pikmin with the Auto button. A list of all the player's Pikmin appears, and by tapping one, it can be added to or removed from the mushroom attacking group. The maximum size of the group depends on the player's level. Pikmin with an advantage against that mushroom type (see the next section) may jump in the list when selected for the battle. Selected Pikmin also appear in front of the mushroom in the camera view. Since 14, after selecting at least 1 Pikmin, a nectar button appears in the lower half of the screen and can be tapped to feed the selected Pikmin. The player will be taken to a separate garden screen where selected Pikmin can be fed. There is a GO button in the lower right corner; tapping it sends all the selected Pikmin to attack the mushroom. If the player has run out of daily tries, they will be asked to use a Mushroom Recharge Ticket before proceeding. Additional tickets can be purchased from this screen by tapping the "Add Tickets" button.

Once the Pikmin are sent on the mushroom battle, they rush towards the mushrooms and start attacking them. Most Pikmin types latch on to a mushroom and start attacking it at a constant rate, with each attack doing some damage. Rock Pikmin instead jump towards a mushroom from a distance and roll back to jump again. From time to time, Pikmin get off the mushroom, walk back to their starting position, and walk back to the mushroom to start attacking again. Each hit decreases the health of the mushrooms, though not by a set amount; see the Time section for more details. From time to time, one of the mushrooms in the group will collapse, leaving the Pikmin attacking it to start attacking another one. The intervals at which mushrooms break depend on the number of the mushrooms in the cluster: 4 for small, 7 for normal, and 10 for large, such that mushrooms break at regular intervals. For example, in a large mushroom group, one of the mushrooms will break for each tenth of health depleted. After joining a mushroom battle, player icons can be tapped to send a reaction, chosen from four different types of reactions. A reaction can be changed at any time once sent. Mushroom battle can be left using the "Leave" button. Doing so will not give the player an extra attempt for the day.

When the health is fully depleted, the mushroom battle is cleared. The player is provided with their score, the time it took to destroy the mushrooms, and a star rating, followed by the Pikmin bringing a postcard about their battle and a small number of shiny fruits to be given to the player. Each Pikmin that was sent on the battle also gains some friendship (though this actually happens at the start of the battle, not the end).

Attack power
When the player is selecting Pikmin for the mushroom battle, a power value appears in the bottom-right of the upper display, alongside an image of two Pikmin. This shows how strong the selected squad is against that mushroom. Adding a Pikmin will increase the value by some amount. This amount depends on the type of Pikmin, whether it is a Decor Pikmin, its maturity, its friendship, and the color of the mushroom being attacked.

As the requirements for each star rating are met by the squad's total attack, the display changes in design, colour and effects. While the total attack is less than the required score for 2 stars, the display is green and shows a single star between the two Pikmin icons. Once the attack total exceeds the score for 2 stars, the display changes to yellow backed by a golden glow, and two stars are shown between the Pikmin icons. When the squad's attack grows greater than the required score for 3 stars, the display changes to a light orange colour, backed by an orange glow with small orange sparks, and three stars appear between the Pikmin icons. And when the attack total overtakes the score needed for 4 stars, the display changes to a darker orange, with a vibrant blue glow backed by white sparks and multicolored fireworks, and four stars are shown between the pair of Pikmin icons.

Each Pikmin type has a base attack power. These attack powers are shown in the table below.

Added to the base attack power is a value for whether the Pikmin is a Decor Pikmin or not.

Added to the total so far is a value for the Pikmin's maturity. From August 2023, the new seasonal flower introduced gave an additional point more than other seasonal flowers.

Added to the total so far is a value for the Pikmin's friendship.

Finally, added to the total so far is a value to represent the Pikmin type's strength against the type of mushroom being fought.

Note that the system is not fully understood and that there are likely errors in the description above.

Time
The amount of time it takes to destroy a mushroom (in seconds) is calculated by taking the health of the mushroom, dividing it by the total attack power of the Pikmin attacking the mushroom, and multiplying it by 100. For example, a normal-size mushroom with 397,400 health, attacked by a group of Pikmin with 450 attack power, should take 88,311 seconds to destroy, or 1 day, 31 minutes and 51 seconds.

When another player joins the mushroom, the remaining time is recalculated based on the current health remaining on the mushroom and the total attack power of all Pikmin of all players attacking the mushroom. Using the previous example, if another player joins the mushroom after 1 hour, the mushroom will have 381,200 health left. If they join with 500 power (giving a total of 950 power), the remaining time will become 40,126 seconds, or 11 hours, 8 minutes and 46 seconds.

Although the game presents damage as something dealt by each individual attack, each Pikmin hit actually does as much damage as it needs to decrease the health of the mushrooms at a linear rate such that they are fully destroyed at the calculated time.

Scoring
At the end of a mushroom battle, the game gives the participants a score and a star rating. The score is equal to the total strength of all Pikmin in the battle, plus a time bonus. Star ratings range from 1 star to 4 stars, and depend on the final score. The score required for each star rating depends on the type of mushroom, and is displayed before joining the battle and after the battle ends.

