Pokémon Shuffle (Nintendo Used Pay Day!)

Forgot to say - all you triple figures combo guys have beaten my best senseless.

My best currently stands at forty-five, but it's getting consistently higher, and Megas Glalie and Slowbro do the combo system wonders.

During my safari run I was getting up to the likes of around 80 upwards each time.. It was weird but now that I'm back to trying to get the S ranks I'm nowhere near getting the big combos

SHARPEDO HAS BEEN CAUGHT.

Nice one, Jay! Back to S-ranking, I take it?

Of course! I spent a ton of coins on Mega Gengar and took out my pent-up frustrations on him - 6 main stages left to S-Rank!

JayMoyles wrote:

SHARPEDO HAS BEEN CAUGHT.

Nice one, Jay! I haven't even seen one yet.

So I've reached Mega Mewtwo Y and I think it's gonna require a bit of a grind for coins. Up to press, the only main stage Pokémon I can't currently catch is Zoroark.

Zoroark took A while. But funnily enough Zoura took even longer it just refused to be caught

I can't seem to find any decent combos. I might set a disruption delay going to stall the central blocks...

Disruption Delays are very handy. Typically that plus a Moves+5 will get you an S-Rank if you're struggling - you'll need to bust out the Complexity-1 a few times though.

Expensive stuff, innit?

I've just seen, beaten and subsequently lost my first Sharpedo.

Judging by my luck, it'll take you another 200 hearts to see your next Sharpedo.

Awww, rats, Stu! That's rotten luck.

Nuts to that! Anyone started the Banette event yet? I've managed a piffling score of just under 8,000, landing me in the top 8,000 in the rankings. It doesn't help that all my super effective Pokémon are purple.

Stu_the_great wrote:

Nuts to that! Anyone started the Banette event yet? I've managed a piffling score of just under 8,000, landing me in the top 8,000 in the rankings. It doesn't help that all my super effective Pokémon are purple.

I have just given it a test run to see if I have the right Pokemon. My scores varied between 8-11,000. I will now level up the right ones a bit more and wait until near the end, spend some coins and get a score that will keep me in the top 10,000, or top 20,000 on the US consoles. On that point, it is really annoying that they give it to 20,000 players in the USA/Canada, but only 10,000 in Europe and Aus/NZ. That seems unfair.

I am using what Pokemon the high scores are - Mega Gengar/Zoark/Absol/Yveltal - with an option of Sharpedo/Mightyena.

I have managed to catch Yveltal on 3 of my consoles, but not on one and it isn't even an option on the other (that requires more s-Rankings). It costs about 15,000 coins to guarantee catching it. I am not sure if I should just concentrate on the other Pokemon or go after it.

I am addicted to catching everything, so I will be putting in a massive effort to ensure I get it on all 5 consoles.

I updated this morning and didn't even spot the (Duncan) Banettite event being announced! After Stu's reply, I got 14,000-odd, which currently puts me in the top 1250. I'm going to save up for another go.

ZeroJones wrote:

I updated this morning and didn't even spot the (Duncan) Banettite event being announced! After Stu's reply, I got 14,000-odd, which currently puts me in the top 1250. I'm going to save up for another go.

It wasn't announced, or at least I missed it too.

I got 13000 odd without spending any coins, which has me comfortably in the top 2000. I'll save up some coins for the Complexity-1 and use it if it looks like I'm going to slip out of the top 10K.

Oh, there's a new passcode for free goodies, by the by!

Plug in 04482045 for 5 EXPx1.5 power-ups. Make sure to use them on Ampharos's stage for the biggest gains - that stage gives out the most EXP per try.

I have used the items to give myself a decent score and then just watch to see if I start to slip out of the top 10,000 (20,000).  My scores and places for that are:
PAL (10,000):
16826 @ 1084
17188 @ 999
20125 @ 516

NTSC (20,000):
17126 @ 1289
18604 @ 935

That was with Mega Gengar and Zoark on all of them and the rest a mixture of Yveltal, Absol, Liepard and Sharpedo.  Oddly enough, the highest score was with the weakest team with levels of 3,4,4 & 5 and no Yveltal or Absol, which shows the seemingly stronger Pokemon aren't everything.

From here, I will continue to get coins on Meowth, whilst levelling up the Pokemon I am using, all the while checking a couple of times a day to track my place and see how quickly it is falling.  I am confidant based on the last competitions that this may be enough to stay in, especially in the NTSC ones.  Luckily I have vast amounts of coins if  want to do many times again.

What I can't understand is the top scores - how the hell do you get a score of over 90,000? That is beyond my imagination.

Thanks for that code, Jay! My highest score thus far is in the 9,500 range. I'm putting this perhaps down to lack of practice at the timed events, coupled with my relatively low-levelled Pokémon; I'm reasonably confident that the two items (when I have the brass!) will net me with a score within the 10,000.

oldschool: Is your coin mountain simply down to the amount you've played, or did you accrue a stack of twelve plus gems over time?

I got a score of 17000-odd without buying items, which amazed me. I got a lucky string of combos and I was pretty much on my A-game, so I ended up with a great score for an itemless run. I'm confident that it'll hold for the duration of the challenge.

Back to Meowth grinding and S-Ranking. 5 more to go!

Stu_the_great wrote:

oldschool: Is your coin mountain simply down to the amount you've played, or did you accrue a stack of twelve plus gems over time?

All grinding on Meowth, nothing else. I can comfortably get at least 1000 coins every 5 turns. Plus it levels up my better characters.

This morning I put down an attempt of 18290, which put me 1395th. I'm thinking that should be enough, but I'll save for a third go nonetheless. Mega Banette is one of my main Pokémon in Alpha Sapphire, so I kind of have a fondness for it. #totallynotweirdatall

ZeroJones wrote:

This morning I put down an attempt of 18290, which put me 1395th. I'm thinking that should be enough, but I'll save for a third go nonetheless. Mega Banette is one of my main Pokémon in Alpha Sapphire, so I kind of have a fondness for it. #totallynotweirdatall

I am not planning to make another attempt unless my scores drop too much and it looks like they will fall outside the number needed. I am such a mathematical nerd, I am writing my scores down at every 12 hours, calculating the drop and then forecasting where they will probably be at the end.

Foe example, one started at 1084, and it has dropped down to 1951 over 36 hours. Based on the last fall of 221, it should probably finish at about 4200. Only one looks like finishing over 5000, at about 7300, but that is a US one, so it is a long way from 20,000. Suffice to say, I am reasonably comfortable my current scores will hold, especially the one currently at 960. Come next week, closer to the finish, if I need to, I have enough coins for anything from 4 to 9 attempts, so I am looking good.

Dear lord this game is addictive. Gotta catch'em all.

@OS: 1,000 coins per five turns with Meowth? I only seem to be able to chain one link ofthree coins per match. Am I missing a trick here?

Meowth generates an extra coin every few turns: if you arrange things carefully enough, you should be able to chain four coins together and still beat it.