Ever since Pokken Tournament made its debut, Pokemon fans have been desperately waiting for their chance to play it — and for good reason.
While there's no denying the charms of the core games' turn-based battle systems, they're far from fast-paced or over-the-top ... and that's where Pokken Tournament comes in. If the game comes through on Bandai Namco's promises, then Pokken Tournament could finally be the fighting game that Pokemon fans have been waiting for.
Of course, with a game as over-the-top as Pokken Tournament, it's no surprise that Bandai Namco is taking a few liberties with the franchise. True, Pokemon moves are pretty hard-hitting when shown as something other than a 16-bit sprite, but some of the techniques on display in Pokken Tournament look downright brutal — including Masked Pikachu's take on the Stone Cold Stunner.
Yes, it's true: for whatever reason, one of WWE's best finishing moves of all time has made it into a Pokemon game. Why or how this happened doesn't really matter — Pikachu just hit a Charizard with the Stone Cold Stunner, and it's amazing.
As if the above GIF wasn't enough of a surprise, you may be shocked (pun intended) to learn that the footage on display isn't actually new. The trailer originally premiered as part of Bandai Namco's Masked Pikachu trailer from last September ... unfortunately, it only appeared on the developer's Japanese YouTube channel. As such, it's gone relatively unseen by the majority of Pokemon fans — until now, that is.
While it's nearly impossible to compare to a Pikachu Stunner, the rest of the video is definitely worth watching: if you were worried that Masked Pikachu was anything less than a full-on luchador, just take a look.
Of course, Masked Pikachu's Stone Cold Stunner isn't the only goofy reference to outside material: as seen in Pokken Tournament's original gameplay trailer, Pikachu can be heard saying "Pika, pika, pika, pika!" repeatedly during the video's finale. It's ridiculous enough as it is, but the clip is actually a reference to an anime called JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, in which the main villain shouts "Useless!" (or "Muda!" in Japanese) a dozen or so times before he attacks:
At this rate, Pokken Tournament is going to be one of the goofiest games that Nintendo's ever published — and it's everything Pokemon fans could have ever asked for.
Pokken Tournament is set to make its U.S. debut on March 18.
