There’s been no shortage of Pokemon spinoffs over the years, but one of the best that we’ve had the pleasure of playing in recent years is Pokken Tournament. A solid fighter made by Bandai Namco and led by Katsuhiro Harada – the man in charge of Tekken and a legend in the fighting games genre – Pokken Tournament has a special place in the hearts of many.

So, of course, the question no small number of people have often asked in recent years is- will there ever be a sequel? Recently, a fan posed that same question to the aforementioned Harada on Twitter. Harada talked about Bandai Namco’s “good relationship” with both Nintendo and The Pokemon Company, and about the positive reception for Pokken Tournament. He added that he would “like to make it again”, before adding that in the ending, it’s a decision that rests only with Nintendo and The Pokemon Company.

Pokken Tournament enjoyed decent sales across both platforms it was released on, with over a million shipments on the Wii U and over 1.3 million units sold on the Switch. Whether that was successful enough to warrant a sequel is anyone’s best guess.

Pokken Tournament is available now on Wii U, and on the Nintendo Switch as Pokken Tournament DX.

We have a good relationship with Nintendo and Pokemon Co., Ltd., and POKKÉN has had a great response, so I would like to make it again.
But it's not what we decide, it's what they decide.https://t.co/U8mzxSpWsv

— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) January 24, 2021

EXPANDED ROSTER

While the Wii U version of Pokken Tournament had a roster that contained sixteen Pokemon to choose from, the Switch version of the game will have an expanded roster of 21 fighters. Four of these will be Croagunk, Empoleon, Darkrai, and Scizor, all of which were available in the Arcade version of the game, but never the Wii U one.

Nintendo has released a brand new trailer to highlight its lineup of games for the Nintendo Switch for this Summer. It’s going to be a fun Summer for Switch owners to start playing games with their friends, with some major multiplayer titles hitting the system.

These games include ARMS, Splatoon 2, and Pokken Tournament DX, all three of which are highlighted in this new trailer for the Nintendo Switch that Nintendo released to showcase the lineup of games the system will be getting in the next few months. It’s a good lineup, and Splatoon and Pokemon have enough brand power to keep the system moving for the foreseeable future. Plus, Switch owners should keep busy with these games, too.

Hopefully, this also means that Nintendo won’t spend too much time highlighting these games at their E3 showcase this year- hopefully, that time is reserved for more new announcements and games. They’ve got the momentum and goodwill- these games will help them retain it.

The very first Pokemon game for the Nintendo Switch will not be an installment from the mainline franchise; rather, it will be an enhanced port of the excellent Wii U exclusive Pokemon 3D fighting game that launched early last year. The Pokemon Company announced during the Nintendo Direct they held today that Pokken Tournament DX will be launching worldwide for the Nintendo Switch this year.

The Switch version will have all 16 fighters from the Wii U version, plus the four new fighters added in the arcade version, and an all new fighter- Pokemon Sun and Moon’s Decidueye.

That apart, the game will have a smattering of new modes, including ranked online matches, friend and private matches, and 3v3 team matches. For the Nintendo Switch, and its inherently multiplayer appeal, the game should be a good fit. Pokken Tournament DX will launch on Nintendo Switch worldwide on September 22. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage and information.

Looks like a new character will be joining the roster of Bandai Namco and Nintendo’s Pokemon themed 3D fighter. Bandai Namco have confirmed that a new fighter will be joining the roster of Pokemon that duke it out in Pokken Tournament. The announcement was made on a livestream, which was captured by the fine folks over at Nintendo Everything.

Scizor is the second new character heading over to Pokken after its release- the first was Darkrai, who was added earlier this year. Right now, he is only confirmed for the arcade version, but chances are, he will be headed over to the Wii U version of the game soon, too.

Scizor is, of course, the evolution of Scyther- his excellent typing, great stats, and incredible movepool have made him a favorite in the mainline Pokemon games. Judging by the footage of him in Pokken that was shown, it looks like he will be retaining his status as a go-to in the fighter, too.

You can check out the videos below.

You know, one can keep pointing out just how much of a dismal failure the Wii U was from a hardware sales point of view all they want, but that can not undermine nor negate the one way in which it proved and established Nintendo’s greatest strengths: software sales.

Nintendo games on Wii U have consistently sold well, with titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD, Super Mario 3D World, Super Smash Bros. 4, Hyrule Warriors, Super Mario Maker, Mario Kart 8, and Splatoon all having been runaway successes for the company- and now, another title joins the list.

