Pokken Tournament Coming to Wii U in Spring 2016
Nintendo has just announced, at the Pokémon World Championships, that Pokken Tournament is coming to the Wii U in Spring 2016. Pokken Tournament has previously only been available to play in a select few Japanese arcades since it launched on 16th of July 2015, but it will be released internationally when it comes to the Wii U. They also announced that a new character, called Pikachu Libre, will be coming to the Wii U version of the game.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Pokken Tournament it is a Bandai Namco developed game that is a cross between Pokémon and Tekken. The easiest way to imagine the game is if you think of Tekken but with Pokémon subbed in as the fighters (the video below should give you a good idea of what the games all about). Lucario, Pikachu, Suicune, Machamp, Gardevoir, Weavile, Charizard, Blaziken and Gengar make up the games nine playable characters, but the aforementioned Pikachu Libre should round off the list at ten when the Wii U version releases. Interestingly even the arcade version of the game is played with a console controller, instead of the traditional fighting game joystick, which should mean this game will be perfect for porting to a home console, although don’t expect to see it on any none Nintendo platforms due to the Pokémon licencing.
Since the Wii U launched sales have generally been weak and its line-up of games is considered poor by many. However, with Pokken Tournament and a new The Legend of Zelda game coming in 2016 the consoles future might just be looking a little brighter. For Wii U owners that can’t wait until 2016 for something new to play Mario Maker is launching on September 11th and should provide players with an endless supply of gameplay to tide them over.