@Shadowlink

Yeah, it's brand new for this Safari Zone. I definitely think it's a good idea for those rarer ones for people who don't go online to see who all is in the Safari Zone. It helps them realize when it's okay to stop if they're trying to catch everything. (Which is especially nice since one Pokemon in the Safari gives you 0 coins for beating it, and at least one other only gives you 10 coins for beating it.)

So far I've caught Zubat, Golbat, Crobat, and Pumpkaboo, and I've encountered Gourgeist quite a few times. I haven't seen either of the Dus(k/c) Pokemon though. I was able to beat Dusknoir itemless both times I fought him, but didn't manage to catch him either time. I think I'll try again once I catch Duskull since that appears in the Safari Zone, and it's supposed to be pretty common.

I played Mega Absol twice itemless, which got me into the top 20,000 who are supposed to get an Absolite, but then on Sunday I fell out of the top 20,000, so I did an all-item run, and that got me the Absolite and Mega Speedup.

@V_s

I'm just annoyed that my all-item run missed by *that much*.

What a waste of coins.

I've caught all but Zubat and Crobat. I beat Zubat but decided against using Great Balls, figuring I'd probably encounter him plenty of times while looking for the more rare ones.

@Jargon

Had the same idea with the zubes, but surprisingly only twice I've seen him and I should have just nabbed him. He's my only one I'm missing now of this set.

Surprisingly, I managed to encounter and catch everything today. Of course I was also off work due to Columbus Day, so I was able to sink a little more time into the game that I normally would have been able to. Still, the two rare Pokemon are apparently about as rare as Sharpedo was when it was in the Safari, and it took me a week of playing the Safari before I finally encountered Sharpedo.

I downloaded the mobile version of this game just to have something to do at work without having to bring my 3DS.

Boy, I don't know what it is, but my catch rate when the % is 75% or higher is abysmal. I don't understand it. Is the mobile game meant to be more frustrating? Can someone explain?

@TheOldManFromZelda

I've seen a lot of people saying that the Mobile game is more frustrating, more difficult, and feels like the percentages aren't accurate. But I've also read somewhere that someone who has hacked into the game and looked at the code confirmed that the percentages are accurate. So I have no idea.

Still no sign of Crobat for me.

@V_s

I don't think they are accurate at all.

I was also unaware of the "Capture this many Pokémon before..." limitation. That doesn't exist on the 3DS, right?

And the 'price' of power ups has been inflated for the mobile game as well. Weird that there isn't any consistency across the board.

@TheOldManFromZelda

Yeah, that and the 2-heart-cost-to-play-some-Special-stages restriction are Mobile only.

@V_s

2 hearts?

Man, the mobile version sounds like it's ingested some extra F2P evil. I heard something about Meowth grinding being much harder on the mobile version too.

Maybe the 3DS version was the experiment. Let us cheap-ass Nintendo fans exploit the system to highlight all the flaws, then tweak everything for the 'big money' version.

Wonder how long until those changes flow back through to the 3DS version.

Ugh, I might just go back to playing the 3DS version, then!

Shadowlink said:

I heard something about Meowth grinding being much harder on the mobile version too.

Yeah, apparently the Meowth coins on the mobile version can spawn anywhere on the board, where as in the 3DS version they never spawn along the edges. I think I also heard that the final coin spawns with 1 move remaining, instead of 2 remaining like in the 3DS. It basically sounds like the mobile version is unplayable unless you're willing to hack it, pay real money, or just have a tremendous amount of patience.

New Main and Expert stages this week. The Special stuff is all repeats (Banette competition, Giratina escalation)

@Jargon

Rewards are still on the Giratina though, good source of extra Speedups.

Especially since the competition for PAL is top 1000. 1000!

Bleh.

I like that most of the newest stages have been on the easier side. But I've hit a wall with Gardevoir. Just can't figure out how to beat her without items yet.

@V_s

Same. I got damn close on one attempt (A + 5 would have clinched it), but for the most part I can barely hit halfway. What a bitch.


I haven't checked yet, but I suspect the Mega may be either Gallade or Gardevoir. Both branches of that tree have slots for stones, and it's just a hunch given the prevalnce of that family in the last two updates.

@Shadowlink

I've already read up on who it is, so I won't spoil it for you, but I will say that the Mega effect for this one is interesting. It's a brand new effect, so I'll be interested in seeing how it actually works in play.

Dropped 4300 coins on Gardevoir, still only made it through by the skin of my teeth. Bah.

KlingKlang is an interesting stage. Your only choices are S-rank, or abysmal failure . (Do NOT use items, they are a waste.)

I figured it out though. Feels pretty good.

@Shadowlink

I don't understand that stage. I thought the goal was to get rid of all the Pokemon with no leftovers, but that didn't do anything. Do you have to do it with 0 turns left or something? I don't know how they expect you to figure that out.