Pokémon is known for its turn-based RPGs, but over the years Nintendo has extended the franchise to a number of other genres, from strategy to photography. Now another genre can be added to that list: fighting games.
Just announced after being teased for over a year by Nintendo, Pokkén Tournament is a Pokemon fighting game coming from Bandai Namco, the developers of the longtime fighting game franchises Tekken and Soul Calibur. The name "Pokkén" even combines the words Pokémon and Tekken, in case anybody had any doubt what kind of game it is going to be. While fighting games aren't known for being easy to get into, Namco is looking to make a game for all audiences.
"Whether you are a casual player, a regular player or a hardcore player, anyone who likes Pokémon can have fun," Namco's Katsuhiro Harada says. Harada is the head of Namco's Tekken team and is working on Pokkén Tournament . He also says that despite techincally being a fighting game, Pokkén Tournament is closer to an action game.
Soul Calibur producer Masaaki Hoshino added that this is a game for adult Pokémon fans, saying "we got out best developers, we made the best graphics, and created the best action game, so please! Please look forward to this!"
A batch of screens and trailer for the game show two Pokémon Pokemon, Lucario and Machamp, pummeling each other to death in a higher level of graphical detail than Pokemon fans are usually accustomed too. It isn't known how many Pokémon will be playable in the game, but both Lucario and Machamp are "fighting" type Pokémon (which makes sense in a fighting game) so perhaps all "fighting" types will be featured in the game roster.
That is about all that is known about the game so far. The game, as of right now, is scheduled to release in Japanese arcades sometime in 2015, with no word of a western release at the moment. Pokémon is a massive franchise in the states, however, so it would seem like a natural fit to be ported over to Nintendo's Wii U console.
Pokkén Tournament follows a recent trend of Nintendo partnering with third-party developers on some of Nintendo's most important franchises. Hryrule Warriors, a Dynasty Warriors game set in the Legend of Zelda universe, is a partnership between Nintendo and Tecmo Koei, and releases Sept. 26 on Wii U.
