Watch Da Birdie
I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
From top-clockwise: Kate, Summer, Ben, Solana, Lunick, and Kellyn
The Pokemon Ranger series is trilogy of Pokemon spin-offs released for the DS during the 3rd and 4th Generations of Pokemon, and developed by a joint-partnership of HAL and Creatures Inc. A Pokemon Ranger is a member of a special task force, of sorts, that solves environmental issues, takes down criminals who abuse Pokemon, and serve their community. Rather than capturing Pokemon in PokeBalls, Pokemon Rangers instead use the Capture Styler, which controls the top-like Capture Disc to transmit feelings of friendship to wild Pokemon. By befriending wild Pokemon, Pokemon Rangers can then call upon their powers to solve a variety of issues and obstacles, as well as use them in order to assist in the capture of other Pokemon as well.
At its core, the central gameplay mechanic of Pokemon Ranger is using the DS touchscreen to quickly draw circles around Pokemon with the stylus. This rather simple mechanic is perhaps one of the reasons the Pokemon Ranger series never quite took hold with gamers...it's hard to sell the idea of "drawing circles" as the central game mechanic, although in reality there is of course more nuance to this than simply that. It's disappointing because, despite having a rough start, I find the Pokemon Ranger series to be legitimately good and refreshing, and alongside Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon I'm tempted to say I might enjoy it more so than the main series in certain areas.
The Pokemon Ranger games are implied to take place within the same universe as the main series, although the connections between the two are quite sparse---mainly, you are able to transfer certain Pokemon between the Ranger games and the Gen IV games, and the Almia region, featured in the second game, is speculated due to the shape and positioning of its landmass to lie directly south of the Sinnoh Region. In the anime, however, the connection is much more explicit, with multiple Pokemon Ranger characters appearing throughout the show during the Advanced and Diamond and Pearl Series. There are "Pokemon Rangers" in the main series game, however they are more along the lines of park rangers, and are not meant to be the same as the Pokemon Rangers from the Ranger Series, as they utilize PokeBalls.
Pokemon Ranger - 2006
The first Pokemon Ranger I remember was met with a lot of confusion upon being announced---from the screenshots, no one knew what kind of game we were in for. The graphics looked different from the usual Pokemon titled, and many wondered if it was a sign of how the mainline series would look when it moved to the DS as well. One of the big excitement though was that the screens showed the main character walking in a world where Pokemon were actually seen on screen, as opposed to hiding in the grass. As more and more info came out about the game, interest waned when it was discovered it wasn't a typical RPG, and had two big elements that turned a lot of people off: you only temporarily partnered with Pokemon, removing the bonding aspect that attracts a lot of players to the franchise, and the central mechanic involving drawing circles around the Pokemon, which was deemed a simplistic and gimmicky use of the touchscreen.
And, truth be told, the first Pokemon Ranger was quite unpolished. The biggest issue is the difficulty of the capture mechanic, in which you need to draw circles around the Pokemon to gain their friendship (the amount of circles needed displayed above their head), while they move around and even attempt to break your line. Lifting your stylus up negates your friendship, and you have to start all over again, which becomes extremely frustrating as the fights get harder. This was what killed the game for me when I got to the later levels, but it was actually fixed for the sequels, which is why I think they should be given a chance. Your Capture Styler also has HP, which is reduced when you're hit, so you gotta be very careful as losing all your HP means a Game Over, and unlike in the main series, it's a return to your last save Game Over. The game has a slight RPG element to it, as your Styler's HP increases, as does the length of the lines you can draw, and you gain access to more Assists.
Pokemon you caught follow you around (it was doing this long before Heart Gold and Soul Silver, and with more Pokemon to boot!), and Pokemon have two uses. First, there are various obstacles that can be cleared through Pokemon Field Moves, usually based on their type. Fire Pokemon can Burn through obstacles, Water Pokemon can use their Water to put out fires and grow plants, and Electric Pokemon can Charge up your HP. Obstacles have ranks, and you'll need stronger Pokemon to clear them...a Torchic can't Burn through certain objects, but Blaziken can. Once you use a Field Move, the Pokemon leaves you, but you can usually find them again by returning to where you found them first. You can have multiple Pokemon following you, so it's good to always have a diverse group with you. Pokemon can also use Assists in battles, which has various effects that make capturing the Pokemon easier, and work using the Type System like in the main series---like with Field Moves, after an Assist is used, the Pokemon leaves, so save them for the harder enemies. Your player character has either Plusle, for the girls, and Minun, for the guys, who follow you around and have a special Assist known as Paralyze, which immobilizes the enemy, and can be used repeatedly once the energy for it is charged up by drawing circles.
