Pokémon Go master: Pokémon Go master

IMAGE: NINTENDO, MASHABLE COMPOSITE

So you're going crazy for Pokémon Go, aren't you? You can't stop thinking about it, tweeting about it and playing the darn game that's taken the entire world by storm.

You want to become a Pokémon master, right? Though the game's quite simple, it's also deep if you're a completionist and want to brag in front of all your friends.

Friendships and relationships are being tested over Pokémon Go. But to become the very best, you will need to know the game inside and out. We've cherry-picked seven useful tricks that will help you master the game that everyone can't get enough of.

1. How to get Pikachu as your starter

Picking a starter Pokémon is tough. Do you go with Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle? Maybe you don't want to start with any of those three and want Ash's adorable electric rodent Pikachu.

When you first start the game, Professor Willow will ask you to catch one of the three aforementioned starters, but you can actually catch Pikachu with a simple "hack." Just keep walking away.

Some users have reported walking away from the starters and then going back to them several times, but Mashable has confirmed Pikachu appears if you simply walk away far enough. It took about 25 minutes of walking down five blocks, but Ash's best friend did eventually appear.

2. Apply spin for extra XP

Catching Pokémon in Go isn't hard — you just need to swipe up and throw Poké Balls at the critters and pray the app doesn't crash — but you can actually get some more XP by spinning the ball before you throw it.

This trick doesn't increase your capture success rate, but more XP points!

3. Lure Pokémon to you with incense

There are a handful of items you can collect in the game, but one of the most useful ones is the incense, which you can find randomly at Poké Stops.

With incense, you can lure wild Pokémon to your location for 30 minutes. In our experience, there aren't a whole lot of Pokémon that show up, but hey, better than nothing! You will have to leave your app open, though, because the timer counts down even if you close the app.

4. Pay attention to the footprints

Tap the "nearby" window in the lower right corner of the screen and you'll expand a window full of Pokémon that are located nearby.

See those footprints under each Pokémon? They tell you how close a certain Pokémon is to your location. One footprint means a Pokémon is close by, two means it's farther away and three means a Pokémon is out of your range and you need to walk farther away to run into it.

By paying attention to these footprints, it's much easier to catch new types of Pokémon.

5. Watch the circles

Most players blindly throw Poké Balls at wild Pokémon, but there's actually a logic to the catching madness.

As you press and hold your Poké Ball, you'll notice a circle on the Pokémon getting smaller and smaller. What you want to do is throw the Poké Ball when the rings are smaller. It's harder to aim at, but by doing so, there's a less likely chance a stronger will escape from the Poké Ball.

Pay attention to the color of the circle, too. A green circle is the most common and means catching the Pokémon should be easy. Yellow is harder, and red is the strongest.

6. Turn off AR to save battery life and reduce crashes

Pokémon Go is a battery guzzler. Maybe even more so than Snapchat. With the app already sucking down power because of its constant GPS usage, you'll notice your phone's battery drain quicker.

To squeeze out more battery life and reduce the chances of the app crashing right when you think you've caught a Pokémon, turn off the augmented reality (AR) by hitting the switch in the upper right corner of the screen when you've encountered a Pokémon.

Also, switching off the AR keeps Pokémon centered on the screen, making them easier to catch.

7. Use a drone to visit locations

Pokémon Go's entire premise is location-based and requires players to physically walk and travel to new places to catch Pokémon, collect items at Poké Stops and battle gym leaders at gyms.

Want to catch 'em all and be the best there is, but too lazy to get your butt off the sofa? Reddit user hyperion995 attached his smartphone to a DJI Phantom drone and flew it around to locations. He then used the AirDroid app to remotely control the phone.

Now, that's smart thinking!

8. Get a battery pack or case

It sounds stupid, but like we said earlier, Pokémon Go eats up battery life like there's no tomorrow. To enjoy uninterrupted monster-catching, a battery case or a battery pack is a must.

This AirCase one for the iPhone is the world's thinnest, and here are our eight top picks for any situation. We also like the most recent Omnicharge, which includes an A/C plug.

But really, almost any battery pack or charger with a large capacity will do. They're pretty cheap these days, too.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Pokémon Go has arrived, and it's a worldwide sensation.

With the long-awaited UK launch date finally here, millions of Poké-fans are now roaming their cities in the GPS-powered game, attempting to fill their Pokédexes and take over nearby gyms, but the game leaves plenty unexplained.

Some of that you'll discover in the initial hours, while other helpful details might evade you entirely.

Luckily, we're here to help: we've been playing for days and have rounded up 10 truly helpful and essential tips to get you started and ensure you're getting the most out of this delightfully active mobile hit. Ready to be a Pokémon master trainer and dominate your neighbourhood gyms? Read this first.

UK fans looking to catch 'em all can download the app now, for free, on iOS and Android.

1) CHOOSE PIKACHU INSTEAD

If you haven't started yet – or you're willing to begin anew – then there's a surprising twist: you can choose Pikachu as your starting Pokémon. Hear that sound? It's the screams of millions of fans learning that crucial detail after spending hours trying to find the iconic yellow creature around nearby towns.

