Pokemon returns to WiiWare.

We go hands-on with the latest Pokemon spin-off.

Earlier last week, the Pokemon franchise returned to the downloadable scene in their second WiiWare outing. Developed by Ambrella, the folks behind the less than impressive My Pokemon Ranch, Melee! Pokemon Scramble is their most ambitious Pokemon project to date. Instead of something in the vein of their past works, such as Pokemon Dash and Hey You, Pikachu!, the developers have decided to take a different approach on the Pokemon franchise, and fortunately, their work has paid off as Pokemon Scramble is one of the most enjoyable Pokemon spin-offs to date.

Unlike other games in the franchise, Melee! Pokemon Scramble is a real-time action game in which players control toys based off of a wide variety of Pokemon. As each Pokemon enters the battlefield, they get wound up with a key, which makes sense seeing as they actually look like rather simplistic toys.

The Terminal is an essential part of the main hub world.

Using the Pokemon that they have acquired, players then battle their way through dungeons that heavily resemble that of the Mystery Dungeon series. While the main point of the game is defeating enemies to gain experience and money, there are also trampolines lying around that will take players to the next part of the level. At the very end of each level, a boss battle awaits.

While in the wild, players may occasionally be able to “capture” one of their defeated enemies and add them to their part. The defeated Pokemon are a much higher level than the ones you have, so recruiting will easily become an uttermost priority. Once players have a Pokemon that has a high enough rating, the doors to the Battle Royale room open, allowing gamers to compete in a massive, multi-dozen Pokemon free-for-all.

Speaking of the Battle Royale, this is where the fun really starts to occur. The task here is to simply become the champion of Pokemon. Defeat all of the Pokemon that are thrown your way without losing three times and you win! Once you become the Champion, you will rank up and face even stronger Pokemon, including the legenadries like Heatran and Giratina.

Combat is more enjoyable than you think.

At the end of every stage, players get ranked based upon the amount of Pokemon that they have defeated. This is used in both dungeons and the Battle Royale, which adds a competitive edge to th game. Simply put, this is one multi-player offering that you’re not going to want to miss.

The combat is also pretty basic, too. In a nutshell, all you have to do is beat up bad guys, then progress in rank, and continue beating up even more enemies. Each of your Pokemon has two slots for two different attacks, but when you first capture them, most have only a single attack. Thanks to a neat little division of the main hub called The Terminal, players can teach their Pokemon new moves. Here at The Terminal, players can use a roulette that will allow them to exchange the currency they earned for new attacks for their Pokemon. Seeing as each Pokemon can only learn two moves, though, it requires quite a bit of strategy in trying to find the perfect moves for each Pokemon. Regardless of which attacks you choose though, it's basically just button mashing, and most enemies are easy to avoid so players can use whichever attack suits their fancy.

Does this look fun to you?

Besides learning new moves, players can also use many other different units in The Terminal. One such device allows players to release any Pokemon that they no longer want part of their party and another allows you to transfer some Pokemon from your game to your Wii Remote to take to a friend’s house to play. In addition to this, you can also view Pokemon that you have obtained at The Terminal and even engage in a frantic multi-player Battle Royale. Rounding out the bunch is a machine that will drop Pokemon if you find their specific ticket or password, as well as an area that allows you to get into the options of the game as well as view pictures taken while in the game.

Further adding to the game are the wide variety of stages. The game starts on the C grade level and goes all the way up to S. Each grade has six unique worlds, based off iconic locations such as Viridian Forst and Mt. Moon. At the end of each of these worlds is a huge boss that players have to defeat. And for those wondering, the Pokemon types do affect the effectiveness of attacks, but it isn’t really all that noticeable until you start to battle larger and tougher enemies.

With all that being said though, the game is a little too linear. Instead of trying to locate the set of stairs that’ll take you to the next floor like in the Mystery Dungeon series, Pokemon Scramble has players fighting waves of enemies in very linear stages. It would’ve been nice to see some branches that would take you to a dead-end, but sadly, all that is lacking.

It's fun, it's enjoyable, it's Pokemon!

Regardless though, the game is still a blast to play. The camera is set from an almost top-down view, and the game can be played with any control scheme. The ability to take in-game screenshots returns from My Pokemon Ranch, and that’ll certainly be a compelling feature that’ll keep some players returning. There are countless things to do for solo players and even more when you factor in the multiple players. Simply put, this will be one game that’ll keep you coming back for more, even if you aren’t a fan of Pokemon.

One thing that needs to be mentioned, though, is that Pokemon Scramble doesn’t contain every Pokemon seen in the handheld games. Instead though, Ambrella has selected to only showcase the first and fourth generations of Pokemon. It’s a shame that the entire cast of Pokemon wasn’t called in this time around, but hopefully a sequel will come along someday that’ll send an invite to all 493 Pokemon.

As previously mentioned, Pokemon Scramble is developed by Ambrella, so the company that did decided to recycle the Pokemon models from My Pokemon Ranch. Unlike last time, the simplistic bobble head-like dolls actually suit the game seeing as the Pokemon are based off toys this time around.

Melee! Pokemon Scramble is unquestionably one of the best and most enjoyable Pokemon spin-offs to date. After the mixed reviews of their past titles, it was great to see Ambrella rebound this time around and give gamers an exceptional amount of content and value for 1500 Nintendo Points. The game excels in both single and multi-player modes, which further helps to justify the hefty price tag. Regardless of the price though, Pokemon fans should enjoy this quirky new title, as well as gamers who have never tried a Pokemon game.

Look for an international release of the game to follow in the near future.