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[DunDunDunpachi]

I've been a fair-weather fan of Pokemon since Red/Blue. I've ignored most of the spinoffs, except for a bit of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon and Detective Pikachu. Giving the player direct control over the Pokemon in a battle has been a childhood dream of mine yet this hasn't once panned out. Until Pokken, I suppose, which prompted this RTTP.

This is a better fighting game than Pokemon deserves. I'd argue it's worth playing strictly on its quality as a fighting title with the Pkmn license as gravy. The disparate systems (support sets, phase shifting, fighter types, unique camera and positioning) felt thrown together and clunky at first, but now that I've owned the game for awhile I can appreciate how all the pieces interlock. This is a top-quality fighting game made by Tekken and Soul Caliber veterans. Better still, it's unlike any other fighting game on the market.

But there's also an obvious adoration for the Pokemon license. Each stage is packed with details. Each of the Pokemon are lively, interesting characters in their own right with a wide suite of attacks. It hardly feels like a cash-in or a traditional fighting game that was hastily converted into a Pokemon title. It's amazing, really. Finally there's a spinoff worthy of the name.

There's a strong "family factor" too as I have several kids who enjoy Pokemon. Even the 3-year-old loves it, and I can't imagine what it would've felt like to play a fully-featured Pokemon fighting game in my childhood. The game is flashy and button-mashy enough to be entertaining for a kid. However, the systems are intelligently layered. It's a far more complicated fighting game than I would've expected for a franchise ostensibly aimed at children.

Highly recommended for fighting fans. Highly recommended for Pokemon fans.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Yeah, it's a super well-made game and it's clear the folks at Bandai Namco who worked on this had a deep love and understanding of Pokémon.

While I think I would prefer the game if there weren't the different phases, it does give the game a unique feel. It's kind of impressive to see that it works fairly well as an actual competitive game, too.

There's a famous finals match from the Pokémon World Championships that is super hype, even if you've never played the game before.

 

[TindalosPup]

The game really is a diamond in the Pokemon Rough

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Yeah, it's a super well-made game and it's clear the folks at Bandai Namco who worked on this had a deep love and understanding of Pokémon.

While I think I would prefer the game if there weren't the different phases, it does give the game a unique feel. It's kind of impressive to see that it works fairly well as an actual competitive game, too.

There's a famous finals match from the Pokémon World Championships that is super hype, even if you've never played the game before.

Thanks for linking the vid. That was hype indeed!

I didn't like the phases at first, but now I would miss them if they were gone. I appreciate how some Pokemon perform much better in Duel phase, while others do better in Field phase. Add in the fact that some fighters are fast, others are slow, some have a lot of health, others have little health, etc it adds dynamism to the battles.