Pokkén Tournament

Pokkén Tournament
Wii U cover art used in most regions
Developer(s) Bandai Namco Studios
Publisher(s)
Director(s) Haruki Suzaki
Producer(s) Masaaki Hoshino
Katsuhiro Harada
Designer(s) Yasuhito Kobayashi
Programmer(s) Sei Nakatani
Artist(s) Hiroyasu Hosoya
Hiromi Watanabe
Composer(s)
Series Pokémon
Platform(s) Arcade, Wii U, Nintendo Switch
Release Arcade
Wii U
  • WW: March 18, 2016[2]
Nintendo Switch
  • WW: September 22, 2017
Genre(s) Fighting
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Pokkén Tournament[lower-alpha 1] is a fighting game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and published by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company.[3][4]. The game combines gameplay elements from Bandai Namco's Tekken series with characters from Nintendo's Pokémon franchise.[5] It was released for Japanese arcades in July 2015, and worldwide for the Wii U in March 2016. An enhanced port for the Nintendo Switch, titled Pokkén Tournament DX, was released in September 2017.

Gameplay

People playing Pokkén Tournament in Sunshine City, Tokyo.

Pokkén Tournament is a fighting game in which two fighters battle against each other using various Pokémon, with gameplay shifting between "Field Phase" where the Pokémon move freely around the arena similar to Power Stone and Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, and "Duel Phase" where they move relative to each other similar to the Tekken games. Unlike most arcade fighting games, which use a traditional joystick and buttons, the arcade version is played using console-style controllers, which are designed so that players who are not used to arcade sticks can get into the game more easily.[6] The game focuses more on action, as opposed to the more technical gameplay of Tekken, allowing both hardcore and casual fans to enjoy it. As such, players can perform various techniques taken from the Pokémon series, such as special moves and Mega Evolutions (which can be built up from attacks using a "Synergy Gauge").[7] Players can also use Support Pokémon to give them special benefits such as buffs in attack or defense. First-print Wii U copies of the game were packaged with a Shadow Mewtwo Amiibo card, which immediately unlocked the character for use.[8] The title also features online play, where players can compete in two types of online battle modes called friendly battles and ranked battles, including matches between players with registered friend codes and players who enter the same VS Code as each other.[9]

Development

Pokkén Tournament was first teased during a Pokémon Game Show event held in Japan in August 2013, with trademarks for the game filed the same month.[10] It was officially announced at an event held by Famitsu on August 26, 2014.[11] The Pokémon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara, Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada, and Soulcalibur producer Masaaki Hoshino attended the event, which was broadcast on Niconico, stating the collaboration came about from brainstorming ideas of new ways to play Pokémon.

At the 2015 Pokémon World Championships, it was announced that the game would be coming to the Wii U. A demo of the game was available for attendees to play at the tournament. In December 2015, Hori and Nintendo announced that a dedicated arcade controller would be released alongside the game in Japan.[12] The game is known as Pokémon Tekken in Germany and Austria.[13] In April 2016, Nintendo announced that another controller, inspired by Pikachu, would be released in Japan in June.[14] In May 2016, GameStop announced that the Pikachu controller would be released in North America in August of that year in "limited quantities".[15]

In June 2017, an enhanced Nintendo Switch port was announced under the title Pokkén Tournament DX, which was released worldwide on September 22, 2017.[16] The port includes the last four fighters added in the arcade version, along with an additional exclusive fighter and new game modes.

In the Nintendo Direct Mini on January 11, 2018, two DLC packs were announced for the DX version. In Pack One, Aegislash is a fighter along with Mega Rayquaza and Mimikyu as support Pokémon, which was released on January 31, 2018. In Pack Two, Blastoise is a fighter along with Mew and Celebi as support Pokémon, which was released on March 23, 2018.[17]

Characters

Across all versions of the game, there are currently 23 different Pokémon that appear as playable characters. Sixteen of these characters are playable in all of the arcade, Wii U, and Nintendo Switch ports, with other versions having additional characters.

PokémonArcadeWii USwitch
Aegislash c
Blastoise c
Blaziken
Braixen a
Chandelure
Charizard
Croagunk a
Darkrai a
Decidueye
Empoleon a
Garchomp a
Gardevoir
Gengar
Lucario
Machamp
Mewtwo a
Pikachu
Pikachu Libre a
Sceptile a
Scizor a
Shadow Mewtwob a
Suicune
Weavile

^a Post-release addition
^b Boss character
^c DLC character

Support Pokémon

The game starts with 36 non-playable Support Pokémon that can be summoned in battle to aid the player; six of these Pokémon appear exclusively in the Nintendo Switch port of the game. These characters also come in a group of two Pokémon. The groups of Support Pokémon are:

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic(Wii U) 76/100[18]
(NS) 79/100 [19]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Destructoid7.5/10[20]
EurogamerRecommended[21]
Game Informer7/10[22]
GameSpot9/10[23]
IGN8/10[24]