Pokken Tournament, which launched earlier this year on the Wii U, has now crossed 1 million units worldwide in shipments. This makes it yet another success on the software front for Nintendo, and it also opens the possibility to there being a more full fledged sequel to the game on the NX. Let’s hope that is indeed the case- the first game was really well done, and it would be a shame if Nintendo and Bandai Namco did not expand on it.

Playing a Pokemon game that would finally allow for that kind of action has always been a dream of mine, and undoubtedly, of many a Pokemon fan worldwide, and yet, this is not something we have gotten to experience properly yet. Every single Pokemon game, even the console games, and the spin offs, have stuck to a variation of turn based battles. If one wants to see a real time Pokemon battle, one’s best bet is, it seems, the cartoon, or nothing else.

That was before Pokken Tournament came along, and finally gave us the kinds of Pokemon battles we have all been asking for.

"Pokken Tournament came along, and finally gave us the kinds of Pokemon battles we have all been asking for."

Pokken Tournament has a surprisingly simple conceit- it is, in fact, so simple and so obvious, that one wonders why it was never done until now. Put simply, it is a 3D fighting game (in the vein of Tekken), but with Pokemon substituting for fighters. It seems so inevitable in hindsight- of course a game that lets Charizard face off against Machamp in an unconstrained battle would be a good idea! Of course.

And Pokken Tournament largely lives up to that billing, too- battles in Pokken Tournament are beautiful, finally unshackling Nintendo’s iconic pocket monsters, and letting them fight the way their fans have always imagined them fighting. The best part is, the battles themselves retain the depth and nuance that one expects from a Pokemon game, while also being uniquely rooted in the real time action.

A large part of this has to do with the one thing that differentiates Pokken from every other fighting game previously- make no mistake, unlike Nintendo’s own Smash Bros., Pokken is a relatively more traditional 3D fighting game. However, developers Bandai Namco have thrown new mechanics and wrinkles into the mix, and the result is something decidedly compelling.

Chief among those wrinkles is the Phase system- put simply, battles in Pokken constantly shift between the Duel Phase, which is the kind of traditional blow-for-blow melee that you would expect in a fighting game, and Field Phase, where the combatants keep their distance, and try to land projectiles and ranged attacks on each other. Field Phases come with an entirely new set of strategies, including charged attacks, follow ups, and even positioning for projectile based attacks.

"The battles themselves retain the depth and nuance that one expects from a Pokemon game, while also being uniquely rooted in the real time action."

The Field Phase always feels like two opponents sizing each other up, while they plan their strategy, and it utilizes a wholly unique camera angle that makes Pokken feel unlike anything else on the market. When battles finally shift to Duel Phase, you finally get to play a more traditional game, with a more limited range of movement, and relatively more standard Light Attacks (quick, but relatively low damage), Heavy Attacks (far more lethal, but have more animation frames), and Counter Attacks (counter your enemy’s moves). As with most other fighting games, combos are paramount here, though Pokken seems to be far more forgiving of mistimed button presses than a lot of other titles in the genre.

It’s actually pretty complex (and we still haven’t gone into actually listing all the mechanics- for instant, Supports can come in incredibly handy in the game, especially if used right), and it can be a lot to take in- happily, the game’s tutorial mode is mostly up to the mark when it comes to ensuring that its players learn all these new concepts, and learn to pull them off in real battles. It will, naturally, take some time before you’re actually good at the game, but that’s a function of your own skill- Pokken, on its part, does largely well in teaching you the ropes, and then leaving you to your own devices.

Your own devices, it turns out, can’t be put to much use, and that is where the primary flaw of Pokken shows up: once the high of battling Pokemon in extremely high quality arenas wears off, one realizes that Pokken has a flaw similar to that other big name fighter that released this year. There simply is not much to do (although Pokken at least fares better in that regard than Street Fighter V). There are fourteen characters available to you, and that is really it- you can unlock Mewtwo, and a variant of Mewtwo, by completing the Red League and the Chroma League, but that’s as far as character unlocks go.

In terms of game modes, Pokken fares a little better- you have a few Leagues to make your way through, as well as a practice mode- all of this is certainly enough to come to terms with the game’s mechanics, but again, it’s only good for a few hours. High quality single player content is not necessarily expected from fighting games, but when other flagship games in the genre, such as Mortal Kombat and Nintendo and Bandai Namco’s own Super Smash Bros., are putting up such good shows on that front, Pokken’s relative paucity of modes is a little puzzling.

"Pokken might be, quite simply, the best a Nintendo game has performed online yet."

