A Pokkén Tournament special event took place yesterday, with the entire proceedings streamed via NicoNico. A tournament was the main draw, bringing players out to show off the game’s fighters and mechanics. After a great run from a Machamp player taking on Gengar after Gengar, the Ghost/Poison type still came out on top. After the tournament, Bandai-Namco Games’ Katsuhiro Harada, executive producer of the the game as well as driving force behind the entire Tekken series, took the stage in his trademark-for-Pokkén Pikachu onesie to discuss the latest fighter, Chandelure.
Anyone concerned with its design not lending itself to a fighting game rest easy, as the Luring Pokémon looks like a fantastic addition to the roster. Most striking is the presentation: Everything about Chandelure is disarming and even adorable, but with a sinister tint to it. The Ghost/Fire-type even puts its unique body type to use by swaying in the air like a chandelier, complete with spectral chain, to dodge attacks. A move that may be Minimize allowed it to dodge oncoming attacks, while it also seems to have an extremely far hitting grab-like move. The trailer ended with a look at its Burst attack, looking to be a particularly terrifying rendition of Dream Eater. As a whole, it looks to specialize in long-range and tricky attacks making it a sort of middle ground between Suicune’s beam focused build and Gengar’s mischievous maneuvers.
While the trailer was a real treat, what followed was a short exhibition demo of both it and Shadow Mewtwo, as well as a few of the new support Pokémon. Dragonite and Farfetch’d made brief appearances, performing Draco Meteor when summoned and actually preventing a show of what Farfetch’d could do. Victini was also shown on the select screen, with its attack seemingly being V-create based on the menu description. Shadow Mewtwo was the main attraction, looking purposely powerful with many wide hitting and fittingly-flashy attacks that really emphasize its dark influence. Once it Mega Evolves that power is amplified, becoming even faster and stronger with attacks covering a large area of the arena. It remains to be seen if Shadow Mewtwo will be balanced or more of a bonus boss-type character, but this footage definitely has me excited to get that amiibo card!
Pokkén Tournament releases worldwide on March 18th, alongside its Fight Pad controller. First run copies will include the Shadow Mewtwo amiibo card as a bonus. Look forward to more on this exciting fighting game in the coming months!
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Written by Ricky Berg
When he isn’t writing for Nintendo Wire, Ricky’s anticipating the next Kirby, Fire Emblem, or if the stars ever align, Mother 3 to be released. Till then he’ll have the warm comfort of Super Smash Bros. to keep him going.
