The original Super Meat Boy was an indie darlings in the early 2010s. It’s been a mainstay for hardcore platform fans for over a decade, but the sequel hasn’t been as well received.
Last year Super Meat Boy Forever received an iOS and Android port, so that you too can enjoy hardcore dismemberment while on your way to work.
A new update has been made available for the mobile port adding procedurally generated levels and a vault of classic levels as well.
Here’s the lowdown on the new ways to play!
Say hello to “Meat Grinder,” which has two ways to experience levels in Super Meat Boy Forever
“The Daily Grind” is a randomly generated level that switches out daily. Get to the end as quickly as possible to top the leaderboards. Keep playing to beat your record!
“Quick Play” lets you play a level generated from all the “level chunks” in a chapter. Maybe you’ll see something new!
Forever Forge: Forever Forge is where we will showcase the best of user- generated levels. Our level creation tools were just released on PC, so check back for updates in the future. For now though, please enjoy a new chapter developed in-house called “Abattoir.” Ryan should really be fired for making these levels.
Fortnite’s Battle Royal community is buzzing with anticipation for the beginning of the game’s fifth season – all of this excitement has so far been capped off with an alternate reality game (ARG) that has seen recognizable in-game items leap into the real world. With vortexes appearing the sky, large burger mascots now living in the desert and rocket launches going awry it can be hard to keep track of it all.
Here is a brief, chronological look at the major events that have occurred thus far, leading up to the start of Season 5:
Sat June 30th– Countdown Ends With Rocket Launch
Televisions across the Fortnite Battle Royale map were counting down to … something. As the days ticked away to become hours and minutes players could hear a distinct sound in the skies above. Last Monday, as players stopped killing each other in order to watch what all of the fuss was about, a rocket was launched into the skies. Sadly, things went sideways as the rocket exploded, opening up rifts in the skies above. One player took it upon themselves to kill all the other players in their match while they watched the rocket ascend into the skies – setting a new multi kill record for the game.
Fri July 6th – Durr Burger From Greasy Grove Found In California
This past weekend Players noticed that the burg chain’s mascot found in Greasy Grove was missing, possibly sucked into the rift never to be seen again. Los Angeles area photographer and twitter user @Sekashiloni found the burger in the California Desert of all places. Accompanying the mascot were a police car from the world of Fortnite and a sign warning passers by about the dangers of dimensional rifts.
Tues July 9th– Supply Llamas Show Up All Over Europe
Today’s development is even stranger than a large cartoon burger entering the real world – Supply Llamas, which contain building materials and weapons within Battle Royale have been found in multiple locations across Europe. Confirmed locations for these rare drops include London, Cologne, Cannes and Warsaw. Photos of the Loot Llamas in these major cities are currently among the highest up-voted content to be found on the /r/FortniteBR sub reddit as of the time of publication.
What does it all mean? Only Epic knows at this point in time. Many have speculated that the Battle Royale map will be radically changed when Season 5 launches on July 12th. Save The World – Fortnite’s P.V.E mode has had an official development roadmap revealed over the weekend that includes flintlock weapons and western themed heroes. Will the new Battle Royale map not only be based upon the real world but also history as well?
The Elder Scrolls series doesn’t exactly have a positive history with mobile iterations – there’s that cancelled PSP version from 2008 that never saw the light of day and a 2006 Java phone game which is probably better off forgotten. All of that is about to change with the upcoming release of The Elder Scrolls: Blades for Android and iOS.
It seems that technology has finally caught up to Bethesda’s vision for a mobile ES title, as Blades is set to offer full dungeon exploration, full movement via digital touch controls, spell casting and console quality graphics. From the brief look given to the Blades at their E3 press conference it will be a hybrid between dungeon exploration (both procedurally generated and human designed) and customizing a town. Rather than being an open world sandbox players will be upgrading their town, taking on quests in various dungeons and leveling up their player avatar.
