Pokkén Tournament (ポッ拳 POKKÉN TOURNAMENT?) is a fighting game released by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The name Pokkén is a portmanteau of Pokémon and Tekken, and the game features Pokémon characters and gameplay elements from the Tekken series. The game was released for Japanese arcades in July 2015, and worldwide for Wii U in March 2016.
An enhanced port for the Nintendo Switch, Pokkén Tournament DX, was released in September 2017.
Gameplay[]
Battles in Pokkén Tournament shift quickly between two distinct modes (called phases) of gameplay. The first, called "field phase" is an over-the-shoulder arena-brawler style of gameplay, focusing on fighting with projectile attacks. Certain attacks will close the distance and shift into "duel phase", which is more like a traditional 2D fighting game, with combat happening in a 2D plane. In either case, blocking is performed with a block button, and unlike Tekken or many traditional fighting games, there is no notion of standing versus crouching block -- thus, low/overhead mixups are not possible in Pokkén Tournament.
References to Tekken[]
Pokkén Tournament, while not a Tekken game as such, contains many references to Tekken, primarily in Pokémon movesets and stages.
Pikachu's moveset is largely inspired by Heihachi Mishima, including attacks reminiscent of the Electric Wind Godfist, Spinning Demon sweeps, and Hell Axle. A number of other playable Pokémon have attack animations drawing clear inspiration from iconic Tekken attacks.
Some stages are also direct references to stages in Tekken games; this includes Dragon's Nest (an adaptation of the Dragon's Nest stage from Tekken 5 and Tekken 7) and Magikarp Festival (an adaptation of Bountiful Sea from Tekken Tag Tournament 2).
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The game was officially announced at an event held by Famitsu on August 26, 2014. The Pokémon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara, Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada, and Soulcalibur producer Masaaki Hoshino attended the event.
External Links[]
- Official Pokkén Website
- Pokkén Wiki
- Pokkén entry on Bulbapedia
- Tekken inspired moves in Pokken video by Critical Flinch.