As consoles reach the end of their life cycle, sadly gamers need to prepare themselves for the closure of the online storefronts that make it so fans can purchase and download digital games. This comes at the cost of digital-only games potentially being lost once the stores shut for good, and onePokemonspin-off game has met such a cruel fate before fans had to worry aboutlosing access toPokemon Bank.
Before the Wii U and 3DS eShops were said to close, gamers were mourning the loss of the Wii Shop Channel in 2019. While this was a big hit to fans of the Virtual Console titles offered on the store, the shut-down of the Wii Shop Channel arguably hurt another one of its big offerings far more. These would be the WiiWare games made exclusively for console, and one uniquePokemonspin-off game,Pokemon Rumble, is no longer available to purchase.
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Remembering Pokemon Rumble
Pokemon Rumblewas a Beat ‘Em Up game that started players off as a simple Rattata. However, this Rattata was a wind-up Toy Pokemon that came to life after being wound-up with a Wonder Key with something to prove. It sneaks into the Battle Royale of other critters only to fall short. From there, it enlists the help of other toys it befriends to eventually grow strong enough to best the Battle Royale. This story helps explain the use of the small, cute models fromanotherPokemonWiiWare title,My Pokemon Ranch, but it also helps give the game a few additional charming details. Lives were represented as wind-up keys and the creatures would fall over and bounce like toys in-between sections.
As for critics, the game was considered on the repetitive side because the gameplay loop was rather simple.Rumbleoffered 4-player co-op and the chances that players could pick up certain critters was completely random. The objective was for players to make their way through numerous sets of ranked stages with a Battle Royale at the end, collecting new creatures along the way to get the upper hand withPokemon’s type weaknesses.Pokemon Rumblewas a very cute, simple game that was even better with a good friend or a sibling to play with that won a number of fans’ hearts.
What Happened to Pokemon Rumble
To many, it might not seem likePokemon Rumbleis easy to miss, as the game spawned a good number of sequels, such asPokemon Rumble U,Pokemon Rumble World, andPokemon Rumble Rush. However, each of them performed worse than the original did with critics, and some of the most supportive fans of the originalRumbletitle felt that each one following abandoned the original charm that the original WiiWare title had. Since the lead developer ofPokemon Rumble, Ambrella, was dissolved and acquired by Creatures Inc, theRumbleseries has faded into obscurity.
Rumble Rushonly lasted as a mobile game for a year as servers were shut down in 2020, and as theWii Shop Channel was shut downin 2019, that means the last hurrah for the series only lasted a year longer than the original game. Unfortunately for fans, this means thatPokemon Rumbleis completely unavailable for purchase as of now beyond shoppers specifically buying used Wii consoles with the game already downloaded on them, which can get expensive.
There is the potential that Nintendo could eventually release WiiWare games on aservice like Nintendo Switch Onlinein the future, but as the company is slowly making its way through its backlog of classic titles, fans shouldn’t hold their breath. Even though the originalPokemon Rumblewasn’t the most game-changing title thatPokemonfans could enjoy, it still held a unique and charming presence to those who got to experience it that will be missed.
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