No word yet on how The Elder Scrolls: Blades will be monetized – it is available for pre-order on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store right now. Seems pretty silly to pre-order a free to play title, here’s hoping there aren’t literal “loot chests” in Elder Scrolls: Blades. As much as I despise “stamina systems” that encourage you NOT to play a given title, random loot drops are by far more predatory.
The Elder Scrolls: Blades is scheduled for release sometime this fall on Mobile and may eventually come to PC, Nintendo Switch and other consoles.
During the EA Play Pre-E3 press conference a former RTS mainstay made its return in the form of Command & Conquer: Rivals – A presumably Free to Play title similar to Clash of Clans and other action hybrid titles.
Longtime staples of the genre like resource collection and unit production are still present in this scaled down, e-sports focus take on Real time Strategy. Two players square off against each other on a small map to claim a central point and launch a pair of nukes at their opponents to claim victory. Several iconic units from C&C history did make an appearance in Rivals brief appearance on EA’s stage – groups of marines, the mammoth tank, tiberium harvesters and flamethrower units were all accounted for.
No word on how Command & Conquer: Rivals will be monetized and the game is still in pre-alpha. North American Google Android users can head on over to the Play Store and pre-register for access to the pre-alpha release. An iOS release is set to follow sometime later this summer.
EA’s last attempt at reviving the long dormant Command & Conquer franchise happened half a decade ago, all the way back in 2013. Originally announced as “C&C: Generals 2”, 2013’s cancelled entry was focused entirely on multiplayer and was cancelled soon after a closed alpha test concluded.
Niantic Labs rolled out an update to Pokemon Go today that brings a very special retro feature to the highly successful mobile game. All you have to do is take a look at your Pokedex index screen or list of available monsters to see that their usual 3D models have been replaced with adorable “twice the quality of 4K” sprites.
Here’s the full pop-up text as it appeared in Pokemon Go today:
“Experience Pokemon GO Like NEVER BEFORE with Brand-New Graphics!
Trainers, we always want to bring you the most immersive graphics experience possible, and were excited to share our latest breakthrough with millions of Pokemon GO Trainers around the world. Experience Pokemon GO like never before with cutting-edge 8-BIT GRAPHICS! Registering approximately twice the amount of definition of 4K, the chunky squares of each pixel provide realistic detail and unbelievable definition. Your Pokedex will feel lifelike in ways previously unimagined on any handheld device ever created. Enjoy it now!”
Also the Pokedex screen changes as well with the new “4K Sprites”, sadly only the index with all of your entries, when you click on an individual monster the usual 3D model will load. Here is a look:
I’ve been playing a lot more Pokemon GO this past week than I have in the past few months – solely thanks to the addition of Daily Quests and the chance to get the elusive Mew. If they made these retro sprites a toggle like the AR/Grass mode, I’d use them all the time!
What do you think? Let me know in the comments section.
A mobile only entry in the long running Tale of series, Tale of the Rays, will see the “Worldwide” version (read: international editions outside of Japan) end service just 15 months after launch. Originally released in February 2017 on iOS and Android, Tales of the Rays stars two brand new playable characters – Ix and Mileena – who must discover their true potential and the mystery behind Chiral Particles.
Billed by Bandai Namco as a “console quality experience”, Tales of the Rays allowed players to well known Tales of characters from across the franchises’ 23 year history. In practice, the game looked the part of a polished JRPG complete with voice acting and cinematic but the limitations of touch screen controls and up to 5 different forms of micro-transaction currency (!!) didn’t do the game any favors.
As announced on the official North American Tales of the Rays Facebook, service for the game will end on May 29th, 2018:
[Important] Tales of the Rays is Shutting Down
We regret to announce the closure of Tales of the Rays. Thank you all for your support and we hope you enjoyed playing. We will be keeping the servers open until 20:00 PDT May 29, 2018, so please continue to enjoy Tales of the Rays until the very end.
