Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia

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Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia
North American Box Art
Developer	HAL Laboratory
Publisher	Nintendo
Platform	Nintendo DS
Release Date(s)	March 20, 2008 (JAP) November 10, 2008 (NA) November 13, 2008 (AUS) November 21, 2008 (EUR)
Genre	Action RPG
Rating	(E) Everyone
Mode(s)	Single Player

About the game

Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia (ポケモンレンジャーバトナージ Pokémon Ranger Batonnage) is the sequel to Pokemon Ranger, on the DS. It is going to be very similar to the previous game. It was released on March 20th in Japan and soon to be released in other countries. The game takes place in land of Almia, a location not yet visited in any of the main games. The player starts out as a rookie ranger who just graduated from Ranger School. You can choose to be male or female. There are also 270 confirmed Pokemon, mainly revolving around Diamond and Pearl.

Gameplay

Unlike the previous game, players can now start off with either Pachirisu, Munchlax, or Starly. There are 17 other partners, unlocked throughout the game. Just like the first Pokemon Ranger game, once you have completed the game and done the special mission, you would be able to battle Darkrai and Shaymin. You could also transfer Pokemon, Riolu, Manaphy, and Darkrai, to your Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. To get these Pokemon into Pokemon Platinum, you must first trade them from Diamond or Pearl and trade.

New Features

Guards

Players can now do side-quests to receive a "Guard," which increases the ability of the Capture stylist. The more side-quests you do, the more additions you get to your stylist. These side-quests are optional, but they are very helpful as you progress through the game.

HP Bar

Rather than having to circle an enemy a certain number of times, Pokemon have HP bars which increases the more you circle them. But the longer you don't circle the Pokemon you are trying to capture, the bar gradually decreases over time until it reaches zero. If the bar fills up then the capture is sucsesfull.