Pokémon Ranger: Difference between revisions

 

In the first game, nicknamed ''The Road To Diamond And Pearl'', you battle the Go-Rock Squad. In the second game, ''Shadows of Almia'', you battle Team Dim Sun. In the third game, ''Guardian Signs'', you battle The Pokémon Pinchers.

 

* [[Absurdly Spacious Sewer]] - Underneath Fall City in the first game.

* [[Actually Four Mooks]] - Generally averted; the number of Pokemon you see on the field is exactly how many will appear in battle, even the ones that the villains summon to fight you. It starts to show up near the end of ''Shadows of Almia'', though, when Dim Sun summons one Pokemon and you wind up fighting two or three.

* [[Bullet Hell]]: The third game's Shaymin mission has an aerial chase with one of the nastiest bullet spreads around.

* [[But Thou Must!]] - This is used to an [[Anvilicious]] degree in the first and second games, to the point where virtually any decision that is in any way plot-crucial (basically anything that isn't saving the game or releasing Pokémon) refuses to let you go on until you say Yes. Less so in the third, where there are less yes/no questions, and most of them simply give you [[What the Hell, Hero?|different dialogue]] for choosing a "wrong" answer.

** Likewise, from the second game onwards, Pokémon have a "Friendship Meter" that effectively serves as a health bar -- it's even ''labelled'' "HP".

* [[Card-Carrying Villain]] / [[Punch Clock Villain]] - Most of the lower-level Dim Sun mooks are either one of these two types. At least the Go-Rock Squad and Pokemon Pinchers know how to get ''serious''. (Sort of.)

** {{spoiler|And also, you get knocked out by a big chunk of debris falling on your head for a moment, too}}. And it's not played for laughs.

** Steelheads are suits of armor {{spoiler|that can capture Pokemon via bad feelings. The Pokemon Pinchers wear these things. The armor takes control of the wearer's mind.}}

* [[Charged Attack]] - After a certain point in the second game, you can charge your Styler by holding it in position, making it more powerful and easier to "damage" the opponent.

** Many Poké Assists work like this as well, where the longer you hold the Styler in place before attacking, the stronger its effect will be.

** Admins in the first and second games. Also in the first, they're "commanders" and they spend the whole game pissing and moaning that they can't be real Executives, since they're not related to the leader.

* [[Escort Mission]] - In the first game, you have to escort a mechanic terrified of bug Pokémon through a jungle infested with said Pokémon. If you encounter one, instead of going into battle, the mechanic freaks out and you have to start over from the entrance.

* [[Experience Points]]

* [[Exposition Fairy]]: Ben or Summer in Guardian Signs - whichever one you don't pick. Once rescued, they happily follow along, [[The Load|not contributing anything]], but mainly interacting with the cast in place of the character, who by Pokemon law must remain a [[Silent Protagonist]].

* [[Foreshadowing]]: Of the many mysterious books in Amun's library, a book about how to deep-sea dive seems really out of place. {{spoiler|One of the relics to summon [[Fan Nickname|Lati@s]] is at the bottom of the Eastern Sea -- Amun went to the trouble to mark ''all'' of them.}}

* [[Frictionless Ice]] - And God help you if there happens to be a drop after the edge. Thankfully averted in the sequels, where the ice in Almia Castle and on Mt. Sorbet behaves more realistically. It behaved realistically in the rest of the cave.

* [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere]]: The final boss of the third game, Mewtwo, which the [[Big Bad]] uses to fight you, really has no explanation. Finding it in a preservation chamber as scenery just a few minutes ago doesn't count as an explanation.

* [[The Goomba]]: Bidoof are almost entirely harmless -- their Browser entry even describes them as "sometimes it ''pretends to'' attack".

** In the second game, none of their "attacks" even do damage, except for the Bidoof that you have to rescue Little Tim from - at the ''beginning'' of the game.

** {{spoiler|Arceus is also like this in the "Pledge to Arceus" downloadable mission in ''Guardian Signs'' - however, the game doesn't let you ''try'' to fight it while it's in its "can't touch this" mode. The legendary dragons Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina just immediately show up and smack Arceus out of its invincible state for you.}}

* [[Hostage for Macguffin]] - {{spoiler|In exchange for your [[What an Idiot!|rival]] in the second game.}} The hostage taker [[But Thou Must!|won't take no for an answer]], the douche, even as the hostage ''tells you not to make the trade''.

