Tag battle

Lucas and Pearl vs. Mars and Jupiter

A tag battle is a type of double battle where two Pokémon Trainers team up against one or two others. In this type of battle, all Trainers may use three Pokémon each except in the event in which the battle is two-on-one, at which point, the solo Trainer may use the usual six. Unlike regular double battles, there are no specific Trainer classes encountered for tag battles. Instead, two seemingly unrelated Trainer classes must both see the player at the same time within the perfect distance.

In the games

Since Emerald, Tag battles have been possible at various points throughout the games. Other such battles happen at specific points in the game.

• In Emerald, Steven Stone battles two members of Team Magma alongside the player in the Mossdeep Space Center.
• Tag battles are also conducted in Hoenn's Battle Tower. Players have the option of teaming up with either computer-controlled partners or a friend via link cable.
• At various points throughout Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, five Trainers partner up with the player for a short time. As long as they are with the player, all wild battles will be conducted as double battles. Trainers in these areas are also set up to favor two-on-two tag battles. The same Trainers can later be selected to act as the player's partner in Sinnoh's Battle Tower.
• Professor Rowan's assistant and the player's rival will also team up with the player at certain times, often during confrontations with Team Galactic.
• Battles at the Seven Stars Restaurant are all two-on-one tag battles.
• In Platinum, the player and his/her rival are challenged to a tag battle by Flint and Volkner upon entering the Battle Zone for the first time.
• In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, the player and Lance are challenged by Rocket Executive Athena and a Team Rocket Grunt in the Rocket Hideout.
• Also, the player and Silver can sometimes battle Clair and Lance in the Dragon's Den.

In the anime

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing sections and complete it.

Tag battles have been featured in the anime since the second episode. The first tag battlers were Jessie and James of Team Rocket. At this time, Misty stated that tag battles were against the official league rules. Team Rocket still challenges the main protagonists in tag battles regularly.

Tag battles became more common in the anime as of the Advanced Generation. On two occasions, Ash has paired up with two of his female companions. The first time was in The Bicker the Better with May and The Champ Twins! with Dawn. In both situations, Ash had gotten into an argument with his partner and ended up making up with them and becoming in sync with them during battle.

Hearthome City has its own special competition known as the Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition. Trainer pairs are chosen by random. Each Trainer receives a card with a number on it and must partner with the Trainer whose number is paired with their number.

Trivia

When battling with Steven Stone, his Pokémon are shown to gain experience after the defeat of an opponent. This does not occur in any other tag battle.

This article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games.