Pokemon Rumble World (Nintendo 3DS eShop)

Titles	Pokémon Rumble World みんなのポケモンスクランブル (Minna no Pokémon Scramble)
Platform	Nintendo 3DS – Nintendo eShop download, later also a boxed Game Card edition
Developer	Ambrella
Publisher	Nintendo
Director / Producer	Norio Matsumura (director) · producers include Shusaku Egami and Hitoshi Yamagami
Music	Miki Obata
Players	1 (other players’ Miis visit through StreetPass and SpotPass)
Genre	Action RPG (free-to-start)
Generation	Generation VI
Pokémon	719 (Bulbasaur to Diancie)
Balloons	19, leading to 87 fixed stages plus the shifting Changing Land
Released	8 April 2015 (Nintendo eShop: Japan, North America, Europe and Australia) · Boxed edition: 19 November 2015 (Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan) · 22 January 2016 (Europe) · 23 January 2016 (Australia) · 29 April 2016 (North America)
Re-releases	Boxed Game Card edition with all 3,000 Poké Diamonds built in (2015–2016); no Nintendo Switch release
Rating	CERO A · PEGI 7 · ACB PG
Predecessor	Pokémon Rumble U (Wii U, 2013)
Successor	Pokémon Rumble Rush (Android and iOS, 2019; closed 22 July 2020)
Sales	85,785 boxed copies in Japan by the end of 2018 (Media Create); download figures never published

Overview · Quick Answers · Plot · Pokémon · Locations & Areas · Balloon Expeditions · Gameplay & Features · Regional Variations · Glitches · Videos · Trivia · Legacy · Sales & Reviews · Media

Overview

Pokémon Rumble World is a free-to-start action game and the fourth game of the Pokémon Rumble series. Although the game is free to start, it features a special currency known as “Poké Diamonds”, which could be bought with real money until the Nintendo 3DS eShop closed in March 2023, and which can help the player progress faster.

The game follows similar gameplay mechanics to the other Pokémon Rumble games and features 719 Pokémon, up to the sixth generation’s Diancie. New fun features have also been added, such as balloon travel from the Balloon Stop and the Special Stone Shop. Pokémon Rumble World acts as the successor to the Wii U’s Pokémon Rumble U and was succeeded by the iOS/Android app Pokémon Rumble Rush, first tested as “Pokéland”, which launched in 2019 and closed on 22 July 2020.

Quick Answers

The questions people ask about Pokémon Rumble World, answered first and explained further down the page.

Can you still download Pokémon Rumble World?

Not as a new player. The Nintendo 3DS eShop stopped offering downloads, free titles included, on 27 March 2023, and Poké Diamonds can no longer be bought. Anyone who downloaded it before then can still redownload it, and the boxed Game Card edition plays on any 3DS or 2DS system with its Diamonds already included. More →

How many Pokémon are in Pokémon Rumble World?

There are 719 Toy Pokémon, every species from Bulbasaur to Diancie. Hoopa and Volcanion were never added, although placeholder slots for them sit in the game’s data. Because of that gap, Adventurer Rank 79 is the highest anyone can reach: Rank 80 would need one more species than the game actually contains. More →

How do you find Legendary Pokémon in Pokémon Rumble World?

Legendary and Mythical Pokémon wait in the Special version of particular stages, the layout a stage takes when it carries three stars. The boss there is always the Legendary, so the task is getting those stars: keep revisiting the stage, or hope for Fever and Super Fever, which scatter extra stars across an area before the roulette spins. More →

What is the difference between the free download and the boxed version?

The boxed edition has no real-money shop. Instead, three packs of 1,000 Poké Diamonds wait in the in-game Shop once the tutorial ends, which also unlocks the Poké Diamond Digger (40 Diamonds a day) and the two VIP Cards. Save data cannot move between the editions, but StreetPass and SpotPass work between them. More →

How much did Poké Diamonds cost, and was there a spending cap?