What's the trick? It's funny, really: you just need to walk away from the classic starting trio of Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur that pops up when you first reach the world map. They'll spawn around you a few more times as you wander off, but eventually Pikachu will pop up right alongside them. Catch him and you'll have the charming Poké-pal from the start.

2) LOOK FOR RUSTLING LEAVES

Having trouble tracking down some Pokémon in the world? While you can (and should) use incense items to draw them near or visit PokéStops with active lures – look for the pink flower petals around one for that – there's a subtle visual hint you should pay attention to.

Look on the map: do you see tiny animations of leaves being rustled about? Yeah, head right to that area – there's probably a Pokémon within. They're often found in forests or parks, so ditch the urban terrain if you can and try to locate some wild new friends.

3) USE THE TRACKER

Looking for a particular type of Pokémon, whether it's to expand your roster or grab enough duplicates to evolve one (more on that shortly)? Use the tracker to find which specific Pokémon are in range by tapping the little bar at the bottom right of the screen.

It'll bring up a Nearby menu that shows monsters in your vicinity judged by distance: the more footsteps shown, the further away it is. Start walking in any direction and you'll see how the marker changes, letting you course-correct until you're headed the right way. Pokémon that you haven't caught yet are shown as silhouettes, but eagle-eyed fans can figure 'em out.

4) RINGS AND CURVES

Flinging Poké Balls at a discovered Pokémon can be a hit-or-miss process, quite literally – but it's worth knowing the strategy of it all. If you hold down the Poké Ball for a second before throwing, you'll see a little coloured circle appear within the target. Toss the Ball when the ring is the smallest for the best chance of a capture.

Also important is the colour of the circle: green means it should be an easy capture, yellow is less so, and a red ring means it will probably put up a fight. If you're encountering a high-level Pokémon with red rings and can't seem to capture it with a regular ball, consider using a Great or Master Ball, which unlock as you level up.

And if you didn't know, you can toss curveballs by shaking the ball a bit before tossing, and there are even style points for nailing the throw

5) TURN OFF AR MODE

6) USE YOUR EGGS

You'll occasionally pick up eggs while visiting PokéStops and leveling up, but you might not have noticed where they reside: tap the Pokéball icon, go into the Pokémon menu, and it's up top on the right. Tap one of those and put it into an incubator.

And then? Well, just walk a bunch. It'll tell you how long you need to walk with the app open, whether it's 2km or 10km, and once you've hit the tally the egg will hatch, revealing another Pokémon for your squad. If you're going to be wandering around with the app open anyway, you might as well get all the Pokémon you can, right?

7) MEMBERSHIP HAS BENEFITS

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If you've managed to take over a gym, you get more than just bragging rights: you also get stuff you can use in the game. Assuming you're currently occupying a gym, simply fire up the Shop menu and look for the little shield icon up top. Tap that.

If you're still running one or more gyms, you'll be granted some coins and stardust – and then the timer will reset until the next redemption window. Got multiple gyms? You'll get multiplied rewards then, up to a limit of 100 coins and 5,000 stardust per haul.

8) TRANSFER YOUR POKEMON

If you spend a lot of time playing Pokémon Go in the same general area, then you're bound to see a lot of the same Pokémon over and over again. While that's less exciting than constantly stumbling upon newcomers, it's crucial to continue capturing those monsters time and again.

Why? Because you can transfer them back to Professor Willow, who will give you a creature-specific candy for your troubles. And once you have enough candy for each monster, you can evolve it into a totally different Pokémon, thus filling your Pokédex in the process.

9) SAVE YOUR BATTERY

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Between the constant GPS connection, the need to use your screen, and the AR mode pulling footage from the back camera, Pokémon Go is an absolute battery-killer. That's not terribly surprising, but it's even worse than expected, with Niantic saying they're working on a fix.

What can you do in the meantime? Well, aside from getting portable battery charger or an extra battery for your Android phone, consider using battery saver mode in the Settings menu. Essentially, it turns off the screen when your device is held down, but you still get a vibration when a Pokémon is nearby and distance is still tracked. Also, seriously, turn off AR mode.

10) PLAY ON YOUR COMMUTE

Pokémon Go might try to push you to walk around your city, but light exercise is for suckers: play on your daily commute! We've played on the bus and train, and it makes it easy to hit a bunch of PokéStops and find new Pokémon while you're being ferried around.

It's better on a bus, since the pace of a train can be a bit too fast to activate PokéStops at full speed, but Pokémon Go becomes a really nice way to spend your droning daily commute. Just don't play the game while driving a car. We know it's tempting, but please, don't: it's not worth the safety risk, nor the possibility of getting a ticket.

Read more at http://www.stuff.tv/features/10-tips-and-tricks-make-you-ultimate-pokemon-go-master#tPYVUmblFo7BmCER.99

Pokémon Go master

Saturday, 16 July 2016

8 'Pokémon Go' tricks that'll help you become a Pokémon master