Super Pokémon Rumble (Hands-On) (Nintendo 3DS) Preview

By Mike Mason 21.09.2011

Review for Super Pokémon Rumble (Hands-On) on Nintendo 3DS

While Activision play with real toys and games in Skylanders and Wappy Dog, Nintendo are happy to keep things virtual. A portable follow up to WiiWare’s Pokémon Rumble, Super Pokémon Rumble (Pokémon Rumble Blast in America, Super Pokémon Scramble in Japan) takes you into the world of battling Pokémon dolls.

The monsters of Super Pokémon Rumble are like none that you have come against before - they’re just little toys who move independently and harbour dreams of becoming the Rumble Champion of Toyland. Players take control of these ambitious tiny trinkets and charge them through levels of real-time melee combat.

Each Poké-toy can have up to two moves that can be used to improve their defences, such as Double Team’s evasion improvement, or - more commonly - attack rivals. Unlike the mainline Pokémon games, you can use moves as much as you like - and you’ll be needing them a lot. Enemies come thick and fast, but are quite easily dispatched whether you want to take them on at long range with Snivy or charge them head on with Tepig.

Screenshot for Super Pokémon Rumble (Hands-On) on Nintendo 3DS

For you are not locked to a single Pokémon; you can switch at any time by tapping X and skipping quickly down a menu that inhabits the touch-screen. Pikachu is the only character at your disposal initially, but almost immediately other toys from all generations of Pokémon will drop onto the battlefield for collection, the rivals that you defeat waiting to be added into your team. All toys retain their established elemental types, and they are used in the same way in Super Pokémon Rumble: a grass Pokémon will be more effective against a water type and deplete their HP more readily, a water type will put out a fire type in no time, and so on. The more you collect, the more prepared you’ll be for any encounter.

It’s especially necessary to pay attention to types, and have a decent number of plastic pets as back up, when coming up against the boss battles that end each area - supersized toys that are more difficult to best, evolved or legendary Pokémon, aided by plenty of standard cohorts. Pick an advantageous type and they’ll go down in no time, but mess around and they will not hesitate to drain your HP. When a toy’s HP hits zero they are no longer usable and are disposed - broken, we suppose - and you are forced to switch to a new one. Defeating a boss will complete the area and might allow you to grab a powerful new ally of a high level. Once you have gained a strong enough Pokémon you can enter rumble competitions. These are big arena contests where it’s every Pokémon for itself in a fight to declare the ultimate plaything.

Screenshot for Super Pokémon Rumble (Hands-On) on Nintendo 3DS

Final Thoughts

In the demo, it was a case of smacking toys, picking up any drops and trudging on through relatively straight paths, taking on a boss, then moving to the next stage after a role call of any new beasts that you’ve picked up. There was also a town to visit, where new moves could be taught, HP topped up, and other toys could be talked to. Super Pokémon Rumble is nothing complex, but it plays well and should be a fun enough diversion when it’s released this December.

Super Pokémon Rumble (Nintendo 3DS)

Also known as

Pokémon Rumble Blast

Developer

Ambrella

Publisher

Nintendo

Genre

Action

Players

C3 Score

5/10

Reader Score

7/10 (1 Votes)

Out now

Out now

Out now

Out now Also on Also on Nintendo eShop

Comments

«s previous1next »

SirLink 21.09.2011#1

I actually kind of want this...sounds like some good fun. Smilie Money's going to be a problem though, with so many other awesome games coming out this year. I'll probably wait for reviews to see if it's worth it because I've actually sworn to myself that I'd stop buying Pokémon spin-offs. Smilie

It's also the first retail Pokémon spin-off with real-time action combat, so that's definitely a plus compared to Mystery Dungeon or Pokémon Ranger. I'm already liking this trailer right here.

Btw, have you ever considered putting an embedded trailer from Youtube into each preview/review? Coupled with the actual preview/review and the few screenshots, it would give readers a much better look at the game without them having to look for one themselves.

( Edited 22.09.2011 05:27 by SirLink )

Twitter | Backloggery

Skotski 21.09.2011#2

SirLink said:It's also the first Pokémon spin-off with real-time action combat, so that's definitely a plus compared to Mystery Dungeon or Pokémon Ranger.

Well actually, Pokemon Rumble (for WiiWare) is the first one, this one is a sequel.

Everything has a consequence and a reward.

Mush 22.09.2011#3

LOVED the original on WiiWare, I thought it was a neat little concept. I'm really tempted by this, especially since it seems to have added modes, Pokémon and other stuff. It's also portable, which is an awesome thing.

@SirLink - If you haven't tried the original on WiiWare, check out some videos of it. If you like the look of it, you should definitely invest in this one as it seems to have added quite a bit more. Hopefully I'm right.. Smilie

SirLink 22.09.2011#4

I probably should have added that I never account for anything on Wiiware, as I don't buy anything on there. Smilie Oh well, I changed it to "first retail Pokémon spin-off" to make the perfectionists here happy. Smilie

@Mush: Well, I'm almost sold on this one, so there's no need to check out more of it or the original. Smilie I'll probably give in and buy it anyway. Smilie

( Edited 22.09.2011 05:41 by SirLink )

Twitter | Backloggery

jb 23.09.2011#5

Had many happy days with the original WiiWare release, simple yet addictive and fullfiled one of my dreams of realtime Pokemon combat/exploration. Certainly needed a lot more depth which this seems to have addressed!

That said - no online...?

Cubed3 Admin/Founder & Designer

Mush 25.10.2011#6

Is anyone getting this? I enjoyed the WiiWare original and must of put a lot of time into it. I'm really not sure whether to get this one or not though... maybe I'll buy it out of my Christmas money or something.

SirLink 26.10.2011#7

Mush123 said:
Is anyone getting this? I enjoyed the WiiWare original and must of put a lot of time into it. I'm really not sure whether to get this one or not though... maybe I'll buy it out of my Christmas money or something.

I was planning to buy it but...I'm not really sure anymore. Too many games coming out and money is getting tight, so I don't think there's going to be some left for yet another Pokémon spin-off.

Twitter | Backloggery

Mush 26.10.2011#8

SirLink said:
Mush123 said:
Is anyone getting this? I enjoyed the WiiWare original and must of put a lot of time into it. I'm really not sure whether to get this one or not though... maybe I'll buy it out of my Christmas money or something.
I was planning to buy it but...I'm not really sure anymore. Too many games coming out and money is getting tight, so I don't think there's going to be some left for yet another Pokémon spin-off.

Well, games I'm getting in November are Skyward Sword, Super Mario 3D Land and Sonic Generations for 3DS. In December, the only game I'm getting is Mario Kart 7, so far. I really want to try out Cave Story and Tales of the Abyss though. I'll probably give in to getting Cave Story 3D as I've never played the game before and I recently found out that the soundtrack is being composed by Danny Baranowsky (the guy who made the music for Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Isaac.. probably more too). I don't plan on getting any 360 games, they can wait until 2012.