Gimmicks in Café Remix

Besides just clearing Pokémon by linking their icons, the thing that makes Pokémon Café Remix what it is - an enigmatic puzzler - is the gimmicks that appear on the stages. They're the things that need to be cleared for achievement and can be cleared well with the special skills of certain Pokémon. As such, they are fairly numerous as well, and I'd like to discuss them not specifically according to what they are, but generally according to their properties.

Most gimmicks will respond to a "hit" - that is, making a Pokémon move that contacts them - but some gimmicks may require more than one "hit" to be cleared. Soda bubbles are of the former type, but whipped cream is of the latter, in normal cases requiring three hits. Some gimmicks, including whipped cream, are free-moving (also, mayonnaise), but many gimmicks are fixed in place (chocolate bars and vegetable crates) although they can also be made to move by the effects of "bubble"-type gimmicks, but only if they can be present.

Speaking of, some gimmicks regenerate themselves whether or not they are dealt with, like honey and white chocolate, creating copies of themselves on adjacent Pokémon icons. If not, they generate other gimmicks, like olives generating olive oil or the recently-introduced soda bottles generating soda bubbles; they may even "reset" themselves if not dealt with, as in the case of popcorn and pudding. Others that don't regenerate may activate and deactivate themselves after every move (pickles and marshmallows) and can only be normally cleared if they happen to be active.

A few gimmicks always come in pairs (nuts and nutcrackers, milk and shakers) and they need to be brought together to be cleared; the former moves freely while the other is normally fixed in place. Two gimmicks, tomatoes and basil leaves, require to be collected in baskets in order to be cleared and these baskets will always appear in the orders (stages) where they are present. There are also gimmicks begetting other gimmicks - not necessarily related ones - like the pot and parchment upon being cleared with hits; these may not have to be cleared in order to clear the orders.

Then, there are just gimmicks with irregular properties, like cheese that is slim and spans rows or columns, or strawberry crates that take up a 2-by-2 block. Vegetables and eggs also never disappear from a stage. The turnip takes four hits, and it is fixed for the first three hits before becoming free-moving for the fourth. The wafer is a gimmick that can clear other gimmicks by making hits on them. Finally, some gimmicks don't take hits at all (pumpkins and coffee cans) and need to be cleared by megaphones or otherwise with Pokémon skills.

In any case, the above descriptions are not meant to be exhaustive (especially if new gimmicks appear later on), but they should give an idea of what needs to be done in order to clear the gimmicks in both normal circumstances and when the Pokémon can help out to clear the gimmicks. It's essentially the main demand for a café that involves cooperation with Pokémon to create culinary delights from the basic ingredients (gimmicks) they deal with.

One year ago: Sending Champs to Be Champs

Two years ago: Remembering Missing PokéStops and Gyms

Three years ago: Pokémon Conventions?

Four years ago: Integration Prospects

Five years ago: More Pokémon Paper Things

Six years ago: Poké-Crafts Made out of Paper