The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass/Battle mode

The battle mode for phantom hourglass can be played online or with friends. The object of the game is to collect force gems as link or to slash link as the phantoms. Each player is coloured either red or blue, the red player starts as link and the blue player starts as the phantoms. Both the red and blue player has thier own base which they must throw force gems into to collect points. The bigger the force gems, the more points it gives you. However, bigger force gems slow you down making it easier for the phantoms to catch you. Once link is caught or the time is up players swap roles. There is a maximum of six rounds - three are played as link and three are played as the phantoms. However, if the blue player is already winning by the end of round five, the sixth round is skipped. There is a 120 second time limit for each round, but this time can be lengthened and shroted if the correct power-ups are used.

Power up's
There are various power ups to obtain in each stage, The chance of certain power-up's appearing differs depending on the stage and the current situation in a battle. (e.g if a red link was winning there would be more blue powerup's than red ones.) The various types for link include:


 * +30 seconds - adds 30 seconds to the time limit.
 * Speed up - makes link run faster for a short period of time.
 * Clone - makes another link appear on screen to confuse the phantoms.
 * one hit immunity - makes link immune to the phantom's sword once.
 * Shuffle force gems - force gems are taken from there current position and dropped in various locations.

The phantom's powerup's are:


 * -30 seconds - take away 30 seconds from the time limit.
 * Speed up - makes all the phantoms run faster for a short period of time.
 * Clone - makes another phantom appear on screen to confuse link. Player cannot control this phantom.
 * Attack up - the range of attack for the phantoms increases.
 * Shuffle force gems - force gems are taken from there current positions and dropped in various locations.

General strategies
These are some tips that should be used in every game:

Link

 * Collect and break as many power-up's as possible, this gets you big plays and aids you mid-battle.
 * With big and medium-sized force gems link moves slower than phantoms, it's much faster to throw and then pick up force gems than to carry them around.
 * Phantoms are much slower than link, carrying the smallest force gems makes link as slow as the phantoms are, so don't be afraid of carrying these force gems around.
 * Don't leave force gems in your base because your phantoms can't enter your base to defend them. Throw them outside the base, preferably in a corner, this allows you to position a phantom in your next turn to defend these force gems, preventing your opponent from stealing your points.
 * even if your opponent has safeguarded your base completely, throw force gems near your base so that you can throw them in on your next turn as link.
 * pile up non-coloured force gems as you would your own force gems, preventing the opponent from scoring points gets you a big play and increases the liklihood of winning.
 * if you can't reach your base very easily, you can throw force gems next to them and then pick up and place them in your base. If you do this you never leave the safety of your base or safe zone and get hit by the phantoms.
 * If your losing because the opponent is guarding all the force gems very carefully, the one-hit immunity is a life saver. You can go collect the force gems and throw them in a nearby safe zone without the worry your going to lose the rest of the turn.