Pokken Tournament

[Poultrygeist]

That's kind of a strange decision to be honest, because Pokemon itself has always been a series that balances casual kid friendliness with a seriously deep and at times mind-bendingly confusing meta.  A Pokemon fighter seems like it should be something more like SF or something where it's simple to pick up but hard to get good at.

[ivanchu77]

A couple of matches in these videos

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLtiBHYosyc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpRSukxH_e0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsHpgfD2-hg

[TAI-X]

That's kind of a strange decision to be honest, because Pokemon itself has always been a series that balances casual kid friendliness with a seriously deep and at times mind-bendingly confusing meta.

Get real. Pokemon is and has always been one of the simplest JRPGs out there, even compared to SNES-era Dragon Quests. The only real mechanical advancement in the series was the introduction of 2 vs. 2 battles (in an era where virtually every other JRPG allowed for standard parties of three, often more members at a time), and the ability cap for individual Pokemon has yet to be raised above four. People who try to turn it into Magic the Gathering with inane sets of restrictions and competitive house rules are unrepentant manchildren with their heads far up their asses, who haven't moved on to deeper and better games just because they can't let go of their rose-tinted 1990s childhoods. I don't care how many new moves and types the latest Pokemon games have crammed in, because you never have more than a small handful of abilities open to you at any given time in battle (and usually just one target), which seriously limits your options for strategy and suffocates any "deck-building" depth the series might have had.

 

By the way, Weavile's ice platform drop attack at 1:07 here seems to have been inspired by one of Rimururu's specials in SamSho. Despite some obvious (and justified) concessions to casuals and noobs of the fighting genre, this easily appears to be the best-playing and best-looking Pokemon game ever made. I'm impressed that Harada's team has been able to take such creative liberties with the franchise and characters, because The Pokemon Company has been known to impose some very controlling oversight on the portrayal of their IP in official media these days - it's why you almost never see Pikachu etc. represented alongside other Nintendo icons like Mario and Link, outside of Smash Bros.

[Kairos]

Get real. Pokemon is and has always been one of the simplest JRPGs out there, even compared to SNES-era Dragon Quests. The only real mechanical advancement in the series was the introduction of 2 vs. 2 battles (in an era where virtually every other JRPG allowed for standard parties of three, often more members at a time), and the ability cap for individual Pokemon has yet to be raised above four. People who try to turn it into Magic the Gathering with inane sets of restrictions and competitive house rules are unrepentant manchildren with their heads far up their asses, who haven't moved on to deeper and better games just because they can't let go of their rose-tinted 1990s childhoods. I don't care how many new moves and types the latest Pokemon games have crammed in, because you never have more than a small handful of abilities open to you at any given time in battle (and usually just one target), which seriously limits your options for strategy and suffocates any "deck-building" depth the series might have had.

 

Except Gamefreak has done a ton of stuff, especially with gen 6, to balance and change the meta. These are intentional changes and buffs/nerfs. 

 

Pokemon is for fans first. Always. The tons of Pokemon, moves, abilities, etc. That's for them. That's what SELLS. But there are things made SPECIFICALLY for those who enjoy more deeper and competitive play.Now, because of the sheer mass of Pokemon, moves, abilities and stats, there's no way to perfectly balance it all, but do small, fine tweaks that impact and change the meta. Leave the tiering to the players, and listen to feedback

 

Now personally? Pokemon competitively is boring to watch or play, but to say it's not deep, and intentionally so, is offbase.

 

 

Anyway: Where's Hawlucha

[Danaiden]

Pokkén Tournament (or Pokémon Tekken) is going to be released worldwide for Wii U in spring 2016.

With the release a new fighter is going to join the roster: Pikachu Libre

Sweet that they paid attention that only special female Pikachus can were these costumes.

[Volt]

Why do I have the feeling that this game will have tons of DLC characters? Oh yeah, small roster and no Gallade yet. Still hype though.

