If you’re a fan of the Pokémon franchise, chances are you’re far more excited to dig into the new Pokémon Black and White 2 for the DS than Pokémon Dream Radar, a downloadable game for 3DS. But if you’re serious about getting the most out of your newest quest to catch them all, you might want to give this quirky title a try.
You see, Pokémon Dream Radar is more a tool than a full-pledged game. Using the 3DS’s camera, the game makes it appear that “dream clouds” have littered the room you’re playing in and then tasks you with shooting them. While most clouds disperse into collectible dreams orbs, some of them reward you with items or even Pokémon, which you can then transfer to your Black or White 2 save file. Now I’ve got your attention, huh?
Sadly, the Dream Radar puts in some restraints to ensure you can’t cheat the game into quickly rewarding you with an abundance of Pokémon. Once you clear the screen of all dream clouds, you have to wait a while before new ones will appear. You can also refill the game with clouds by spending five Play Coins, a form of currency on the 3DS that you can gain simply by walking around, but you can only do this three times a day. Luckily for you, I’ve put together a few tips that’ll help you get the most reward with the least amount of time spent.
1. Play Pokémon Dream Radar before starting Pokémon Black and White 2.
You can catch certain kinds of Pokémon with the Dream Radar, including some pretty rare and useful ones (like the three legendaries pictured at the top of this story). You can transfer your recent captures to Pokémon Black and White 2, where they’ll show up in your PC (accessible at any Pokécenter). They’ll always start as level 5, the same as your starter Pokémon. This means you can use Dream Radar to assemble a great team that you can use from the very beginning of your adventure. So, before you even take your first steps in Black and White 2, spend some time capturing Pokémon in the Dream Radar.
Riolu is especially useful. He’s of the fighting-type, which is incredibly convenient, since the first gym leader you encounter specializes in the normal-type (which is weak to fighting).
2. Focus on scope upgrades.
You can use the dream orbs you collect in the game to purchase a variety of upgrades in the Development Lab, but you should only focus on improving your scope. This increases the number of dream clouds that appear during a single play session, which will greatly increase the rate at which you collect more orbs and Pokémon.
The other upgrades and items you can buy at the lab all help make capturing Pokémon easier, but doing so is simple enough even without any extra help, at least in the beginning. Don’t worry about spending orbs on these until you’ve maxed out your scope.
3. Play on a swivel chair.
You’re supposed to play Pokémon Dream Radar by standing and holding your 3DS in front of you, turning your whole body left and right to find clouds to shoot. This can get a little tiring for your arms and neck. Instead, play on a swivel chair. This way you can just spin around while sitting, allowing you to play for an extended period of time without getting sore.