The Happy Bonus in Café Remix

There's a feature or aspect in Pokémon Café Remix that I've mentioned every so often but I've yet to explain. That would be the Happy Bonus, which by its name is indeed a "bonus" of sorts and a very beneficial one at that. As helpful as it is, it does come with quirks of its own, including those related to the way of obtaining the bonus and its persistence. Because of this, an explanation of it is somewhat demanded in order to assist others to make use of it.

First comes the matter of its appearance. Happy Bonus is something that appears fortuitously - in other words, by chance, and rather rarely at that. After completing a main order, past order, or individual Pokémon training order, the Happy Bonus might become activated. Fortunately (or unfortunately), the bonus is not activated if One-Minute Cooking was played; this may be good news for those seeking to avoid it or a helpful cue for those who do want to encounter it. For the latter, that is where and how things become useful.

Above all else, the Happy Bonus has these benefits: it provides two extra hearts for the motivation level of Pokémon guests to join the staff as well as extra points in individual Pokémon training. Therefore, once the Happy Bonus is activated, focus needs to be shifted to making Pokémon join the staff, if there are still any - including Shiny Pokémon, which seem to have not been around recently - or to train Pokémon. And all that has to happen within a span of 15 minutes, because that is precisely how long the Happy Bonus lasts.

Since I play a lot of One-Minute Cooking recently, most of my Happy Bonus efforts have been directed to raising Pokémon for that purpose, if somehow activated. But in the past, I've also used it to recruit Shiny Pokémon as above, especially with the use of a Heaping Helping Ticket and repeat orders to just get it done quickly. These are regardless the best usage scenarios for the Happy Bonus, so any player is free to do the same when it is active. Extra Stamina may be needed for Happy Bonus purposes, but any player should be able to provide that with resources at one's disposal.

While Happy Bonus is short for its intended purposes and may be rather infrequent due to its chance-based appearance, there are still some uses for it for both new and old players alike. But once it appears, it should be taken advantage of if possible to tie up loose ends or improve situations. Like "happy hours" at certain establishments, the Happy Bonus might be only rather opportune, but when it does happen in Café Remix, it ought to be lively all the same.

One year ago: Filling a Trainer's Home with Pokémon

Two years ago: Tournament: Raid Group Master League Classic

Three years ago: Let's Talk About Phones and Gadgetry

Four years ago: Livestream and Let Livestream

Five years ago: Cosplay: SJF - Tomodachi 3

Six years ago: Iron Trainers?

Improving on Routes (...Maybe?)

I've discussed the Routes feature in Pokémon Go and many of its associated aspects and quirks a couple of months ago. I've also mentioned in last month's event rollup that the feature has had some improvements applied to it, so now there is the need to discuss that. Obviously, the improvements are to eliminate some of the quirks, and that has indeed happened; however, it seems certain other quirks still remain, and that means they are still a pressing issue. Both of them still do need to be addressed regardless.

Route selection and initiation still occurs by way of the associated section in the Nearby tab pop-out. The process is no longer as finicky as before and should be smooth, making the feature more practical. When selecting a Route, "marching triangles" now appear on the path to indicate the direction to take, even as the Route direction is reversed (if possible for the Route); reversed Routes also count as separate Routes from the respective starting point. One concession is that the "Official" section for the Route list is now eliminated, which may mean that it may not be ready for "prime time" yet, even if the feature overall is as such.

On the other end, Route completion is now no longer automatic when a Trainer reaches the proximity of the end point; the completion has to be manually declared by tapping the Route icon just above the Nearby tab, selecting the option, and confirming the popup. This was implemented likely to avoid false completion detection if the start and end points are close together or even the same (for a loop Route), but more likely to allow Zygarde Cells to be collected - in fact, one or more of these often appear at the ends of Routes, and the popup message does address the issue, as the Cells cannot be collected once a Route is completed. Route color markers are now also rather varied, with 10 possible colors to indicate them. 

Most importantly, now many more Trainers are able to create Routes. After being limited only to the "special" Trainers, those of Level 48 also became able to create Routes, before being progressively lowered to 45, then 42, and now 40 at present. This means a good proportion of veteran and quickly progressing Trainers are now able to create Routes, and this should mean lots of variation in turn. Since this is a creation process, however, it is not likely that the process will be extended to Trainers of lower levels, at least significantly; it may be extended to Level 38, the current minimum for PokéStop nominations, but perhaps no further than that. Still, the variety of Routes that comes out of the current group should be sufficient.