* [[Ice Palace]]: Almia Castle, which is frozen over, making all the floors slippery. {{spoiler|It's where the King of Almia and his youngest son, both from the region's legend, were said to live.}}

* [[Idiot Hero]] - Not so much idiot hero as idiot ''rival''.

* [[Immortality Inducer]]: In ''Guardian Signs'', {{spoiler|The Societea become immortal by wearing pieces of the Golden Armor. This seems to be of the "stop the aging process and survive mortal blows" kind, but we never actually see them suffer any direct physical harm until after they lose their armor to Purple Eyes, so we can't be sure about the latter. After Purple Eyes is defeated, the armor disappears, thus making sure no one remains immortal.}}

* [[In Medias Res]]: ''Guardians Signs'' begins in the middle of a pursuit of the Pinchers.

** Jynx's kiss will do this too.

* [[Inventory Management Puzzle]]: You can only have up to 7 Pokemon at a time. Several quests make use of this, such as retrieving the 7 Eeveelutions, all but two of which need other Pokemon to be reached. Getting to the Regis in the first game also tended to be like this.

* [[Involuntary Group Split]]: Early in the first game, you escort Professor Hastings through a cave and are separated from him by a rockfall.

* [[I Always Wanted to Say That]]: Early in Guardian Signs, when Booker is about to take you to Renbow Island:

* [[Kick the Dog]]: The villains in all three games just ''love'' to do this, to a ridiculous extent. In particular, {{spoiler|the Societea blowing Dolce Islands to smithereens in the third game}} [[Moral Event Horizon|''has'' to win some sort of trophy for sheer pooch-punting panache.]]

* [[Kid Hero]]

* [[Locked Door]] - Averted by Barlow in the second game. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|TARGET CLEAR!]]

* [[Look Behind You!]]: The third game has a really odd one.

'''Burkhart:''' I hope it does. I like onions. Hey, get back here! Like pizzas could fly! You tricked me! }}

* [[Lost Forever]] - While certain Pokémon can be re-fought later on in the game, there are some that can only be fought once (usually for plot purposes). The games also feature entire sidequests that are only accessible ''if you downloaded them from Ranger Net when they were available for download''.

* [[Luck-Based Mission]]: Getting the boss Heart Slabs in past missions. For bosses, you must complete the temple with at least 5 minutes remaining, at which point you have a 1/10 chance of getting it as a partner. Mew, however, requires you to clear the final mission with 5 minutes left for a ''1/50'' chance! Unless you're extremely lucky, you're gonna be doing that mission again and again and again...

* [[MacGuffin Delivery Service]]: Heath of Dim Sun's elite Sinis Trio pulls this on you in ''Shadows Of Almia'', with a [[Hostage for Macguffin]] for backup.

* [[Mind Control]] / [[Mass Hypnosis]]: The villains' ultimate goal in all three games, and the means of achieving it.

* [[Mind Screw]]: {{spoiler|Hocus}}'s way of messing with you. {{spoiler|He even supersizes himself and his Crobat at one point.}}

* [[Monster Compendium]]: The Pokemon Ranger "Browser" is similar to the main series's Pokedex in function, but less difficult to complete because it logs full entries for all Pokemon captured in any battle (whereas in the main series, only ''wild'' Pokemon can be captured and fully logged), and doesn't require trading between games for rare Mons to complete.

* [[Mook Bouncer]]: Weepinbells in Ringford forest will bounce you to the entrance of their area if they catch you. Dusclops and Claydol in ''Guardian Signs'' also perform this as part of the stealth-based missions that occur in their territory.

* [[Musical Theme Naming]]: The islands in the third game; '''Do'''lce, '''Re'''nbow, '''Mi'''tonga, '''Fa'''ldera, '''So'''phian, '''La'''yuda, '''Ti'''likule.

** Lampshaded early in the post-game with Ben/Summer (whoever you didn't pick) trying to decide on a dime what island to patrol:

* [[My Name Is Not Durwood]]: Rhythmi is annoyed by the fact that professor Hastings seems to think that her name is "Misery".

