Rumble Tumble, and...

There's a bit of a sour news for those who are active playing Pokémon games on mobile phones. Pokémon Rumble Rush, the installment of Pokémon Rumble for mobile phones, is due to end its service on June 20. Prior to this, another mobile Pokémon game, Pokémon Duel, had ended its service a year ago. With the way things are going, it seems apt to review how some things are going on the Pokémon mobile game front aside from Pokémon Go, which has its own dealings.

The story of Pokémon Rumble Rush fizzling out might be similar to that of Pokémon Duel fizzling out: the support model might no longer be conducive to gameplay. The gameplay itself may not be problematic, if past iterations of Rumble are anything to go by, but if the support model is as demanding as that of Rumble World on the 3DS - which I've practically abandoned and will need to discuss separately - then it might become exorbitant, especially with fewer players. For now, the game survives with the scheduled events, before it takes the final "tumble".

Meanwhile, not far removed from Pokémon Rumble is Pokémon Shuffle, something that I play on the 3DS rather than on mobile, though the two appear to be in sync despite platform separation. This was my observation with a friend's progress. Even with that progress, however, I've noticed that on the 3DS at the least, there haven't been any significant updates for some time (with a lack of so-called "extra data") aside from regularly rotating Special Stages, including Competitive Stages. This is a strong indication that the game may have its support cut off soon, even with a viable support model and remaining dedicated players like me. Yet it's still quite playable.

On a more distant tangent, not much seems to have changed with Pokémon Magikarp Jump. The game remains playable, something I can attest by reopening the game today after a long time of not having played. Apart from an update to the ToS, the game itself has not been updated since a year ago. While this indicates stagnation and may lead to ceased support eventually, the game seems stable and entertaining enough to keep going for now. As noted by a friend, it is truly a single-player game and low-maintenance in some ways. I wouldn't be surprised if it can still carry through for a long time.

With Rumble Rush winding down to an eventual end in two months, the mobile playing field for Pokémon is about to be narrowing down once again. But even with that and the other games becoming stagnant (again, aside from Pokémon Go), at least there may still be room for playability. That seems to be just as important right now as keeping things going until things have to go out, though hopefully this might be longer for the other games, still allowing joy to be gained from them.

One year ago: Legends for Lunch and Dinner
Two years ago: Curveball Wisdom
Three years ago: The Music of the Poké Flute