The game is fairly linear, with you going through various set Missions. Pokemon can't be taken out of the area you find them in till the Post Game, so you don't have a lot of trouble figuring out what Pokemon you need, and there's not a lot of optional exploration to be found here. Like in mainstream Pokemon, capturing all the Pokemon once and registering them in your Browser is the secondary goal. It's fairly short as well, although with the difficulty ramping up I unfortunately never saw it through to the end. The plot is perhaps slightly more involved than the mainstream games (this was before Black and White upped the ante), but pretty cliche and silly. It takes place in the new Region of Fiore, and the bad guys are a group of musician-themed baddies known as the Go-Rock Squad, and their leader is so obviously the villain when you first meet him (where he basically treats you and Pokemon like trash), the game seems to be mocking the trope. They want to use the Capture Styler to control Pokemon for evil while you, as a new Pokemon Ranger, have to stop them. I don't remember much about the plot in this one, but the Go-Rock Squad are decently entertaining.
Overall, the first Pokemon Ranger is pretty rough around the edges, and I'd say not worth picking up when you can play the sequels. Except for a few cameos, the stories in each Pokemon Ranger are more or less self-contained, so you can easily skip this one and enjoy the plot of Ranger 2.
Pokemon Ranger, alongside the original Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon and Pokemon Trozei, was part of a group of Pokemon games known by the nickname "The Road to Diamond and Pearl" (this nickname stemmed from CoroCoro, I believe), which were released between Generation III and Generation IV. Pokemon Ranger features Pokemon from Generation I - Generation III, 210 of the then 386, but also introduces the Pokemon Manaphy from Generation IV...although only its egg, as you were required to complete a special mission and then send it to Diamond and Pearl when they were released for it to hatch. All three Pokemon Ranger games allow you to get a Manaphy Egg, and remains the easiest way to get the Pokemon, as otherwise it has only been released through a few events. Unlike other Legendary Pokemon, Manaphy can breed with Ditto in order to give birth to Phione, which is basically Manaphy-lite, and can be seen as an alternative to those who are unable to get Manaphy.
Pokemon Ranger was advertised pretty heavily in the show, more so than any other spin-off. First off, a few months before Pokemon Ranger was released, Advanced Generation 155 "Pokemon Ranger Appears! Celebi Rescue Mission" aired in Japan, featuring the female player character of Pokemon Ranger, Solana, and introducing the concept of Pokemon Ranger to the show. Then, a few weeks after the release of Pokemon Ranger, a one-hour special "Pokemon Ranger! Deoxys' Crisis" aired, which saw the return of Solana and the Pokemon Ranger concept. Both Celebi and Deoxys were featured in special Wi-Fi Events in Pokemon Ranger as well. During this time-period, the 9th Pokemon Movie was being advertised entitled "Pokemon Ranger and the Prince of the Sea: Manaphy", which focused on a Pokemon Ranger named Jack Walker and Manaphy, being the first time a Pokemon spin-off made it to the big-screen. It was obvious that The Pokemon Company had high hopes for this spin-off given the unprecedented amount of spotlight it was given, although in retrospect it obviously didn't live up to their expectations.
Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia - 2008
Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, the best Pokemon spin-off up there alongside Mysterious Dungeon Explorers. Sadly, the first Pokemon Ranger left a negative taste in a lot of people's mouths due to its rather frustrating capture mechanic, and a lot of Pokemon fans felt burned out due to how The Pokemon Company advertised it with a movie and everything. So, a lot of fans probably skipped over this title. But for those who played it, such as myself, we found a really solid game with a surprisingly fun system, and perhaps the best plot in a Pokemon title with a great localization, a true hidden gem.
First off, the biggest improvement in Pokemon Ranger 2 is by far the revised capture system, the biggest change being you no longer have to capture a Pokemon in one go, you can actually lift your stylus up for a few seconds and revise your strategy, or rest your hand for a second to avoid cramps. Furthermore, Pokemon don't have an amount of circles needed to be drawn for capture, rather they have a more typical HP Bar, which decreases as you draw circles around them, and the amount of HP they lose is dependent on a variety of factors, such as the Power Charge technique, where you can charge up the Capture Disc to increase the power of your circles. If you don't continue to draw around the Pokemon, their HP will slowly recover, but overall the system is far more forgiving than in the original, and this in turn allows the battles to become a bit more strategic as the Pokemon are capable of far more techniques to attack you with. You're also now ranked on your performance, and the end game features an Arena where you really get to put your skills to the test.
Pokemon Assists have also been revamped, and are funner to use to aid you in battle. In the original, much of the assists were passive effects that were activated basically by drawing circles, but here you get to roll up snowballs and toss it at Pokemon, create poisonous puddles, and sling bug webs at foes. Stronger Pokemon have longer duration when using their Assists as well. Rather than having Plusle or Minun as a Partner, throughout the game you find Partner Pokemon for each Type---Pachirisu, Munchlax, Starly, Kricketot, Croagunk, Mime Jr., Cranidos, Shieldon, Chimchar, Sneasel, Snover, Misdreavus, Hippopotas, Machop, Piplup, Turtwig, and Gible. These Pokemon hang out at a farm, and you can switch between them to have them follow you, their Partner Bar filling up over time and allowing you to use their Assists.