In the US, 50 Diamonds cost $0.69 and 1,750 cost $15.99; UK packs ran from £0.69 to £14.39. No more than 3,000 Diamonds could ever be bought, roughly $30 or £27 in total. Reaching the cap opened the Poké Diamond Digger, which then produced free Diamonds daily. Purchases ended with the 3DS eShop in March 2023. More →

How do you unlock Mega Evolution in Pokémon Rumble World?

Clear the King’s challenge Raid of the Mighty General, open early from Adventurer Rank 33. It awards the Mega Key and opens the Special Stone Shop, where each Mega Stone, the Red Orb and the Blue Orb cost 5 Poké Diamonds after a free first pick. Attach one and that Pokémon can Mega Evolve or undergo Primal Reversion mid-stage. More →

Plot

The game starts out with the player visiting the King of a toy kingdom. The King is envious of a magician who has 10 Pokémon, while he owns only a single Pikachu. The King asks for the player’s help, lending them his Pikachu and sending them on a Pokémon collecting quest.

The player uses the air balloon to travel to the King’s Training Field, where they manage to catch their first two Pokémon. Upon returning to the King, he will be pleased with the player’s progress and officially appoint them as an adventurer. Next, the player will move to the castle’s courtyard, from which they’ll visit different areas and go through various adventures.

From then on the King sets one challenge a day. The early requests are errands, a restaurant opening and a run of Royal Competition battle royales, but the tone soon changes: a Phantom Thief strikes, and the Dark Emperor’s army begins to threaten the kingdom. The Mii beats back the Mighty General’s raid, stops the Dragon Marshal’s advance and then defeats him in a face-off, survives the Dark Four and finally overcomes the Dark Emperor himself, earning the King Outfit.

Alongside the war, the tournament thread climbs through the quarter-finals, semi-finals and Royal Finals to the King’s Choice and Prince’s Return competitions and the World Championship. After the main story the Phantom Thief returns for one last heist, and World Championship X, which must be fought with Pikachu alone, closes the list of 28 challenges.

Who’s who

• The King: The King starts the game owning only a Pikachu, and a magician’s ten-strong collection leaves him envious. He lends that Pikachu to the player’s Mii, promotes them to adventurer and keeps track of their Adventurer Rank. From the castle he sets one challenge a day, 28 in all, from the Magician’s Challenge to the post-game World Championship X.
• The magician: The magician’s ten Pokémon set the story in motion by making the King jealous. The first challenge, the Magician’s Challenge, opens once the player has befriended ten Pokémon of their own and asks for its boss to be beaten within 150 seconds. A Magician Outfit for the Mii is later earned from The Dark Emperor’s Army.
• The player’s Mii: Unlike earlier Rumble games, the Mii does not fight: it sends a Toy Pokémon into each stage and waits at the finish. In the courtyard the player steers a Pokémon instead, and walking up to the Mii prompts feeding, petting, dancing or a hug, although some large Legendaries squash their owner. Outfits from challenges, such as the Chef, Bandit and Prince sets, change its look.
• Visiting Miis: Miis met by StreetPass, received through SpotPass or invited with Call Someone Online. Up to four gather in the courtyard with their partner Pokémon, offering balloon trips or the odd Poké Diamond, and from the following day they take turns running the Shop. They also turn up in challenge scenes, and several challenges are built around protecting a Mii character.
• The Phantom Thief: The Phantom Thief Appears, open early from Adventurer Rank 17, is a mission to protect a Pokémon and rewards the Timing Stop. The thief resurfaces after the main story in The Phantom Thief Returns, open early from Rank 75, whose bonus objective must be met on a Saturday and whose reward is the Princess Outfit. A Phantom Thief Outfit comes from Supersonic Ninja Tricks.
• The Dark Emperor: His army is the first sign of trouble, followed by the Mighty General’s raid, the Dragon Marshal’s advance and face-off, and the Dark Four, whose challenge must be cleared without being hit by beams. Battle the Dark Emperor, open early from Adventurer Rank 65, is the story’s climax and rewards the King Outfit; the Gold Frame comes from beating the Dark Four.

