Pokémon Shuffle Mobile
Pokémon Shuffle is a pretty vanilla match-3 puzzle game. There are Pokémon elements implemented that tie it especially well to the sixth-generation games, but nothing that particularly makes it stand out. The general structure of the game is built around defeating increasingly powerful Pokémon, with each stage housing one of these Pokémon and basing any gimmicks off of it and its abilities. You're given a certain number of moves to defeat the opposing Pokémon, with each match you make launching an attack of the same type as the Pokémon that was used in the match. Completing a stage will give you a chance to catch its Pokémon, with a better capture rate for those who used fewer moves. Once you've captured a Pokémon, it can be selected as a member of your team before a stage which sets it as one of the stage's matchable Pokémon and allows you to take advantage of its ability and power level. In the early game, capturing and using powerful Pokémon with type advantages is usually enough to make any stage beatable, but it doesn't stay that way.
On my more recent mobile playthrough, I had my fill long before this point, but when playing on 3DS, there came a time when practically every other stage required the use of consumable power-ups to actually win. Power-ups provide different benefits, like giving you more moves, starting the stage with mega evolution ready, and more. To activate a power-up, you just need to select it before a stage begins; its value will be deducted from your coin balance, and then it will activate until the stage concludes. Unfortunately, coins are not very easy to collect, unless you are prepared to spend real money. You definitely get enough for the occasional power-up you'll need in the early stages, but eventually, you'll get to the point that you'll frequently need every available boost if you want any hope of success. This can be an expensive venture; for scale, at the base price for coins (no bulk-purchase discounts), the most beneficial power-up costs more than two dollars per use, which is not something you want to be spending every few stages in a game with hundreds.
If you lose interest as soon as I did my second time around, you'll probably never experience Pokémon Shuffle's true predatory nature, and you'll likely have a good amount of fun with it. I honestly enjoyed my time during both of my playthroughs. Unfortunately, the problems underlying the game's monetization structure just can't be overlooked. I understand the need to make money with products like this, and I have no problem with a free game having things you need to pay for. However, when the game pretends that you can continue for free, despite essentially being gated behind premium purchases, it's bound to be a little frustrating. If you need a free Pokémon puzzle game to pass the time, I would recommend Café ReMix instead. I haven't played it since the name change, but it was a wholly better experience than Pokémon Shuffle, and I can only imagine it has improved since then.
The game is available for Android here (as of 10/7/22): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.pokemon.poketoru&hl=en_US&gl=US
The game is available for iOS here (as of 10/7/22): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pok%C3%A9mon-shuffle-mobile/id1014919815The game is available for 3DS here (as of 10/7/22): https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/pokemon-shuffle-3ds/