* [[My New Gift Is Lame]]: In the first game, Cameron is said to have a habit of giving people lame gifts. At one point, he gives the player a broken little submarine. Subverted when said submarine is later fixed and used to travel to another area through an underwater cave.

* [[Nominal Importance]]: Given a [[Lampshade Hanging]] by two Team Dim Sun admins, who comment on how their names are just "Admin" and not, for example, "Admin A" and "Admin B".

** Also [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] by a student in the Ranger School at the beginning of ''Shadows of Almia''.

* [[Obviously Evil]]: Gordor from the first game can't stop laughing maniacally when he's posing as a perfectly good person, and Blake Hall in Shadows of Almia is pretty much ''instantly'' recognizable as a villain as soon as you set eyes on him (evil shiny sunglasses, all black suit, evil mustache, and a businessman). To a lesser extent, {{spoiler|Dr. Edward will probably set off alarm bells for any [[Genre Savvy]] player as soon as you meet him for having a unique sprite and name but no early plot importance, as well as a hairstyle that can only be described as "Mad scientist hair", plus a creepy facial expression.}}

* [[One Steve Limit]]: Ranger Keith of Fall City and Ranger Keith (Your idiot rival from the second game), who was transferred to Fiore.

* [[Out-Gambitted]]: One quest in Guardian Signs involves a rock climber being ambushed by a pair of Pokemon Pinchers who claim to have his "special somebody". The climber exclaims that it's his brother. The Pinchers confirm this, only for the climber to reveal that he doesn't have a brother.

* [[Overly Long Name]]: Played with as a joke in a Quest in ''Guardian Signs''; a simple bridge with a name so long that it took ''[[Up to Eleven|three signposts]]'' to completely name!

'''[[Rule of Three|Signpost 3:]]''' ""Renowed All Over the World for [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|Connecting Yesterday and Tomorrow]] and [[And Zoidberg|Proudly-Built-by-Nick Bridge"]] }}

* [[Papa Wolf]]: Rand in Guardian Signs when he {{spoiler|[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|knocks down a Steelhead, while wounded, to save his daughter!]]}}

* [[Status Buff]]: For the most part, Poke Assists in the first two games provide secondary effects on top of normal capture lines. By the third game, Poke Assists are basically [[Summon Magic]].

** The "Recharge" assist works inversely; in the first two games it instantly restores some Styler HP, but in the third game it provides a "Regenerate" status buff when used mid-battle.

** The third one has parts where you must sneak by Dusclops or Claydols. No mercy if you mess up here though, but at least their field of vision is clearly marked for you, and you can get rid of the Dusclops by sneaking up behind them.

* [[Storming the Castle]]: The finale of the third game. And it's ''epic.''

** The finale of the second game is very similar.

* [[Tactical Rock-Paper-Scissors]] - (Almost) all the typical Pokémon strengths and weaknesses still apply when using Poké Assists; if it's super-effective, its effect will last longer; if it's not very effective, its effect will be reduced (or may not work whatsoever).

* [[Take Over the World]]: The [[Big Bad]]'s motivation in each game, though not necessarily the only motivation.

* [[Techno Wizard]] - Ice, Isaac, and Kincaid from ''Shadows'' and Nema from ''Guardian Signs''.

* [[Temporary Platform]]: Ice platforms in Almia Castle break shortly after standing upon them. ''And'' they're [[Slippy-Slidey Ice World|slippery slidey...]] There are also timed platforms in Hippowdon Temple that fade in and out in various patterns.

* [[Warp Whistle]]: Staraptor's "Fly" move lets you revisit any place you've been to before.

** ''Guardian Signs'' also adds some [[Global Airship]] elements, allowing you to freely fly all over Oblivia's sky to encounter various wild Pokemon, even though you can only ''land'' in previously-visited areas (or places where the story needs you to go.)

** After Murph quit being a Ranger to work for the Union, what became of his partner Pokemon Slowpoke?

** After the end of ''Shadows of Almia'', where did the Sinis Trio go?

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Eastern RPG]]

[[Category:Nintendo DS]]

[[Category:Video Game]]