Right so this is a massive necrobump but I mean like where else would I put this lol
So partly out of it being cheap, partly out of me wanting a decent timewaster, and partly out of me being infinitely salty about Shuffle being a F2P, I decided to pick this thing up off the eshop - I mean, it's only £7 so why not give it a shot?
Keep in mind my only experiences with this playstyle are a few zones of Shuffle, which I eventually deleted because I find F2P pretty disgusting, and the intro of the first Trozei which I found infinitely cringeworthy to the point of laughing at Link Battle when it was announced. Now having just completed the quote-on-quote 'final boss' and having done a few levels beyond... this game is addictive. Like, hour-absorbingly addictive. It's not an incredible game, nothing that'll sell you on Pokémon or puzzle games but oh my god does it suck you right in. And there's no plot! No characters, no story; just a few tutorials... hell, the final boss actually felt a little underwhelming because final boss of what? There's no story, so... well, at least it had some damn cool music. Actually that's something else to note; around Zone 8 the music starts to get surprisingly intense. It almost feels out of place but due to just how stupidly difficult it gets at that point it fit my mood completely and it drew me in even more.
I mean; okay, the core game itself isn't too hard; maybe you'll die to a boss or something a few times but nothing out there. But what really throws you is the special requirements for getting to certain stages or Pokémon. To get Scizor I have to get a combo of 30 or more on both Scyther and Pinsir in the same round (why pinsir lol). To get to Stage 6 of Zone 5 (I think?) I have to get a flawless capture on the lake trio. How hard this really is never quite dawns on you until you actually try it; it's actually kind of frustrating! I mean, hell, I still haven't done those two examples, they're pretty... oof.
But does this difficulty and frustration set me off the game? No! I keep coming back to it; I just adore it's simplicity yet difficulty at the same time. It feels so good getting those combos; finding those rows of three and adding another number to my combo meter. I got a combo of like 102 once; that really sticks out - and the music changes on each 10 combo too which is a nice touch. It feels kiiiiiiiinda creepy after 50 tho; like you've lost yourself in comboing... which really you have if you're at fuckin' 50.
All in all a pretty damn fun little game - and at just the right price too. I mean, if it was like over £10 I'd say it's a bad deal, but for the price it's at I think Nintendo found the perfect value for it. It has all the fun of Shuffle, just without Megas (which I didn't miss tbh), without the bullshit F2P system, with a much better idea of difficulty that F2P kind of prevents, and at a VERY affordable price - sure, Shuffle's free, but I'd rather dish out £7 rather than wait for hours or pay money to skip that. 8/10 puzzle game imo; very underlooked little gem rn.