72-Hour Pokémon Marathon

December 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment

In case you haven’t heard, The Speed Gamers are holding another Pokémon marathon. During this 72-hour event, the team will be using only their Pokémon games (including HeartGold and SoulSilver imports; no trading) in an attempt to catch all 493 Pokémon. They are working to earn $15,000 for Ally’s House, a subsidiary of St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital that was established to help kids with cancer and their families.

Watch the live stream here:
Streaming live video by Ustream

TSG’s site includes another game being played, a ChipIn widget that allows you to donate, and a live chat. The marathon continues until 6:00pm CST Monday. Until then, enjoy the marathon!

Posted by Trombones13 | Filed Under News 

Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG): Rumble

December 19, 2009 | 1 Comment

Pokemon Rumble

On December 2, 2009 Pokemon International released the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG): Rumble to coincide with the release of the Pokemon Rumble game on WiiWare. This game combines TCG strategy with a board game presentation, is fully compatible with all of your existing Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) cards and can be played with two to seven players.

The box contains 16 cards (same in every box), a set of energy dice, a targeting die, a Battle Royale Playmat, 14 player markers (two per player), and rules. The 16 cards are from an exclusive Pokémon Rumble set that can only be acquired in this box and each card has a foil Pokémon Rumble logo imprinted on it.

The game begins by laying out the Battle Royale Playmat and placing Pokemon cards (one face-up and one face-down) on each of the seven slots on the playmat. Players then take turns placing their player markers (max of two per slot, can’t double up your own marker) on the playmat. The player markers have either a three or a five on the back side and these numbers come into play when the game ends for scoring purposes.

On a player’s turn the four energy dice are rolled. The dice are six-siders that have a dash on one side and various energy symbols on the other five faces. There is also a special energy symbol that can be used as any type of energy. After rolling the dice the player scans the Pokémon on the playmat (not just ones with his/her marker) and chooses which attack to use. For example Rattata can use Bite for 20 damage at a cost of two colorless energy and Pikachu can use Volt Tackle which can cause 60 damage to another Pokémon but also causes 10 damage to Pikachu for a cost of one electric and two colorless energy. If both of these Pokémon are on the playmat and a player rolls enough energy they can use either of these attacks to injure or knock out other Pokémon.

After choosing what attack to use from which Pokémon a special red target die is cast. This is another six-sided die that is numbered from one to three (three ones, two twos, one three) and decides which Pokemon is hit with the attack. All attacks are made in a clockwise direction and the Pokémon launching the attack can not attack itself.

After rolling the target die and seeing which Pokemon is hit weaknesses and resistances are taken into consideration. This part of the game works exactly the same as the standard TCG system. When a Pokémon is weak or strong against an attack they suffer more or less damage. If a Pokémon is not knocked out from an attack, damage counters are placed on the card. If a Pokémon is knocked out from the attack the attacking player takes the card and flips the remaining card face-up. If that was the last Pokémon in that slot then the slot remains empty and is ignored for the rest of the game.

There are two ways for the game to end: If only one player still has markers on the playmat or if only one pile of Pokémon still has player markers on it. When the game ends any remaining player markers on the playmat are given back to their respective players and the number on the back is added to their score along with one point per Pokémon defeated. If a player knocked-out four Pokémon then four points would be added to their score. If this same player had their three point marker on the playmat at the end of the game their score would now be seven (four Pokémon + three point player marker). The player with the highest score is the winner.

The cards in the game are 100% compatible with the existing Pokémon TCG cards but not all Pokémon TCG cards can be used in Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG): Rumble. Any Pokémon that requires more than four energy for its attacks can not be used due to the number of dice in the game. Also special effects are not used in this game so Pokémon who rely on such things will be less powerful.

All in all I have to say that we played the game and found it enjoyable. The game is weighted more towards luck than strategy (dice) but some basic strategic skills will help. The learning curve is very low and even though the game suggests players be 10 or older this game can easily be played with younger players who enjoy collecting the Pokémon Trading Cards but are not able to play the game.

Put this one on your holiday shopping list for your Pokemon fans!

As an added bonus Pokémon International has also released a new collector tin for the holiday season. The Arceus tin is available now and includes a special foil Lv. X Arceus card and four booster packs from recent sets.

You can purchase this game through Funagain Games.

Posted by HMTKSteve | Filed Under News 

Let’s Get Ready to Ruuumble!

