Overview
Pokémon Rumble Blast takes the same concept of Pokémon Rumble (released for WiiWare in 2009) in which all the Pokémon you control are simple wind-up toys... that happen to be sentient and have identical abilities to the "real" Pokémon they are based on. You collect and directly control the toys in brawls with other wandering Pokémon toys.
As of April 2012, the game has sold 1.08 million copies worldwide.
Story
Pokémon Rumble Blast starts with you fighting and collecting a small amount of Toys before fighting the mighty Zekrom, but you are nowhere near powerful enough to beat it so you end up in Toy Town, where you discover that the healing Glowdrops are missing, you suspect some local hooligans, but it soon turns out it's much much bigger than that, as the evil Cobalion and his minions are behind the stealing of not just Toy Towns Glowdrops, but everyone's, it's your task to get them back and bring Cobalion to justice.
However, it turns out Cobalion was simply gathering the glowdrops to fight the Dark Rust, an ancient evil which seeks to destroy the world. Cobalion's plan backfires miserably and his army quickly becomes corrupted and turned in to the Dark Legion. The player and Cobalion team up and stop Dark Rust's evil plan.
Gameplay
Pokémon Rumble Blast features a basic 2 button combat system, as each Pokémon can only learn 2 moves at a time. The player moves around linear levels with different Themes; Forest, Meadow, Cave, Tower, etc. which determines what Pokémon you will face, Caves could be full of Rock, Ground or Fire types for example.
Like the previous game the moves are assigned a Star Rating of between 1-5, and are either coloured Silver or Gold (Gold Stars represent that the move is getting STAB, Same Type Attack Bonus, if the Pokémon using the move has the same type as the move itself damage is increased by 1.5x)
Apart from that the familiar Type Chart from all Pokémon games applies with one major difference, there are no Immunities in Rumble Blast. Normally Flying Type Pokémon cannot be hit with Ground Type moves (as they are immune) but in Rumble Blast it is instead counted as a Not Very Effective attack.
Abilities
There are a number of special Abilities or Traits that a Pokémon can have randomly assigned to them. Finding a Pokémon with an Ability is random and occurs rarely, a full list of all Abilities follows:
| Ability | Effect |
|---|
| Adept | This effect will prevent some negative effects (like Speed-Down) and any self-inflicted Damage |
| Barricade | Will avoid any Super Effective moves |
| Boomer | Increases the damage output of any "Explosive" Moves (e.g. Sludge Bomb) |
| Brawny | Will have a higher than average HP stat |
| [Insert Type] Boost | Will increase Damage dealt and decrease Damage taken for [Insert Type] Moves (for example Electric Boost) |
| Chop-Chop | Allows you to use the 'A' and 'B' moves after one another more quickly |
| Daring | Lower Defence and higher Attack than average |
| Dodgy | Can sometimes avoid taking Damage |
| Effective | Can avoid Super Effective moves and will deal more Super Effective Damage itself |
| Feisty | Will knock enemies farther back |
| Grappler | Does more damage when foes are close |
| Greedy | Attracts money from further away |
| Gutsy | Increases the chances of making a foe dizzy |
| Hardy | Higher than average Defence |
| Healthy | Regenerates HP over time |
| Heroic | Higher than average Power |
| Jinxed | When attacked, the attackers Speed will decrease |
| Lingering | Any Status Change (Positive or Negative) will last longer |
| Lobber | Does more damage when foes are at a distance |
| Lucky | Enemies drop more money |
| Macho | Will be stronger during Charge and Team Battles |
| Mighty | Harder to get knocked back by foes |
| Perky | Will recover from Status Changes (Positive or Negative) quicker |
| Picky | Can only have one move (combines the effects of Punchy, Techie and Snappy Abilities) |
| Poisonous | A chance to poison an attacker |
| PokéTC | Makes Pokemon and allies more powerful during Co-op games |
| Punchy | Higher Attack than average |
| Rally | Makes allies stronger during Co-op, Team and Charge Battles |
| Reflector | Any negative Status Effects gained will also effect the attacker |
| Resilient | Will be left with 1 HP if a move would have knocked you out |
