Greentyphlosion
New Member
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2009
- Messages
- 381
- Reaction score
- 0
Multi Battles, also known as Tag Battles, have been accessible since Ruby and Sapphire, though Emerald was the first game to properly showcase it. Essentially a Double Battle where two Trainers send out one Pokemon each, Multi Battles are distinct from regular Double Battles in that if one participant's Pokemon are all knocked out, the other Trainer cannot send out another one of their Pokemon: they must continue to fight alone.
Later games retained Tag Battles in the form of the Stat Trainers as well as various events where the player would team up with a rival against two enemies, as well as the Battle Tower/Subway/Maison where the player can team up with a friend or an NPC.
However, as a standalone battle style comparable to Double, Triple and Rotation Battles, Multi Battles seem to be somewhat overlooked. I personally loved the Multi Battle feature in Emerald, where the player would select an NPC based on their team and battle through 7 rounds with them. The main challenge here was to find someone with a team that complemented yours; the difficulty of the battles relied on you making a good choice. DPPHGSS continued this feature, where the player would team up with one of the five Stat Trainers in the Battle Tower: this time around it was somewhat easier since each Trainer had a preference for a certain speciality such as Attack or Speed. Black and White as well as Black 2 and White 2 had a similar feature where the player would team with the player character not chosen, who would select two Pokemon based on whether the player preferred offensive or defensive partners.
X and Y have somewhat ruined this feature for me, though. In the Battle Maison the player is able to team up with anyone registered as their friend, who will use two preset Pokemon. For me this reduced the challenge of Multi Battles significantly - since I knew what Pokemon my partner would be using, it was easy to construct a team that complimented them.
So what about Multi Battles appeals to me? I think it's the unpredictability and diversity that makes this format so fun: you never know who you'll be teamed up with, nor what Pokemon they'll use. Knowledge of Pokemon types, Abilities and moves are essential here to succeed, and I've managed to get some pretty long streaks in the Tower and Subway in Multi Format.
TL;DR: So who else likes Tag Battles as much as I do?
Later games retained Tag Battles in the form of the Stat Trainers as well as various events where the player would team up with a rival against two enemies, as well as the Battle Tower/Subway/Maison where the player can team up with a friend or an NPC.
However, as a standalone battle style comparable to Double, Triple and Rotation Battles, Multi Battles seem to be somewhat overlooked. I personally loved the Multi Battle feature in Emerald, where the player would select an NPC based on their team and battle through 7 rounds with them. The main challenge here was to find someone with a team that complemented yours; the difficulty of the battles relied on you making a good choice. DPPHGSS continued this feature, where the player would team up with one of the five Stat Trainers in the Battle Tower: this time around it was somewhat easier since each Trainer had a preference for a certain speciality such as Attack or Speed. Black and White as well as Black 2 and White 2 had a similar feature where the player would team with the player character not chosen, who would select two Pokemon based on whether the player preferred offensive or defensive partners.
X and Y have somewhat ruined this feature for me, though. In the Battle Maison the player is able to team up with anyone registered as their friend, who will use two preset Pokemon. For me this reduced the challenge of Multi Battles significantly - since I knew what Pokemon my partner would be using, it was easy to construct a team that complimented them.
So what about Multi Battles appeals to me? I think it's the unpredictability and diversity that makes this format so fun: you never know who you'll be teamed up with, nor what Pokemon they'll use. Knowledge of Pokemon types, Abilities and moves are essential here to succeed, and I've managed to get some pretty long streaks in the Tower and Subway in Multi Format.
TL;DR: So who else likes Tag Battles as much as I do?