Sure, the way abilities are executed are all the same (directional commands), but there’s so much nuance to each Pokemon it’s crazy. I spent over an hour with the game during my first session, and I was surprised how different every character was. L summons a quick support character (my build had Emolga and Fennekin), and R is used for blocking. For instance, pressing forward and A may launch a Dragon Ball Z style projectile your opponent’s way (leaving you wide open in the process), and a neutral A will fire a smaller, quicker shot. Every single one of these buttons can be modified by press the d-pad in a certain direction, or by jumping. Once you pick that concept up it gets rather easy, and you can move about the battleground with ease with the d-pad.Īttacks are actually a lot more in-depth than you’d think. Y and X seem to trigger normal abilities, from combos to launchers, B is the jump button (every character has different physics to deal with, like the floaty Gardevoir), and A is a special attack, similar to the Smash Bros.

Each screen focuses the camera on that specific player, which is a tad weird at first, as I was constantly looking at another person or CPU’s fighter during my first few sessions. The way the game works is by way of simple one-on-one bouts, which play out in an open 3D arena. This build was the latest one available, which included Luchador Pikachu, a character that was unveiled during the announcement of the Wii U edition. It took a bit of time to get used to, but it’s not necessarily unwieldy. Instead, the game is tethered to a pad, with two triggers, four face buttons, and a start button.

The first thing you’ll probably notice about Pokken Tournament is that it doesn’t use a traditional arcade stick control method.

Naturally, I had to seek out a few popular arcade games that haven’t come westward yet, most notably Pokken Tournament, which is currently set for a Wii U worldwide release early next year. You only need to walk a few blocks to see video game and anime references everywhere, as Tokyo is constantly alive, with a populace that openly embraces technology. I’m still out here in Japan to cover TGS, and even though this is just my first time in the country, I’m already itching to come back.

Pokken tournament tips