| Rusty | Special (very rare) Type of Pokemon, if cleaned in a Glowdrop Fountain will be assigned 1 random Ability+ |
| Scrappy | Will have a higher Critical-Hit rate |
| Slacker | Projectile moves will travel slower |
| Slugger | Slow to use moves, moves have a higher range |
| Snappy | Uses attacks faster |
| Speedy | Moves more quickly |
| Spiky | Will deal damage to any Pokemon that hits you |
| Slow-Starting | Attack and Speed stats will start of halved until it as defeated 10 Pokemon |
| Steady | Is never affected by any status changes |
| Steely | Inflicts more damage when inflicted with a status effect |
| Superstar | Enemy Pokemon will focus attacks on you |
| Tangling | Has a chance to prevent an enemy from attacking |
| Techie | Moves with a lower Star Rating will be more powerful than normal |
| Turbo | Will keep using moves for a short while if the button is held down |
| Unruly | Damage goes up if you are moving towards an attacking foe |
| Unstoppable | Slow to attack but attacks cannot be interrupted |
On top of all of these Abilities, some of them, in rare occasions, will have a '+' or a '++' denoting a more powerful, or more effective version of that ability, for example Turbo+ will use moves for longer with the button held down than regular Turbo.
Befriending
In Rumble Blast, you "befriend" Pokémon instead of capturing them, this is done by attacking a Pokémon until they faint after which there will be a random chance that that Pokémon will be dropped on the field for you to pick up. While it is random there are ways to increase chances, such as:
- Hitting the Pokémon from behind
- Using a Pokémon with the "Gutsy" attribute
Befriending is done by first making a Pokémon "dizzy" which is random, and knocking out the Pokémon while the dizziness is still in effect, Gutsy makes it easier to get a Pokémon dizzy, as does hitting it from behind. Another way to increase your chances is by using a Pokémon that is of a lower Power than the one you are attempting to catch as it will take more hits to knock it out you will have more chances to get it dizzy.
Move Vendors
All throughout the game there are Machines that will give new moves for your Pokémon to learn, these come in 2 main flavours:
- Random Move Vendor (Red and Gold)
- Specific Move Vendor (Blue)
Random Move Vendors then come in 2 flavours themselves, Red and Gold Vendors, a Red Vendor will give equal weight to all Star Ratings that it provides (for example, a 1-3 Star Red Vendor will give a 33% chance of getting a 1, 2 or 3 Star move) Gold Vendors on the other hand give extra weight to the higher Star Ratings (a 1-3 Star Gold Vendor will have a higher chance of giving 3 Star moves) but costs significantly more money to use.
A Specific Move Vendor will only sell 1 move (for example Cut) absolutely No Frills.
The Cost of using most Move Vendors will vary based on the Power Level of the Pokémon using it, you will have to spend more money to teach more powerful Pokémon. There are exceptions to this rule however, in Toy Town for example there is a Move Vendor that sells Giga Impact, a 5 Star move, for 100,000P no matter the Power Level of the Pokémon.
There is a Move Vendor is Axle Town that will teach any move in a Pokémon's moveset in exchange for Toys rather than money.
Towns
There are 5 Towns in Rumble Blast;
- Toy Town
- Easterly Town
- Westerly Town
- Northerly Town
- Axle Town
And in these towns are a number of useful buildings:
Collection
The stand-in for the Pokédex, lists all of the Pokémon you've seen and befriended as well as how many you have defeated and where their Main Habitat is (the place you can most often find them) if you've discovered it.
Information
This building will show you all of the statistics the game tracks, Money Spent, Battles Won, etc.
Two Player (Co-op Satellite)
This is where you can play against others nearby.
Glowing Fountain
In the centre of the town are the Glowdrops, the main crux of the story, these are used to heal your Pokémon, and also to clean Rusty Pokémon you have befriended.
Shopscope
Where Streetpass is used, when you meet other people in Streetpass who have Rumble Blast, they will visit your Store, spend money (which you receive) and will be added to the tally of total customers, which, at certain points, will unlock new unique Pokémon for you to capture.
