History VideoGame / PokemonShuffle

This game incorporates the [[SuperMode Mega Evolution mechanic]] introduced in the main series game ''VideoGame/PokemonXandY''. After obtaining its Mega Stone and placing it at the head of your team, matching enough of a Mega-capable Pokémon's icons will trigger its Mega Evolution, giving it a new ability, which includes clearing tiles in various patterns and clearing opponent disruptions.

This game incorporates the [[SuperMode Mega Evolution mechanic]] introduced in the main series game ''PokemonXandY''. After obtaining its Mega Stone and placing it at the head of your team, matching enough of a Mega-capable Pokémon's icons will trigger its Mega Evolution, giving it a new ability, which includes clearing tiles in various patterns and clearing opponent disruptions.

Like the PokemonTrozei games, the opponent Pokémon attack by causing disruptions in the puzzle area. In this game, there are more disruptions that the opponents can use against you. In addition to changing icons to other Pokémon types, the opponent disruptions are:

This game incorporates the [[SuperMode Mega Evolution mechanic]] introduced in the main series game ''PokémonXandY''. After obtaining its Mega Stone and placing it at the head of your team, matching enough of a Mega-capable Pokémon's icons will trigger its Mega Evolution, giving it a new ability, which includes clearing tiles in various patterns and clearing opponent disruptions.

Like the PokémonTrozei games, the opponent Pokémon attack by causing disruptions in the puzzle area. In this game, there are more disruptions that the opponents can use against you. In addition to changing icons to other Pokémon types, the opponent disruptions are:

''Pokémon Shuffle'' (ポケとる, ''[=PokéToru=]'' in Japan) is a free to play spin-off of the ''VideoGame/PokemonTrozei'' puzzle game series, known as ''Pokémon Link!'' in Europe, developed by Creator/GeniusSonority. It was first released on the Nintendo3DS on February 2015. Its gameplay is similar to the ''Trozei!'' games, but based more on using a limited number of moves and building combos than on clearing the board. The game being free to play, it comes with a hearts system that regenerates one every thirty minutes and microtransactions similar to many mobile phone games.

* BonusBoss: The EX Stages, where you get the chance to fight Legendary Pokemon, fully-evolved Starter Pokemon, or otherwise powerful or popular Pokemon. The difficulty between stages can vary (Swampert won't give a seasoned player much trouble, [[ThatOneBoss Blaziken]] can be pure hell), and you may need to get adjusted to the [[UnexpectedGameplayChange different rules]]--you can make ''any move'' within a time limit, instead of only being able to make matches within a turn limit.

* GameBreaker: [[https://www.reddit.com/r/PokemonShuffle/comments/3lyk41/explaining_the_significance_of_ditto_spoilers/ Discussed here]]. To be fair, [[NonElemental Ditto]] isn't released yet, but unfortunately hackers managed to hack it in to cheat their way through competitions. Fortunately, such players ended up being pulled to the bottom ranks as a penalty.

* LuckBasedMission: The Safari events count. Each such event contains 5 (7 in the third such event) Pokémon species to be captured, but which Pokémon that will appear per access is randomized from the 5-Pokémon (or 7-Pokémon) pool. Also, because of this, the "Optimize" button doesn't show up whenever you try to play a Safari event, forcing you to try to use your strongest Pokémon at that point and switch between types once you get to learn the featured Pokémon types. However, once you've figured out all featured Pokémon by yourself (or by looking at a guide) you might notice their in-common weakness due to having types that are weak to a certain type (except for one, usually, and so far it's always a [[NonElemental Normal-type]]), allowing you to stick with a fixed team of Pokémon of a certain type to take care of them.
** However this trope still applies to that event because more often than not, LastLousyPoint begins to take effect when you've captured 3 or 4 (4-6 in the third event) of the featured Pokémon, and you've seen the already-captured ones so many times it's not even funny. It's even worse when the only Pokémon left that you're going to capture is the one capable of [[SuperMode Mega Evolution]]. The third Safari event makes the LuckBasedMission a lot worse as there are actually 7 Pokémon in total, lessening the appearance rate for each mon[[note]]For the completionists out there (or in general, anyone who wants to stand a chance in Mega Garchomp's stage), if you want [[MakingASplash Phione]], I hope you have better luck because that thing only has ''1%'' chance to appear![[/note]]. If you really want that [[DishingOutDirt Garchomp]], prepare to waste your Hearts and time a lot, thanks to the regenerating Heart system.

