Pokken Tournament DX (Nintendo Switch, 2017)

 

Released September 22nd, 2017. So like, this very week. What better way to kick off a month of POKEMANIA. Fall always makes me think of the start of a new school year, and Pokémon, since as a kid I mostly played this series when other kids were playing it.

This game is something a little different. It's a revamped port of the Wii U version, which dropped in March 2016, and was in arcades for a bit before that. It's a Pokémon fighting game, combining elements of Pokémon with elements of the Tekken series. So of course I've gotta see this.

This is a first time playthrough from somebody who has no idea what to expect.

HI NIA!

It's true, Nia is the cutest Pokemon.

Nia, I choose you! GET IN THE BALL.

The usual massive attractiveness gulf between male and female characters in Pokemon games is much smaller than usual here. They resisted the urge to make the male lead a goggle boy in a baggy eskimo outfit.

Fighter select. Lots of really good characters here, with some real badasses like Garchomp and Charizard that are perfect for a fighting game. Decidueye is a new one added for this version. I scroll right past all the badasses, because Pikachu is the first thing I think of playing as in a Pokemon fighting game, so the choice here is obvious.

Oh My God. Pikachu LIBRE? The Masked Mexican Wrestling Sensation himself? I will make him the Pokken Mega Campeon!

...yeah, there are also some huge legendaries here like Mewtwo, Darkrai, and so forth.

Here's Gengar, and he's brimming with personality as usual.

His super move involves un-hingeing his jaw and swallowing his opponent whole.

...alright, that's probably enough Gengar.

There are lots of dress-up options for your character, and most require buying with currency from winning fights. New dress-up options unlock constantly from winning more fights. I get a ruffled skirt and a denim jacket for our hero here.

There are four leagues of increasing difficulty to fight through. Each one is like a sports season, with you winning fights to move up the ranks until you're in the top 8 and can fight in the playoffs for that league. First up is Green League. They're all basically the same thing, just fighting lots of battles until you eventually move up. If you lose fights, you can go back in rank, which is...pretty lame actually. Would have preferred a regular arcade ladder type deal rather than this Dissidia style grind.

iEL GRANDE PIKACHU LIBRE!

The early fights are easy, and spamming the A button to do Pikachu's triple-team lunge attack is enough to win every fight reliably.

There's also a super meter that builds up and can be activated to give you Burst Mode, which is super offense and defense temporarily. It carries over from round to round, so if it's near the end of round 1 (which is when it usually fills up) you're better off not using it unless desperate. Just finish the round and use it on round 2 to get the upper hand there. Usually the opponent also has it by then, and can balance it out with their own, but yeah. You can end Burst Mode at any time with a Burst Attack, which is the character's super move.

A lot of Pikachu's offense consists of flying butt-bounces. Or as Toni Storm calls it, the "Hip Attack"

After fights you get EXP proportionate to how fast and well you won the fight. So winning fights quickly and without taking much damage seems to award more. This means that low-level fights are better to grind on that later fights. Wait...grind? Yeah, this is a fighting game where you can grind fights for levels.

I seem to get a level every two fights, and each level awards a point that can be spent on...

...one of four fabulous stats! I just dump everything into Attack, with a little bit in Defense for balance. There's also Synergy for boosting the power/duration of Burst Mode, and Strategy for boosting summons and their gauge. The increases from Attack add up fairly quickly and make a difference, so I think pumping that is probably the move.

I mentioned summons. Well, every battle you choose a pair of summoned allies, and then every round you choose one of those. You can summon them for a quick boost or assist of some sort, usually about once per round (twice if they have fast charging time). Most of these summons, while neat, don't really make a huge difference for regular players. They can certainly be worked into a strategy for pros though.

It's Pikachu Versus EL GRANDE PIKACHU~! in a battle to determine who the TRUE Pikachu is!

Pikachu bellows forth as he unleashes his special attack. It's basically this roar, followed by a quick Guile Flash Kick, then a leaping elbow.

Win enough fights (especially without losing) and you fly up through the ranks.

The game plays out in sets of five fights at a time, then determines your rank-gains based on how many of those you won. It's very grindy. In the early leagues your gains move pretty fast, at least.

Here's Machamp, who is perfectly suited for this game. Finally, Machamp's time has come!

The best way to rock the CPU is to back foes up against the arena barrier and just knock them against it over and over.

Machamp fires back with a Fukei of his own. Lot of Vegeta energy here.

Pikachu fires back with Toddler Gohan Energy and CRASHES INTO HIM.

Pikachu blasts the highly-overrated Lucario with lightning.

Pikachu es muy suave!`

The tournament happens as soon as you land anywhere in the top 8. Just have to win 3 fights in a row here to be the champion of that league.

This is a good time to mention one downside to this game: Nia never, ever, shuts up. She just talks, and talks, and talks. Fully voiced. Her voice itself is fine, there's just too damn much of it. She doesn't just announce that your super meter is full, she tells you when it's half full! She tells you when your summon meters are empty, full, half full, maybe even a quarter full. She just TALKS. CONSTANTLY. FOR. ENTIRE. BATTLES.