All items can be used until the last day, so if you have any items or Mirrogems in your account, please use them before May 29, 2018. Also, from today, we are disabling the purchase of Mirrogems.
For more information, please check in-game announcements.
*The exact time service will no longer be available may vary depending on your region.
Despite its use of “gacha” forms of microtransaction for random weapon drops, Tales of the Rays, did build quite a fan following across the globe in the short time it has been out. Players took to twitter to vent their frustrations about the game’s closure – including some who posted Change.ORG petitions to plead with Namco Bandai to keep the game open.
Tales fans: At least we still have Tales of the Rays.
The North American convention circuit is heating up once again with South By South West starting early next month, the Games Developer Conference rounding out March and the PAX East taking place in early April.
South By Southwest is more than a gaming convention – with creative works from the film and music industries also present. In terms of the gaming offerings at the show, SWSX has announced a number of Tournaments, Speakers and panels that will take place from March 9th thru the 13th.
The Discovery Stage is the central hub for SWSX’s gaming panel presence at this year’s convention. Sonic The Hedgehog’s official panel will be taking place on the Discovery Stage, for all of those fans of the Blue Blur. Castlevania Symphony of the Night developer and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night producer Koji Igarashi also has a slot on the big stage as well.
Here is just a small sample of the offerings at the Discovery Stage:
In terms of tournaments on offer, one of my favorite mobile games – Arena of Valor, a fast paced mobile MOBA will be taking the tournament stage by storm. I’ve written previously about how Arena of Valor provides an accessible, smaller scale MOBA experience without sacrificing the core gameplay elements and bright / flash graphics that can make MOBA games so addicting and satisfying.
Here’s the official description of Arena of Valor as provided by SWSX PR:
“Arena of Valor is a competitive 5-on-5 MOBA experience perfected for mobile, featuring turbocharged teamfights in quick 10-15 minute matches. A variety of champions fit any play style, making the game easy to pick up and play while still providing depth and complexity. Those who have mastered it will be in the spotlight at SXSW Gaming as they battle for the top prize on the Tournament Stage.”
Final Fantasy Awakening – the online only, multiplayer focused Final Fantasy Type-0 spin off game – is now available in several more countries, Square Enix announced this morning.
Set in the world of Orience, Final Fantasy Awakening allows players to recruit the 14 members of Class-0 to take part what’s called thee “2+2+1” Battle System – which allows players to select 2 members for their party, swapping them out at will while recharging the abilities of the resting members. Players from around the world join together to earn resources to level up abilities, equipment and unlock new classmates.
This game does employ a “gacha” system of randomization when it comes to both the rarity and % of unlocked class members. I’ve written previously about how these type of systems can be psychologically manipulative – using the same strategies and flashy graphics proven so successful for the gambling industry. Sadly, despite all of the bad press and negative player feedback sorrunding loot boxes and paid RNG drops – the practice is still prevalent in the mobile and space and increasingly so in console games.
Final Fantasy Awakening is available in the additional countries of Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, India, Laos, Cambodia, and Burma on the Google Play Store. It was launched in the USA this past October and is not available in Canada as of press time.
PlayStation 4 isn’t the only place where Final Fantasy characters from across the mainline series will do battle against one another. It turns out that Cloud, Sephiroth, Y’Sthola, Steiner and dozens of other FF mainstays will be making their way to mobile phones later this month with the release of Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia for Apple iOS and Google Android.
Unlike its console sibling, Dissidia NT, Opera Omnia turns back the clock to the classic Final Fantasy days and features a turn based battle system like those found in the SNES and PlayStation era titles. The battle system in Opera Omnia isn’t a direct copy of older ATB based games – the BRAVE mechanic from the proir Dissidia games makes its first appearance here. Land a hit at just the right time to do massive amounts of brave damage!
The art style reminds me of the FFIII remake from the Nintendo DS, with adorable low polygon versions of all of your favorite characters, who will.. Ahem *pardon the pun* square off in this free to play title.
