POKEMON RANGER 2 CAPTURES

The Ranger games are unique to the Pokemon series in how Pokemon are obtained. Pokemon are captured by drawing circles around them with the stylus. Some Pokemon require more loops than others, and not all Pokemon just stand in the middle and wait to be captured. Pokemon like to run around and attack.

The new HP system is a big change from the last game's method. Instead of completing the entire capture in one attempt, you can now lift up the stylus from the touch screen without losing the capture. This makes it much easier to avoid close attacks, especially when the Styler is at low health. However, Pokemon will slowly regain HP if you don't wait too long to restart the capture process (about four seconds). The HP bar (technically called the "Friendship Gauge") is the black box underneath each Pokemon that fills with yellow. There is no total HP stat indicated, although you can see how much the bar increases with every loop. For bosses, there is a much larger gauge at the top of the screen.

Building off the HP system, a capture is automatically finished when the HP of a Pokemon reaches zero. This removes the possibility of messing up after you have enough loops to capture the Pokemon, but it also removes the extra experience gained in the old version from extra loops after the capture. If there are multiple Pokemon on the field, the Styler stays in play, and captured Pokemon disappear from play as they are captured.

There is also a new stat for the Styler called power. The higher the power of the Styler, the more quickly a Pokemon's HP bar fills. This is indicated by the number and the plus sign that appears by the HP bar after every loop. This number usually remains the same unless special conditions are in effect. One is a Poke Assist that increases power, such as Fighting, Fire or Normal. When the Styler levels up (as a result of enough experience), the power increases as well. This eventually leads to the point where you can capture Pokemon from the early stages of the game, like Bidoof, in one loop.

The experience system also has its share of changes. There is a standard amount of experience gained for every different Pokemon, but there a bunch of new bonuses. Since extra loops no longer apply, example bonuses include: Rapid Capture, 50+ Loops, One-Line Capture, Group Capture, No Damage, etc. Bonuses have a proportional effect on the amount of experience earned. This means that they are worth more if the Pokemon is worth a high value.

In respect to the Pokemon being captured, there are several new attacks that can really make it harder to capture them. One type of annoying attack is the Pokemon surrounding itself with an object. The Pokemon will be able to move around and use other attacks. As the Ranger, you simply can't get too close to the Pokemon when you circle it or you'll touch the flame/leaf/orb/other and take damage. Either way, the Pokemon nearly always gives away its attack beforehand. Pokemon usually cry out and have an exclamation mark above their heads before attacking. The number of exclamation marks also hints toward which attack it uses, so pay attention to that.

As the game progresses, you'll eventually discover a new technique the Styler can use to capture Pokemon. This is called charging the Styler. By holding the Styler still for a small amount of time, energy builds up. When the "UP!" appears, the power of the Styler increases. There are two levels of charging, which are unlocked by progressing in your Ranger Rank. The first level multiples the original power by two and the second multiplies the original power by three. On the down side, if the line breaks, the charge breaks, too, so you'll have to recharge it.

The final new changes in capturing deal more specifically with Poke Assists. Nearly every Assist has been changed, and there are now status conditions such as "Tired" and "Slowed" that come into play as a result of them. For more information, see the Poke Assist guide.