Pokémon

The game introduces the sixth generation Pokémon to the Pokémon Rumble series, with a total of 719 Pokémon available. It also features the Rusty Pokémon from Pokémon Rumble Blast. Like the previous games, many of these Pokémon can be caught during the stages, while others are only available through special methods.

Legendary and Mythical Pokémon

The Legendary Pokémon are extremely rare, as the player has to work to meet them. Each of them waits in the Special version of the stage it appears in, which only opens once the player has three stars on that stage. The Legendary Pokémon will then always appear as the boss, although it has a very low chance of being caught. Some of these, like Giratina and Deoxys, have several forms, and the form they appear in isn’t random but follows the 3DS clock and calendar: Giratina changes with the time of day and Deoxys with the day itself. So the player would have to visit the stage at the right time and go through the whole process again, if they want to acquire them in alternate forms.

Uxie (Wishing Star Tower), Mesprit (Breezy Grasslands), Azelf (Waltzing Glade) and Phione (Vast Ocean) also turn up, but as ordinary wild Pokémon rather than bosses. Hoopa and Volcanion are not in the game at all.

Password Pokémon

After reaching Adventurer Rank 4, the player can type passwords at the Password option of the Start menu, while in the courtyard. The Pokémon will be received upon visiting the King. These Pokémon do not give coins when released, to avoid the abuse of passwords, although the same code can be used to claim a gift Pokémon again. Each region has its own codes:

The same Password option also accepts codes for Poké Diamonds and three Mii outfits:

Rusty Pokémon

After reaching Adventurer Rank 55, the player will start finding Rusty Pokémon. These Pokémon can only use the move Struggle and have a brown-coloured name. By Adventurer Rank 58, they’ll be able to take on the King’s challenge Dragon Marshal Advance, which will provide them with a Rust Removal Spot upon completion. The player will be able to cleanse their first Rusty Pokémon at the Rust Removal Spot for free. Afterwards, the cleansing process would cost them 1 Poké Diamond per Pokémon.

Notable Pokémon

Some of the Pokémon with a special part to play in Rumble World:

• Pikachu#025
• Greninja#658
• Jirachi#385
• Kyurem#646
• Arceus#493
• Groudon#383
• Diancie#719
• Cloyster#091

• Pikachu – The King’s only Pokémon at the start, lent to the player; World Championship X must be cleared with Pikachu alone.
• Greninja – Back boss of Castle Moat in Dewdrop Bay; Supersonic Ninja Tricks must be finished using only Greninja.
• Jirachi – Special-stage boss of Wishing Star Tower in the Starlight Islands.
• Kyurem – Caught in the Frosty Alps; afterwards Black and White Kyurem can replace Zekrom and Reshiram as bosses during the twelve o’clock hour.
• Arceus – Boss of Bastion of Beginnings in Legend Terrain; its type changes with the date.
• Groudon – Boss of Smoldering Caldera in Ruby Volcano; with the Red Orb it can undergo Primal Reversion.
• Diancie – The highest-numbered species in the game, found at Mineral Crust Hollow, and able to Mega Evolve.
• Cloyster – Appears only as the centre boss of Vast Ocean in Distortion Land, the single exception to the usual star rules.

Locations & Areas

The King’s Castle

It is the place where the game starts and the home of the King of the toy kingdom. The player would have to visit the castle in order to check their Adventurer Rank progress and obtain challenges from the King.

The King’s Training Field

This location can only be visited at the start of the game, allowing the player to catch their very first two Pokémon. One should note that the bosses on this level are uncatchable.

Castle Courtyard

The courtyard is the main hub of the game, where the player can access different facilities and interact with the Miis there. There, the player will be controlling a Pokémon, instead of their own Mii, which will be found idle there. The player has to press the A button in order to interact with any of the Miis. If the player interacts with their own Mii, it might try to hold the Pokémon after it jumps into its hands. Some large Legendary Pokémon will squash the Mii instead.

The player’s Mii might also dance with the Pokémon, pet it or even feed it. If the player has met other players owning the game through StreetPass, or received their Miis through SpotPass, their Miis will spawn at the courtyard. There can be only up to four Miis present at a time. The Call Someone Online option could also invite three Miis for 10 Play Coins, or for free once a day.

