Pokken Tournament Reviews
I'm a little confused whether Pokken Tournament is meant for a casual crowd, a hardcore crowd, or perhaps even both. The mechanics are simple enough for anyone to simply pick up and play, and potentially master, but the game does seem to have some slight nuances to give it an edge in the competitive space. Considering Pokken Tournament is already schedule to headline EVO 2016, it seems that both Nintendo and Bandai Namco are considering the game to certainly be competitive enough to appeal to the hardcore fighting game market. However, my time with it didn't really showcase that, at least not on that level.
Pokémon games are almost always a hit and Pokkén Tournament ranks up there with the best.
Pokken Tournament shines when it comes to playing with friends, but the game's grind filled single player and dumb AI make for a pretty unimpressive package overall.
Pokken Tournament is the newest addition to the Wii U's excellent catalog of multiplayer games, and it is more than capable of holding its own against the other games in its company.
The experience that this game provides has been long overdue, and I praise it for doing such a terrific job. Considering the series currently contains 720 Pokémon, it's understandable that about 80% of them don't even appear as background scenery. Even with the presence of dozens of support Pokémon I can't help but think it could have been even better if the playable cast was larger.
Exciting multiplayer makes up for solo mode
Cleverly appeals to both casual and hardcore audiences.
Pokken Tournament is a well crafted, yet simplistic fighting game. It won't compete against the Tekkens or Street Fighters of the fighting world, but it does enough to cater to the Pokémon crowd. If there was a bit more balance and a lot more characters, then this game would have been phenomenal. As it stands, it's still a good fighting game with lots of potential for growth.
Pokken Tournament adds another solid and promising new game to Nintendo's stable, as well as an alternative for folks looking for another Nintendo brawler in addition to Super Smash Bros. It's not as technical as Tekken and the campaign can feel like a repetitive grind after a while. The game's mechanics, however, cater nicely to both beginners and advanced players, making it one of the more accessible, not to mention adorable, fighting games out there. With just a few tweaks and more fighters, this could be among the very best in the genre.
From the humble beginnings of the simple, singular image above to the fully fleshed out title we have now, it's been quite the journey. And considering the high quality product we've gotten for our patience, Pokkén Tournament has been worth the wait.
Pokken Tournament may have the image of a kid-friendly fighting game, but it's absolutely dead serious in its approach to offering something new to fighting game fanatics.
If you like Pokémon and fighting games, or just want to play Pokémon in a new way, you'll enjoy Pokkén Tournament on the Nintendo Wii U.
It's been 20 years since the Pokémon series was first introduced. For the past two decades, fans all over the world have spent hours upon hours battling and trading Pokémon of all sorts, getting lost in this fictional, yet amazing world. While features and mechanics gradually evolved as the series progressed, the core formula has remained intact throughout all of the main entries. As a result, veterans of the series have continued to enjoy each new entry just as much as the newcomers. With that said, get ready to experience a whole new world with a brand new attitude, because Pokkén Tournament is truly like no other Pokémon game.
Pokkén Tournament was a brave experiment, and it succeeds in many areas. However, it fails in some others—whether from lack of depth or outright poor design—that keeps it from reaching that upper-tier of the fighting game genre's elite entries.
As the first of what we hope is a series of fighting games, Pokkén Tournament surpasses our expectations.
Although it's beautiful and intuitive to play, Pokken Tournament's story mode, where the beef of your gameplay will take place, becomes tiresome and drags down what could have been a one-of-a-kind experience on the Wii U. That's not to say that there aren't redeemable qualities, but with a small roster of fighters and too many battles against the same faces, it loses a lot of luster, fast.
It's no surprise that Pokkén Tournament is good, but it is surprising that it feels so unique. It's a refreshing face in the fighting genre, and offers up a ton of fun.
Not content with putting Tekken in a Pokémon skin, Pokkén Tournament does its best to bridge the two worlds in one innovative fighter. In terms of the core combat it's succeeded, and Poké-enthusiasts will love to watch their favourites battle it out in a whole new way. However, Pokkén Tournament doesn't go quite far enough to capture the exploration, collection and training aspects of the classic series. It's going to please an awful lot of Poké-fans, but it's not quite gonna catch 'em all.
Pokken Tournament is a solid game for Poké-fanatics and a decent enough game for casual fighting game fans. I'd recommend it if you need a Poké-fix before Pokémon Sun and Moon come out, but if you are looking for a new fighting game, stick to Street Fighter V.