Then there are the quirks that still exist. Going back to Zygarde Cells, even with good visibility of the screen, sometimes they are not spotted at all until Pokémon Go is restarted, which shouldn't be a "last resort workaround" of sorts, although this may help with missed Cells along the way. Similarly, starting Routes shouldn't require workarounds like restarting, switching to other apps, or turning off Adventure Sync to deal with them not starting even at the start point. Pausing during Route creation is also still an issue as it just does not seem to work, at least for me. These quirks may still be critical to address. 

After a couple of months of being live, the Routes feature in Pokémon Go seems to have shaped up with improvements, even if they seem rather spotty and leave some things (the quirks) to be desired. For a feature that has become somewhat important in different ways, the less-than-perfect quality of it may become a detractor in some ways despite all other things being just fine, if not close to perfect. Yet, it's still a way of laying down new exploration paths... and perhaps also the paths to its own improvement.

One year ago: Means of Venturing for Trainers

Two years ago: One Girl Is Company, Two Girls Are...

Three years ago: Official Representative Pokémon for Regions

Four years ago: (Not) Sparkling Names

Five years ago: My Town, Pokémon Town

Six years ago: What's in a Name?

Warring for "Pokémon" Tickets?

In a few days, I may need to go into a "ticket war" in order to be able to get into something that I usually utilize to show off my Pokémon interests. It had been confirmed today in a seemingly unusual twist, as in the past, going into the "ticket war" was usually unnecessary. For other occasions, "ticket wars" often become the norm, especially as they are extremely popular and slots are often very limited as a result. Yet it seems that even "ticket wars" may still be needed for some "Pokémon" affairs - in quotes, as that is the bulk of the relevance for me and this blog.

The most likely occasions that I have to go into "ticket warring" for are events and conventions, in particular those related to (Japanese) pop culture, as that is where I bring out my Pokémon cosplay and interact as a Pokémon fan primarily. In recent times, they've understandably gotten more and very popular to the point that even tickets to them have to be presold - often at a special price or deal - and/or attendance has to be capped, which obviously facilitates the necessity of "ticket warring". It could thus be said that for my foray into Indonesia Comic-Con earlier this year, I had to go into "ticket warring", even though the "battlefield" was relatively sparse and I got what I needed without too much of a struggle (or "combat" due to the given nature of "war") in certain senses. And that was truly a Pokémon affair due to Rica Matsumoto being in it; the same would be expected if any event or convention brought something heavily linked to Pokémon.

While there may be no "tickets" per se for things like Pokémon game competitions, some of them may have limited slots for entrants like me, so a bit of "warring" may be needed in order to participate in them. In such a situation, the "ticket" could be considered as the preparation and fulfillment of entry requirements, and the race to do so before others can do the same. In some cases, the "warring" could be rather intense as there could be many potential entrants and they are all bringing their serious game. After that "warring" ends, then there may be some "sub-wars" for the grand main part of the competition, the "ticket" for which are the results of the "sub-wars". These are all still a stretch of the real "ticket warring", but inherently, there are similarities in the processes.

As the time comes to face that "ticket war", I have to remind myself that my Pokémon interests still take precedence over most other things, and my showing off of those interests may be realized with or without success in the "ticket war" to come. Regardless, I may still have to face "ticket wars" elsewhere for that purpose, but that may be the struggle for ensuring that others can see that my interests are still relevant in any case.

One year ago: Possible Future Unite Licenses? (Take Two)

Two years ago: Quickies: Nurse Joy, the Maintainer of Health

Three years ago: Circus You Create

Four years ago: Gym Progression in Pokémon Go

Five years ago: Starters and "Pseudo-Starters"

Six years ago: The Old New Thing: Second-Generation Games

Item Drops in Pokémon Go

In recent Pokémon Go events, one might have noticed that some Pokémon can have an additional item "aspect" to them. Specifically, when they are captured, they may beget additional yet certainly useful items. This aspect is called "item drop", as the Pokémon let go of what is essentially an item being held as they are captured, and the capturing Trainer receives the item along with the caught Pokémon. It's an aspect that has now made its debut in Pokémon Go and stands to be rather useful.

The first Pokémon to receive the aspect were Carbink and Rayquaza, way back during this year's global edition of Pokémon Go Fest. For Carbink, the dropped item was Diancie Mega Energy, since by lore, the latter arose out of a mutation of the former; this makes sense, especially practically as Diancie is a Mythical Pokémon of a special nature and is not to be raided for. For Rayquaza, the dropped item was a Meteorite, which by lore is the item that allows Rayquaza to Mega Evolve; in the case of Pokémon Go, the item teaches the move Dragon Ascent (here a Charged move) and enables Mega Evolution for a chosen exemplar. These two work out by the properties of the items and their backstory.