To calculate the time bonus, the game compares the final time at the end of the battle to various breakpoints that depend on the type of mushroom. The time bonus will either be equal to 5%, 10%, 15%, or 20% of the attack power of all participants, depending on how the time compares to the breakpoints. The breakpoints are calculated by dividing the health of the mushroom by each of the score thresholds for each star rating, and multiplying by 100 to give a result in seconds. This effectively means that if only one player was in the battle and they had a squad strength equal to one of the score thresholds, the length of the battle would be one of the breakpoints. Clearing the battle slower than the 2-star breakpoint gives a time bonus of 5% of the attack power of all participants. Clearing the battle faster than the 2-star breakpoint and slower than the 3-star breakpoint gives a time bonus of 10% of the attack power of all participants. Clearing the battle faster than the 3-star breakpoint and slower than the 4-star breakpoint gives a time bonus of 15% of the attack power of all participants. And clearing the battle faster than the 4-star breakpoint gives a time bonus of 20% of the attack power of all participants.

As an example, a small purple mushroom (which has 93,900 health) would have the following breakpoints: Note that it's not enough for the attack power to be higher than the score threshold, the time must be faster than the breakpoint. Players joining the battle after it begins will increase the attack power but not decrease the time elapsed so far, so additional strength may be required to make the final time less than the breakpoint.

Rewards
Once a mushroom battle is complete, a postcard and some fruits will appear, and the Pikmin the player sent will collect them. Each participant receives the full reward (rewards are not split between participants). If too few Pikmin were sent on the battle to carry all the rewards, only some rewards will be collected; the postcard has the highest priority. Small fruits, special fruits and postcards only require 1 Pikmin each to retrieve them, big fruits require 6 Pikmin per unit, and giant fruits need 8 Pikmin apiece. The fruits received depend on the type of mushroom and the star rating. The following table shows the minimum score for each star rating and the in-game display for fruits received by reaching that star rating. See the Fruit (Pikmin Bloom) article for information on the amount of nectar each fruit type can provide.

Note that the rewards displayed only indicate the size and color of fruit that will be obtained, rather than a guaranteed specific fruit. As an example, a lemon in the display indicates that the reward will yield a big yellow fruit, meaning either a lemon or an orange. The same is true if an orange is displayed. Another example would be if muscat grapes are shown. In this case the rewarded fruit will be a giant white fruit, meaning either muscat grapes or a melon, with the same being true if a melon is displayed instead.

Each fruit has a chance of giving either regular nectar or rare nectar (currently either regular, calla lily, hydrangea, lily, rose, frangipani, or sunflower nectar). Fruits giving rare nectar will glow while fruits giving regular nectar will not. The types of nectar provided by mushrooms has changed over time, and past distributions can be seen in the History section.

Since v74.0, the rewards screen show what kind of nectar you receive in each fruit.

From 9, a change was made where you were guaranteed at least 1 fruit containing seasonal flower nectar.

Titles
As of the update to mushroom battles on 14, titles are awarded to each player upon completing a battle. These titles consist of a combination of an adjective and a noun, with interchangeable options for either category. It is not fully known how titles are determined, though it is confirmed that reactions obtained by a player during the respective battle do affect the title awarded. It is also suspected that a player's activities whilst the battle is ongoing may affect the resulting title as well. On v65.0, more adjectives and nouns were added.

Reactions
When joining a mushroom battle with other players, you can send 1 reaction per person. There are 4 reactions in total: Hello, Thank You, Nice Mii, and Nice Squad.

Mushroom Recharge Ticket
Mushroom Recharge Tickets are a item that allow a player to join mushroom battles they wouldn't otherwise be able to join. After a player has joined 3 battles in a day, spending a Mushroom Recharge Ticket is required to join another one that day. If 5 players are already battling a certain mushroom, spending a Mushroom Recharge Ticket is required to join that mushroom, allowing up to a maximum total of 20 players to join the battle (30 on a Giant Mushroom). (When a ticket is used this way, it does not consume one of the player's free battle attempts).

Mushroom Recharge Tickets may be purchased from the shop for 120 coins individually, or 1200 coins for a stack of 11.

Mushroom Battle Bullhorn
The Mushroom Battle Bullhorn allows a player to invite friends to join a mushroom battle remotely. To use this item, a player must be participating in a mushroom battle. On the detail screen of the mushroom, there will be a "Call Friends for Help" that, when tapped, will prompt the user to select up to 4 friends to join the battle. Users who receive the invite will have to spend one of their daily tries to join the battle. If they have ran out of tries or if the mushroom already has 5 participants, invitees will have to use a Mushroom Recharge Ticket.

After using the Bullhorn, the user of the Bullhorn can edit their invites to add more invites (if they previously didn't fill up their Bullhorn invites) or change who they are inviting as long as the invite has not been accepted. If you invite a friend and they join the mushroom, you can remove that friend from your Friend List which frees up a spot in your Bullhorn, allowing you to invite more than 4 people to a mushroom.