December 18, 2009 | 3 Comments

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Pokémon Rumble had been released and is available to download on WiiWare in the US and Europe for play on the Wii gaming system. The game is a departure from the pokémon games we are used to playing as the pokémon don’t level up. The story behind the game is that you are given a toy pokémon, a Rattata, and the goal is to enter the Royal Rumble Battle and be that last pokémon standing at the end. The Rattata you receive isn’t going to be strong enough to do much against the other more powerful pokemon so you must run the gauntlet in the other areas and as you defeat wild pokémon. Most will turn into coins as you defeat them, but some will topple over and you can recruit them to join your party. At the end of each area is a boss pokémon that will tougher than any in that area. You can switch pokémon throughout the journey, but once three of your pokémon have fainted, the round ends. Even if you don’t successfully defeat the boss pokémon, you still keep all the money and pokémon that you befriended along the way.
Each pokémon has up to two attacks rated in strength from one to five stars. Secondary effects are very important in this game as there are no limits to how many times you can use your moves and Attack boosts, Defense drops or status changes can swing a battles direction. While there are type differences in attacks there are no immunities or 4x effective attacks, so earthquake will damage Flying pokémon and Ghost attacks will damage Normal types. The moves your pokémon have can vary between most level up moves that that pokémon can learn. It takes a little while to get accustom to each attack as they vary in striking distance and range.
The gameplay is relatively simple, your two attacks are buttons 1 and 2 and you use the + to move your pokémon throughout the game. You must constantly change the pokémon that you are playing with to upgrade to higher level toys as the ones you play with will not grow stronger or evolve. Your Attack and Defense are rated for each pokémon (there are no Special Attack/Attack or Special Defense/Defense differences) from one to five. Your pokémon has a visible health bar that shows how much energy it has left and as you damage wild pokémon their health bars will be visible to you. The gameplay has the look of the X-men games for the Gamecube and, while it can be challenging playing solo, it is much more fun playing with a partner. As many as four can play and at the end of the round you get a breakdown of who defeated the most wild pokémon.
Once you have pokemon that you feel are strong enough to win the Royal Rumble, you can enter the contest. If you win, you can advance to the next level of play. You start at level C and progress to level B and A and the last level is level S. In each progressive level, the pokémon are stronger.

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Normal mode consists only of the pokémon from the Kanto region and all but Mew and Mewtwo can be battled there. Once you win the Royal Rumble in S level the game may seem over, but you unlock the Advanced mode where all the new pokémon from Sinnoh can be battled. The last Royal Rumble in advanced mode is very tough as you must defeat Palkia, Diagla and Giratina who tag team against you and if that isn’t tough enough, Mewtwo shows up at the end of the battle. Once you win that Royal Rumble you unlock a EX mode that allows you battle a mixture of pokémon from Normal and Advanced mode at higher levels.

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During your battles pokémon with certain special traits can be found:
Type Guard: there is a type guard for all 17 types that prevents these from taking as much damage in battle from these type moves
Brawny: Has a higher HP by 50%
Punchy: Has a higher Attack by 50%
Hardy: Has a higher Defense by 50%
Speedy: Can move around faster
Snappy: It can use its moves quickly
Techie: Moves with fewer *s become stronger
Scrappy: Has a higher critical-hit rate by 50%
Gutsy: Has a very high critical-hit rate
Feisty: Moves sweep foes to a further distance
Mighty: It does not get swept away as much
Steady: Is not affected by any Status Changes
Perky: It recovers quickly from a Status Change
Healthy: Slowly restores HP, 1% per second
Lucky: gets three coins instead of one for defeating pokémon
Rally: Other players’ Pokémon get stronger during Multiplayer mode
These pokémon generally have a TM or HM move in their attack and when toppled over will have stars circling them. All their text will be in purple.
There are also Shiny pokémon that can be found throughout the game. They are rare and their names will be in blue.

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The terminal has seven buildings at the bottom. The one with the red roof allows you to recruit new pokémon, either by using coins, tickets or secret passwords. The higher the level you are at, the higher the pokémon will be that you will receive. For a list of passwords, check out our forum for Pokemon Rumble.
The building with the blue roof allows you to release some the pokémon that you have recruited and you will receive coins. When possible, five of the same pokémon will net you a ticket for the next evolution of that species. Five of the highest evolution will net you a ticket for its first pre-evolution. Some legendaries are only available through releasing a certain combination of pokémon receive their ticket.
The lottery-like looking wheel allows you to teach a move to the pokémon that you are playing in exchange for coins that you picked up. These will randomly selected from the egg moves, TMs and HMs that it may learn. The higher the level you are in the game, the more powerful the moves are that are available.
The Wii remote on the bottom left allows you to transport your pokemon to another Wii and the building next to it allows other players to join the game.
The kiosk in the bottom right gives you playing info, while the crown next to that allows you to see the collection of pokémon that you have met.

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Trying to complete the pokédex is a challenge as certain pokémon are rare and difficult to find much less recruit. Don’t worry too much about completing the pokédex early in the game as you will have an opportunity later in the game to meet them at higher levels and you can always return to the previous levels with your more powerful pokémon to find the ones you missed or use recruit tickets for some of the rarer pre-evolutions.
For a limited time you can download a free demo from WiiWare. If you like it you can download the game for $15. While the game may not be challenging for experienced gamers, it should provide hours of fun for multi-players or those who want to complete the pokédex. The game is rated for players 10 and up.

Posted by Deneves | Filed Under Tips