Pokken Tournament Review

For over 20 years Pokemon has gone through many video game genres that contribute to Nintendo’s multi-billion dollar franchise. From its RPG origins to card games, pinball, puzzle, strategy, art games, and eventually its own mobile game with Pokemon Go! Despite the many titles Pokemon has under its belt, the one genre that fans have been waiting in hopes for is a Pokemon fighting game. Fans thought that happened back in the year 2000 with the Nintendo 64 game, Pokemon Stadium. That is not the case however for while Stadium does focus on combat, its gameplay is very similar to the original Game Boy games but just on television and in 3D. One title that comes close to that desire is Nintendo’s massive crossover fighter Super Smash Bros. where players can fight with characters from each Nintendo franchise such as Mario and Donkey Kong. In regards to Pokemon, Super Smash Bros. has had up to nine playable characters in the entire fighting series so far. Quite an accomplishment as for nearly 18 years fans believed that they would only be able to control Pokemon like Pikachu in Super Smash Bros. But on March 18^th, 2016, Pokemon fans finally have their wish granted in the very first guaranteed Pokemon fighting game available on the Wii U, Pokken Tournament.

Pokken Tournament is Nintendo’s second collaboration with a 3^rd party company after the success of combining their Legend of Zelda franchise with Koei Tecmo’s famous Dynasty Warriors series that gave us Hyrule Warriors. Working with Bandai Namco, the same company that help make the recent entry of the Super Smash Bros. franchise, took Pokemon and combined it with their famous fighting game franchise, Tekken. Rather than making a Tekken game with a Pokemon gimmick to it, Namco actually made Pokken stand out in comparison to their other fighting games.

With the game’s premise there is actually some story involved in the single player campaign. As you work your way through the Ferrum League you’ll encounter a mysterious black Pokemon that goes by the name of Shadow Mewtwo. As you work your way through each coloured league you’ll encounter the powerful Pokemon and get beaten nearly each time, but its expected as it moves the story forward to the final showdown. Pretty generic in its execution but the worst part unfortunately is the awful voice acting by the other characters. You can’t tell if they can’t take their role seriously or are not even trying. Thankfully you can turn off the voices if you just want to read the text. With that said the story is the not the main focus as it is Pokken’s core gameplay that we’re looking at.

In Pokken players can play up to 16 Pokemon with different fighting styles: standard, speed, technical and power. The players fight each other in two fields as they can switch the match around based on the combos they pull. Field phase lets the players move their character around to gain some ground and makes dodging easier. While Duel phase moves the players to the classic 2D fighting platform as the combatants are forced to fight closer. During the match players are allowed to use support Pokemon that does different actions based on the one they choose. Attack does damage to the opponent but cannot land the final blow, disrupt either stops the opponent in their tracks and/or weakens their stats, and enhance helps the player either raise their stats, recover health or boost their synergy gauge. Speaking of the synergy gauge, this is another element that is unique to Pokken. In time players can build up their pokemon’s synergy gauge and when it is full, their stats buff up for a limited time, and when hitting the buttons at the right time players can unleash their pokemon’s burst attack that deals heavy damage. The key to doing so is to know when to perform the move rather than just blindly attacking.

Combining special moves with combos is always a vital way to rank up damage in fighting games, but it is the controls that helps make Pokken a surprising breeze to grasp its gameplay. Rather than making the player perform complicated moves that can be very demanding like in most fighting games, Pokken actually makes their controls simple in the style of Smash Bros. Nearly every move layout is the same way but each performance is unique to each fighter, making it easier for newcomers to get into the game and perform the combos. But later on players will learn that there is more to this game that requires timing and strategy. Another mechanic used in Pokken actually harks back to the original game in terms of strategy and that’s using the rock-paper-scissors formation. For example, in the main Pokemon games players are given a choice of a starter Pokemon that consists of one element each: fire, water and grass. Water douses fire, grass absorbs water and fire burns grass. But rather than the pokemon’s own elements deciding the damage ratio it is the moves they pull off from either normal attacks, counters and throws. Counter deals more damage to opponents that use normal attacks, throws stops the counter by grabbing the opponent, and normal attacks break through the throw to deal heavy damage. Deciding what move you make, you can either out smart your opponent to victory or be careless and cost yourself the match. Showing a lot of depth in a relatively simple mechanic.

With all that said the only downside is that the content can feel small in comparison to other fighting games. But pending on how well Pokken Tournament does in sales, there might be a possibility to see some new DLC content released in the future. Ever since Nintendo entered the DLC market they have shown that they are competent in handling new content for their IP’s. Whereas most companies like Capcom and E.A. would cut content from their games upon release and make players pay for that said content that was already finished just to take more money. Nintendo on the other hand finishes their game first, releases them and THEN make new content. And giving the success of DLC sales with Hyrule Warriors, Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros., Pokken Tournament has untapped potential to be another money maker. While its not known how they can add more content in terms of stages and modes, new fighters are always a plus. The game already has 16 playable characters and with 720 Pokemon to choose from, the possibility is limitless. So we hope to hear some news in the future about updating Pokken’s content.

With the different styles of games that Pokemon plastered its image on to, Pokken Tournament was a gamble that paid off that will make fans happy while be welcoming to those who never played Pokemon before. You don’t really have to know anything about the characters if you only just want to test your skills or play with friends for fun as Pokken welcomes casuals and skilled players. It’s a simple premise with a deep presentation. Pick it up if you’re a fan or try it out if you’re ever curious, as surely Pokken Tournament will be joining among the list of great fighting games.