What are your thoughts on Pokemon Shuffle?

[Stratelier]

If you want to gamble you can wait even more and another coin will appear, matching all 5 will get you 500 coins. The thing is that you have to really know what you're doing because the coin will appear when only 2 turns remain, meaning that after moving it to match the 5, you will have to defeat meowth in one turn to actually keep the money, raising the max coins you can get out of 5 hearts to 2500(not counting the standard 30 victory coins).

It also turns out that in the event you match six coins in a row (i.e. the entire row or column) you get 700 coins. Happened to me once on the special Meowth weekend stage.

 

[MrMeowPuss]

I tried it for the first time today and couldn't put it down for hours. I got to the point were I couldn't continue without buying some jewels (or whatever they are called) and I gave in and bought some.

I would personally rather pay something like $4.99 (max $9.99) for games like this and not have to worry about micro-transactions unless you wanted maybe the best Pokemon/stones from the start or something. Nintendo/Game Freak should forget making mobile games and just release more cheap titles like this, I'll be getting every one if they are just as good as Pokemon Shuffle arty:

 

[Stratelier]

I'll be getting every one if they are just as good as Pokemon Shuffle arty:

"Good" is unfortunately a relative term.

 

[aquadrop]

I got it like last month... I played it for a bit but when I had to wait for the 'life' (I forgot what it was called XD) to come back, I stopped playing...

Haven't played it since. But that first day I did play it... it was pretty addicting. And I'm not usually a fan of games like Bejeweled or Candy Crush. XD

 

[DarkMeow]

First of all, if someone makes a game, I shouldn't be limited to how long I want to play. This just ends up making uninteresting, since I have to spend money on something I shouldn't have to. Seriously, I don't have the flipping money to play this gosh dern game. I don't have a credit card just lying around for me to spend money with. All this game is is a cash-grab. Now, I don't mind people making cash-grabs, but this game isn't even good on top of it. I find this game extremely boring, and difficult to play unless you have flipping money.

In short, I hate this game. It just takes up needed space on my 3DS.

 

[flanl]

If you want a freemium Pokemon game, play Rumble World. It's actually worth your time.

 

[Stratelier]

First of all, if someone makes a game, I shouldn't be limited to how long I want to play. This just ends up making uninteresting, since I have to spend money on something I shouldn't have to.

Remember Pokemon Dream World? You could only play that for about an hour each day.

There's a concept called 'session length' that applies here. Some games are made to be binged, others are made to be played in short but repeated sessions. (The two categories are not mutually exclusive.)

If you want a freemium Pokemon game, play Rumble World. It's actually worth your time.

Rumble World is much more lax about its time constraints. Sure, it takes 30 minutes or more for each balloon to recharge, but this is per balloon, and visiting characters who offer to take you to specific levels don't count against it. Plus, there are no restrictions on how often you can play the king's challenge levels. Also, Rumble World only lets you purchase a specific amount of diamonds -- the rest have to be acquired yourself (once through the challenge levels, or from visiting Miis).

 

[Osprey]

So I got the game and played it myself. My only thought is "eh."

It's okay as a game. It's not riddled with bad programming or game-breaking bugs. That limiter on how much I can play, though... I don't care enough to cough up any sort of cash, so when I run out of hearts, I just shrug, play another game, and completely forget its existence. I can play far better games with no limit at all, so this game's pretty pointless for me. I don't know how people find this addicting at all unless they do pay up.

 

[HyruleAlpha]

I downloaded Rumble World, so I figured I'd give this a chance. Just another Candy Crush clone. Immediately deleted it from my 2DS.

 

[DarkMeow]

Remember Pokemon Dream World? You could only play that for about an hour each day.

There's a concept called 'session length' that applies here. Some games are made to be binged, others are made to be played in short but repeated sessions. (The two categories are not mutually exclusive.)

While you have a point there, as a person who has way to much time on their hands, I find myself disliking the limited time. Also, it seems more like an attempt for you to buy more hearts, than to make the game limited. But maybe that's just me.

 

[MrMeowPuss]

Remember Pokemon Dream World? You could only play that for about an hour each day.

There's a concept called 'session length' that applies here. Some games are made to be binged, others are made to be played in short but repeated sessions. (The two categories are not mutually exclusive.)

While you have a point there, as a person who has way to much time on their hands, I find myself disliking the limited time. Also, it seems more like an attempt for you to buy more hearts, than to make the game limited. But maybe that's just me.

I definitely agree with you on this. Being limited to how many hearts I get per hour I feel like I waste more time playing it. If I could play as much as I want each time, I would just play it once a day for a while and be done with it. But since the hearts don't accumulate over time, I feel like it's a waste not to play and have to stop every few hours to play.

 

[Champion Red]

I actually enjoy this game, its a nice way to spend 10-15 minutes when you're bored, and normally I don't like puzzle games like this.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I downloaded Pokemon Shuffle awhile ago and I'd describe it as frustrating for multiple reasons. The way the game was designed just doesn't work. It's basically set up so that you feel the need to spend money to buy jewels and coins so that you can keep progressing. I understand that even though it's a free to play game, they need to make money off of it somehow. I wouldn't mind that so much if I actually had more time to play before reaching that point. I'm usually only able to play for about five to ten minutes before running out of hearts, so I either have to wait hours for them to recharge or spend money to get jewels to refill my heart. I don't think that I would have liked a timer, but if I actually could play for thirty minutes before losing all of my hearts, then it might feel worthwhile to me. As it is, it really feels like such a blatant attempt to squeeze more money out of people's wallets.

