Pokémon Tower Defense

Perhaps the most important tip is to keep types in mind, both those of your own Pokemon and the opponents! Using attacks that your enemy resists will get you nowhere.

For instance, if you start with Bulbasaur it'll probably learn Vine Whip by the time you enter Viridian Forest. You might be tempted to use this new ability, but if you do you'll have rendered Bulbasaur useless against the bugs you're battling! Instead, try using Vine Whip during your first gym battle, where it'll deal heavy damage to the Rock and Ground monsters you'll fight there. You'll win with ease.

The chart of type resistances and weaknesses is complex, but the most basic triad is Grass beats Water beats Fire beats Grass. Other key dichotomies to remember are Psychic beating Fighting and Poison, Fighting beating Dark and Rock and Ground beating a wide variety of types but being completely ineffective against Flying.

Generally, the most effective attacking types are Psychic, Fighting, Ground and Ice. Defensive types to watch out for include Rock (try Water, Fighting, Ground, Ice or Grass), Ice (try Fire, Fighting or Rock), Dark (try Fighting, but don't use Psychic!), Dragon (weak only to itself and Ice) and most notably Steel (Fire, Fighting and Ground work while very little else has any effect). Also watch out for Ghosts, which are completely immune to Normal attacks like Tackle.

Because of this, diversity is the name of the game in Pokemon, both in Pokemon Defense and the handheld and console games. Use a diverse team of Pokemon once you're able.

You should also make sure they learn a diverse array of moves. Your Charizard might be cool with four Fire moves, but he'll be useless against anything that resists Fire! If you give him, say, a Steel or Ground move instead he'll be better able to cover his weaknesses. TMs and HMs are great for this, but many Pokemon also learn off-type moves as they level for precisely this reason.

Use the targeting options to your advantage! Some Pokemon, like Metapod, are slow but very powerful defensively. These Pokemon will act as distractions and drastically hinder your effectiveness unless you use targeting options like Fastest. You really need to be dynamic with these options to be successful. They're one of the most important things to learn.

It's Pokemon, so of course you've gotta catch 'em all! Make sure to keep your Pokemon collection fresh by grabbing new Pokemon as they appear. This gives you a much greater variety of combat options, not to mention it's fun. You can catch new Pokemon even if you're using the limit of six at a time - the new ones just get sent to storage. Because of this, you should never battle with less than six Pokemon.

Familiarity with the handheld and console games is nice, but you might want to look into various moves to see how they behave in this setting. String Shot, for instance, is mostly useless in traditional Pokemon games...but it's a fantastic way of stalling enemies here!

Make sure to change up the moves your Pokemon are doing to suit the situation! String Shot is great for slowing enemies, but once they're all slowed it's time to switch back to a damaging move. Stacking up String Shot won't help any further so your Pokemon would just be wasting its time. Most debuffs and buffs are subject to this - keep an eye on what your Pokemon are doing!

Likewise, you can benefit from looking for move synergies. Focus Energy, which boosts your critical rate significantly, is already a great choice...but it can be even better if you use it with a fast-attacking move like Quick Attack.

Another handy move is Baton Pass, which spreads stat boosts to nearby allies. Pokemon that can use powerful boosting moves and Baton Pass together, such as Mr. Mime and Eevee, can really help your team out.

This game is tough! Be prepared to retry stages a few times to get them right. On the bright side, you keep any experience and money you earn from a stage even if you lose, so you can go back in with a little more power and try again.

One out of every eight thousand Pokemon that spawns can be shiny, meaning it's a different color than a normal Pokemon. You'll get a warning when one pops up and the game speed automatically returns to the slowest option. Be very careful and make sure you catch the shiny Pokemon! They gain 1.5 times the experience of a regular Pokemon, making them more effective than their regular cousins rather than just bragging rights pieces as they are in the handheld and console games.

Or if you prefer to live on the dark side, you might want to go after Shadow Pokemon instead. These come from a variety of sources, though the "easiest" way is to blow a massive amount of Casino Coins at the Game Corner. Shadow Pokemon have a dark purple tint surrounding them and are pretty much the same as a normal Pokemon. However, they have a special attack called Shadow Rush that's effective against all types. Very handy if you want a set-and-forget sort of Pokemon.