Release Point
Here you will release any Pokémon you don't want and receive money in their place, the amount being based on the Power Level of the Pokémon. If you trade 7 of any Pokémon at the same time you will be given the next evolution of that Pokémon for free. (there are some bugs with this so be careful, make sure you only trade in those 7 Pokémon, no more, and with no other Pokémon)
Stages
Along with the Towns there are the Stages, or Routes, this is where the meat of the game lies, there are multiple types of Stages you will encounter through the game and each Type is associated with Types of Pokémon.
The first time you play a Stage you will not know any of the Pokémon that live there, you need to actually see them in the Stage for the record to be updated for future visits. Each Stage will have it's own set of Pokémon.
At the end of each Stage is a Boss Pokémon, in these fights, there will be "Guard" Pokémon that will endlessly respawn, these Guards are usually 1 step lower in the evolutionary line of the Boss, though there are exceptions.
The types of stages and where you can find them are as follows: (B1F and B2F are areas inside the World Axle)
| Stage Type | Appears |
|---|
| Meadows | 1-1, 1-2, 4-2, B1F |
| Forest | 1-1, 1-3, 1-4, 2-1, 2-2, 4-2, B1F |
| Beach | 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 3-1, B1F |
| Cave | 1-3, 1-4, 2-2, 2-4, 3-1, 4-2, B2F |
| Tower | 1-4, 2-3, 3-3, 4-1, B2F |
| Treetops | 2-1, 2-3, 2-4, B2F |
| Hauntyard | 2-2, 4-2, B1F |
| Lake | 2-3, 2-4, 4-2, B2F |
| Desert | 3-1, 4-3 |
| Canyon | 3-1, 3-2, 4-3 |
| Autumnwood | 3-2, 3-3 |
| Magma | 3-2, 3-3, 4-3, B1F |
| Factory | 3-3, 4-3, B2F |
| Glacier | 4-1, B2F |
| Rotom's Hidden Room | 3-3 |
| Unown's Hidden Room | 4-2 |
| Rust Army Lair | World Axle Entry, Word Axle Shaft |
| Dark Rust's Fortress | World Axle Deepest Level |
The Stages are straightforward, being completely linear, but very rarely you can encounter a "Rumpus Room", these are small arenas filled to the brim with stronger Pokémon from the Stage you are on, and you are not allowed to leave the Rumpus Room until all of them are knocked out or befriended. Even more rarer than that you can sometimes find a Special Rumpus Room in which all of the Pokémon will be a part of an evolutionary line.
An Example of a Special Rumpus Room would contain something like this:
- 4 Togekiss (Boss Pokémon)
- Togetic (Endlessly Respawning)
- Togepi (Endlessly Respawning)
The highest evolution of a particular line will be represented as 4 Bosses with the lower evolutions respawning until you have defeated the bosses.
Battle Royale
During the game you will regularly run into Battle Royales, these special Stages are Arenas, they throw you into a coliseum with a bunch of other Pokémon, and it's the last Toy standing, at the start of each Royale, silhouetted Pokémon will be displayed, these are the Bosses of the Royale, these are tougher Pokémon and appear near the end of the Arena.
Later Royales are timed as well, with the only way of increasing time is to knock out other Pokémon and pick up the clock that falls on the floor. Other special conditions might be applied as well, such as only allowing Grass Types. Like regular Stages you can only lose 3 Pokémon before it's game over, and there is a cash prize for beating them. (There is also sometimes Gear prizes, like the Charge Flag)
Charge Battles
Involve the most powerful of your collected Toys Charging into enemy lines, it's a button smashing type of game, as you tap A and rotate the Circle Pad to build power, with the aim of smashing through increasingly stronger enemy lines, right to the Boss.
Team Battles
Involve picking 3 of your Pokémon (one of which you control) to fight a succession of Boss Pokémon.
Battle Locale
After completing the main story mode, a character in Easterly Town will inform you of a new mode called the Battle Locale. In it, players will play a random area with no reserve Pokémon. Completing the level will give you a monetary reward. Your reward increases the longer your win streak.
Compatible 3DS Features
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