This is a really cute game. It is easy and perfect for casual gamers. The concept? Magikarp, possibly one of the least popular Pokemon from the popular Pokemon franchise, is the only Pokemon you are allowed to use in this game. You compete against other Magikarp trainers to catch and train the most powerful, highest jumping Magikarp in the world.
I actually really like Magikarp. One of my favourite lines from the animated series was "Magikarp is a Pokemon Goldmine", which I say... probably way too often. One would not think this phrase could be used as often as I use it... but it can. I even had a Magikarp deck back in the 1990s when the Pokemon Trading Card Game was popular.
For those who have not seen it yet... behold... the beautiful Magikarp Song...
Alright, enough about how great Magikarp is. in the app you play an androgynous character who you have no ability to customise or name. This is a bit of a down side in my view. I am all about customisation. However, there are other elements of the app that allow you some creative freedoms.
You can only use one Magikarp at a time. In the beginning of the game you can only use 'Old rod' to catch your Magikarps so you're more likely to just get a basic looking Magikarp. However, as you play and get access to stronger rods you can get higher chances of obtaining more interesting Magikarp patterns such as a grey, pink or even purple colour. That being said, at any point in the game you can get lucky and catch a shiny golden Magikarp, even with the worst rod.Alright, you have a Magikarp... now what? Your goal is to earn Jump Points and compete against other trainers in a Magikarp Jumping League to jump higher. Random bits of food will drop into your Magikarp's habitat (Which is where you keep it when not training or in the league). Tapping or swiping these bits of food will cause Magikarp to swim over and eat them. Each of them will add to Magikarps JP (Jump points). You can also train him up to three times before you need to replenish your training points. These training sessions also increase Magikarp's JP.
You start off with two different ways to train. The Sandbag Slam and the Jump Counter. These training sessions can be levelled up in order to give a bigger bonus of JP each time they are performed. More types of training sessions can also be obtained but they are locked based on the level of the trainer. You should get access to a new training method to unlock ever few trainer levels up until you reach level 84.
When you click the Train button the training method chosen is randomly chosen from those you have available. Also random is how well your Magikarp performs during that particular training session. A Magikarp can do good, great or amazing. Clearly the better your Pokemon performs the more points will be earned from the training session. The fun bonus for players is that each of these effort types will display differently at the end of the session. For example below you can see the Sandbag Slam training session. One image shows a Great Effort while the other shows Amazing Effort.
After a training session sometimes a random event will be triggered allowing you to interact with NPCs or giving you choices that can have both positive and negative outcomes. These choices can supply you with coins, diamonds, items, trainer experience, extra training points or JP.
More training methods and food can be purchased from your Magikarp habitat. To do this click the lower left button that says Town. Food and training sessions can be upgraded or purchased with coins you earn while playing Coins are earned very easily in this game so you should be fine to always get whatever is newly unlocked as long as you don't go on a crazy spending spree.Aside from the Coin Shop there is a Diamond Shop where users can purchase Friendship Items, Decorations and consumable Items with the diamonds they have acquired. Diamonds are much harder to earn and save so be careful and choose wisely when buying things with them. I suggest sticking to the Friendship items and Decorations as they will help you in boosting and growing your Magikarps more than the consumables will. Especially since the consumables are one use but the friendship item and decoration boosts can be used over and over again.
The last area of the Town section is your Records. This is where you can access your Pattern Dex, Event Dex Hall of Fame and your Status. Pattern Dex will show you what pattern types of Magikarp you have raised, as well as how many of each of them you have had in the past. it will take a long time to complete this as some of the patterns are only available with rods you achieve later in the game. Event Dex is like the Pattern Dex but it shows you what events you have uncovered. It also gives you hints on how to unlock other events.
Hall of Fame shows you your great accomplishments in the app, such as the victories over different leagues. The Status section shows you the information on the current Magikarp you are raising.League is at the bottom right of your main habitat screen. This is where you compete against other trainers. Don't worry if you lose a battle. You can do more training and come back later. The exception to this is if your Magikarp reaches it's power limit. Then you will have to compete until you lose. Once you lose your Magikarp will retire and you will catch a new one that will grow stronger. There are 13 League sets, each with stronger Magikarp to face and new better rewards to achieve. Some League wins will result in a friendship item. Friendship items are how you add Pokemon friends to your habitat. Each one has a different skill they use to help your Magikarp out. they can also cheer for Magikarp during league battles which give him a 5% boost in JP.
The Menu button in the main habitat screen allows you to decorate your habitat, customising it with decor or even themes. You can use consumable items you have won or purchased here as well. You can see your achievements and reap the rewards from achieving them, adjust your settings (Sound, language, Data Backup, Notifications, How To, Credits, Support, etc) or make purchases using real money
Real money can be used to buy more diamonds and Exchange Tickets. Exchange tickets come with every purchase of Diamonds. The Exchange Tickets are used to get rewards such as consumable items or coin purses. There is even a reward called Diamond Miner which will give you diamonds for free without you needing to do anything or spend more money.These are all the basics of the game. there are more details I could go into but let's not write a novel about this app...
I think this application is super cute and fun. I love the graphics and the game play. The music and sounds are cute, the art is really clean and colourful. I would like to see some more customisation options available and I think if you catch non-Magikarp Pokemon in the pond (Which you can do) you should get them as friends you can put in your habitat. Otherwise, great app. I recommend this to any classic Pokemon fan.
Rating: 4/5
- Free
- Seller: The Pokemon Company
- Category: Games
- Size: 145.8 MB
- Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese
- Copyright: © 2017 Pokémon. © 1995-2017 Nintendo/Creatures Inc./GAME FREAK inc. Developed by SELECT BUTTON inc.
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