Thankfully, the game’s multiplayer mode is where the meat of the game’s longevity will really lie, and Pokken does extremely well in that regard. Local multiplayer is sadly a bit compromised in Pokken– you can play multiplayer with one player getting the TV screen to themselves, and the other, the Gamepad, which sounds like a reasonable way to do things, but having to render two images means that the framerate is dropped to 30FPS- a big no-no for fighting games. The other option is to hook two separate Wii U systems up via LAN, and play on two separate screens, a decidedly more expensive proposition. There is no splitscreen or shared screen local multiplayer like in other fighters, which is a bummer, but which is justified, given the camera angles the game uses would be entirely too hard to replicate for both players playing on the same screen.

Online multiplayer is even better- you get the chance to either face off in more or less low pressure Friendly Matches, or in Ranked ones, which count towards leaderboards. The netcode in the online games is absolutely sublime, and leaves little to no room for complaint. Unlike in Smash, where lag frequently plagued online matches, Pokken‘s online is perfect- it might be, quite simply, the best a Nintendo game has performed online yet.

In the end, Pokken is a dream come true for Pokemon fans, letting them see their favorite Pokemon finally take to the field in frenetic, kinetic real time battles. It is a loveletter to the fans, and it looks and sounds the part (a gorgeous artstyle with graphics as good as can be reasonably expected from the Wii U, and an incredible soundtrack that stays true to Pokemon). It helps that it is an incredibly accomplished fighter, as well, with enough depth, nuance, and meat to it that you’re going to keep returning to it for a long time to come.

Nintendo has done an excellent job of making the Wii U the go to console for excellent multiplayer experiences this generation- games like Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart 8, and Splatoon are all exemplary titles that put Nintendo’s sensibilities to good use in a multiplayer context. Pokken Tournament is the newest addition to an excellent catalog of multiplayer games, and it is more than capable of holding its own.

This game was reviewed on Wii U.

Tom Clancy’s The Division had a strong debut in the UK, shattering an 11 year record that was set by Gran Turismo 4, and it continues to hold on to that in the latest sales data from Gfk Chart-Track.

EA Sports UFC 2 debuted at second place while Pokken Tournament on the Wii U managed to enter at third place but neither was quite enough to unseat The Division.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is in fourth place while Far Cry Primal is in fifth and FIFA 16 is in sixth place. Grand Theft Auto 5, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2, LEGO Marvel’s Avengers and Forza Motorsport 6 make up the remainder of the top ten for the past week.

It should be interesting to see how The Division performs, especially since there aren’t any major competitors until Quantum Break debuts in April. Then again, it’s incredibly popular on the Xbox One as far as the Xbox Store goes so who knows? Stay tuned for more information on the same.

Pokken Tournament really is an interesting proposition- a classic, traditional 3D fighting game based on the Pokemon series. It does make sense, of course- the Pokemon games are all about fighting, and there are so many Pokemon, the possibilities for a fighting game based on them are endless.

If you are like me, you are at least slightly excited at the prospect of Pokken– so you will probably appreciate these two new gameplay videos for the game, which you can see for yourself below. The first one shows off eight minutes of gameplay footage from the upcoming fighting game; the second one shows off all the 15 Super Burst Attacks. It looks pretty fun- it’s probably going to be great for Pokemon fans, at the very least. Plus, Pokken also gets to prove its chops as a serious fighting game at EVO later this year, where it is a part of the lineup.

Pokken Tournament will release exclusively on Wii U this April.

The Wii U exclusive Pokemon fighter, Pokken Tournament, will be launching worldwide on March 18, Nintendo has confirmed today. This actually puts the game before its announced release window of Spring 2016, and actually means it beats my predicted release date for it by over two months- I’d anticipated a launch date of May 29, 2016, since Nintendo’s launched two multiplayer centric Wii U games on May 29 over the last couple of years (Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon) to great success.

Pokken Tournament has been developed by Bandai Namco, and has been headed by the Tekken team. The game is a highly technical 3D fighter, featuring multiple Pokemon duking it out. It features the best visual representation of the Pokemon we have received yet. It also gives Nintendo a more technical fighter in their roster than the more party oriented Smash Bros. games.

Maybe we’ll even see Pokken being played at EVO this year, who knows? I personally cannot wait for the arguments about whether or not it really is a fighter.

#PokkenTournament is coming to Wii U on March 18, 2016! https://t.co/1nHSo9xgu7 pic.twitter.com/2u6G2679qI

— Pokémon (@Pokemon) January 15, 2016

Pokkén Tournament arrives on #WiiU on 18th March! pic.twitter.com/v3y5KgWduN

— Nintendo of Europe (@NintendoEurope) January 15, 2016