An interesting twist to the Pokemon formula.
Pokémon Rumble takes place in a world filled where only Toy Pokémon live. They travel through the terminal to 6 different locations and form teams to take on the Battle Royale and become champions.
To play, players hold the Wiimote horizontally, use the + button to move and use 1 and 2 to use separate attacks. In the beginning you start out in Terminal C in Normal Mode and with a Rattata Toy. As you run through the first level, you'll battle enemy Pokémon and reach the springs that will take you to the next section of the level.
When enemy Pokémon are defeated they will drop Poke (money) or "tip over" allowing you to collect them and add them to your team. Sometimes after attacking an enemy Pokémon, they will become dizzy. If you can defeat Pokémon that are dizzy, they will automatically tip over. Adding Pokémon to your team is similar to trying to catch them in the RPG games. It requires skill and timing to try to add more Pokémon to your team. Sometimes you may even find Pokémon with a special ability. Or maybe even a Shiny one!
At the end of each level is a boss area, where there is a huge Pokémon that acts as a Boss and many a certain Pokémon that respawn and are there to help it. It is possible to recruit the Boss Pokémon, but it is very difficult. Once a boss is defeated, it will drop a lot of Poke and the spring to the exit will appear.
When roaming through the levels you have 3 Wonder Keys (lives). You can switch Pokémon when they're low on health, but it takes 5 seconds to switch out, leaving your current Pokémon vulnerable to attack.
Once you come back from the terminal you can use the Poke you have to buy new moves for your Pokémon, release Pokémon, or add Pokémon. However, the move and Pokémon received is random. When you release 5 of the same Pokémon, you can get a ticket to get a Pokémon from the same evolutionary line. This is good if you're trying to complete your collection. There are also Pokémon you can unlock using Passwords and releasing specific Pokémon in a sequence.
After you going through the levels and finding a Pokémon with a certain Power, you'll gain access to the Battle Royale of the Rank. The Battle Royale is similar to Boss Areas of the regular levels except the matches are timed, the enemy Pokémon are random and attacking each other and you, you can't recruit Pokémon here, you can only switch out 2 times when defeated, the Boss Pokémon fight in groups. Not only that but there's an electric fence surrounding the area, which will help or hurt you. You'll have to fight wisely and quickly to obtain victory in the Battle Royale.
After winning a Battle Royale match, you will be able to go to the terminal of the next rank. Terminals of higher ranks have stronger Pokémon, better moves, and longer stages.
Pokémon Rumble is an interesting game. You or a group of friends get together and battle and collect Poke and Pokémon to prepare for the Battle Royale. I almost wish there was a jump button and more buttons so that we can use 4 different moves instead of just 2.
However, there are a few things I noticed about the game. Since we are going back to the idea of "Collect them all", Pokémon cannot evolve or level up. You have to collect stronger ones in order to succeed. Also, even though that is the idea, the only Pokémon in the game are from Kanto/1st Gen and Sinnoh/4th Gen. Although it was interesting seeing this mix of Pokémon together, I wished they had included all of the Pokémon, including Arecus. Status Effects can happen to all Pokémon so the rules like "Fire Pokémon can't be Burned" doesn't apply here. Finally, I wished there was an option to use the Nunchuck because sometimes the + Button turned my Pokémon in the wrong direction, which messed up certain attacks that can be controlled by turning, to hit more enemies.
I played the demo that is available now for free on Wiiware before making my final decision to buy the game. I enjoyed the game. So whether you like Pokémon or are waiting for Soul Silver and Heart Gold, give the game a try.