Pokkén Tournament, The Pokemon Fighting Game, Coming To Japanese Arcades
The last weird Pokémon crossover we saw was Pokémon Conquest, which mixed the ever-popular critter collector with Nobunaga’s Ambition, a strategy RPG set in feudal Japan. It’s about time for another unexpected mash-up, and this time it’s Pokkén Tournament, a fighting game made by Namco Bandai and overseen by Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada and Soulcalibur producer Masaaki Hoshino. The debut trailer showed Machamp and Lucario (both fighting-type pokémon) fighting each other, with Lucario evolving into Mega Lucario at the end. The announcement confirms hints and leaks from last year’s Tokyo Game Show.
As strange as this feels, Pokkén Tournament just makes sense. Many enjoy using their pokémon to fight other players, but the turn-based battles aren’t anywhere near as flashy as the more dynamic battles in the Pokémon anime. This will allow players to feel more like they’re playing as the pokémon, rather than feeling like a trainer giving orders.
Little is currently known about the battle system or which pokémon will be playable, but I hope we see plenty of non-fighting type pokémon. I’m not expecting a ton of pokémon to be playable, as the varying sizes and fighting styles would necessitate tons of additional development time and resources. (Implementing a pokémon like Wailord would be awkward due to its gigantic size and aquatic nature.) But it would be nice to see a mix of humanoid and non-humanoid pokémon. Charizard has already been proven to work in Super Smash Bros., and he’s a fan-favorite, so toss him in!
Pokkén Tournament is currently only scheduled for a 2015 arcade release in Japan. But it’s common for Japanese fighting games to release in arcades first and then receive a console port, often with improved character balancing from data gathered in the arcade version. Plus, Nintendo’s Wii U is still hurting in the sales department, so any additional game announced for the system can only help it.
Source: Shoryuken