Each day, the Mii which was encountered the latest would replace one of the present Miis. The first Mii saved that day might offer the player one to three Poké Diamonds. If the player interacts with the other Miis, they might offer to take the Pokémon to a “Special Treat” area of a certain stage. If the player doesn’t have the balloon for the stage, or has already cleared it, they’ll pay one Poké Diamond to enter. Otherwise, they’ll pay 500 P, the game’s own coins, as an entry fee instead. Another Mii might offer a trip back to the last stage played, for one to three Poké Diamonds.

Areas

As the player gains a higher Adventurer Rank, they’ll unlock more areas to visit. Each area has up to six stages and contains different species of Pokémon. In order to visit these areas, the player must buy their respective balloons.

The Balloon Stop

Here the player can select one of the balloons they have unlocked and use it to travel to an adventure. After selecting a balloon, a level will be randomly selected, using a roulette. Using a balloon will put it on a cooldown that varies from one balloon to another. The player can pay Poké Diamonds to remove the cooldown: 1 Poké Diamond when under two hours remain, plus one more for every further two hours.

The balloon expeditions

Rumble World has no overworld map: every adventure starts at the Balloon Stop, where a purchased balloon carries the player’s Toy Pokémon to one of 19 destinations and a roulette picks the stage. Balloons unlock with Adventurer Rank and cost from 10 to 200 Poké Diamonds, so buying the full set comes to 1,270. After each trip a balloon has to re-inflate, from 30 minutes for the starter balloons to 20 hours for the Lucky Balloon, and the Legendary and Mythical bosses are spread across the later destinations.

• 19balloons, each with its own destination
• 87fixed stages, plus Changing Land
• 47Legendary and Mythical bosses
• 1,270Poké Diamonds to buy every balloon

Balloon	Destination	Rank	Cost	Stages	Legendary and Mythical bosses (stage)
Leafy Balloon	Leafy Expanse Grass-type Pokémon	None	10	3	None
Dew Balloon	Dewdrop Bay Water-type Pokémon	None	10	3	None
Ember Balloon	Ember Mountains Fire-type Pokémon	None	10	3	None
Ruby Balloon	Ruby Volcano Hoenn	5	20	4	Latias (Giant Redwood), Groudon (Smoldering Caldera)
Sapphire Balloon	Sapphire Sea Hoenn	5	20	4	Latios (Blue Tower), Kyogre (Sea of Origin)
Gold Balloon	Gold Plateau Johto	10	30	4	Suicune (Purifying Pond), Ho-Oh (Revival Mountain)
Silver Balloon	Silver Isles Johto	10	30	4	Entei (Bewildering Cave), Lugia (Windy Sea)
Diamond Balloon	Diamond Crater Sinnoh	15	50	5	Registeel (Fix-Up Factory), Dialga (Rock Chasm), Heatran (Smelting Forge)
Pearl Balloon	Pearl Marsh Sinnoh	15	50	5	Regice (Aurora Ice Field), Cresselia (Colossal Tree), Palkia (Pearl Lake)
Black Balloon	Black Realm Unova	20	70	5	Tornadus (Blustery Grove), Reshiram (Obsidian Shrine), Terrakion (Rugged Flats)
White Balloon	White Ruins Unova	20	70	5	Virizion (Everspring Valley), Zekrom (Ivory Pillar), Thundurus (Rumbling Hall)
Fairy Balloon	Fairy Land Kalos	25	90	6	Zapdos (Ancient Stronghold), Regirock (Guardian’s Peak), Xerneas (Pixie Glen)
Dark Balloon	Dark Land Kalos	25	90	6	Yveltal (Chilling Graveyard), Articuno (Ice Floe Island), Raikou (Royal Armory)
Origin Balloon	Origin Hideaway Kanto	30	100	6	Moltres (Secluded Volcanic Chasm), Mewtwo (Super Gene Laboratorium), Regigigas (Super-Aura Test Lab)
Lucky Balloon Version 1.1	Changing Land Uncaught Pokémon	33	Free	1, rebuilt each visit	None fixed
Starlight Balloon	Starlight Islands Strong Pokémon	35	120	6	Zygarde (Surveillance Dunes), Celebi (Time-Leap Plains), Victini (Volcanic Ravine), Jirachi (Wishing Star Tower)
Distortion Balloon	Distortion Land Strong Pokémon	40	140	6	Shaymin (Gracious Woodlands), Keldeo (Outermost Snowfield), Manaphy (Vast Ocean), Giratina (Withered Cemetery)
Plasma Balloon	Plasma Tundra Strong Pokémon	45	160	6	Landorus (Abundant Orchard), Kyurem (Frosty Alps), Cobalion (Sacred Blade Cliff), Meloetta (Waltzing Glade)
Legend Balloon	Legend Terrain Special Pokémon	50	200	6	Arceus (Bastion of Beginnings), Deoxys (Meteorite Parkland), Diancie (Mineral Crust Hollow), Genesect (Primeval Thicket), Rayquaza (Sky Crest Range), Darkrai (Tomb of Nightmares)