Field Moves work the same as before, but are far more visually interesting with many more obstacles and unique elements to interact with than ever before, and featuring a bit more puzzle solving than in the original. There are also some cool "Overworld" moves like Flying on Staraptor, Surfing on Empoleon, and riding around on Doduo. The world of Almia---a new region, like Fiore---is much more visually interesting and diverse, with a lot of neat set-pieces and areas to explore. The game is more open, as you can now take Pokemon outside their habitats at any point (where in the original you had to clear the game first), and their are 60 Side Quests to take part in where you explore to find rare Pokemon. Doing these Side Quests give you Capture Cards, which increase the ability of your Styler such as buffing its power, reducing the damage you take from attacks, and healing you upon circling Pokemon.
Perhaps the biggest draw of the game, in my opinion, is the surprisingly good story---for a Pokemon game. It's no The Last of Us, or the Order: 1886, but the plot is a bit more involved than the usual fare, and features a host of quirky, rather memorable characters. You play as a Pokemon Ranger in the midst of graduating the Pokemon Ranger School, and find yourself then getting involved with the Ranger Union to help the region of Almia. The evil team this time around is the awkwardly named Dim Sun...they're more or less simply the game's version of Team Rocket, but the real standout is the central villain, who has a pretty good and unique backstory for the series. The localization is where the game shines, like the Gen IV mainline games which I found to have a great localization (especially compared to how stiff Gen V was), Shadows of Almia is filled with a lot of humorous dialogue that entertained me throughout the story, and was one of the reasons I found the game so much fun.
The graphics have been sharpened up from the original Ranger, and are quite vibrant and colorful---I daresay the Ranger games easily look a bit nicer than the mainline games do, and it's sort of a shame we'll probably never see a "real" Pokemon game utilizing such detailed character and Pokemon sprites for the overworld. The music is a bit better this time around, but overall I never found the Ranger games to have music as good as the main games. The music isn't bad, but there's not too many memorable songs that stuck with me like the songs in the main series. I don't think any of the mainline Pokemon composers worked on the game, or at least I don't recognize them.
Shadows of Almia was released two years after Diamond and Pearl (this was back when we actually had more than a yearly gap between the main games!), and thus focuses on Generation IV Pokemon like Lucario, Heatran, and especially Darkrai. Out of the then 493 Pokemon, the game features a healthy 270 of them. Once more, a special mission allows you to receive a Manaphy Egg to send to the main series, but there is also a Riolu and Darkrai you can obtain that can be sent to the main game, although I don't believe these missions can still be done due to the Nintendo WiFi connection being shut down...
If you're gonna try out the Pokemon Ranger series (and you should...for me!), this is the game you should definitely go with. I think every Pokemon Fan should experience it once in their life, alongside Pokemon Snap, Mysterious Dungeon Explorers, and Pokemon Channel...okay, I'm joking about that last one. Actually, not really, I had a blast with that as a kid and it's extremely hypnotic. Good luck finding Pokemon Ranger games, though. While the main series DS games are still pretty well stocked, I haven't seen any of the Pokemon Rangers games for quite awhile.
After the middling success of the first Pokemon Ranger, the Pokemon Company sort of calmed down when it came to advertising the games. However, once more it did get an anime tie-in, although only one as opposed to multiple episodes and a movie, a one-hour special that aired during the Diamond and Pearl series entitled "Pokemon Ranger! The Wave-Guiding Riolu!" (DP 71-72) on the day the game was released in Japan. It sees the return of Solana, as well as the male protagonist of Shadows of Almia Kellyn, as they team up with Ash and Co. to rescue a Riolu from a gang of Pokemon Hunters. I have to say, this episode is really well done, and one of my favorite episodes in the series---it actually doesn't focus on the Pokemon Rangers that much, but rather on Ash and Riolu, and ties into a plot-point introduced in the Lucario Movie. This plot point was that Ash was capable of using the power of Aura to an extent, a neat idea that more or less seems to have been forgotten. The villains in this episode are also a bit more intimidating than the usual fare, and the first episode actually ends with a "Ash and Pikachu die" fake-out with them screaming as they're engulfed in flames. The dub episodes also keep all the Japanese score in-tact, so they treated this episode like a miniature movie basically. I'd actually say check out the episode too. The plot of this episode inspired the special Riolu Event Mission in Ranger 2, which was released around the same time via WiFi, but of course is no longer available.