Last month, as I've mentioned, the item drops were for Oddish, which is useful for evolving it to Bellossom. This leads to the intriguing possibility that future item drops will be for highly pertinent items - in this case, an evolutionary item - to the species dropping the item. For example, Slowpoke could drop a King's Rock, or Scyther could drop a Metal Coat; yet, they could also drop from other relevant species like Hariyama and Lairon respectively.

As for other future developments, they may be tantalizing to consider. Item drops may become a replacement for Timed Research sets that furnish evolutionary items during Community Day. Like with Carbink above, it may be possible for relevant species to drop Mega Energy, as an alternative to raiding, Field Research, or walking. If they occurred even more often generally for all Pokémon, they could even furnish Berries, or in the case of Pokémon that in the main series games have the Pickup ability, the items that they usually grab from the wild. All of these possibilities make sense to a certain extent and could just be implemented.

With item drops, there are greater possibilities of showing how Pokémon interact with items of different kinds, as well as the possibilities of items that Trainers could just obtain by catching Pokémon. In that regard, the usefulness is highly evident and the expansion possibilities are rife. That may also just become the precursor for capturing more Pokémon as the primary purpose of this game.

One year ago: Quickies: Needing a Speed Boost

Two years ago: Possible Future Unite Licenses?

Three years ago: The Sun Also Rises... on SLA

Four years ago: Dub Reunion, Dub History

Five years ago: A Strongly Brilliant Thing

Six years ago: Feelings for Female Trainers

Updated Emblems in Pokémon Unite

I've written about what now has become a key feature of Pokémon Unite - Pokémon emblems - last year, and in doing so I've essentially covered the basics. What's not so basic is that like with any feature, it can receive updates, and that was exactly what happened since then and in particular for the game's second anniversary. Therefore, it's only right that I cover what's new since then, or at least what I hadn't covered. They're the updates beyond the basics of the feature and they extend the feature in scope and length.

And "extend" is a key description, for the emblems had been extended to cover all species of and from Johto, which means those with Dex numbers #152 to #251, plus Zacian as an out-of-band addition for a total of 252 emblems in all. Likewise, most of these new additions should be able to be encountered by drawing for them through energy exchange, save for the case of the Mythical Pokémon of Celebi, which demands its own event as with Mew. Regardless, this is a significant extension and affirms that they're here to stay.

That is also further affirmed by the addition of a new level of emblem rarity: platinum. Unlike the lower rarities, this is at present limited to a handful of species, and the emblems are event-exclusive; for those who lucked out, they may have obtained Pikachu, Mewtwo, and Mew earlier this year. Eventually, once things begin to become "saturated", it may be possible to obtain them for more species and in different ways. For now, one will likely have to be content with the rest of the available Pokémon being gold emblems until platinum can become more commonplace.

While not a true "extension", I do have to mention and expound the item that can be used to earn emblems of higher rarity - actually, two of them. The Silver Emblem Box rewards a silver emblem for a common (not rare Mythical) Pokémon, though it has a very small chance of a gold emblem, while the Gold Emblem Box rewards a gold emblem. The former, at least, can also be obtained as Unite Squad rewards and rare prizes in events, while the latter is the expected Battle Pass reward. A true "extension" will likely reward these in more ways than the limited ones right now.

Undoubtedly, the Pokémon emblems feature is now no longer "basic" in scope and length with these extensions, especially if they foretell of possible future ones. Yet the feature remains "basic" in another sense as it is one that players need to utilize and refine in order to get the most out of the Pokémon they will frequently use in Unite battles. That should be able to happen in even more different ways with these extensions, given all the current and soon-to-be added Pokémon to battle with, on the maps of Unite.

One year ago: Enjoyment at the Mercy of...

Two years ago: The Little Jungle Cup of GBL

Three years ago: Gotcha Good, Like I Should

Four years ago: Preparing for Sword and Shield

Five years ago: The Items of Shuffle's Special Shop

Six years ago: When an Iris Blooms: Episode 669 - "The Bloom Is on Axew!"

Brighter Days of Pokémon Youth

Over the course of this blog, I've written occasionally about Pokémon "history", which applies for both the franchise itself and the people who enjoy it - including myself, of course. It has encompassed over a quarter century and is now closing in on completing three decades, and that's not a short time. With that length of time, some people are bound to consider the earlier years of Pokémon - the "younger" years - as being brighter than the present, and that might seem reasonable given everything that Pokémon has today.

