Pokémon Link: Battle!

Downloaded this yesterday at the pub (true). From what I've played it's a bright and fun but very tactical match three puzzler with everybody's favourite monsters attached. Not that many blocks, either (on your SD card, I mean!).

In the StreetPass Manchester group, someone has suggested that spin-off games should have free 'mon attached that you can download onto X/Y, perhaps Shinies or with Hidden Abilities. I feel that the game stands up on its own without that... would you have bought it to get a free Shiny?

If have bought it if I knew it was out! I'll download it when I get out of the bath.
Is there a multiplayer?

Got home, downloaded this, thought I'd give it a quick bash. Naturally, I was still playing it an hour later. Curse you match-three puzzlers!

I still haven't worked out how to unlock the "secret" Pokémon though, or the fifth level in each world. I got the horrible chestnut thing by accident, by way of an S-Rank on the rest of it (I think), but he's the only secret I've unlocked.

At the moment I can't get past B rank on any stage

It's a fun game, but one thing that irritates me is that dual-type Pokemon are only assigned one type - meaning that there's no way of knowing if your attack is going to be super effective. Say you are trying to catch a Weavile, which is Dark/Ice - as a wild Pokemon, it says "Dark" on it. But try an attack by matching, say, Whirlipedes - Bug/Poison - and there is no indication of whether it is assigned Bug or Poison until you use it. Which is a pain, because Bug is super effective against dark, so there's a chance of doing a lot more damage...

Unless there is a way to find out and I haven't worked it out?

ZeroJones wrote:

In the StreetPass Manchester group, someone has suggested that spin-off games should have free 'mon attached that you can download onto X/Y, perhaps Shinies or with Hidden Abilities. I feel that the game stands up on its own without that... would you have bought it to get a free Shiny?

A nice bonus but it wouldn't make me buy it. A Pokemon with a hidden ability would be more of an incentive than a shiny, though.

Buskalilly wrote:

Is there a multiplayer?

Yeah, but it's local only, and everyone has to have a copy.

Balladeer wrote:

I still haven't worked out how to unlock the "secret" Pokémon though, or the fifth level in each world.  I got the horrible chestnut thing by accident, by way of an S-Rank on the rest of it (I think), but he's the only secret I've unlocked.

Yeah, I'm not entirely sure either. I've managed a couple but only accidentally. One of them was Abomasnow and I think it was after catching a Snover using a scatter attack and knocking it out in one hit. Your guess is as good as mine though - I didn't realise I'd caught any secret Pokemon until I looked back and saw the telltale glow behind some of them.

Edit: After doing it a few times I'm pretty sure you can usually unlock secret Pokemon by OHKOing Pokemon (or groups of them). I unlocked Klinklang by OHKOing a horde of Klink and Klang, and Kingler by OHKOing a couple of Krabby.

I'm finding that world 7-2 is proving to be a massive difficulty spike. I didn't fail once on my way to it, but now the boss -

Spoiler:

- is kicking my tenderloins on my every attempt.

The only way I've yet seen to find out what type of move a dual-type Pokémon comes out with is to capture it and find it in my box (steady...).

The game tells me I've caught 13% of the Pokédex but not one Electric type yet... also, I have been beaten many, many times. 

I was beaten once by Registeel

ZeroJones wrote:

The only way I've yet seen to find out what type of move a dual-type Pokémon comes out with is to capture it and find it in my box (steady...).

The game tells me I've caught 13% of the Pokédex but not one Electric type yet... also, I have been beaten many, many times. 

Yeah, I think that's the only way. Which is stupid, because when you're able to bring support Pokemon along with you, the only way to know which ones would be super effective against wild 'mon you find in that area is to play through it first and then go back with the appropriate support. It's annoying and it feels a little like padding.

I obviously am enjoying the game, though. Eventually beat 7-2 only to get destroyed a few times on 7-3. Progress is getting much, much slower...

As a Pokémon aficionado, the dual types thing bothers me too. I shouldn't be able to lay the smack down on Charizard by using Groudon, and yet, I can.  (Unless it has Stone Edge, of course.)

Still, quibbles. It's a fun addictive game, although I'm pacing myself and so am only on world 4. And most of the monsters do seem to be unlocked by chaining together massive combos, but there's at least one that I'm aware of (thanks to Serebii.net) that has a "special" unlock method.

And I've failed against Blastoise/Venusaur/Charizard a couple of times. Other than that it's been dandy so far.

Somewhat interested in this, though I don't like the DS prequel all that much. To anyone who owned that back in the day: is Link: Battle an improvement, or more of the same but in 3D?

I didn't own the prequel, but I will say this - there's no 3D. None at all. The slider does absolutely nothing.

Okay, help. Cannot unlock zone 6 of world five. Have all S-ranks on other five stages in world. Advice appreciated muchly, thanking you.

Since I still can't get past B rank can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Basically if you're not using super-effective moves and clearing lots of boxes, you won't get the higher ranks. Towards the end of the box it becomes a race to clear it up before you're only left with three Pokémon of different species.

The Link Chance mode I find quite frustrating because I find that Dittos can immediately destroy any chance you had of clearing the box - particularly if two fall at once and you only have time to deal with one of them.

I've found that grabbing one of the Dittos can work wonders, but it is all too often up to luck.

Balladeer wrote:

Basically if you're not using super-effective moves and clearing lots of boxes, you won't get the higher ranks.  Towards the end of the box it becomes a race to clear it up before you're only left with three Pokémon of different species.

That's what happens to me a bit I get close to cleaning the box and usually end up with one or two left over which is quite frustrating

So Shaymin-Sky one-hit kills you. And it attacks at a reasonably fast pace.

  

It's amazing to me that you've even got that far - I have yet to beat 7-1. 

I downloaded this today. It's fun and a great deal different to Pokémon Shuffle. Still trying to master clearing Link boxes though, as everyone says a random falling Ditto can do more harm than good.

Once I changed tactics to burst through the 7-1 barrier above, Battle! became really enjoyable. If it had the Mega Pokémon mechanic, you'd be looking at a belter... hope you keep enjoying it, Stu (the difficulty spikes were quite considerable for me)!

I get the tactics, but I seem to lose my head during the heat of an encounter at the moment. I also can't quite pin down the way hidden Pokémon appear besides perhaps the obvious way of clearing lots of boxes and overkilling all the visible Pokémon on the field.

Will give me a nice aeroplane/holiday distraction though, I'm sure.

My understanding is that there's no set way to make hidden Pokémon appear: the criteria change a lot. On-line guides are your friend, regrettably.