** Speaking of Pokémon that can be fought once per day, the "One chance a day!" events can be this. So, you want that Pinsir (capable of Mega Evolution) and that Jirachi (a mythical [[ExtraOreDinary Steel-type]] Pokémon with 70 base power at level 1)... but you can only fight them in their respective event once a day, and it usually goes on for 4 days, meaning '''4''' tries. And... remember the fact that ''capturing'' the Pokémon itself is a LuckBasedMission as well, unless the capture rate is at maximum (which it ''can't'' be for Pinsir). Not to mention that if you're not really good at the game or if the RandomNumberGod hates you, you'll simply waste an opportunity anyway by failing the stage.

** [[BlowYouAway Starly]] and [[BigCreepyCrawlies Scatterbug]] are both obtainable in Albens Town, one of the game's several "expansion" areas. Both also possess the lowest possible base power comparable to the likes of Pidgey, Pichu, Togepi, etc. However, they have similar cases to Feebas. Doing an "itemless" run on the [[ArbitraryHeadcountLimit Staravia and Spewpa stages]] (each has the respective Pokémon as obstacles trapped behind barriers) becomes much easier when you have Starly in the former and Scatterbug on the latter as your Support. ''Especially'' Spewpa's stage, where it's possible to win by ''doing nothing at all''.

* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: Mega Aerodactyl's ability to clear rocks and blocks unfortunately makes it completely useless against enemies who don't use those disruptions, as opposed to other Megas whose abilities affect their own tiles (Gengar, Slowbro, Heracross, Sharpedo) or the entire field (everyone else). In the stages that do use rock/block disruptions and can't be beaten or S-Ranked without it, however, you will end up using it.

** Stages [=EX14, EX15, and EX16=] feature the Johto Legendaries Entei, Suicune, and Raikou respectively. All of these stages give you only fifteen seconds to fight them in timed battles. This is in reference to the Hoenn games, where these Legendaries tend to run away almost as soon as you encounter them in battle.

** Stages [=EX14, EX15, and EX16=] feature the Hoenn Legendaries Entei, Suicune, and Raikou respectively. All of these stages give you only fifteen seconds to fight them in timed battles. This is in reference to the Hoenn games, where these Legendaries tend to run away almost as soon as you encounter them in battle.

* BrutalBonusLevel: Escalation Battles are this, for those insistent on getting all the prizes. They start out easy enough, and it's not too hard to get the prizes before the last Mega Speedup, but, true to their name, they gradually get harder each time you play, and around level 50 (Giratina) or 161 (Cresselia), moving forward without items becomes a pipe dream. The fact that you have to go through 40-50 more of these levels to get the final Mega Speedup renders the task completely impossible without IAPs or serious poop-socking (especially in Cresselia's case); as such, most players don't even bother.

** Stages EX14, EX15, and EX16 feature the Hoenn Legendaries Entei, Suicune, and Raikou respectively. All of these stages give you only fifteen seconds to fight them in timed battles. This is in reference to the Hoenn games, where these Legendaries tend to run away almost as soon as you encounter them in battle.

* MythologyGag: Milotic's grid is completely frozen except for a 2x2 square of Feebas. This is a reference to the main series games, where Feebas is only ever available in four tiles in one body of water.

* LostForever:
** This game introduces new Legendary pokemon, usually a new one each month, before moving onto the next one. There are so many legendaries in the series already, and the game hasn't existed long enough to even get close to reusing old ones that have already been cycled out. As of July of 2015, Mew, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Keldeo, Giratina, Manaphy, Celebi, Dialga, Shaymin, and Regirock have already come and gone.
** Likewise, there are also competitions held every few weeks to obtain mega stones for Pokemon that only appear in the Expert stages or are not obtained through regular stage progression. Pokemon such as Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur, Sceptile, Blaziken, Swampert, Scizor, Pinsir, Absol, and Lucario. You have to score high enough to rank within the top 30,000 players to get the mega stone, or else you get a Gem as a consolation. There are significantly less Mega stones to collect than there are Legendary Pokemon, so it's heavily implied that the chance will come again if you missed out the first time.

* GameBreaker: [[https://www.reddit.com/r/PokemonShuffle/comments/3lyk41/explaining_the_significance_of_ditto_spoilers/ Discussed here]]. To be fair, [[NonElemental Ditto]] isn't released yet, but unfortunately hackers managed to hack it in to cheat their way through competitions. Good thing that such players end up being pulled to the bottom ranks as a penalty.

* GameBreaker: [[https://www.reddit.com/r/PokemonShuffle/comments/3lyk41/explaining_the_significance_of_ditto_spoilers/ Discussed here]]. To be fair, [[NonElemental Ditto]] isn't released yet, but unfortunately hackers managed to hack it in to cheat their way through competitions. At least the [[NoFairCheating anti-cheating measures]] work nearly all the time in the mobile version (which so far has no one using Ditto, though cheaters resort in "damage multiplier" mods, whose scores can be easily detected and removed), the 3DS version (which the hackers took advantage of) on the other hand...

