Random battles

Random battles are a type of battle found in RPGs. A random battle involves your character moving through a dungeon, until suddenly, WHAM! The battle music hits, the screen transitions, and you're in the battle screen. The Final Fantasy series is known for using this method a lot.

Random battles are characterized by not being able to see the enemy, and not being able to avoid the battle. An invisible equation determines the likelihood of running into a battle in that certain area. Some games, such as the original Skies of Arcadia for the Dreamcast, were criticised for their obscenely frequent random battles (Which is why it was toned down in the GameCube version).

People tend to prefer non-random battles because they look better, and you can avoid some of them if you wish. Random battles can be extremely frustrating when they come up too much, slowing progress to a crawl, while you kill the same low-level enemy over and over. Some developers use random battles to stretch out the length of what would otherwise be a short, dungeon.

Games with Random Battles

 * Final Fantasy series
 * Mega Man Battle Network series
 * Skies of Arcadia
 * Pokémon Red and Blue - To be fair, Pokémon only implements random battles when the player is walking in tall grass or in a cave. The player can walk around the grass to avoid battles, or even use special abilities to cut the grass down or items to temporarily  eliminate random battles.