The Pokemon Company announced that they would be bringing the popular 3DS game Pokemon Suffle to mobile platforms later in the year. Android and iOS platforms will get the same addictive puzzler that came to the 3DS – no word on Windows mobile.
Pokemon Shuffle Moblie will come to mobile platforms with the same free-to-play model as the original. The 3DS game’s clean esthetics should be buoyed on Android and iOS because of their simpler payment process.
I am one of the 4.5 million downloads on the 3DS and I’m sure I’ll be within the first tens of millions of downloads on Android. I have been addicted to Pokemon Shuffle for a few months now and I am happy that this game will get out to a broader audience – it is ridiculously addictive and endlessly replayable.
Pokemon Shuffle is a match three puzzle game like Bejeweled. Yet it also has a monster catching (duh!) portion that brings it closer in line with games like Puzzle Quest and Puzzle & Dragons.
Pokemon Shuffle uses mechanics that force the player to think of ways to chain combos together in ways similar to Puzzle & Dragons. In a very chess-like way one must try to think of how moves will effect future moves. The dopamine released after watching all of the bright lights and combos really kicks in once you start chaining moves together like a pro.
I hope that this game stays true to the 3DS original and keeps the very nonstandard mobile game interface that made the original so esthetically pleasing. It also encouraged me to spend a little bit of money because I felt like I should reward good game design in the area or free-to-play.
A free-to-play game doesn’t have to be ugly and intrusive. Pokemon Shuffle on the 3DS proved that. I hope The Pokemon Company can bring some of that to the mobile phone market.