The later destinations, as they look on the stage roulette:

Leafy, Dew and Ember balloonsThe three starter balloons need no rank, cost 10 Diamonds each and re-inflate in 30 minutes. Each area has three stages and no Legendary Pokémon; the back bosses include Sceptile, Florges and Chesnaught in Leafy Expanse, Greninja and Empoleon in Dewdrop Bay, and Talonflame, Charizard and Delphox in Ember Mountains.

Core-series pairsFrom Rank 5 to Rank 25, balloons come in pairs named after core games: Ruby and Sapphire for Hoenn, Gold and Silver for Johto, Diamond and Pearl for Sinnoh, Black and White for Unova, Fairy and Dark for Kalos. Their areas grow from four stages to six and hold two or three Legendary bosses apiece.

Origin HideawayThe Origin Balloon (Rank 30, 100 Diamonds, six hours) leads to a Kanto-flavoured area of six stages. Moltres guards Secluded Volcanic Chasm, Mewtwo waits in the Super Gene Laboratorium and Regigigas closes the Super-Aura Test Lab.

Starlight, Distortion and PlasmaThese three late balloons, at Ranks 35, 40 and 45, cost 120, 140 and 160 Diamonds and all take eight hours to re-inflate. Each area has six stages and four Legendary or Mythical bosses, including Jirachi, Giratina and Kyurem, while Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf turn up as ordinary wild Pokémon.

Legend TerrainThe final balloon needs Rank 50, costs 200 Diamonds and takes ten hours to re-inflate. All six of its stages end in a Mythical or Legendary boss: Arceus, Deoxys, Diancie, Genesect, Rayquaza and Darkrai, with Arceus, Deoxys and Genesect changing type or form with the calendar.

The Lucky BalloonAdded in Version 1.1, it is free, needs Rank 33 and takes 20 hours to refill. Changing Land is rebuilt each visit from three segments and a boss room taken from already-unlocked stages that still contain uncaught Pokémon, making it the quickest route to filling Pokédex gaps.

Gameplay & Features

Gameplay

Similarly to the previous Pokémon Rumble games, the player must use a Toy Pokémon to battle waves of monsters in various stages, while capturing some of them. At the end of each stage, there’s a Boss battle, where the Boss’s HP bar must be depleted to score a win. The player’s Pokémon still has only two attack moves, on the A and B buttons, which can be changed, and new ones can be learned. Unlike the previous games, though, the player’s own Mii will send the Pokémon to the different stages and wait for them at their end. The stages are now randomly picked by a roulette, and the Toy Pokémon are smaller in size than the Miis.

Challenges

These are the challenges the King sends the player through. Completing a challenge will unlock the next one on the day after, but the player can access additional challenges earlier, if they reach the required Adventurer Rank. These challenges award items, backgrounds and Mii clothing. The player will also earn five Poké Diamonds for completing the challenge’s main objective and two Poké Diamonds for each secondary objective. If the main objective isn’t completed, no rewards would be earned. If the player manages to get all the rewards from a challenge, they won’t earn anything else from repeating them.