* BribingYourWayToVictory: Downplayed. The game is free to play, but via {{Microtransactions}}, you can purchase Gems from the shop to use in game. Gems can be spent on more Hearts (see AntiPoopSocking), or can be traded in for a payload of Coins, which in turn, can be used to purchase helpful items. However, the Coins used to buy help items are generally easy to come by, and you can earn a large amount twice per week by tuning in on Saturday and Sunday and battling Event Meowth. Additionally, the game is truly free to play, in that there's nothing in the game that can't be accessed without paying for it.

** Sylveon has Mega Boost like the rest of its family, which builds mega meter for a Pokémon of the same type. However, until there's a Mega Diancie boss/competitive stage, there are no Fairy-type Megas available yet.

** Mega Lucario, assuming you're one of the lucky 30,000 players to have earned the mega stone, is most likely to be used more than anyone else after stage 135, because many of the pokemon after that point are weak to fighting types.
*** Even better in ''Shuffle Mobile'', where starting from the mobile version's launch, you're given a passcode (in the 3DS version's Check In notification) that can be used there (as long as the passcode isn't "expired") to instantly claim a Lucarionite. Keep in mind that Lucario itself (has 70 base power) is available as soon as you've S-ranked 12 stages, which is rather early. You still need a rather strong team to tackle its stage, however, due to being an Expert stage, but if you can capture it that early, get ready to sweep through several early stages.

* InterfaceScrew: Some of the expert stages such as Blaziken include puffs of black smoke hiding certain tiles from view. You can still just see the edges of the pokemon beneath the cloud, and touching the tile will reveal what it is because you "pick up" that pokemon.

** Sylveon has Mega Boost like the rest of its family, which builds mega meter for a Pokémon of the same type, but there are no Fairy-type Megas in the game and it doesn't seem likely that this will change unless Gardevoir or Diancie is made a Fairy-type upon their introduction to the game rather than their other type.

* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Some stages only allow you to carry up to three support Pokémon instead of the usual four.

[[caption-width-right:350:For the Nintendo 3DS and mobile platforms.]]

''Pokémon Shuffle'' (ポケとる (''[=PokéToru=]'') in Japan) is a free to play spin-off of the ''VideoGame/PokemonTrozei'' puzzle game series, known as ''Pokémon Link!'' in Europe, developed by Creator/GeniusSonority. It was first released on the Nintendo3DS on February 2015. Its gameplay is similar to the ''Trozei!'' games, but based more on using a limited number of moves and building combos than on clearing the board. The game being free to play, it comes with a hearts system that regenerates one every thirty minutes and microtransactions similar to many mobile phone games. Speaking of mobile phone games, ''Shuffle'' finally did get an iOS and Android port in August of 2015.

''Pokémon Shuffle'' is a free to play spin-off of the ''VideoGame/PokemonTrozei'' puzzle game series, known as ''Pokémon Link!'' in Europe, developed by Genius Sonority. It was first released on the Nintendo3DS on February 2015. Its gameplay is similar to the ''Trozei!'' games, but based more on using a limited number of moves and building combos than on clearing the board. The game being free to play, it comes with a hearts system that regenerates one every thirty minutes and microtransactions similar to many mobile phone games. Speaking of mobile phone games, ''Shuffle'' finally did get an iOS and Android port in August of 2015.

*** Even better in ''Shuffle Mobile'', where starting from the mobile version's launch, you're given a passcode (in the 3DS ''Shuffle'''s Check In notification) that can be used there (as long as the passcode isn't "expired") to instantly claim a Lucarionite. Keep in mind that Lucario itself (has 70 base power) is available as soon as you've S-ranked 12 stages, which is rather early. You still need a rather strong team to tackle its stage, however, due to being an Expert stage, but if you can capture it that early, get ready to sweep through several early stages.
* CutAndPasteEnvironments: Albens Town in ''Shuffle'' re-uses the background from the first area, Puerto Blanco.
* DamnYouMuscleMemory:
** The games have different methods by which you move Pokémon around the board. In the original, you move them in any of the four cardinal directions and try to line up matches, while ''Battle Trozei!'' and ''Shuffle'' have you swap their positions instead. Moving from one system to the other can be very jarring.

** Mega Ampharos in ''Pokémon Shuffle''. The stage is 90% frozen tiles, and they're refrozen as quickly as you can thaw them.
** Mega Gengar in ''Shuffle'' as well. It keeps the middle two columns frozen nearly at all times, and Mega Sableye is the only Mega Pokemon who's Super Effective against Gengar. His mega ability is nearly useless because of the pattern.

** For ''Shuffle'' in general, if a player is detected cheating in competitive events, the score submitted will be immediately removed. It is also possible that such player can end up being unable to participate anymore, especially if it's caused by repeat offenders.

[[redirect:VideoGame/PokemonTrozei]]