Android users can pre-register for Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omni on the Google Play Store right now. No word yet on an exact release date and what regions the game will launch in but it will also be coming to Apple devices this month as well.
Pokemon from the Hoen region are about to find their way into our world with the rollout of pocket monsters from Generation III in Pokemon GO. Over the next few weeks, Niantic will make 50 different monsters from Ruby and Sapphire catchable in the augmented reality game.
Also coming to Pokemon GO for the first time is real-world weather that will affect gameplay. No longer will it be pouring rain on your virtual self while back, in reality, it is bone dry. Weather in POGO won’t just be cosmetic either, it will change which monsters you might find in the wild as well as other factors like combat power and stardust.
Here is what Niantic’s official press release said about the upcoming weather feature:
“For the first time in an augmented reality mobile game, the real-world weather will now be a factor in the gameplay experience. As Trainers are exploring the world around them in search of Pokémon, the current weather in their vicinity will be visible on the in-game map. The real-world weather around Trainers will impact the gameplay of Pokémon GO in a variety of ways that include changing Pokémon habitats and where they can be found, increasing Combat Power, and earning more Stardust after catching a Pokémon.”
Is the addition of monsters like Torchick, Mudkip and Swablue enough to keep you playing? Pokemon GO might not be the mega-smash success it once was back in the summer of 2016 but millions of Pokemon trainers still log in daily to catch them all!
Over the weekend I noticed that Capcom’s brand new mobile version of the classic Puzzle Fighter franchise had finally launched on iOS in Canada, giving me the opportunity to finally try it out for myself. As with any free to play title, I was weary of the specter of constant microtransactions, loot boxes and RNG paywalls. Puzzle Fighter is a surprisingly fun little diversion in spite of its monetization and questionable art direction.
Puzzle Fighter dates back to the 1996 PlayStation Original that featured adorable chibi sprite versions of Street Fighter II fan favorites like Ryu, Chun-Li and E Honda who battled each other using a tacking block mechanic, not unlike the one found in SEGA’s Columns. Puzzle Fighter for mobile retains this gameplay – asking players to stack together similarly colored gems, which then combine into larger crystals when stacked in formations of at least four. Players then must use a special glowing power-up that randomly spawns in place of a brick combination to eliminate lines/squares of colored bricks to pull off an attack against their opponent. Once a player’s health reaches 0, that’s it the round is over – no best of 3 here.
Unlike the ’96 game, 2017’s Puzzle Fighter is primarily focused on real-time competitive rankings. After completing a very basic tutorial that explains the game’s mechanics, players are given one free fighter (mine was Ryu – and judging from those I’ve played online this is probably going to be yours too) and taught how they can level up their fighters using gold earned at the end of matches. In total there are 11 different rankings ranging from various incarnations of Bronze, Gold and Silver and the game will allow you to freely try out a placement match in any rank.
Offline missions are available, but they come at a cost – cooldown timers. Players are allowed to partake in up to 3 matches before being asked to wait a staggering 10 hours for their freebies to reset. Collecting characters and move-sets are also conversely locked behind paid RNG chests which can only be earned through real money purchases. Winning a round in the online mode will grant a player a free trip to E Hond’s restaurant where he is ready to serve up a dining boat of RNG flavored loot. These dining boats of RNGness are said to be able to contain characters but I haven’t come across this – only earning moves and gold so far. Puzzle Fighter isn’t’ limited to just the Street Fighter franchise either, I had one offline mission reward me with Frank West from the Dead Rising franchise.
I’m having a lot of fun with Puzzle Fighter but I wish its free to play cooldowns and character rewards weren’t paywalled behind RNG loot boxes and Dragon Boats. Mechanically the game is fun and providing unlimited online mode for free players was a wise decision, I’ve lost more than a few hours at a time to Puzzle Fighter in the past few days. It’d be nice to be able to directly purchase the characters I would like or save up enough gold by playing online. Paid RNG loot boxes are manipulated and something I have a hard stance against. If you want to try Puzzle Fighter casually without putting in money, there’s a fun experience to be had. Just watch out for RNG Gacha.