Shop

The shop is where the player can buy items of all sorts. The higher the player’s Adventurer Rank, the more items they’ll have in the shop. The shop also contains items which are available only for a day and change on a daily basis. The items available for sale include balloons, which will unlock certain areas.

The player can also buy items that affect the Pokémon’s stats, storage slots and even the Pokémon encounter rate. The Mii running the shop might change every day, if the player has encountered many other players using StreetPass. Each one of these players’ Miis will take a turn running the shop, from the day after it arrives.

Currency

The game features two types of currency: coins, shown simply as P, and Poké Diamonds. The coins are the normal currency earned on most game stages, with which the player can buy different items from the shop. Poké Diamonds can also be acquired in game, but in way harder and more limited ways than the coins.

Some of the Miis the player encounters might give them Poké Diamonds, one to three at a time. Completing challenges would also provide the player with a small amount of Poké Diamonds. Additionally, until the Nintendo 3DS eShop closed on 27 March 2023, this currency could be bought using real money from the Nintendo eShop option at the shop. The higher the quantity the player bought, the more money they saved on the purchase. Sometimes, the Poké Diamonds went on sale, allowing the player to buy them for way lower prices.

This special currency can help the player progress faster, as it is used on most game features, such as resetting the balloons’ cooldowns or buying useful items from the shop. Once the player has bought the maximum of 3,000 Poké Diamonds, the Poké Diamond Digger special building will appear, digging up 40 free Poké Diamonds a day (20 before Version 1.1). Two VIP Cards will then go on sale at the shop: one makes refreshing a balloon’s cooldown cost 1 Poké Diamond, while the other reduces the cost of the Timing Stop feature to 1 Poké Diamond.

The Nintendo 3DS eShop closed on 27 March 2023, so Poké Diamonds can no longer be bought. The boxed Game Card edition has all 3,000 of them built in, along with the Digger and both VIP Cards.

Timing Stop

After the player finishes the challenge “The Phantom Thief Appears”, a special item for time manipulation is unlocked at the shop. If the player buys the item, they can slow time at the stage selection spinning roulette by pressing the X button. As the time is way slower, the player can now simply pick which stage they want to visit next. Timing Stop, however, does cost the player 2 Poké Diamonds when performed, or 1 with the VIP Card.

Fever and Super Fever

Before the stage gets selected, the player might receive a notification that the area they’re visiting is in “Fever Time”. This means that four or five additional stars were distributed across the area’s stages, increasing the chance to meet rare Pokémon. A bigger “Super Fever” scatters six or seven stars, with even more chances to meet rare Pokémon. The more rainbows there are in the background, the better the chance of a Fever.

Mega Evolutions

Pokémon Rumble World introduces the Mega Evolution feature to the Pokémon Rumble series. Clearing the King’s challenge “Raid of the Mighty General”, which can be taken on early from Adventurer Rank 33, gives the player the Mega Key, and the Special Stone Shop will appear, selling Mega Stones. The first stone is free, and each one after that costs five Poké Diamonds. During the stages, if the Pokémon used has its Mega Stone, the player can simply press the Mega Evolution button to initiate it. A cutscene is then shown and the Pokémon Mega Evolves. The Pokémon’s stats would change to those of its Mega Evolution and it will stay in that form until the end of the level.

The shop also sells the Red Orb and the Blue Orb, which let Groudon and Kyogre undergo Primal Reversion, a first for the series.

Learning Pokémon Moves

Upon finishing the “Catch the Garden Intruder” challenge, the Move Tutor Shop appears, allowing the player to switch their Pokémon’s moves or teach them new ones. Five-star moves there cost 1 or 2 Poké Diamonds.

