Article Pokkén Tournament

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Pokkén Tournament. The name would certainly catch your eye. Upon first glance, it may not even look like the title for a Pokémon game. For that matter, the game itself might not even look like Pokémon game when you first looked at it. But yes, it is indeed a Pokémon game, and a pretty unique one at that.

See, Pokkén Tournament is an upcoming game for the Pokémon series. But this one's a little different to what you might expect. See, while most Pokémon game take on a Strategy kind of approach, this one... Well, I'll just let you see for yourself in the spoiler below.

Spoiler

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7Cs4L1JALY[/media]

Now I bet you weren't expecting that.

Yes, Pokkén Tournament is a more Tekken-styled approach to Pokémon battles, and rightly so, since it's a collaboration between the developers of Tekken and Pokémon. As a matter of fact, the name itself is just a combination of those very two words; "Tekken" and "Pokémon". Instead of selecting a move to use, then watching your Pokémon use that move before sitting in the same spot again for 10 minutes while you try to think of what to do, in Pokkén you directly control your Pokémon, and all the fighting happens in real-time. You're forced to think on your feet, act swiftly. There's no sitting back on this one!

The game will play in a style very similar to Tekken, in which there are various buttons allowing you to perform various different types of attack, block and move around. Gradually, a bar will be filled up, and when it is finally full, you can perform powerful special attacks, and even in some cases Mega evolve! (If the Pokémon in question can Mega evolve, that is)

Currently there have been 6 Pokémon announced to be playable characters in the game, and they are: Lucario, Machamp, Blaziken, Suicune, Gardevoir, and (perhaps somewhat unfittingly) Pikachu. There's also a roster of support characters, which can help your fighter out during the battle. These are currently, Emolga, Fennekin, Snivy, Frogadier, Eevee and Lapras.

Now, if I have succeded in tempting you towards the game, I'm afraid I have unfortunate news: It's only been announced that there's going to be an Arcade release in Japan — No console releases have been announced at this time. And even the release date of the full arcade game is still vague at this time, but it is planned for a release sometime this year. Whether that's late this year, or maybe even in a month's time. Nobody can say for sure.

Although, this isn't the first time a Pokémon game has emerged in this kind of style. In fact, the game bears an uncanny resemblance to another game that's already existed for some time. It's known as "Pokémon Type: Wild", and it's a free game for Windows and Mac. Unfortunately, it's originally in Japanese, and it's pretty hard to find a version that's even partially translated into English, though I did manage to get one a while back. I've played it myself, and I must say, it's pretty darned fun! Hopefully Pokkén Tournament can match, or even surpass it!