Explore a sun-soaked island paradise and experience a new way to play Pokémon in this action-packed adventure. Whether you’re just beginning your Pokémon journey, a Pokémon GO player looking for a new challenge or a veteran trainer, the island of Pasio has colourful battles and surprises in abundance.

Loyalty is the name of the game here: across Pasio, you’ll encounter a wide range of characters that all stay true to a single partner Pokémon. Veteran fans will relish seeing some iconic pairings, such as Whitney & her hardy Miltank or Brock and his towering Onix. Even if you’re new to Pokémon, you’ll soon grow to love these trainers and their larger-than-life personalities.

You’ll need to prove your worth in combat to recruit these Sync Pairs to your team. Each battle sees teams of three Sync Pairs face off in real time, with a move gauge shared between them. You’ll need to check your opponents’ weaknesses before deciding which pair you should call into action: if you’re challenging a water-type Pokémon, for example, try using your own trainer’s Pikachu to shock them with its electric attacks.

Use the same pairing often enough and you’ll be able to launch an epic Sync Move, prompting a spectacular cutscene as your attack lands with crushing effect. But it’s often wise to change things up: you’ll sometimes need to heal a Sync Pair with a potion, or boost defensive power when one of your partners is being targeted.

Though you’ll round up more than enough Sync Pairs on your journey, you’ll find it hard to resist scouting for new ones. You’ll slide your character’s Poryphone into a special machine inside the Pasio Pokémon Center to send out a call – and if you’re lucky, a five-star trainer will respond.

If you’d rather save your gems, that’s no problem either. You can choose to automatically optimise your team before new story chapters, while your recommended strength rating will let you know whether you’re ready to face an upcoming test. If a tough opponent lies ahead, you can easily replay earlier chapters, ramping up the battle speed to bulk up your team in next to no time.

Training manuals let you get new recruits up to speed, while technical machines allow you to teach your Pokémon new moves – and eventually you’ll be able to evolve them into their stronger final forms. Meanwhile, Sync Pair side stories give you the chance to get properly acquainted with your team-mates.

And that’s not all. Pokémon Masters’ co-operative mode lets you team up with other players, as you coordinate attacks in strategic battles against more challenging rivals. With timed events, training courses and more besides, this generous game has something for every kind of Pokémon fan.