A new trailer for Pokken Tournament gives us a better idea of how the game controls. The moves are done by simply holding a direction and pressing a button, similar to Tekken or Soulcalibur.
The trailer showcases some of Pikachu’s and Lucario’s moves, focusing on the A button. Much like Smash Bros., pressing the A button in different directions has your Pokemon execute different moves, ranging from projectiles to combos. There is also a special meter around the trainer icon, which when fully charged let’s the player perform some kind of ultra attack by pressing the L and R buttons. Pikachu get’s his awesome Volt Tackle while Lucario mega evolves to unleash his aura power.
Since there trailer was in Japanese I’m sure there was something I missed, but the trailer makes the mechanics pretty clear. It’s still unsure what the long green bar next to the trainer icon does, or what kind of moves the other buttons do. Will the game be only special attacks or will the other buttons do simple punches and kicks for combo set-ups? How do you call out your assist Pokemon? Can you even use the analog stick? We’ll probably find out more before the game is released, but it’s good to finally get a good idea of what the basic controls are.
With Bandai Namco games developing Pokken Tournament, it’s not suprising to see similarities between this game and other games they have developed. Along with Tekken and Soulcalibur, it looks like Pokken Tournament’s move layout is also similar to Super Smash Bros. Also seeing the Pokemon run around in an open arena looks a little like the Naruto: Ninja Storm sereis, which Bandai Namco also developed. From the looks of things, Pokken Tournament doesn’t look too hard to pick up and I’m sure will be fun for fans of Pokemon and fighting games. It will be interesting to see how professional players will play Pokken Tournament when EVO rolls around.
Pokken Tournament launches on March 18th only for Wii U.