The Meowth Stage is the first bonus stage on the Blue Field. It lasts one minute, with an unlimited number of balls until the stage is completed. Meowth runs around the field, and the idea is to hit it so that it drops coins, then go and collect them with the ball, as many in a row as possible.
How to reach it
On the Blue Field, the Meowth Stage opens the bonus stage sequence and comes back after you clear the Mewtwo Stage. You get there by lighting up three Poké Balls (three captures, or one capture and one evolution) and then entering the bonus hole, or through the Slot Machine’s direct access. See bonus stages.
How it plays
Meowth moves around the field constantly. When the ball hits it, it stops for a moment and drops a stack of coins; each hit is worth 10,000 points. Up to six stacks can be on the field at once: beyond that, hitting Meowth no longer makes new stacks appear. To pick up a stack, the ball has to touch it. The stack disappears, earns points and makes a coin appear at the top of the screen. The goal is to collect 20 coins before the minute is up.
The streak
The core mechanic is the streak. Picking up several stacks in a row, without hitting Meowth again in between, multiplies both the points and the number of coins added:
| Stack collected in the streak | Points | Coins added |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1,000,000 | 1 |
| 2nd | 2,000,000 | 2 |
| 3rd | 3,000,000 | 3 |
| 4th | 4,000,000 | 4 |
| 5th | 5,000,000 | 5 |
| 6th | 6,000,000 | 6 |
Since there can’t be more than six stacks on the ground, the streak is capped at six. Six stacks collected in a row earn 21,000,000 points and 21 coins, which is enough to complete the stage. Hitting Meowth again breaks the streak: the next stack you collect starts back at 1,000,000 points. On the scoring strategies page, you’ll find how to weigh hitting Meowth several times against collecting the stacks.
How many stacks do you need?
Since the streak raises the coins by 1, then 2, then 3, a streak of L stacks earns L x (L + 1) / 2 coins. The points follow the same progression: one million per coin gained.
| Streak length | Coins gained | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1,000,000 |
| 2 | 3 | 3,000,000 |
| 3 | 6 | 6,000,000 |
| 4 | 10 | 10,000,000 |
| 5 | 15 | 15,000,000 |
| 6 | 21 | 21,000,000 |
To reach 20 coins, you therefore need either one streak of six, two streaks of four (10 + 10), or a streak of five followed by a streak of three (15 + 6). Picking up the stacks one by one, without chaining them, would take twenty stacks for a gain of only 20,000,000 points: the streak is the key to the stage.
Succeeding or failing
Once you reach 20 coins, the stage is cleared, but it keeps going until the timer runs out or the ball is lost, which lets you earn even more points. If you lose the ball before collecting the 20 coins, all the stacks disappear and you lose four coins. The game then sends you another ball, as long as the timer hasn’t run out: there is no limit to the number of balls played in this stage before it is cleared. If time runs out without a clear, the stage is failed and will be offered again next time. Clearing it takes you to the Seel Stage.
Key facts
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Table | Blue |
| Timer | 1 minute |
| Maximum coin stacks on the field | 6 |
| Coins to collect | 20 |
| Hit on Meowth | 10,000 points |
| Stack collected | From 1,000,000 to 6,000,000 depending on the streak |
| Penalty for losing the ball before clearing | 4 coins |
Tips
- Position yourself above Meowth: Serebii recommends hitting it several times in a row so that it drops several stacks, which you can then collect in one go.
- Don’t touch Meowth again during a streak: the multiplier goes back to zero.
- Avoid losing the ball before you reach 20 coins: the stacks on the field disappear and you lose four coins at once.
- Once you have 20 coins, keep collecting stacks until the minute is over: every six-stack streak is still worth it.
In the US version, access is announced by “GO TO MEOWTH STAGE”, failure by “END MEOWTH STAGE” and success by “MEOWTH STAGE CLEARED”. Our scoring system page places these gains within the game as a whole.
