One-Minute Cooking in Café Remix

Pokémon Shuffle has Competitive Stages as the way to prove one's puzzle skills against another; its successor Café Remix doesn't miss out on the matter and has something of its own. Here, it is called "One-Minute Cooking", and it's a rightful event of its own in addition to being a "stage". The individual editions are themed after a Pokémon that visits the café, which is likely to be a Legendary Pokémon of an important stature. Besides being competitive, it is also rife with perks and benefits for the featured Pokémon and beyond.

Like Competitive Stages, one is to build a team of four Pokémon - likely of a single element category - though this time it is to cook and serve up food to the featured Pokémon. All of the Pokémon in the team can use their special abilities, along with the leader Pokémon and its skill icon, to clear obstacles that are present in the stage while advancing "phases" and beating the clock. Though it is called "One-Minute Cooking", certain situations (including a "fever" period of increased scoring) can add time to the clock, and there is effectively a pause between each "phase". Regardless, once time runs out, bonus icons are cleared and the final score is recorded.

For those transitioning from Shuffle, there are some important differences. This mode is fully real-time rather than move-based, unlike the latter as the norm for the rest of the game and the duality of the predecessor. No items may be used before the stage starts or even during the stage, so it is purely a test of skills (and leveling up Pokémon) to a good extent - that's why all the Pokémon can use their abilities, not just the leader as is the usual norm for the game, though skill icons are still purely of the leader's skill. Finally, while rewards for certain achievements are given after the event has passed, it is also rewarding in certain other ways.

The reason for that is because as the stage is repeatedly cleared, thereby raising the "fullness" level of the Pokémon being served, one earns Legendary Coins that can then be exchanged in its "Swap Shop" for a myriad of items, as explained in my currencies post. One part of this exchange is hiring the Pokémon outright to help out in the café, and that should be the primary objective. It is still necessary and desirable to obtain as many of the other items as possible, since they include Tarts for raising Pokémon and even extra delivery tickets, Stamina Shards, and Golden Acorns, just to name a few. It becomes a "grindfest" for them, but they should be worth it.

As for the achievement of rewards after the event, that would be accomplished through rankings, which can be similarly viewed (for the top of the top 30 thousand, and nearby one's rank) and analyzed for Pokémon usage like its predecessor. Ranking rewards, though, are a little paltry - being Golden Acorns, Tarts, and a special frame for those higher up - so it can be reasoned that the main rewards are achieved through the "grinding" effort above, which admittedly would be considered more universal. Still, it is helpful to know that one will still be given certain rewards at the end of it all.

One-Minute Cooking is admittedly as much like as it is unlike its predecessor of Competitive Stages, but the overall objective is still the same: one takes on a stage filled with challenges and restrictions, and then one gets rewarded for it, in this case both in progression and at the end. It's a little distanced from the other usual norms of the game, but then so is its main feature of certain Legendary Pokémon. They're the ones who will appreciate the service, knowing that one has just done that for other Pokémon and the café in general.

One year ago: Hidden Tracked Statistics in Pokémon Go

Two years ago: Let's Talk About Household Creatures

Three years ago: And Intelligence

Four years ago: Proud to Be a Clean Cosplayer

Five years ago: Poké-Mobile Devices