Pokémon Café Mix – Run A Cafe Staffed By Pokémon

The Pokémon series is one of the most beloved franchises in gaming. It's also the one Nintendo is most comfortable experimenting with when it comes to new games. Pokémon Café Mix is the brain-child of that experimentation, bringing match-making gameplay to the series in a unique premise.

A Cute Pokémon Puzzle

Players run a cafe staffed with Pokémon and filled with hungry Pokémon customers. Players must help their staff create meals by matching icons as the 'cooking' portion of the game. The game only works in handheld mode since it is a touch screen game.

Deliver the tasty dishes you create in this match-making Pokémon puzzle game.

Players drag their finger across the screen to match Pokémon faces to solve the recipe puzzles. Each recipe requires a certain number of matches to be successful, which can get challenging later. Pleasing a Pokémon customer with a great recipe may prompt them to ask to join your cafe staff.

Each Pokémon in the game has a culinary specialty, so players will want to collect them all. For example, Charmander is best at preparing drinkings, while Snubbull excels at plating. Changing out the Pokémon on your team can help you tackle the puzzle challenges more efficiently.

CONCEPT RATING: 3/5

Adorable and Light-Hearted Imagery

The best part about Pokémon Café Mix is the hand-drawn art style. Each character feels lovingly crafted and lifted straight from the anime series. There are hundreds of Pokémon you can collect, with more added each month.

Pokémon Café Mix | Credit: nintendo.com

The music and sound effects are light-hearted and charming. It's about par for the course for what you'd expect from a children's game.

GRAPHICS & AUDIO RATING: 3/5

Deliver Dishes To Your Pokémon Customers

The gameplay is pretty simplistic at first, but the puzzle levels become more challenging as the player progresses. Troublesome pieces begin appearing in recipes, and players will need to remove them to get a perfect score.

Each puzzle only offers a limited set of moves to create the best recipe possible. That's why swapping out Pokémon becomes an essential strategy in later levels. There is a micro-transaction component where you can purchase more moves to complete hard puzzles.

The gameplay is pretty simplistic at first, but the puzzle levels become more challenging as the player progresses.

The game also features a management aspect, where you can expand the cafe with more rooms and decorations. Pokémon fans will love the collect-them-all aspect, while match-three fans will love the puzzle nature.

GAMEPLAY RATING: 3/5

Pokémon Fans Might Be Underwhelmed

Pokémon Cafe Mix isn't going to entice the hardcore Pokémon player. But if you're looking for a creative match-three game to replace Candy Crush on your phone, then this game might be it. It's got a lot of charm and polish for a mobile game, even if the gameplay lacks depth.

REPLAYABILITY RATING: 4/5

TL/DR

Pokémon Café Mix is an adorable free-to-start puzzler that is unlike any Pokémon game yet.