Pokémon Shuffle – Match Made on the Screen

Everyday I’m shufflin’

Pokémon Shuffle is one of those games that screams cuteness, a simple gameplay but with a deep skill level. It’s Nintendo’s first dip into the mobile-style free-to-play gaming environment. I still remember seing it pop up on the Nintendo 3DS online store and thought it looked cute, after having downloaded it I couldn’t put it down for almost the whole week of Summer back in 2015.

 

Using a 6×6 grid of smiling, spherical Pokémon on the screen. The player will have to move a Pokémon from anywhere on the grid to go for a match-three mechanic which can be with more if they are lined up correctly. Giving that interesting perspective of, as soon as you have matched some, they will use their attack to deal damage to the Pokémon you at its stage are trying to catch.

 

Shuffle is a move-based puzzler, in each of the many stages (I think there’s over 200 at this point), you’ll only have a certain number of swaps to defeat your opponent, and if you can’t wear them down in time they’ll run away and you will have to try all over again in the stage.

However, if you do manage to win the battle within the allotted number of moves, you have the chance to catch the wild Pokémon for your team. The faster you do it and the more moves you have left, the higher the percentage becomes to catch them.

 

With great power

All the different Pokémons in the game come with various powers they can use, it can be syphoning the energy of the opponent, freeze, burn or paralyze so the player will have an easier time completing the stage faster. Or at least give you a little breathing room before continuing.

 

There’s mega evolutions where your Pokémon can clear the grid in interesting ways. An example would be that some will remove the same types, some will clear in rays, letters, remove debuffs from your opponent, etc. It’s a good thing to think about who you would like to bring into the battle before it begins to give you that extra advantage.

 

It’s dangerous to go alone, buy this

It’s no surprise that in these free-to-play games, you only have a certain amount of times you can play before having to refill your stamina, or hearts in this game. While the hearts will refill over time and you can get a little extra from daily log-in bonuses. There are certain things you cannot do without crystals, these crystals can be bought in the in-game store for a small amount or bought as bundles for a lesser price.

However, these really in the end are too little for the price asked and if you time your game time correctly. It will never be needed, but the crystals or Pokécoins are basically needed if you want to use power ups for a stage, like extra moves, extra time, less debuffs, etc.

 

Extra stages if normal is not enough

There are in the game also expert levels that you can play where you have unlimited moves but only a limited time to play, so you need to work fast in order to make as many matches as possible. These stages also often have the better Pokémons you can use in your team for the normal stages.

 

There are also time-sensitive stages which comes through the SpotPass. A Pokémon of the day and many many more for you to enjoy.

 

Final Thoughts

Pokémon Shuffle is a great fun little game to have on either your phone or Nintendo 3DS (hopefully soon Switch as well). That you can use a few minutes a day to play and slowly get through various stages, catch your favourite Pokémons and just have a little fun.

 

Stay Cozy and go Catch ‘em All!

 

This post is a collaboration with NekoJonez about celebrating Pokémon in various articles. Want to read more? Head over to the main hub area and see the many amazing writer’s contributions to the Pokémon series.