Amusement Fantasista, a video arcade in Kurashiki, Japan, planned to remove Pokkén Tournament machines in November 2015 due to lack of profitability.[25] Chris Carter of Destructoid noted that in the arcade version, one game credit could last a player 45 minutes, yielding low profits for each machine.[26][27] The Wii U version entered the Media Create sales charts as the highest-selling game in the region during its debut week, with 69,675 copies sold, and was credited for a marked increase in Wii U hardware sales in the same period; 13,000 units sold compared to the previous week's 4,000.[28] The Switch version of Pokkén Tournament sold 53,395 copies within its first week on sale in Japan, which placed it at number one on the all format sales chart.[29]

Western reviews of the console version were mostly positive, earning a 76 out of 100 average score from aggregate review website Metacritic.[18] In the United States, the NPD Group reported that Pokkén Tournament outsold Street Fighter V by the end of April 2016.[30] In August 2016, Bandai Namco announced that the game had shipped over one million copies worldwide.[31]

Pokkén Tournament was nominated for Best Fighting Game at The Game Awards 2016.[32]

The Nintendo Switch version received similar or slightly better reviews than the Wii U version, with praise towards the new characters and new modes, but criticising the new split screen mode, which had framerate issues.[33][34] It had sold over a million copies by March 2018.[35]

References

  1. ↑ ポッ拳 (Pokken) in Japan
  1. ↑ "Charizard and Weavile Join the Fight in Pokkén Tournament". IGN. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  2. ↑ Nunneley, Stephany (January 16, 2016). "Pokken Tournament hits the west in March, new tournament details emerge". VG247. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
  3. ↑ https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/pokken-tournament-wii-u
  4. ↑ https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/pokken-tournament-dx-switch
  5. ↑ "Pokkén Tournament, A Pokémon Fighting Game, Announced For Arcades". Siliconera. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  6. ↑ "Pokkén Tournament Will Be Played With This Controller". Siliconera. January 23, 2015. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Pokkén Tournament Will Focus More On The Action Aspect Of Fighting Games". Siliconera. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  8. ↑ Karklins, Andrew (November 12, 2015). "Shadow Mewtwo amiibo Card Coming With First Print Copies Of Pokkén Tournament". Nintendo Life. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Pokken Tournament". Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  10. ↑ "'Pokkén Fighters,' 'Pokkén Tournament' Trademarks Filed". Anime News Network. August 8, 2013. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  11. ↑ "ポケモンの格闘ゲーム『ポッ拳』発表！大人のポケモンバトルが今始まる | インサイド". inside-games.jp. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  12. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (December 15, 2015). "Pokkén Tournament for Wii U getting a dedicated arcade controller". Polygon. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  13. ↑ Walker, Ian. "Pokkén Tournament is Pokémon Tekken in Germany". shoryuken.com. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  14. ↑ Vockovich, Daniel. "Pikachu Pokken Tournament Controller On The Way". Vooks. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  15. ↑ Rahming, A.K. "GameStop - Pokkén Pikachu Controller Release Dated Updated, Limited Quantities". Nintendo Enthusiast. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  16. ↑ Skrebels, Joe. "Pokken Tournament DX Announced for Nintendo Switch". IGN. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  17. ↑ Phillips, Tom (2018-01-11). "Switch Pokémon fighter Pokkén Tournament DX adds Blastoise and more". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  18. 1 2 "Pokkén Tournament Reviews — Metacritic". MetaCritic. March 15, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Pokkén Tournament DX Reviews". Metacritic. September 22, 2017. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  20. ↑ Chris Carter (March 15, 2016). "Review: Pokken Tournament". Destructoid. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  21. ↑ Chris Schilling (15 March 2016). "Pokkén Tournament review". Eurogamer. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  22. ↑ Hilliard, Kyle (March 18, 2016). "The Passable Pokémon Fighter - Pokken Tournament - Wii U". Game Informer. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
  23. ↑ Tamoor Hussain (March 15, 2016). "Pokken Tournament Review". GameSpot. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  24. ↑ Darry Huskey (March 15, 2016). "Pokkén Tournament Review". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  25. ↑ Kevin McKinn (October 20, 2015). "Pokkén Tournament Not Super Effective for Japanese Arcade". Nintendo News. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  26. ↑ Chris Carter (September 21, 2015). "Pokken Tournament is a fun, deep little brawler". Destructoid. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  27. ↑ Jed Whitaker (October 20, 2015). "Pokken Tournament is so unpopular in one Japanese arcade, it's being removed". Destructoid. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  28. ↑ Romano, Sal (March 23, 2016). "Media Create Sales: 3/14/16-3/20/16". Gematsu. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
  29. ↑ Romano, Sal (September 27, 2018). "Media Create Sales: 9/18/17 – 9/24/17". Gematsu. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  30. ↑ Seedhouse, Alex. "Pokken Tournament Has Outsold Street Fighter 5 In The United States". Nintendo Insider. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
  31. ↑ "Pokken Tournament defies odds, ships one million units on Wii U". Destructoid. August 18, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  32. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (November 16, 2016). "All the 2016 Game Awards Nominees". GameSpot. Retrieved November 18, 2016.
  33. ↑ Saltzman, Mitchell (2017-09-20). "Pokken Tournament DX Review". IGN. Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  34. ↑ Life, Nintendo (2017-09-18). "Review: Pokkén Tournament DX (Switch)". Nintendo Life. Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  35. ↑ McFerran, Damien. "Super Mario Odyssey Passes The 10 Million Sold Marker". Nintendo Life. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
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