Regional Variations

Rumble World came out on the same day everywhere, but names, prices, passwords and the boxed release dates differed from region to region:

• In Japan the game is Minna no Pokémon Scramble (Everyone’s Pokémon Scramble), following the Scramble name the series carries there.
• Passwords are region-specific: North American, PAL and Japanese copies use different eight-digit codes for the same 38 gift Pokémon and bonus items.
• Poké Diamond prices were set per region for packs of 50 to 1,750: $0.69 to $15.99 in the US, €0.69 to €15.99 in the eurozone, £0.69 to £14.39 in the UK and ¥80 to ¥2,200 in Japan.
• The boxed edition reached Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan first on 19 November 2015, priced at 3,700 yen in Japan, followed by Europe on 22 January 2016, Australia on 23 January 2016 and North America on 29 April 2016.
• Age ratings: CERO A in Japan, PEGI 7 in Europe, PG in Australia and 6+ under Taiwan’s GSRR system.
• Several bonus passwords, including 10 Poké Diamonds and the Pikachu outfit, were first published through Japanese channels such as the Japanese Pokémon Facebook page and the TV show Pokémon Get☆TV, before matching codes circulated for other regions.

Left in the data

• Placeholder entries for Hoopa (Confined and Unbound) and Volcanion are in the data, borrowing red-tinted Azelf and Ariados models and the name XXX, which suggests they were planned as later event Pokémon.
• Two Cobalion attacks left over from Pokémon Rumble Blast remain in the move data: one makes ordinary enemies wobble, the other knocks them out and guarantees a catch.
• A test move that instantly captures non-boss enemies survives, alongside Mii-thrown X Attack, X Defense and X Speed items that have no real effect.
• Text for a debug menu remains, listing options such as invincibility, adding 1,000 Diamonds, unlocking every challenge, slow motion and spawning a sample Mii, a Delphox or a Mega Stone.
• A Japanese-only file of prototype stat descriptions, covering combo count, remaining lives and a challenge timer, was left in the game.

Glitches, exploits and oddities

A freeze on the New Nintendo 3DS and a rank no one can reach:

Freezing on New Nintendo 3DS

Within days of launch, owners of the New Nintendo 3DS and New Nintendo 3DS XL found that Pokémon Rumble World could freeze during play. The cure did not come as a patch to the game itself: Nintendo issued system update 9.7.0-25 on 21 April 2015, and players had to install that firmware to play reliably on the newer consoles. Original 3DS and 2DS models were unaffected by the fault.

The unreachable Rank 80

Adventurer Rank rises as new species are befriended, and the final rank threshold assumes one more species than the game contains. Hoopa and Volcanion were never added, despite placeholder slots for them in the data, so even a complete collection stalls at Rank 79, one Pokémon short of the next level. Nothing breaks, but the last rank is simply impossible to reach through normal play.

Videos & media

Check out these videos of Pokémon Rumble World, including the opening/intro, the official trailer and some Let’s Play action.

The official Nintendo eShop trailer.

The intro and first part of a Let’s Play by Poketon96.

Trivia & facts

• Pokémon Rumble World was released digitally before it was released physically.
• This is the first game in the Pokémon Rumble series in which Mega Evolutions are featured, and the first with Primal Reversion.

Further trivia

• The title surfaced on the Australian Classification Board’s website in March 2015, before Nintendo had said a word about it.
• It was announced in the Nintendo Direct of 1 April 2015 and was in players’ hands just one week later.
• The jingle that plays when Fever kicks in is the same one heard at the start of Pokémon Channel on the GameCube.
• The North American box art was drawn by Kouki Saitou.
• Save data cannot be moved between the free download and the boxed edition, yet the two can still exchange Miis through StreetPass and SpotPass.

Legacy

What came after

• Announced in a Nintendo Direct – 1 April 2015. Revealed with a release date one week away, after an Australian rating had already exposed the name
• Nintendo eShop launch (free-to-start) – 8 April 2015. Released the same day in Japan, North America, Europe and Australia
• System update 9.7.0-25 – 21 April 2015. Firmware fix for freezes on New Nintendo 3DS and New Nintendo 3DS XL
• Version 1.1 update – after launch. Added the Lucky Balloon and Changing Land and doubled the Poké Diamond Digger’s output to 40 a day
• Boxed edition: Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan – 19 November 2015. 3,700 yen in Japan; all 3,000 Poké Diamonds included and no real-money shop. Save data cannot be carried over from the download
• Boxed edition: Europe and Australia – 22 January 2016. Australia followed a day later, on 23 January 2016
• Boxed edition: North America – 29 April 2016. Same content as the other boxed versions
• Pokémon Rumble Rush – 15 May 2019. Ambrella’s smartphone successor, first tested as Pokéland; on Android in Australia first, worldwide from 22 May 2019 and on iOS from 23 July 2019, until it closed on 22 July 2020
• Nintendo 3DS eShop closes – 27 March 2023. No new downloads or Poké Diamond purchases; redownloads remain available
• Nintendo 3DS online services end – 8 April 2024. SpotPass deliveries and other online features stop; StreetPass and offline play are unaffected