Back then, there were only the main series games to be considered (and played) and few, if any, spinoff games for that purpose as well. In effect, the latter didn't "compete for the light" of the former, even if now the major competitive games all shine in their own ways. Also back then, all the possible variations of Pokémon species that exist today had yet to be realized, leaving imaginations rather free and wild while the future wasn't yet "muddied", in a way. It too was a brilliantly simpler time with less mechanisms to worry about, which is another sense of brightness. In a way, its essence is now captured by Pokémon Go, and while it's still bright, it may never be as bright as it once was.

I'll admit, this discussion was partially inspired by a song. The title, when translated, means "The Brighter Days of My Youth", and its singer is the same as two songs I've discussed nearer to the present and farther away in the past. The only problem is that the song comes out to be very somber in translation, almost "dark". Whereas, I consider Pokémon to be always bright for me and other fans, even if the past could be considered to be brighter than the present. So, the song I am mentioning may not really apply to this state of affairs, but at least the spirit of the translated title may still apply somehow - though not necessarily in the same way.

At this moment, I'm no longer as young as I was when I truly became a Pokémon fan, and perhaps that applies well to most of the Pokémon fans that I know. Yet even today, Pokémon may be considered to maintain a state of brightness left over from its past, which could be considered brighter than it is today. Still, it seems no matter how old or young fans are relatively to Pokémon, a sense of brightness is certainly what attracts them.

One year ago: Leveling Up Pokémon in Café Remix

Two years ago: Having Pokémon Friends Over for the Night

Three years ago: I'm Gonna "GOTCHA!" Good

Four years ago: The Singapore Pokémon Center

Five years ago: (Welcome Back to) Local EX Raid, 10/2/2018

Six years ago: Preparing for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon

Cosplay: "My Town" Food Festival

Me: Well, because I needed to discuss about some Pokémon happenings, and it was the absolute last day for that yesterday, I couldn't discuss about anything else.

Goh: And this festival event happened yesterday.

Me: Indeed, so this is one of those times it's discussed not on the day of. Now, remember the "TM Town Festival" from a couple of weeks ago?

Ash: Oh yeah, the one that got ran over by another festival event.

Pikachu: Pika... ["That..."]

Me: As you saw the other day, it was pretty much the same food fair, but the festival part was organized by someone else.

Ash: I did see that.

Goh: So, um... I'm getting info that it was also the same place as Shokumatsu. I sense a thread here - that characters were just brought in to make it crowded.

Ash: There was a big crowd, so you have to be right.

Me: I think so too. But at least they got the crowds and the character people and fans got a good time.

Ash: I think everyone did!

Goh: That is definitely a sight. So what happened?

Ash: So, our friend sent me to the festival, and I got there just as it was about to start. I signed up for the character parade and was good to go.

Me: Oh yes - that's a big reason why I sent you. Go on.

Ash: And all this while our friend also sent me to look for Azurill from Eggs.

Goh: That must have meant a lot of walking.

Pikachu: Pi pika chu! ["We didn't mind!"]

Ash: Nah, we didn't mind at all! Anything for our friend.

Goh: How was the character parade?

Ash: There weren't many! Only 10 or so. But I didn't win, and I thought I could.

Goh: That's too bad.

Me: I thought you had the chance too.

Ash: I think the judge is also a character friend of us.

Me: Oh. Well, that might explain things.

Goh: Was there other entertainment?

Ash: Just a dance cover group - but they played games also. There was a sing-along at the end, but I didn't join in.

Goh: I guess it was pretty short.

Ash: Yeah! Just a couple of hours. But it was fine.

Pikachu: Pika. ["Just fine."]

Ash: I even got something nice for our friend to eat.

Me: Thanks, by the way. I love food, so it's great to be able to try something. I also should say that I thought there was going to be something else I could send Ash to today, but plans apparently fell through at the last minute. Really sorry about that.

Goh: What did you end up doing?

Me: I - with a little help from Ash - caught a few Shadow Moltres. Isn't that spectacular?

Ash: Yeah!

Goh: Wow!

Me: And I thought things almost couldn't work out. At least yesterday's did to some extent. I did wish it could have been better.

Goh: You did great. Ash and you can get things next time.

Ash: We'll do what we can!

Pikachu: Pi pika chu pika! ["Of course we will!"]

Me: It's the start of a new month, and there's a bit of a new spirit for that.

One year ago: Three September Wonders in the GBL

Two years ago: Everyone's MOBA?

Three years ago: The Road Ahead: More Pokémon Game News

Four years ago: Renewing the Anime

Five years ago: I Wanna Be a Pokémon (_____)

Six years ago: Playhouses, Children, and Pokémon