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Guardian Signs Past Missions Overview

The Past Missions in Guardian Signs contain several mechanics that work substantially differently from the regular mechanics used by the game's main story in the Present period. This page will explain how Past Missions function and detail the differences.

Basic Mission Mechanics

Each Mission consists of a series of rooms, connected to each other by warp panels. Some rooms may have separate floor spaces that can be connected by standing on a switch to active a walkable floor panel to move around. The design of each Mission's layout is intended to encourage multiplayer functionality, such as by placing power-ups or shortcuts behind floor panels that require two players standing on separate switches to activate. However, with the exception of the Wi-Fi exclusive Mission 24, all Missions can be completed with one player; it simply takes longer and sometimes does not allow access to certain Pokémon or power-ups.

The goal of each Mission is to capture a single boss Pokémon at the end of the series of rooms within a given time limit. The boss is always reached by a warp panel, and the warp panel itself is only enabled once the player has completed a different requirement: catch a certain number of Pokémon of certain species in the rest of the Mission rooms. Understanding how the warp panels connect, what switches need to be pressed, and so on are important for understanding how the rooms connect and how to reach the Pokémon that must be captured. The goal of catching multiple Pokémon in separate areas of the map also encourages multiplayer play: two (or more) players can go off in different directions and catch two of the required Pokémon at the same time, whereas this could potentially take twice as long for a single player.

The player is assisted by one Partner Pokémon whose Poké Assist can be used to break open treasure chests containing bonus items and attack wild Pokémon to increase their capture counter. The bonus items include power-ups for the player's Styler and partner Pokémon, Styler recharges, time extensions, and Slates that can be used to obtain new partner Pokémon.

Some past missions open up six otherwise-impassable lithographs in the main story. These lithographs block access to some wild Pokémon. While all six Pokémon are encountered naturally as part of the story, the only way the player can re-capture them (if, for instance, the player did not S-rank the capture the first time they attempted it) is by unlocking the lithographs.

The six Pokémon are as follows:

1. Skuntank can be found in Rasp Cavern. Accessing its chamber requires completing Mission 1: Drapion in the Forest Temple.
2. Wobbuffet can be found in Mt. Latolato. Accessing its chamber requires completing Mission 6: A Pokémon Forest in the Way.
3. Ambipom can be found in Daybreak Ruins. Accessing its chamber requires completing Mission 10: Graveler's Terrible Rocks.
4. Tyranitar can be found in Faldera Island. Accessing its chamber requires completing Mission 14: Rush Ahead! Don't Look Back!.
5. Infernape can be found on Mt. Sorbet. Accessing its chamber requires completing Mission 18: Panic at the Perplexing Temple.
6. Slowking can be found in Oblivia Ruins. Accessing its chamber requires completing Mission 22: Glowing Roads in the Darkness.

Differences

• The starting Partner Pokémon is not the same Ukulele Pichu used in the main story. Instead, the player begins with a Piplup and can use acquired Slates to obtain more potential Partner Pokémon.
• The player cannot run from any wild Pokémon once a capture begins.
• Capturing a Pokémon in a Mission does not add it to the player's party or allow the player to use it immediately in any way. The only available Poké Assist and Field Move in any given Mission is that provided by the player's single partner Pokémon.
• The Styler starts at level 1 and has none of the upgrades that are received in the main story.
• The Styler still requires experience to level up. However, experience is only awarded upon successful completion of a mission. The amount of experience required to level up the Styler is also far greater than in the main story. The Styler is overall generally weaker as well, and wild Pokémon tend to have higher capture requirements.
• The Browser used by past missions is different from that used in the main story.

Experience and AP

Capturing Pokémon and finishing a mission both reward the player with AP, a currency that is used to level up the player's Partner Pokémon. If the player loses a mission, they will keep all the AP they gained from capturing Pokémon, but will not get any AP for clearing the mission. The amount of AP rewarded for catching a Pokémon depends on the Pokémon species and the Mission it is encountered in; see this page for each enemy Pokémon's AP value(s). The amount of AP received for completing the Mission depends on which Mission it is and the rank the player receives for completing it (see below). See an individual Mission's page for its AP yield.

