To commemorate the release of the mobile game, Pokémon Rumble Rush, let’s take a look back at Pokémon Rumble franchise as a whole.
Pokémon Rumble was a beat em up style video game released for the Wii in 2009. It’s a game that is relatively new compared to other spin-off titles that got sequels like Pokémon Ranger or Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, but is very popular nonetheless. Today, in honor of the latest mobile sequel, we’ll be exploring the history of the game, its mechanics, as well as go over some of the changes and new mechanics each later installment saw.
The History
A free demo was available on the Wii Shop Channel. It included a number of functions including: The Normal Introduction and a few stages allowing the player to get the feeling of each stage. Pokémon could be recruited and the Terminal could be used. Once a Pokémon is recruited with Power Points of 100 or more (or they lose all their lives twice) a short video is displayed in which the Battle Royale doors open and then a screenshot appears stating that the demo is over. The game required the Wii remote to be held sideways in order to play as well. The goal was to explore the areas available to recruit stronger Pokémon in order to compete in the Battle Royale to eventually compete against legendaries.
The game is thought to have been inspired by the arcade style game, Smash TV. This beat em up style arcade game involved wiping out various waves of enemies using a variety of weapons and power-ups players could obtain throughout the game. Pokémon Rumble takes many inspirations from this, where players have to defeat waves of enemies using a variety of toy Pokémon that are obtained throughout the game. The game also features co-operative play and competitive modes similar to Smash TV. Pokémon Rumble also reuses many of the model assets from My Pokémon Ranch, with the models made up of polygons meant to simulate wind up toys. While the game did receive a lot of criticism for this style choice, the model styles have remained the same throughout the later installments of the franchise, with the only major difference being the absence of the wind up key in the latest iteration.
The Mechanics
While certain aspects and mechanics in the games have changed between each iteration, the core basics are the same. You use a Toy Pokémon to fight through enemies until you reach a final boss. The final boss, which is larger than the other peons and thus has far more HP, must be beaten in order to complete the dungeon. The player can obtain new Toy Pokémon by defeating toys inside the dungeons, as each toy has a small chance of dropping. Opposing toys also have a chance of becoming wobbly, which guarantees they will drop as a toy if defeated in this state. Toy Pokémon also have one to two moves usually, depending on the entry in the series, and set power levels. For the most part, these moves and power levels cannot be altered, though later iterations in the series have changed this somewhat in ways we’ll get into later. In addition, most versions have some form of tournament or boss rush. While the format depends on the version, they all exist in some form or another and generally have some bearing on the progress of the game.
Rumble
As the first entry in the franchise, Rumble established many of the core mechanics for future games. However, the game did have a few more unique features that have been somewhat phased out in future installments. Players had access to six areas that would rank up as players competed in and won in the Battle Royale. Pokémon also could have different colored names if they had a special trait or were shiny, in which case they’d gain either a pink or blue name respectively. The special traits would grant these Pokémon bonuses ranging from higher stats to type resistances and more. Moves also no longer had power points and could effectively be spammed depending on the move. Passwords and Tickets were also another potential mechanic to obtain certain Pokémon. Passwords could be obtained from various sources such as the Rumble official website to give players access to rare Pokémon like Sky Forme Shaymin or Pokémon with special traits like a Bulbasaur with Brawny. Depending on how early in the game these were used, it was possible for the power level of these Pokémon to be capped and raised proportionally with each Battle Royale won. Release Tickets were another way to obtain rare Pokémon. If certain combinations of Pokémon were released together, it could result in a new, rarer Pokémon being summoned in the form of a Release Ticket. For example, if a player released a Flareon and a normal form Rotom together, they would get a ticket that would allow them to summon a Heat Rotom. Releasing five of the same Pokémon would merit a ticket for the next highest stage of evolution. Releasing five of the highest stage of an evolution line would earn a ticket for the basic Pokémon. Pokémon who do not have an evolution that appears in the game would not merit any tickets. Releasing five Eevee would also not earn a ticket. This did allow for easier chances at obtaining rare legendaries such as Land Forme Shaymin, Darkrai, and Mewtwo.