The Sims has been a staple for simulation fans for the better part of two decades now, the original (released in 2000) is almost old enough to drink in the United States. While I’ve been a fan since the first iteration, I can’t profess to have partaken in any of the mobile entries in the franchise with the sole exception being The Sims 3 on the Nintendo 3DS, which I found to be so sub-par it wasn’t worth playing. Perhaps that is why it is so perplexing to me that my mobile vice at the moment is a five-year-old Sims mobile title from 2011 – The Sims Free Play.
Recreating friends and family has always been my go-to activity when enjoying brief obsessive periods with The Sims and the week I’ve spent with Free Play is no exception. Within the first 20 minutes of booting up Free Play, 3I had a pretty good facsimile of both myself and my wife, ready to go. This is where I found one of the first roadblocks that this game was going to throw in my way – at the start of the game a ‘family’ consists of only one Sim and you can’t move in with another sim until you’ve obtained the rank of ‘good friend’ or higher. As frustrating as that is (and for simple enjoyment purposes – it is frustrating) – I labored forward and purchased two lots for my wife & I, but elected to only build one house – SUCCESS!
Gameplay in The Sims Free Play will be instantly familiar to anyone who has played either The Sims 2 or The Sims 3. You guide your simulated people through the minutia of daily life – everything from making breakfast to sleeping, to skipping work entirely and watching a movie marathon is available to you at just the tap of the screen. On the bright colors, plum-bobs, interface design, and available actives give the impression of the same depth as this mobile game’s PC counterparts. It all works as you would expect: Sims sleep in beds, can enjoy passive time on the computer and chill in the Jacuzzi when times get rough. After assigning your first set of tasks you’ll probably instantly notice one of the key differences…
Actions in The Sims Freeplay take place in real time and players have no control to speed up the passage of time or slow it down. In essence, this makes playing with multiple Sims an exercise in managing various timers to see your chosen task completed. Activities in game roughly correspond to their real life counterparts: Watching a movie takes 2 hours in real world time, making dinner can take half an hour etc. While this would be super annoying – *sarcasm* luckily you can PAY EA money to avoid waiting around for your tasks to complete – making this one of the friendliest-looking Skinner boxes around. Testing your patience to wait for several hours versus the options of opening your wallet and dumping out pocket change for micro transactions.
It is not all doom & gloom and waiting hours for your bars to fill up, however. There is a very positive upside to how The Sims Freeplay’s core mechanics work that can actually bring quite a bit more enjoyment out of the game without having to close it. Just like in the PC versions, you’ll need to manage a number of meters like thirst, hunger, cleanliness, social time for each of your Sims. Thankfully the shortest activities (say eating a snack for 1 minute vs cooking dinner for half an hour) still count towards these metered needs. I’ve had the most fun simply telling my sim to do one short activity after another to meet their needs. This strategy not only cuts down on the amount of time you are outside of the game but also provides a similar feeling to playing the PC titles – watching your Sims interact or do other daily activities without having to go through the laborious time commitment.
The Sims Freeplay has a few glaring downsides to it: the inability to spawn infinites amount of money or speed up time takes some of the creativity and humorous moments from the core experience. Sims themselves lack any kind of will of their own or even the ability to cue multiple actions in a chain to automatically carry them out – this means you’ll literally be guiding each of their actions independently. EA’s constant reminders that “HEY YOU CAN SKIP THIS TIMER IF YOU JUST PAY US MONEY” can be more than a little obnoxious as well. Despite all of these negatives I’ve enjoyed my time with The Sims Freeplay enough that is has been my go-to time waster for the past week or so. Without paying any real world cash I’ve got a mobile Sims experience that on the surface resembles its’ larger counterparts while still including elements that have made the series so enjoyable these past 20 years (seriously if I could get a pinball table in my living room I would so DO IT).