Where to play it today

New players can no longer get Pokémon Rumble World: the Nintendo 3DS eShop stopped all downloads and purchases, free titles included, on 27 March 2023, and Poké Diamonds have not been for sale since. Anyone who downloaded it earlier can still redownload it, and the boxed Game Card edition, which includes its 3,000 Diamonds, remains fully playable on 3DS and 2DS systems. SpotPass and other online extras ended with 3DS online services in April 2024, though StreetPass still works between nearby consoles.

How it was made

Pokémon Rumble World was developed by Ambrella, the studio behind every game in the Rumble line, and published by Nintendo. Norio Matsumura directed, with Shusaku Egami and Hitoshi Yamagami among the producers and Miki Obata composing the music. The title leaked in March 2015, when an Australian Classification Board rating appeared before any announcement. Nintendo revealed it in the Nintendo Direct of 1 April 2015 and released it a week later, on 8 April, in every region at once as a free-to-start download. Arriving two months after Pokémon Shuffle, it let players progress without paying while selling Poké Diamonds to speed things up, under a hard cap that held total spending to about $30. A boxed edition with the paid content built in was announced for Japan on 2 October 2015, then confirmed for Europe in December 2015 and for North America in February 2016.

Sales & reviews

Sales figures

As the game was first released as a free download, there is no sales figure for most of its players, and the boxed edition reached only around 86 thousand copies in Japan by the end of 2018.

Those Japanese figures come from Media Create, whose charts are the only published numbers for the game. The boxed edition entered at number 16 with 10,120 copies in the week ending 22 November 2015, passed 50,000 by 3 January 2016 and stood at 85,785 by 30 December 2018. Nintendo never released download numbers for the free eShop version, and no boxed sales were published for other regions.

• 85,785boxed copies in Japan by 2018 (Media Create)
• 10,120sold in its first week in Japan
• 58on Metacritic (16 critics)
• 32/40from Famitsu

Review scores

Pokémon Rumble World was reasonably well received compared to most freemium-style games and apps, earning decent scores on major review websites. Let’s take a look at these scores:

• On GameRankings (which closed in 2019), the game managed to score 60.23% over 11 reviews, while it scored a “mixed or average” 58 over 16 critics on Metacritic.
• Overall, and similarly to all the Pokémon Rumble games, the game will initially be fun but might get repetitive for some people, as the player gets used to the levels’ style and the gameplay.

Critics mostly treated Rumble World as a likeable, lightweight brawler whose business model turned out fairer than expected. The free-to-start design earned credit for its 3,000-Diamond spending ceiling and for the Diamonds it hands out through challenges and visiting Miis; Nintendo Force called it “A great example of ‘Free-to-Start’ done right.” Nintendo Life singled out the connectivity features for giving the castle a sociable feel. The recurring reservation was depth: two attacks per Pokémon and repeating stages left Destructoid describing it as “fairly shallow but very fun in spurts”, while Multiplayer.it found it simple and repetitive yet charming. The boxed edition drew a mixed response of its own, with NZGamer preferring it to the freemium download and 4Players dismissing the collecting as half-hearted. Aggregate scores settled around 58 to 60 per cent.

Awards and honours:

Media & artwork

• Official artwork gallery from Pokémon Rumble World
• Box art from Pokémon Rumble World, including numerous regional variations and editions
• Screenshots from Pokémon Rumble World

Further reading

More Rumble and Nintendo 3DS links on the site: