Pokken Tournament DX

Genre: 2D Fighting Game / 3D Fighting Game

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local Splitscreen, Local Wireless, Online)

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Review:

Pokken Tournament is a fairly unique Fighting Game originally released in arcades in 2015, with a home release on the Wii U a year later, and a port to the Nintendo Switch in 2017 with added features. The “Pokken” name supposedly comes from combining Tekken (developer Namco’s Fighting game series some of the mechanics here were derived from) and Pokemon (the franchise the game’s world and characters are in), although I think it’s fair to say that Pokken is sorta’ in a league of its own, playing not entirely like anything else out there, thanks largely to its gameplay that shifts back and forth from a 3D arena-based fighting game to a 2D-style fighting game.

For those wondering about the “DX” in the game’s title, the Nintendo Switch version of Pokken Tournament is the definitive version of the game, bringing back the 4 arcade-exclusive characters that were cut from the Wii U release of the game, as well as making both Mewtwo and Shadow Mewtwo playable from the start (they needed to be unlocked in the Wii U version), and adding in the new character Decidueye (from Pokemon Sun and Moon), with new characters Aegislash and Blastoise being made available via paid DLC. In addition to this, this version of the game adds a new 3 vs. 3 mode and new daily challenges as well. None of these additions are huge game-changers, but they’re definitely all welcome nonetheless.

The visuals here are good, albeit nothing truly impressive, and a modest improvement at best over the Wii U version. Battles feature a solid framerate and decent resolution, and the character models here are good, with the arena filling up with various effects as they let loose with attacks, but it’s all fairly cartoony and lacks the level of detail you see in some other 3D Fighting games, nor does it impress with a stylistic design, as Dragon Ball FighterZ did. Plus, the game’s arenas, while they look fine, mostly seem fairly bland compared to the action going on in the arena, and the force field that separates the flat and featureless fighting arena from the rest of the area really makes these locations seem even more like pointless window dressing than usual.

While my take on the visuals was basically “good, not great”, I have to say that the sound was very disappointing for me. The Pokemon series is filled with memorable tunes, but the soundtrack in Pokken is forgettable, and even a bit annoying at times (I personally feel that the end of match victory music in particular is particularly annoying). However, even worse than that, the game’s primary non-Pokemon character, Nia, not only yaks on throughout the game, but talks over the gameplay as well, and her voice acting is oddly flat. Every time I heard her voice I just wished that she wasn’t here.

As for the gameplay, Pokken Tournament is interesting in that it is constantly shifting back and forth between 2D and 3D playstyles, requiring players to mix up their tactics as the situation changes. While each of these playstyles on their own is strong, and combining them is a great idea in theory, in practice this leads to a few problems.

Firstly, players don’t have much control over the way the game shifts playstyles – this happens whenever either player delivers a particularly decisive hit or good combo. If you want to keep the game in a particular playstyle, you’ll likely be out of luck before long. Making things more frustrating is that characters swap to a completely different move set whenever the playstyle switches, meaning that players looking to learn a character need to basically learn how to play two different characters in two different types of games, and must do so with the gameplay refusing to allow the player much time to get acquainted with either version of the character before moving on to the other.

Having said that, when players do get accustomed to the way the game works, its mechanics are fun and the unique back-and-forth nature of the different gamestyles does at least set it apart from the crowd.

One other thing I’ll note on before wrapping things up. Nintendo’s record with online play has been notoriously spotty in its games, with the quality of online play seeming to be either fantastic or disastrous. Go ahead and put Pokken Tournament DX in the “good” category, then – during my time playing online, I didn’t have a single problems with it. Responsive during fast-paced battles, and without much hassle finding opponents (though to be fair, I reviewed this during their free promotional period, so there are likely more players now than usual).

In the end, Pokken Tournament DX is a solid Fighting game with some unique mechanics that set it apart, but also cause a few problems. Still, this is a game that fans of the genre should definitely give a try, and Pokemon fans will likely enjoy it too, if they can get a grasp of the game’s odd mechanics.

tl;dr – Pokken Tournament DX is a Fighting game featuring Pokemon characters, and a unique mechanic that has the gameplay shifting back and forth between 2D and 3D styles. Unfortunately, these shifts cause a lot of chaos and inconsistency, and make this game a bit less friendly to newcomers who might otherwise find the Pokemon franchise inviting. It’s still well worth a look from fans of Fighting games though.

Grade: B

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