My best advice if you decide to try out The Sims Freeplay is to adjust your expectations accordingly. Know that you will be pestered to buy micro transactions, with some creative gameplay choices you can get around these for the most part, none of the self driven or goal focused A,I exists in this game and that in the end The Sims Freeplay doesn’t offer parity with the PC Versions, even if you were to buy EA’s post expensive micros transaction. Still, a stripped down mobile Sims is a stripped down mobile Sims and I’ll be playing it for the next little while at least.
If you’ll excuse me – I’ve got a house to burn down….
Niantic and Nintendo rolled out the recently announced Gym / Raid update for Pokemon GO on iOS and Android this afternoon. Trainers haven’t been able to go to their local Gyms for a few days now, simply receiving a message that “Gyms are currently under construction” – and as of the writing of this post, this is still true in North America. In their official announcement, which you can check out here, Niantic called this update to Pokemon Go “the biggest update” the game has received yet.
Raids
Remember that stunning moment in one of the Pokemon Go reveal trailers where dozens upon dozens of trainers got together in Times Square to battle Mewtwo? That dream is taking one step closer to reality with the addition to Raids in Go. Basically, a large egg will spawn above select Gyms with a timer. Trainers have until the timer reaches zero to assemble and prepare to work together to take down the Raid Boss. Each boss will be a surprise, and as of right now we don’t know if Raid Bosses will include legendaries but it is certainly possible.
Participating in the Raid events does come at a cost, either by collecting the one free “raid pass” that you are entitled too from a participating Gym or by purchasing a Premium Raid Pass in the Coin Shop.
Here is how Niantic explained the differences between the two passes:
“Before you can battle the Raid Boss, you’ll need a Raid Pass. You can get one free Raid Pass per day by visiting a Gym, but you can only hold one at a time. You can also get Premium Raid Passes from the in-game shop. “
New Items
Defeating a Raid Boss can reward a number of new items to the participating trainers including:
Rare Candy – Can be used to generate a single Pokemon candy of any kind.
Golden Razz Berry – Greatly enhances the capture chance of a wild Pokemon.
TMs (Technical Machines) – Used to teach a Pokemon a new fast or charged attack for use in Gyms.
Gym Enhancements and Badges
Gyms are receiving a massive overhaul in the latest version of Pokemon GO. No longer will Gyms be stacked with six unbeatable 3000CP Dragonites or Blisseys that you have no hope of defeating. Thanks to a new motivation system there is also a higher chance individual trainers will be able to contribute a Pokemon to their local gyms, rather than waiting on the sidelines. Special items, badges, and other incentives will also give trailers a reason for stopping by a Gym – rather than letting it literally pass them by.
Here is a quick rundown with how Gyms are changing once construction is finished:
Pokemon in Gyms is no longer tied to their Combat Power. Instead, each Gym has six slots available to the controlling team.
Pokemon taking up the six slots will lose “motivation” over time or when defeated. As their motivation drops their Challenge Points will also decrease, making them easier to defeat.
Once a slotted monster is defeated that slot becomes open again for new trainers to park their favorite little mon.
Gyms can now be spun like PokeStops to reward trainers for visiting them.
Badges have been added that will give players a visual memento for the contributions they’ve made to Gyms during their journey.
So, how do you feel about the latest Pokemon Go update? It may not be the huge fad it was one year ago but millions of trainers still play the game – myself included. Badges and free items could be an interesting incentive to visit Gyms and I’m glad that Niantic has provided a way for everyone to participate in raids. I haven’t owned a Gym in mooooonths, since other trainers starting stacking them with so many Blisseys.
Perhaps this will spark huge crowds like in the video above? What do you think? Leave your comments below!
