Pokemon Rangers: Why Drawing Loops is so Engaging

If you’re familiar with the “circle drawing” combat of the Pokemon Ranger series, you might be under the impression it’s...sort of dumb. But you’d be wrong! It’s actually clever and engaging, and I want to talk about why.

Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia (Creatures Inc./The Pokémon Company/Nintendo, 2008) is the second Pokemon Ranger title, for the Nintendo DS. Combat in Shadows of Almia is quite a bit different from the first Pokemon Ranger, and somewhat different from the third (Guardian Signs). For example, in the original game, you need to capture Pokemon in a single, unbroken line with a set number of loops. You can draw extra loops beyond the minimum to earn bonus XP. The combat in Guardian Signs is more similar to Shadows of Almia, except Pokemon can also become "agitated", which functions as an extra shield you must break through. But we’re going to discuss Shadows of Almia specifically.

“Combat” in the Pokemon Ranger series is, in fact, all about making friends. You befriend Pokemon by drawing circles around them with the stylus, but they have a friendship bar that is effectively HP, and they attack you because they don’t like you invading their space. So, we’re just going to call it combat.

On the battlefield, Pokemon dash about and periodically attack. Your goal is to capture them by drawing lines in loops around them. But your line length is limited, and when the Pokemon attacks your line, or even walks through it, your line breaks, forcing you to lift the stylus, place it again, and start drawing a new loop from scratch.

(You can also attack with your own Pokemon moves on the battlefield, but we’re just going to focus on the line drawing.)

Here’s a demonstration.

I want to highlight a few aspects of the loop-drawing mechanics that make combat so enjoyable.

The key is that Pokemon can break your line. Pokemon passing through your line will break it, but it will not deal damage. Pokemon landing an attack on your line breaks it and deals damage. An attack or unexpected dash into your line, and your line shatters like glass. The sound is brilliant. And suddenly your line dissolves and your stylus is dead, like it’s out of ink. You’re doomed to drag your dry styler about impotently, forever, until you start a new line. The only way to start a new line is to lift your stylus, press it back onto the screen, and start drawing again. The impact of taking damage is so visceral, literally physical.

Further incentivizing you to perform well are little “bonus” achievements that grant extra XP. For example:

-Capture a Pokemon with a single line. -Capture a Pokemon quickly (or very quickly!) -Capture a Pokemon without taking damage

These bonuses are the real game, like letter grades in Devil May Cry; in fact, battle performance is graded in this game too! To excel at capturing Pokemon, you need to know how to read the battlefield, anticipate attacks, understand how Pokemon react to your stylus, and know when to use your assistant attacks. But the core component, really, is risk vs reward. Drawing loops takes time. Drawing large loops takes more time, according to the laws of physics, and is therefore slower to complete a capture, but it’s also safer because your line is farther from the attacking Pokemon. Drawing smaller, tighter loops is faster but riskier, the line being that much closer to the target, more vulnerable to attacks and erratic dashes, and at risk of being snapped. It happens so fast.

Take too long, and you miss out on one or both of capture speed bonuses. If your line is broken, you lose the unbroken line bonus, and if your line takes damage, you lose the flawless victory bonus too. And then there are bonus streaks you can earn from succeeding in multiple battles sequentially.

As you level up, your line grows longer, allowing for larger and safer loops. You also gain damage reduction perks. But nothing in-game improves your manual dexterity or your skill reading the battlefield, nothing freely grants bonuses, and nothing dampens the viscerality of a breaking line.