Multi Battle

Lucas and Barry 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 different Trainers must both see the player at the same time.

In the games

Since Ruby and Sapphire, tag battles have been possible at various points throughout the games. Other such battles happen at specific points in the game.

• Tag battles are conducted via link cable with two to three other trainers. Players decide which side to battle. This was the only way to have a tag battle in Ruby and Sapphire.
• 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 Ariana and a Team Rocket Grunt in the Team Rocket HQ.
• 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 information 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 series. 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. Bagged Then Tagged! also featured a tag battle, with Ash and Dawn battling Lyra and Khoury. Ash and Dawn seemed to work well this time, defeating their opponents.

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 alongside Steven in Emerald, his Pokémon are shown to gain experience after the defeat of an opponent Pokémon. This does not happen to a partner's Pokémon in the tag battles of Generation IV.
• The tag battle against Mars and Jupiter in the Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum games has the potential to be a twelve-on-six fight, due to Barry's full party. All other tag battles in the game have numbers that are more even.
• In Generation IV, when encountering wild Pokémon while having a stat trainer following you, it says "A wild [Pokémon] and [Pokémon] appeared!". This is a grammar error, as the indefinite article "A" is only used when pointing to a single noun. The correct sentence could be: "The wild Pokémon [Pokémon] and [Pokémon] appeared!"

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