SEGA has announced the rumored SEGA Forever, a mobile-centric collection of classic titles spanning over 20 years of releases and three console generations. With 5 SEGA exclusive Genesis titles available at launch – Sonic The Hedgehog, Comix Zone, Phantasy Star II, Altered Beast and Kid Chameleon – there’s quite a few different genres represented. SEGA Forever games support features like cloud saves, Bluetooth controllers, save states and offline play regardless of the player’s advertising status. As with the Crazy Taxi port released a couple of weeks ago – games in SEGA Forever collection will be supported by periodic in-game advertisements, however, these can be removed for $1.99 USD per title.
SEGA is promising to release more classic titles from the Master Drive, Genesis, Saturn and even 1999’s Dreamcast (a personal favorite) at some point down the line. Players should expect new releases every two weeks or so but SEGA has not yet confirmed any future titles for the service.
Check out some media below and make sure to check the Google Play Store and Apple App Store for SEGA Forever when it launches tomorrow.
The big N has been pretty consistent with their mobile offerings despite the fact that the majority of them have been developed by third parties. Magikarp Jump is the company’s latest attempt to bring the world of Pocket Monsters to our smart devices and unlike last year’s very faithful translation, Pokemon Go, Magikarp jump knows that it stars a flailing joke of a Pokemon and takes that to its logical conclusion.
I was kind of blindsided by the release of Magikarp Jump just a little under a week ago, I hadn’t played Select Button’s (the developer of Magikarp Jump) other smash hit Survive Mola Mola so I had no clue what I was getting myself into. Jump and Mola Mola shares a lot of elements – namely the training & grooming of sea creatures over multiple generations – so if you’ve played Survive Mola Mola you have an idea of how Magikarp Jump works mechanically.
Players take on the role of a Magikarp trainer (yes those apparently exist) after stumbling upon a once bustling seaside town whose main source of pride & entertainment are their Magikarp Jumping competitions. Lately, the fish Pokemon has decided that jumping into the air for the amusement of humans is for the birds and now it is up to the player to bring the motivation back to these once floppy fish and restore the town.
Gameplay in Magikarp Jump is divided into three distinct phases:
Feeding your fishie in a pond or stream.
Training them through several automated training sessions.
“Battling” other Magikarp trainers in jumping completions to become the league champion.
Each of these three phases is a core part of maxing out your Magikarp’s “Jump Points”, which determine how far into the air they can fling themselves. In the feeding phase, you simply tap on the food in the stream and the Magikarp will swim on over and eat it up, increasing its JP. In the training mode, your Magikarp will do one of a number of unlockable automatic training sessions that will raise its JP further than food will. “Battles” are probably the most aesthetically pleasing part of the whole process – narrated by commentators and featuring absolutely silly animations of fish flopping on the ground before creating large creators in the ground. Try and watch a Magikarp battle and not crack a smile, I swear it is impossible.
Another win in Magikarp Jump’s appeal over other attempts to bring Pokemon to mobile devices is how this game handles monetization. The amount of Jump Points earned from activities like training and feeding is tied to a percentage, which can be raised using in-game coins. Coins are earned for completing achievements, competing in League Battles and found randomly within the pond gameplay sections. Real world money can be spent on extra items to give your Magikarp that extra % or give the player a number of coins to buy training upgrades but you are always limited by your overall training level which can only be raised by participating in League Battles. Speaking of League Battles these are also locked behind a timer to replenish your total # of attempts. These timers, however, are so small (approximately 30 minutes) that you’ll hardly notice them. To top it all off – all of these optional purchases are capped at $100 USD – lifetime! Meaning you can’t just dump your entire wallet into the game to watch an imaginary fish fly high.
Overall Magikarp Jump is an absolute delight. Whether it’s the nearly fourth wall breaking commentary, the grin-inducing animations of an orange and white fish flopping against a sandbag, the colorful art-style or the sad feeling you get when putting your first generation Magikarp into retirement – Jump is a self-aware and often silly game that never takes itself seriously. It is definitely worth checking out if you are a Pokemon fan – it is currently available in the App Store and Google Play Store.