[Vulcan422]

Great. Now we have a clone character.

Hype levels just dropped immensely.

[Tsuki Garyuu]

Great. Now we have a clone character.

Hype levels just dropped immensely.

I'm reminded of how I thought Zoroark was the anti-Lucario. Now I want it in this game. lol

[Volt]

Great. Now we have a clone character.

Hype levels just dropped immensely.

The worst part is that there's simply no reason to ever have a clone in Pokken. There's over 700 pokémons and someone decides it's a great idea to add a clone in a roster that didn't even reach the 15 character mark yet. Hawlucha got pretty much confirmed to be an assist at best. I don't even...

[Vulcan422]

That just reminded me: they already have Hawlucha, a luchador Pokemon who would be perfect for representing the style. "NOPE! Instead let's put in...PIKACHU WITH A LUCHADOR OUTFIT FROM THE ORAS COSTUME CONTESTS!"

[greatfernman]

I'm not even invested in this but I'd just like to point out you guys are drawing conclusions rashly.
Just because it's a pikachu in a costume doesn't mean it's a clone character.
It might be totally different gameplay

[SoWL]

Thing is, you could have different gameplay without giving it to another Pikachu. Sol and Ken fight differently, as do Ky and Robo-Ky, but that doesn't stop them from being clones of each other.

[Fatal Seabass]

Exactly. You have 721 unique Pokemon to choose from. You literally choose...another Pikachu? I couldn't care less how different they play from each other. In a Pokemon fighter, I'm looking to explore my character options among the wide and diverse cast that Pokemon has to offer. 

[Angry Guy of DE]

Apart of me thinks it is a reference to Jaycee (from TTT2?) and Pika Libre will probably have moves similar to what she had.

I would like to see Hawlucha, Toxicroak, and maybe Chesnaught as either playable or assist.

Watch Magikarp be an assist that is useless (or is it?)

[Danaiden]

A new gameplay trailer showcasing Pikachu Libre was released by Bandai Namco

TL;DW: The most important info from the trailer

[Poultrygeist]

AW HAYULL YEAH

[SoulGuitarist]

A new gameplay trailer showcasing Pikachu Libre was released by Bandai Namco

TL;DW: The most important info from the trailer

Hidden Content

Command grabs ayeeeee!

I'm very excited for the Wii U port. I'm hoping they announce the dates for the D&B location tests soon. I hope DLC will be made for the game to make up for the clone character.

[SoulGuitarist]

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm27484979

Mewtwo battle. I wonder if this will be a console exclusive character (in terms of being playable) then added a playable in the AC version later on

[SoulGuitarist]

Japanese release for the Wii U port is slated for 3/18/15. 7,200 yen for physical copy and 6,800 yen for digital copy. First print copies contain an amiibo card which automatically unlocks Shadow Mewtwo where normally you would have to meet certain conditions to unlock him. As to what the conditions are? It may possibly be just defeating him in arcade mode when he appears (Which can only be done on hard. Not sure if continues mean anything to get him appear) Along with that, Japan is also receiving a Wii U bundle which contains the console and the game (likely pre-installed). I would assume all bundles contain the amiibo card but who knows.

Information on the amiibo card can be found here: http://www.pokemon.co.jp/ex/pokken_wiiU/news/151113_02.html

Pre-orders for both the Japanese and North American physical versions are up on Play-Asia:

-JP: http://www.play-asia.com/pokken-tournament/13/709eh7

-NA: http://www.play-asia.com/pokken-tournament/13/709go5

If you want to buy digital version off the JP eShop, You can get eShop yen cards here:

5,000 yen: http://www.play-asia.com/nintendo-network-card-ticket-5000-yen-for-japanese-network-onl/13/705239

3,000 yen: http://www.play-asia.com/nintendo-network-card-ticket-3000-yen-for-japanese-network-onl/13/704a2w

*Also, as of 11/12/15 as I'm writing this, Japanese eShop credit is on sale.* You COULD buy a 5,000 yen cards and two 1,000 yen cards but for the price, you mind as well just save the extra $8 and get an extra 1,000 yen to take advantage of the sale.