Rumble Blast
As the second installment in the Pokémon Rumble franchise, Blast kept many of the same mechanics of its predecessor, albeit with some additions and improvements to certain mechanics. The first major change was the introduction of a story mode, where the player would play through Toyland. The player discovers that Toyland is plagued by an affliction called Rust that can only be cured by Glowdrops. The player sets out on a journey to discover the source of this rust and is able to purify Rusty Toys throughout their journey. Rumble Blast also expanded its roster to include toys from the Unova region, with the exception of Keldeo, Genesect, and Meloetta, who had not made their official debuts as of the release of the game.
Another difference between Rumble Blast and its predecessor is the inclusion of Streetpass features. Taking the form of the Toy Shop, the player’s Mii runs this shop where the shelves of the store are stocked with various Toy Pokémon and a display of many of the player’s strongest Pokémon is featured in the window. Every day, the player would receive a notification via the Shopscope located in any of the towns in Toyland. The Shopscope would then show Miis leaving the player’s Toy Shop after making a purchase, earning the player money as well as the possibility of unlocking a new Pokémon when a milestone was hit. The customer was either someone the player has StreetPassed or a Mii they had previously registered on their 3DS. The player could also get customers by redeeming 10 Play Coins. When the player StreetPassed someone, their Mii would be shown exiting the shop and reciting the phrase they had programmed onto their Friend Card. Their name would then be registered on a list of local customers and the player would then be allowed to battle against the person’s 25 strongest Pokémon, with their current Pokémon serving as a boss. If the player successfully defeated the boss Pokémon, they would be able to use that Pokémon as a partner temporarily the next time they travel through an area. The Toy Shop also unlocked certain Pokémon via milestones, with most of the mythical Pokémon available at the time as well as the legendary lake guardians being obtainable this way. For example, Uxie was unlocked after serving two customers up to Victini being unlocked after 150 customers.
Legendary boss catapults also became a new feature in Rumble Blast. While traversing areas, there would always be roughly a five percent chance that the catapult leading to the area boss would be shimmering, indicating that the catapult would instead take the player to a special battle arena where the player first battled Zekrom at the beginning of the game. Here, the player would encounter a Legendary Pokémon that would differ depending on the area they were previously in. Upon defeat, the Legendary Pokémon would always be recruited by the player unless a confused enemy dealt the final blow. Certain Legendary Pokémon would only appear once certain circumstances have been met, such as Cobalion only appearing after Terrakion and Virizion are beaten. Most of the Legendary Pokémon would not appear until after the player has beaten the main story, with Tornadus and Thundurus being the only two that can be encountered pre-ending.
Rumble U
Rumble U was the first Pokémon game to debut on the Wii U and while it still only featured Pokémon from the first five generations, this game notably included Genesect, Keldeo, and Meloetta. This game also was the first installment to feature a true multiplayer, with four people and 100 Pokémon able to play at the same time. While many aspects of the game remained the same or similar to that of its predecessors, where this game really deviated was through the mechanics used to obtain Pokémon.
As in the past, Pokémon are able to be captured or befriended through battle. Befriended/Caught Pokémon show up in one of three types of Pokéballs: Red, Gold, and Crystal. The Red Pokéball contains a normal level Pokémon of the level played, a Gold Pokéball contains a higher than normal level Pokémon of the level played, and a Crystal Pokéball contains a much higher level Pokémon than of the level played. Also, all Challenge awarded Pokémon after completing challenges come in a Crystal Poké Ball, more on this in a bit. There is also a new item called the Master Ball. It is sometimes dropped into the playing field as a bonus item. When thrown at a Pokémon, that Pokémon will be befriended/caught, and generally at a higher level, Gold or Crystal rarity.
There are two other major ways for players to obtain Pokémon in these games: completing challenges and NFC figures. Each stage has challenges that if the player completes them, they will be given a special Pokémon in a Crystal Poké Ball. These challenges can range from simply defeating the boss to using a certain Pokémon in battle to collecting a certain number of coins during the battle. The rewards are a variety of Pokémon, including Togepi, Blastoise, Dusknoir, and Arceus. This was typically the only way to obtain legendaries, which were common rewards in some of the later levels.
The other method of obtaining Pokémon was Pokémon Rumble U NFC Figures. The original inspiration for Amiibos, the figures contained chips that store each Pokémon’s information, such as their stats, within the figure. Utilizing the Wii U Gamepad’s near field communication (NFC), each figure could be scanned in order to play with the Pokémon within the game. The scanned Pokémon are stronger than their in-game counterparts. A total of twenty-three figures were made available, including three shiny figures and two promotional figures. While there were a few figures exclusive to Japan, most of the figures can be found on eBay as of right now. These figures included standard Pokémon such as Pikachu and Bulbasaur, but also several legendary Pokémon like Deoxys and Land Forme Shaymin.
