Pokkén Tournament takes Pokémon somewhere new: the fringe of fan fiction

If the idea of Pikachu dressed up in a luchador costume and fighting against other Pokémon on the deck of a ship where a giant Magikarp festival is taking place is your idea of a good time, Pokkén Tournament is going to fulfill your wildest fever dreams. Pokkén Tournament is the Pokémon game that finally realizes battles in an atmospheric way that matches, if not surpasses, how trainers have imagined battles for years.

Pokkén Tournament is an oddity, and the Pokémon and Tekken series are odd bedfellows. Originally released in Japanese arcades in 2015, Pokkén struggled to find a following, making it seem slim that it would ever see a Wii U home console release, let alone one in the States. But Pokkén Tournament, a collaboration between the Pokémon Company and developer Bandai Namco (Tekken), combines the two franchises into a fighting game in the style of Tekken, Street Fighter, or Marvel Vs. Capcom, shedding the turn-based roots of the Pokémon series. It’s a unique twist on the Pokémon formula that works … for the most part.