Pokken Tournament is Nintendo’s next big Wii U title and is expected to take the Pokemon IP and change the formula up a bit. Meshing the Tekken franchise and Pokemon may seem like an odd pairing but as we mentioned in our review, it’s actually a match made in heaven.
Before you consider purchasing the game on March 18 (you really should), there are a lot of things you may not know about the latest fighting game coming to the Wii U. We compiled a list of handy information that prospective Pokken Tournament buyers should know before they boot up the game for the first time. The list will include what game modes are available, how amiibo works and other cool tips.
The Battle System in Pokken Tournament will be covered more in-depth later so keep an eye out for that. This list is mainly to prepare you so there are no surprises.
GAME MODES
Local Battle
Let’s get into the different game modes that are available in Pokken Tournament. You have Local Battles, which you can battle your friends in your own home. However, one of you will need to use the Wii U Gamepad.
What’s more, there’s also an issue with the frame rate of Pokken Tournament dropping from 60fps to 30fps in local battles. This can be circumvented by having LAN battles using a variety of ways: Serebii has a handy instruction manual on how to perform LAN battles in Pokken Tournament.
Single Player
This mode pits you against a computer in a non-league fight. This is a great way to practice and hone your skills against a CPU.
There are two types of battles. The first being Basic Battle, which is just a normal fight between the CPU. You can alter the difficulty level of the CPU from Easy to Hard.
Extra Battle is another mode that changes it up a bit. It’s a normal fight but random boxes will appear on the battlefield. These can grant you HP increases, stat boosts and synergy gauge boosts. But be careful, negative effect random boxes also appear on the field.
Random boxes can turn the tide in your favor or it can work against you.
Online Battles
Online Mode is where you can fight friends and other players online. This feature is not yet available but with the 1.1 patch on launch date, the Online Mode will be unlocked.
FERRUM LEAGUE
And then we have the Ferrum League. This is the arcade-style battle that many fighting games have. You’ll be tasked with entering each League as you raise your rank high enough to be crowned League Champ.
This is how each League goes: First, you’ll enter League Match where you’ll be thrown into a pool of an increasing number of trainers. You’ll have to fight your way through five matches at a time to raise your rank. The more sets you win, the more your rank increases.
Make your way to Rank 8 or higher and you’ll gain access to the League Tournament. This is an elimination tournament between the top 8 of the League. Lose once and not only will you be eliminated, but you may also lose your ranking.
However, if you win the League Tournament, then you’ll be invited to fight the League Champ in a Promotion Test. Defeat the Champ and you’ll gain a new grade and can progress to the next League.
There’s also a Free Battle setting that allows you to fight in the League in a non-ranked match for some casual fighting.
This is also the mode where you will encounter the main story of Pokken Tournament.
MY TOWN
This is where you can customize a lot of your gameplay from your avatar to what Support Pokemon you use.
Avatar
When you first boot the game up, you’ll have the male/female choice along with skin and hair color/style. You’ll earn in-game currency that you can spend on new clothes and looks for your avatar.
You will also unlock these avatar accessories as you progress in the Ferrum League.
Support Pokemon
The Support Pokemon are a large part of the battle system in Pokken Tournament. There are 15 sets of Support Pokemon, each with their own special abilities. You can bring two Support Pokemon into every battle with you.
You start off with three sets and you’ll unlock more as you make your way up the Ferrum League. Support Pokemon are locked into their respective sets so there is no mixing and matching. However, you’ll be able to slot your three sets in the My Town mode.
Before every battle, you’ll have your choice of the three sets of Support you chose. And during the beginning of each round, you’ll choose one of the two in your set to accompany you.
It’s crucial to note that a Support Pokemon CANNOT bring your opponent’s health to zero.
Advisor Settings
This is where you can change what Nia says to you during battles. At the start, she will constantly talk during battles to remind you to use your synergy burst or use your Support Pokemon.
Honestly, she can get a tad annoying and this is where you can change how frequently she gives advice.
You can also change her outfit, once you unlock them, and what her cheer is in between rounds. This feature is highly beneficial in battle and can help you come back from the brink.
PRACTICE MODE
In Practice Mode, you can take your Pokemon into training and learn all of their moves and combos.
Tutorial will give you the basics of battling. Free Training is just you and another Pokemon, where you can fight and practice the moves you learned. It even has a handy damage meter for those who want to calculate which combos and moves do the most damage.
Action Dojo runs down your Pokemon’s list of moves. The game will show you an example of the move and then expects you to perform it too.
Combo Dojo is like Action Dojo but with the combos list. You’ll be shown what the combo is supposed to look like and then you’ll be expected to perform it the same way.
AMIIBO
It’s already been reported that every amiibo created can work with Pokken Tournament. The way it works is just scanning your amiibo onto the Wii U pad grants access to a new avatar customization item.
So scan all the amiibo you have so you don’t have to spend you hard earned currency later.
CHARACTERS
From Blaziken to Garchomp, there are 14 Pokemon that you start with . Only Mewtwo and Shadow Mewtwo are unlockable, and if you have the Shadow Mewtwo amiibo card (comes with the game) you can unlock Shadow Mewtwo without having to progress through the story.
However, if you haven’t beaten the story you’ll have to rescan the card again when you boot up Pokken Tournament in the future.
SKILL SYSTEM AND LEVELING
Like in the main Pokemon games, you can grind and level up your partners to make them stronger. In Pokken Tournament every fight in the Ferrum League gives you experience points to level up your Pokemon.
Every level your Pokemon gains it gains a skill point, which you can use to increase one of its four stats: Attack, Defense, Synergy or Strategy.
Attack increases your damage output and defense decreases the amount of damage taken. Synergy increases the duration of Synergy. Burst and increases your attack and defense while in this mode.
Strategy affects your Support Gauge. This stat shortens the charging time for your Support Gauge and enhances the Support Pokemon’s effects.
Use your skill points wisely to fit your play style. But you don’t have to overthink it, the My Town mode allows you to allocate your skill points as many ways as you want.
