Bandai Namco has streamed the latest full-length trailer for its upcoming fighting game Pokken, scheduled to hit arcades across Japan this summer, a collaboration with Nintendo. The trailer shows that Pokken is a true Pokemon fighting game, which plays like Tekken and not like Super Smash Brothers.
Pokken should appeal to Pokemon and hardcore fighting games alike.
The game’s confirmed playable Pokemon are Lucario, Machamp, Gardevoir, Suichine, and Pikachu. You should have expected Pikachu to be added to the game’s playable cast sooner or later because it is one of the flagship characters of Nintendo’s Pokemon franchise.
Game play reveals that Pokken bouts are split into two phases: Field Phase and Duel Phase.
Field Phase allows players to battle each other in the third-person similar to Bandai Namco’s Rise of Incarnate and Square Enix’s Gunslinger Stratos 2.
Duel Phase allows players to battle each other similar to Tekken, Soul Calibur, and Dead or Alive.
The two phases are similar to the differences between Bandai Namco’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle and the upcoming JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven, with the former being similar to Pokken’s Duel Phase and the latter being similar to Pokken’s Field Phase.
Both phases allow you to keep attacking and defending to build up Resonance Burst gauge, which allows you to perform powerful attacks.
These Pokemon can fight and keep true to their special abilities.
Players are also able to call out special support-type Pokemon to assist. These support-type Pokemon have their own special abilities, which allows you to get creative when matching pairs together.
Pokken’s biggest attraction is the online feature that allows players to fight against opponents in different arcades. If you are playing at an arcade in Tokyo, then you can use the online mode to battle an opponent at an arcade in Osaka or Hokkaido.
Japan can look forward to this game in the summer.
Nintendo has not announced any plans for a console release, but there is a strong possibility that you could see Pokken on the Wii U and/or the New Nintendo 3DS later on. No plans were announced for an international release either, but the possibility is strong that gamers can see Pokken in North America and Europe because of Pokemon’s popularity.
