Spinoffs Chris Reviews - Magikarp Jump

Pixel · May 23, 2017

What's up guys, this is Chris, and today I'll be giving a review on the new Pokémon mobile game, Magikarp Jump (known as Splash! Magikarp in Japan). So, let's jump right into the review!

Magikarp Jump is a very simple game at a first glance - catch a Magikarp, raise it as high as you can, and then win as many jump-offs as you can against the Magikarp of the NPCs. And that's basically all there is to it. The game itself isn't hard at all, as most of the events that occur are mostly out of the player's control. You'll be spending most of your time in the main area - the Fish Tank. Berries often spawn here, and tapping on them leads Magikarp towards them. You start with Oran and Sitrus berries, but can buy more variants as you progress in the game, with later variants giving more EXP to Magikarp when eaten.

The next section of the game is the Training section, where a roulette wheel is spun to choose from a variety of training regimes. Much like the berries, more training regimes can be purchased as the player gets further into the game. The amount of EXP Magikarp receives is dependant on both the regime used and the amount of effort Magikarp puts into its training. After training, an event may sometimes occur, where a variety of things can happen. From my experience, the most common one is to receive a Nugget from a passerby, which translates into some quick cash, but there are other things such as coming along a tree filled with berries or swimming and finding something shiny, where the player must choose whether they wish to risk losing their Magikarp in order to gain a prize, as the player can only raise one Magikarp at a time, and acting in such events may trigger a sequence where the current Magikarp is lost. I have only let this happen to me once, and I lost my second Magikarp to a Pidgeotto, who flew in as Magikarp was jumping and took it away.

The final section of the game is the Leagues, where your Magikarp goes up against the Magikarps of NPCs in order to see who's Magikarp jumps the highest. If your Magikarp can't beat the opponent's, then your Magikarp is forced to retire, but if you do beat the opponent, you move on to the next round, and you keep doing so until you've won the League. There is more than one League, however, so be prepared to lose and train many Magikarps.

Apart from Magikarp gaining experience in order to increase its size, determine its true pattern (the Magikarp in this game appear in different colours and patterns than the plain red Magikarp found in the main series), and most important give it more JP, or Jump Power. The more JP your Magikarp has, the higher it can jump, but each Magikarp has a limit, as they can only reach a certain level cap. This level cap is raised when the player's level increases, and the player receives EXP by winning in Leagues or whenever a Magikarp retires.

The game runs on two types of currency - Coins and Diamonds. Coins are the regular currency that can be found and won in-game by doing almost anything, and Coins are used to purchase or upgrade berries and training regimes. Diamonds, however, are gifted when you win a League, find a new pattern of Magikarp, or complete and achievement, and Diamonds are used to buy decorations and Support Pokémon for your Magikarp's pond. Decorations increase the amount of EXP Magikarp gains, and Support Pokémon give an EXP boost every few hours, as well as a JP boost during League battles. Every player will receive four free Support Pokémon after completing certain Leagues, and the rest can be purchased from the store using Diamonds. Support Pokémon are powered-up with Support Candy, which are also awarded in League Battles.

But enough about how the game plays, let's talk about how it looks and sounds - excellent. The game uses a really clean, but still cute art style and the soundtrack is adorable too, and it gives the whole game the silly feel it was going for. Even the stupidity of some of the events that occur help show this too, like how nobody seems to know the player's gender due to their androgynous design. There isn't really much else to say about those aspects of the game, other than that they're perfect for what type of game this is.

So, in conclusion, I'm going to give the game a Must Play review, and I recommend it to anyone who has a smartphone and can be bothered checking their phone once in a while. The game can currently be downloaded and played in English using a Japanese Apple/Google account, and doesn't require a network connection to play unless a transaction is being made.

And that's it for this review! Feel free to leave your thoughts down below, and I'll see you all in the next review. This is Chris, signing out!