Rumble World
The fourth installment of the franchise, Rumble World, was released as a freemium title on the 3DS. The game itself was free and could be downloaded from the eShop, but it did contain microtransactions similar to another freemium Pokémon title released at the time, Pokémon Shuffle. The game was also later released as a retail product with all the available microtransactions already paid for. The game featured all species of Pokémon available at the time of release. Mega Evolution, including the use of Primal Kyogre, Primal Groudon, and Mega Rayquaza, was also possible. Rumble World takes the concept of the Mii participating in the Rumble game to the next level. The game had a general overarching story following a king and a magician in a kingdom of toys. At the start of the game, the king greets the player’s Mii, jealous of a magician who has ten Pokémon, whereas the king only has one Pikachu. The King asks the player to borrow his Pikachu and to go catch Pokémon. The player’s Mii leaves the palace via a hot-air balloon to collect wild Toy Pokémon and ends up in the King’s Training Field. When the player returns to the castle, the King dubs the player an official adventurer, “endorsed by the King himself”, and the player emerges in the castle courtyard.
This courtyard area acted as the main hub for the game and is where most of the changes from previous games were focused. While in the courtyard, the player controls a toy Pokémon and can switch Pokémon to prepare for their next adventure. Players were able to interact with Pokémon and Miis from other trainers via the Internet or Streetpass, with up to four Miis able to be in the Courtyard at once. Other player’s Miis could visit by inviting them with the “Call Someone Online” feature which invited three Miis to the game and cost 10 Play Coins per use, but could be used for free once per day. Miis would generally offer to take the player to one of two daily “special treat” areas or to the last area visited, a feature that would return in some form in Rumble Rush. Occasionally, they would share items with the player, including Poké Diamonds. Players were also able to interact with their own Mii, where the Mii would either feed the Pokémon, pet it, dance with the Pokémon by bobbing back and forth quickly, or invite the Pokémon to jump up and be held. Sometimes, if the Pokémon was too large, it would flatten the Mii instead of being held.
As the player obtained new species of Toy Pokémon, their Adventurer Rank would increase. As the Rank went up, the wild Pokémon that could be found and obtained in standard stages become more powerful, more Balloons and items become available in the Shop, and new Challenges could be tried without waiting. Additionally, certain Traits and certain moves were only able to be found on wild Pokémon once the player’s Rank was high enough.
Challenges also returned in Rumble World, albeit rewards Poké Diamonds instead of figures this time. Completing these goals could also give other various items, such as clothing, frames, or backgrounds. Once a Challenge was been completed, that Challenge’s hard mode was available, and the next Challenge would become available on the following day. Once unlocked, each Challenge could be played or replayed as often as the player wishes. Each Poké Diamond reward could only be collected once; once all of the Diamond rewards had been obtained for a Challenge, there was no additional reward for further completion. Players would earn five Poké Diamonds for completing their main objective and two Poké Diamonds for each subsequent objective.
Another feature of the courtyard were the shops. These would be run by various random Miis that the player encountered either online or via Streetpass. Players either used Poké Diamonds or coins to purchase things such as frames, trees, or balloons which could impact their gameplay. Some shops offered Move Tutoring or Mega Stones as well. All of this impacted the player’s experience in the battle areas. While the experience of traversing these areas was the same mechanically as previous games, reaching these areas was modified.
Players would use hot air balloons to reach certain areas. All Balloons owned by the player were listed out and any that were ready to use would appear with an OK symbol while any appearing with a period of time could not be used until that time expires. When using a balloon, the stage the player visits was decided by a roulette. Stages could have stars attached to them at random; when this happens, additional new Pokémon appear in the stage as bosses. If Fever mode activated, a total of four or five additional stars would be distributed to each of the stages. Super Fever did the same thing, but distributed a total of six or seven stars instead. During Fever mode, not all stages were necessarily improved. The chance of entering Fever or Super Fever mode increases based on the number of rainbows in the background. Once the Timing Stop has been obtained, the player can spend 2 Poké Diamonds to slow down the roulette and directly choose which stage to visit. This cost is reduced to 1 Poké Diamond if the player has purchased the associated VIP Card. The number of stars that appeared with each area determined the rarity of the Pokémon, with three star areas indicating a legendary Pokémon appearing as the boss. This theme of stars and hot air balloons would continue in Rumble Rush.
Rumble Rush
Rumble Rush is the most recent of the titles in the Pokémon Rumble franchise. It is the first entry in the franchise to not be on a Nintendo console, as it is a mobile game title. In addition, mechanic wise it is also the most different from its previous titles, stripping a lot of features that Rumble World contained for a more bare bones game. Once again, the first major difference from the previous games is the Area mechanic has once again been altered. Now, players must search for areas in order to locate new Pokémon. This is done by using Guide Feathers, which a player can obtain by defeating bosses and super bosses. The three most recent areas visited are saved for the player to access until a new area is found. Players who discover a new area are also able to name it so long as it fits the character limit. What Pokémon are available to the player at any given time are also dictated by how many super bosses have been defeated, with each boss unlocking one to three more Pokémon for the player to find.The available areas are also rotated every two weeks and each area has around four types of Pokémon that it will focus on.
Facilities and Miis, which were prominent in Rumble World, have now been replaced by Power and Summon Gears. Obtained by refining ores that are dropped by various bosses, players obtain gears of various types that can be boosted and given to certain toys. This helps boost the Pokémon’s power and CP level to not only make them a better battler but also allows certain super bosses to recognize them for battle. Summon gears also grant the player access to one supercharged attack. These gears must be charged by defeating the minions of a boss or super boss. Once the gear is charged, players can unleash hefty damage through a variety of moves such as Thunder, Meteor Mash, or Magnitude. Each summon gear can be upgraded to level 3, and they all have varying degrees of rarity. Certain gears are extremely rare and rotate out of availability with the area they were introduced in.
The Poké Ball feature from Rumble U also makes a return, but this time it takes the form of stars. The rarity of the Pokémon is reflected in the color of the capsule they are caught in. Pokémon caught in red capsules will have a 1 or 2 star move, Pokémon caught in blue capsules will have a 3 star move, and Pokémon caught in gold capsules will know a 4 or 5 star move. Rarer Pokémon are also more likely to have a higher CP. This is also reflected in the aura these Pokémon emit when they are knocked over, with 3 stars emitting a blue aura, 4 stars having the screen focus on them while they emit a yellow aura, and 5 stars having the screen focus on them while they emit a red aura.
Now, instead of a King giving the player tasks, players are now directed by the Adventure Club. Players are also able to transfer toys and gears to the Adventure Club. In exchange, the players will receive money and upgrade kits respectively. Since the player has a limit on how many toys and gears they can keep at a time, this is a very beneficial feature. In addition, this game’s version of the boss rush is also orchestrated by the Adventure Club. Known as the Coin Rush Tournament, this event can be challenged daily and features a series of three super bosses that must be defeated back to back within 60 seconds. The player is able to switch toys but the timer will continue to tick during the switch, making these battles high risk. However, the compensation prize and the victory prize are usually well worth participating. Since each trio of super bosses usually has a theme, either a shared typing or something else, players can typically use this to their advantage.
Rumble Rush also features a few minor mechanical changes such as the removal of key features and animations. Except for during the Coin Rush Tournaments, switching toys is now immediate and does not take up time. This means players are no longer at risk of a switch being disrupted. Since there are also a large amount of potential areas to explore, the boss and minion Pokémon players face are entirely at random, which a Pokémon that is a boss in one area being a minion in another. The areas tend to be sorted by type, with certain typings being concentrated in one area. The only exception to this thus far is Finneon in Jirachi Sea, which was documented in the fire type area instead of in the ocean where most water types are concentrated.
Conclusion
Pokémon Rumble has changed a lot over the years. The franchise has changed drastically over the years, with each installment refining and reshaping the games. Having played all the installments, I have great memories of them all and cannot wait to see what they do next. While the freemium feature seems to be a staple, I appreciate Rumble Rush making it easy to obtain gems through the recently implemented challenge system and the variety it brings with its new area mechanic. It’s easy to access and fun to play, making it one of my favorite games to play right now. So all in all, while the games all have their flaws, every playthrough is a lot of fun. Though, I will say, Rumble Blast is probably my favorite due to how fun and interesting the implementation of a Story Mode made it for me. I hope they can expand upon that in the future, either with Rumble Rush or other future installments.