The capturing is also really annoying. Even after struggling to defeat a Pokemon, you still might not be able to capture it and so you have to do the stage over again if you want to get it. Out of the Puzzle games that I've played, such as Trozei and Battle Trozei, this is easily my least favorite and my least favorite 3DS Pokemon game. It might even beat Pokemon Dash as my least favorite spin-off game, although Dash was mostly boring, but it's a close second at least in that department. I should try to get Pokemon Rumble World since I've heard much better things about that compared to Shuffle.

 

[Jenneta]

...Eh, I like it. At first I was addicted to it because I liked the challenge of it...But now that I can't get past Mewtwo Y without spending every jewel and coin I have I don't like it. Much prefer Rumble World over it. The boss stages kill me. X_X So for now, it's okay...But I like others better. x3.

 

[PaulTheProtist]

Here's a GameFAQs user review that sums up my thoughts on it: Pokemon Shuffle Review for 3DS: Nintendo should be ashamed of themselves. - GameFAQs

 

[Stratelier]

Hmm, I think it's a little misguided for the guy to be constantly comparing it to Battle Trozei. Puzzle games are defined by their gameplay rules first and foremost (and I for one thought Battle Trozei was too lenient with its combo system -- the whole game becomes more about trying to clear the board during a Trozei than anything else), so the difference in gameplay between Shuffle and Battle Trozei is an apples-oranges comparison.

 

[Silverwynde]

Here's a GameFAQs user review that sums up my thoughts on it: Pokemon Shuffle Review for 3DS: Nintendo should be ashamed of themselves. - GameFAQs

Interesting review and it seems to sum things up a lot better than I could. A couple of things here:

Of the 720 Pokemon currently in existence, this game includes a grand total of... 159 of them. That's right- odds are pretty high your favorite Pokemon isn't even in the game.

He got that right: Golurk isn't in there. As shallow as that sounds, finding out that my favorite Pokemon wasn't included makes me not want to play the game. For all the frustration the game gives me, I don't even have the option for catching my favorite Pokemon. So to me, there's no blasted point.

Oh, and even if you do beat the level containing a Pokemon you want to catch, you think you just automatically catch it like in Battle Trozei!? Wrong, sir! You have a chance of catching that Pokemon, a set percentage that differs with each Pokemon, and goes up based on how many moves you have remaining. You can use a Great Ball for a better chance, but that costs you coins, which in turn can cost you jewels, which in turn can cost you money.

This is my biggest complaint about the game hands down. I beat the level but I have only a 13% chance of catching said Pokemon? And with the Great Ball that only brings it up to 27%? Why should I blow through that 2,500 worth of coins? It's not a guarantee so there's no reason I should.

Case in point: I went through the third Rotom level. The first two hopped into my Poke Ball and stayed even though their catch rates didn't top out at 15%. Wash Rotom, however topped out at 27%. A sure catch, right?

Wrong. He popped out of the Ball on the first shake. When the suggested Great Ball popped up, I bought one as it brought the catch up to 70%. A sure thing, wouldn't you say?

Wrong again. I had to buy three Great Balls before I caught him. Three. For a 70% catch rate. There went 7,500 of my hard earned coins.

Those are just two of my problems with the game: I'm not even going to go into the fact that it seems to be mostly luck based and not strategy. And no, I haven't spent a dime on this game and have no intention of doing so.

 

[Stratelier]

Yeah, the whole catch rate bit is definitely annoying. Take that Pinsir stage from last week -- this guy had like a maximum catch rate of 40% (which is bad enough) but you were only allowed to try it once per day, across a five day event? No fair. I realize it was a limited time stage, but any other Special stage either allowed you to attempt it as many times as you could, or are a recurring event (e.g. Meowth).

I like some of the levels with the more unique layouts. Haxorus was a fun puzzle to figure out, Milotic was memorable, and Braixen (what with those frozen unbreakable blocks lining the ceiling) is interesting. Some levels are easily won if you just bring in the right powerup or ability (in Braixen's case, Mega Start Aerodactyl can win the stage at basically turn 1, otherwise you WILL need the Block Bash ability -- preferably via Keldeo).

 

[Stratelier]

You know how last week they had the Mega Charizard Y AND Regice stages up at the exact same times as each other? What a pain in the .... I caught Regice after like a million tries, but as for the competitive stage...

Ranked 18,800-ish. Needed to break the top 18,000 for the mega stone. MISSED IT BY THAT MUCH

The only consolation is I discovered you can get a refund on Great Balls -- just power off the software before the level results screen appears, and the Great Ball 'never happened'. Sure, this also means that beating the level never happened, but if you've already completed it the first time about the only thing you sacrifice by doing so is that paltry 30G reward.

I still don't agree with them offering the Attack Power item (or basically any item) in the competitive stages but whatever, that's what grinding coins with Meowth is for. I also noticed that during the Charizard Y competition the top ranked US score (nearly half a million, team including Ditto and Arceus) got disqualified ... twice.

Anyway, this week they're running Mega Absol and Palkia at the exact same time as each other. Dammit. As much as I'd like to complete the Sinnoh trio I am NOT missing out on my favorite Mega.

 

[Lanstar]

I've been playing this game quite frequently nowadays... The first start beforehand was frustrating, as I found out I was playing the game incorrectly - A better way I played, when I restarted, was to hoard every Jewel, Item, and Coin I got in-game at the start, and only used them when I really wanted to. Then, I discovered how to grind Meowth for 500 coins per play somewhat consistently, while you're waiting for the next event, and I learned tricks to using items correctly to S-Rank even the harder stages without wasting everything on a Complexity -1. From all this, right now I have all the released Pokemon, and still never spent a single cent.

Now, the Mobile addition I've heard makes it even harder to play - the Main Stage Meowth can disrupt with blocks instead of coins, the items cost even more, and the Repeat rewards are smaller. Hopefully this doesn't drag into the 3DS version...