Alternatively, you can pre-order the NA version, Physical or Digital, on Amazon as well:

-Physical: http://www.amazon.com/Pokken-Tournament-Wii-U/dp/B017W175Y8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447681139&sr=8-1&keywords=pokken

-Digital: http://www.amazon.com/Pokk%C3%A9n-Tournament-Wii-Digital-Code/dp/B017WJYITK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1447681139&sr=8-2&keywords=pokken

It seems although the JP release has a set date, The North American version (Europe likely as well) date is still up in the air. Amazon has a placeholder date of December 31st, 2016 (Which is no where near spring. Lol) while Play-Asia lists it for sometime in June. I'm hoping it's same day technically like X&Y or at least make it like P4U2 where it's only a month later. Maybe even closer to JP release as it does not contain a giant text based story mode they would need to translate like P4U and BBCP. They only need to translate Nillia's (the announcer) voice clips to English (if they decide to), the text that appears for her, and change the Pokemon names to their English names.

[SoulGuitarist]

Pre-orders, both Physical and Digital, are now available on GameStop's website:  http://www.gamestop.com/wii-u/games/pokken-tournament/126796?cid=fds_10000777&CAWELAID=120192760000034196&CAGPSPN=pla&catargetid=120192760000015274&cadevice=c&gclid=CNTv-6aUoMkCFYEdHwodhN4JbA

I wonder if that means you can now pre-order it in stores as well...

Best-Buy has it up now too: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/pokkn-tournament-nintendo-wii-u/4737862.p?id=bb4737862&skuId=4737862

 

For now that's pretty much it until we hear a set release date for the NA release which I think will be soon since everyone is preparing the Europe pre-orders. Even the official Pokemon website's Pokken section changed slightly. My guess is we'll hear something regarding the NA/EU release dates next week or sometime next month 

[SoulGuitarist]

As some of you may know (or don't), the official Pokken twitter announced that a new character would be revealed on December 10th.  This in particular may be old news but something interesting has come to surface. 

A recent photo one of the Pokenchi (A talk show about Pokemon. Sorta like the BLAZBLUE RADIO series but on Television as well) posted on Twitter might already have revealed the new character as well as new assists, 

Sceptile as the new character and Electrode and Farfetch'd for the assists.

[SoulGuitarist]

I've haven't been posting here lately because of winter break and alot of new things have happened.

Firstly, Sceptile has been added to the cast with new assists (Not much of a surprise)

The official cover art for the standard game as well as the bundle box has been revealed (For JP version): https://sickr.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/pokken_tournament_small_box_art.png?w=840

If you live in Japan and  if you pre-order from a Pokemon Center store, you will receive a figure based on Lucario's P2 color. Info: http://www.pokemon.co.jp/info/2015/12/151218_p01.html

and probably the most exciting news is that HORI is making a controller based on the arcade controller AND it's releasing to the US as well. Pre-orders on Amazon can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Pokken-Tournament-Limited-Controller-Nintendo-u/dp/B019QB4SL0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451920802&sr=8-1&keywords=HORI+pokken

No US official release date has yet to be announced. I'll try to update as much as possible 

[Vulcan422]

Sure has been a while, hasn't it?

Garchomp, Braixen, and regular Mewtwo as well as Shadow Mewtwo have been confirmed for console.

[Danaiden]

1 hour ago, Vulcan422 said:

Sure has been a while, hasn't it?

Garchomp, Braixen, and regular Mewtwo as well as Shadow Mewtwo have been confirmed for console.

You forgot the most important addition: Chandelure (Yes, that's the Pokémon which looks like a possessed chandelier)

Spoiler

 

 

 

[swordsman09]

I don't recall them saying Shadow Mewtwo was confirmed for console.