Pokkén Tournament DX Review

Pokkén:

Back when it first launched on Wii U, Pokkén Tournament took a little getting used to. It’s a strange 2D/3D hybrid fighting game – so it makes sense to port the title to Nintendo’s strange Handheld/Home Console hybrid in the Switch.

Playing through the game again I remembered just how much fun I had with the original, and just how daringly unique it is.

Gameplay:

“Pokkén Tournament” is an intimidating fighter to get to know. This is thanks, in no small part, to Bandai Namco’s refusal to make a standard fighting game and throw a Pokemon skin on it. As a result, Pokkén makes a strong and admirable first impression. It’s likely different to any fighter you’ve played before, demanding you get to know its unique quirks before engaging fully with the title – which is pretty unheard of for a genre that was made for pick-up-and-play encounters.

That said, Pokkén is absolutely worth getting to know. Going through the tutorials is vital, but once you do and you start to understand how the colourful, fast-paced matches work, Pokkén clicks. Its appearance at recent Evo tournaments should prove that it’s interesting and diverse enough for pros to put down their Street Fighters and Tekkens and play this weird mash-up of the two.

A hybrid of 2D and 3D fighting games, Pokkén sees you pit your favourite Pokemon from a fairly healthy and well-rounded roster (which has five new Pokes in this DX version – Decidueye being by far the coolest, and a Switch exclusive not even seen in arcades) against one another with explosive results. Input-reliant, reflex-testing one-on-ones are a far cry from what made the Pokemon games so wildly popular in the first place, but it’s in these flashy battles that I found long awaited dreams coming true. We’ve seen awesome battles in the anime and movies for over two decades, but in the games Pokemon have always been relegated to standing stock still and throwing canned attacks at a patiently waiting opponent. Pokkén allows for no such thing, and brings to life the kind of epic showdowns we’ve all been waiting for.

Its unique twist on the genre is its perspective-shifting mechanic that activates should you use enough of a certain type of move. The 3D arena shifts to a side-on view and the battle continues until one of you manages to phase-shift back. It gives the battles a distinct pacing, and some match-ups you’ll find wanting to get in close or keep your distance. It adds another layer of complexity to a game that, elsewhere, satisfyingly simplifies things. You won’t find the more ridiculously demanding inputs of other fighters here, and instead the gamepad offers distinct moves tied to each face button and combos that tend to play themselves for beginners and button mashers alike. That isn’t to say there isn’t a huge amount of depth to plumb here, but only the truly dedicated need apply.