The player will also receive the same amount of AP as Experience. Experience is automatically applied to the player's Styler toward leveling up the Styler. The amount of EXP required to reach each level of the Styler, and the differences between levels, is shown in a chart at the bottom of this page.

Mission Ranks

Completing a Mission will award the player a ranking for the whole Mission based on the amount of time remaining when the Mission is finished. The ranks are awarded as follows:

A higher rank will increase the amount of AP (and therefore Experience) received for completing the Mission. Additionally, some Slates are only accessible if the player achieves a certain rank on a Mission; more details are given on Missions' individual pages.

Unlocking a new Mission and clearing a lithograph in the main story both happen regardless of the rank the player receives.

Partner Pokémon

Having a strong Partner Pokémon is crucial for clearing Missions in a timely manner. The Styler is overall weaker than in the main story, enemy Pokémon have higher HP counts, and boss Pokémon always go into an Agitated state where Poké Assists are the most useful way of depleting the Agitated gauge. In addition, the player's partner Pokémon can use its Field Move to open treasure chests to obtain Slates and power-ups during Missions.

When the player initially starts past Missions, they start with only a Piplup partner. Speaking to Nella, the westernmost woman in the Cocona Plaza, will allow the player to select a different partner Pokémon or level up one of their partners. To obtain more partner Pokémon, the player must collect Heart Slates during Missions and then successfully complete the Mission.

Slates

With the exception of the starting Piplup, the player can only obtain new Pokémon by finding Heart Slates during a Mission, and then successfully completing the Mission. The mechanics of Heart Slates, as far as we know them right now, are as follows:

Some enemy Pokémon, with the exception of the boss Pokémon, have a chance of dropping a treasure chest after they are captured. It is currently unknown what the drop chance is, or if it varies depending on Pokémon species: please contact me if you have any information about this. Each chest will contain one Heart Slate, with each Pokémon species having its own possible selection of Slates and chances of receiving a given Slate.

Additionally, completing the Mission with an S or A rank will provide the player with a guaranteed Slate. Getting the boss itself as a Slate requires getting an S-rank on its Mission, where it has a low chance of being dropped. Boss Pokémon are exclusive to S-ranks, and Mew additionally requires getting an S-rank on Mission 23: At Last, Arceus and the Light.

Slates are only obtained if the player is able to successfully complete the Mission, regardless of the rank they receive on the Mission.

Once a Slate has been received, the Pokémon associated with the Slate is available as a partner Pokémon for any Mission. Getting a duplicate Slate has no effect and is simply just a wasted drop.

Leveling Up

Speaking to Nella in Cocona Plaza will allow the player to level up any of their partner Pokémon. There are three aspects of the partner Pokémon that can be leveled up:

• Assist level: A higher Assist level usually results in an Assist with larger hitboxes or multiple hits.
• Recovery time: A higher level here results in a shorter time between when an Assist is used and when it can be used again, allowing it to be used more frequently.
• Power: A higher level here correlates to more of the enemy Pokémon's Friendship gauge being filled, or its Agitated gauge being decreased.

Each aspect can be leveled up separately, and each aspect has its own AP requirements to level up. All aspects start at level 1 and can be leveled up to a maximum of 5.

Power-Ups

During a Mission, there can be treasure chests in static locations on the map that provide power-ups when attacked with a partner's Field Move. The types of power-ups are as follows:

• Energy Recovery: Heals the Styler's HP by 20, 40, or 60.
• Time Extender: Adds 30, 60, or 90 seconds to the Mission timer.
• Speed Up: The player's movement speed is increased. If the player's partner Pokémon has a matching Poké Assist, this will affect all players, if playing with two or more players.
• Guard Up: The player will take 25% less damage from attacks on the Styler. If the player's partner Pokémon has a matching Poké Assist, this will affect all players, if playing with two or more players.
• Power Up: The player will fill 20% more of the Friendship gauge or take away an additional 20% from the Agitated gauge. If the player's partner Pokémon has a matching Poké Assist, this will affect all players, if playing with two or more players.
• Partner Up: The player's partner Pokémon's Power is increased by 20%. If the partner has a level 5 Assist, it will become level 6 for the rest of the mission. If the player's partner Pokémon has a matching Poké Assist, this will affect all players, if playing with two or more players.

Styler Power

This table indicates the energy, power, and EXP values associated with each Styler level.