2022
During the Halloween event, from 24 to 31, all mushrooms became Halloween mushrooms. These mushrooms functioned mostly the same way as normal mushrooms, but had a number of differences:
 * Visually, they had orange tops with purple spots.
 * They came only in the "Large" size, and functioned as large brown mushrooms for Pikmin type strength matchup and score threshold purposes.
 * They had a set amount of 9,273,600 health.
 * Pikmin with Jack-o'-Lantern Decor were very strong against these mushrooms, being 100 times as strong as they normally would be (a 100× attack power multiplier), while other Pikmin had their normal strength.
 * The score thresholds were different from regular large mushrooms, making it easier to get higher star ratings. The minimum attack power to get a 3-star rating was 8640, and getting a 4-star rating required multiple players.
 * The fruits received as rewards for destroying these mushrooms either give white or red types of nectar, and were the same sizes as regular large mushrooms for the same star rating.
 * A different music track played during battles against these mushrooms.

2023
During the second Halloween event, from 6 to 31, normal-sized Halloween mushrooms made a comeback, but also introduced giant-sized Halloween mushrooms. They have the same appearance as previously introduced, but sport the following differences:


 * They came in "Normal" and "Giant" sizes. Giant were only available during the weekends from 14 to 29
 * Pikmin with Jack-o'-Lantern Decor were very strong against these mushrooms, gaining a 250-point strength bonus.
 * Pikmin with Hallowen Treat Decor were even stronger against these mushrooms, gaining a 500-point strength bonus.
 * The nectar received as rewards for destroying these mushrooms was randomly chosen from the following flower types: regular, gentian, cosmos, pansy, spider lily, cyclamen, dianthus. Giant Halloween mushrooms did not have regular petals.
 * Additionally, destroying these mushrooms rewarded a Mystery Box that contained either Gold or Huge Seedlings (Jack-o'-Lantern), Mushroom Recharge Tickets, petals, or Halloween Candy. Halloween Candy could be used to obtain Mii parts.
 * Had a set amount of health of 648,000 for Normal, and 3,456,000 for Giant.
 * The score thresholds were as follows:
 * Normal:
 * 0 to 16,079 for 1 star.
 * 16,080 to 34,809 for 2 stars.
 * 34,810 to 74,299 for 3 stars.
 * 74,300 onward for 4 stars.
 * Giant:
 * 0 to 48,239 for 1 star.
 * 48,240 to 83,543 for 2 stars.
 * 83,544 to 222,899 for 3 stars.
 * 222,900 onward for 4 stars.

Green mushrooms
During the second part of the 2023 St. Patrick's Day event, from 17 to 31, green mushrooms appeared and were able to be challenged. These mushrooms functioned the same way as normal mushrooms, but had a number of differences:
 * Only Park-type Decor Pikmin could be sent to green mushrooms; both "Clover" and "Four-Leaf Clover" Pikmin.
 * The attack power was calculated by doing the normal attack power calculation, then adding either 300 or 950 attack power, depending if it is a "Clover" or "Four-Leaf Clover" Pikmin respectively.
 * They only came in the "Medium" size.
 * They had a set amount of 531,400 health.
 * The score thresholds were as follows:
 * 0 to 22,141 for 1 star.
 * 22,142 to 55,354 for 2 stars.
 * 55,355 to 90,144 for 3 stars.
 * 90,145 onward for 4 stars.
 * A different music track played during battles against these mushrooms.

Mystery mushrooms
During the second part of the 2023 Mahjong event, from 26 to 10, almost all mushrooms became Mystery mushrooms. These mushrooms functioned mostly the same way as normal mushrooms, but had a number of differences:
 * Visually, they had tops with a sharp green to yellow gradient with no spots.
 * They came only in the "Normal" size, and functioned as normal brown mushrooms as no pikmin type had additional strength against it.
 * They had a set amount of 648,000 health.
 * Pikmin with Mahjong Tile Decor were very strong against these mushrooms, having an additional 500 strength, while other Pikmin had their normal strength.
 * The fruits received as rewards for destroying these mushrooms gave white types of nectar, and were the same sizes as regular normal mushrooms for the same star rating.
 * The score thresholds were as follows:
 * 0 to 7,859 for 1 star.
 * 7,860 to 40,049 for 2 stars.
 * 40,050 to 60,234 for 3 stars.
 * 60,235 onward for 4 stars.
 * It used the same music track for the Green Mushrooms.

Strategy


When you first unlock mushrooms, you likely won't be able to get very high scores because of the limit on how many Pikmin you can send on them. At this stage, focus on attacking larger mushrooms as they give more rewards for low star ratings, and send Pikmin you want to increase the friendship of, since mushroom battles give a small amount of friendship to participating Pikmin.

After gaining a few levels and increasing your maximum group size, you'll start being able to get higher scores. To optimally prepare a squad for a battle, select Pikmin that are the same color as the mushroom you'll be attacking, and Pikmin with higher friendship values (preferably Decor Pikmin). You can feed Pikmin nectar to raise their attack powers further.

History
The following changes have been made to mushroom battles over time:

Trivia

 * The mushrooms look identical to Spotcaps and Kingcaps in, though those names are not used in-game.