In news which many suspected but has now been officially confirmed, Nintendo have confirmed that the Pokemon fighting game, Pokken Tournament will be coming to Wii U in spring 2016. The game will launch worldwide in spring, allowing players from around the world to make Pikachu beat the stuffing out of a Machamp in real time.

Developed with the help of Bandai Namco and the Tekken dev team (hence the name Pokken), this new fighter seems to strike a balance between being a pick up and play fighter like the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm series and the technical prowess needed to play a game like Tekken. Fighters can have assists from fellow Pokemon, similar to the Supports in the aformentioned Naruto series, while also having the rage mechanic seen in Tekken 6 and Tag Tournament 2. Pokken Tournament also seems to have taken the Awakening and Super system from Ultimate Ninja Storm as well, with characters like Lucario and Blaziken being able to switch into their Mega Evolutions at certain points in the battle to up their speed and power, as well as augmenting their movesets.

So far, the animations for each fighter looks phenomenal, with the supers being especially flashy when performed. It will be interesting to see how complex Pokken actually is as a fighting game and whether it will actually have the legs to stand up against other FGs like Street Fighter and its older brother Tekken. I’m a bit puzzled about the starting roster, with characters like Gardevoir and Suicine being incredibly odd inclusions while fan favourites like Hitmonchan and Hawlucha have been left out. Hopefully, there will be continued support for Pokken Tournament in the form of DLC so absent fighters will be put into the fray and I can beat people up with a Dragonite. If you are attending Pokemon Worlds at the moment, Pokken Tournament is actually playable at the championship so try and get your hands on the game if you can.

We hope to get more information on the home console version of Pokken Tournament very soon but in the mean time, check out the trailer below for some sweet Pokemon fighting action.