Hey, chin up! You're not a loser!

Good shot of Pikachu's A button attack, the triple team strike. Probably the most effect spam ability.

Yes, thank you Nia for mentioning that I have more HP but shouldn't get careless. THE FIGHT IS BASICALLY OVER.

I finally couldn't take anymore of Nia's constant voice clips talking over the music and fights 100% of the time (to the point that she was even interrupting/talking over herself) so I'm digging around in sound settings.

Oh Thank GAWD.

Yeah I'm gonna....just crank that dial down there

There's also an option to just have her talk less, or not at all, which is probably better than turning off all voices. I should have disabled SFX too because Pikachu's constant yelling is almost as bad as Nia. I'm not even sure what any of the music in this game sounds like because all I hear is Nia talking and talking while Pikachu yelps over and over.

The final fight of the Green League is this guy. It's...pretty much just like any other fight. The opponents seem randomized, and I'm mostly fighting Machamps.

That's one league down...and I've officially seen pretty much all that the game has to offer. The other leagues are the same, only longer.

To celebrate winning the gold, here's TV's Sydney Sweeney!

It's time for this blog to get some HITS, damn it!

There's a guardian that blocks your way to the next league, so you can't just move up at will. This fight is also nothing out of the ordinary. I'm mostly relying on wall-ing opponents in the first round and then using Burst Mode in the second round, occasionally throwing out a summon for the luls.

Win that fight, and...

A black Pokemon??

I believe they're called Kanto-American Pokemon, Nia.

Wait a minute, that's...

S...sugoi?! It's.... Black Mewtwo!

Pika Libre goes to super mode! Shields up! MAXIMUM MUY SUAVE!

Yes, thanks for the update Nia! I've done some damage to the enemy health bar! YOU DON'T SAY!

I somehow nearly won, but couldn't get it done, and Black Mewtwo takes off. No second chances on this fight. Further fights with him are even harder, so yeah, good luck. Wonder what would have happened if I won here. I'm guessing he goes into hyper mode in the second round and obliterates you, since he can't lose yet in the story.

Next up, Blue League. Now I have 60 rankings to chew through. Groaaan. The fights are still easy, at least.

More walling! More Machamps! More trying to keep Dawn's skirt from fluttering slightly in the breeze and turning into a belt!

"Not interested!" says Dawn.

"What?" says Guy #28.

Charizard in action! He's big and strong, but seems pretty slow.

I found that it's super easy to level grind in this game by going back to Green League, picking Free Mode, and just pressing the A button all day. That's enough to win those fights, level, pick Attack+, and repeat. The fights get faster and faster and so do the levels. Can set it on turbo if you've got a means to do that and you'll gain dozens of stat points per hour. They'll all go into Attack automatically, but they can be re-allocated in the menu (I just left them there). I got to level 93 doing this, which is a bit nutso. Set me up for the rest, anyway, without having to grind away in the season fights like I was probably supposed to.

Dawn gets a trench coat. I assume she's naked under it and it's for surprising a fella on his birthday. I'll just stick with the normal outfits.

A showdown with our old nemesis, Gengar.

Nia always has something to say! I burst right away, she's got something to say! I burst too late, she's got something to say!

Garchomp seems like the best overall character. Strong, sturdy, but also agile, with really good special attacks and a LOT of reach, especially compared to Pika. I should have picked him for this run, would probably be having a significantly easier time. Well, too late now, Pikachu's pretty high level.

Quagsire here is a really good summon, probably the most useful one I've found.

It ties the enemy up in this quicksand whirlpool, which both keeps them stunned momentarily, and debuffs them a bit. Also does some damage. This is really good, needless to say. Finally, a summon worth launching every time it's up.

Elsewhere, I battle the dynamo of action that is Chloe. Weavile there is an Ice-type that I've got my eye on for Pokemon Gen 4.

Pikachu busts out a full-on MOONSAULT!

Our hero gets a new outfit, a snazzy dress. Chloe can have her old skirt.

Looks like I can also get new outfits for Nia. There's all kinds of stuff, like Sexy Mrs. Claus, Sexy Witch, Sexy Librarian, Sexy Homeless Skateboarder.

I go with Sexy Greek Goddess, though Sexy Witch was tempting. She needed a nicer outfit before we go to the higher tier competitions.

Finally... a haircut sounds good right about now. Our hero is a new woman!

...and so is Nia! The Blue League Tournament is the same as the first, just...a bit harder. Still randos for opponents.

I plow through them, and...there really isn't much else to say about Pokken Tournament DX. It's a fun arcade game that got a decent Wii U port and a slightly-improved Switch port. It can be a fun game for competitions and pro players, but it's pretty redundant for a basic player who just wants to play the story. All these leagues and rankings are a bit much, and it's an 8-10 hour game that should really be 3-4.

Another tournament in the bag! Dawn is going back to Sinnoh draped in gold like some sort of belt collector.

"Next, you should dominate MEE!"

Sorry, gotta win more Poke-tournaments

Nia's fantasies summon this weirdo. Black Mewtwo is returning, and there's not a damn thing anyone can do to stop it! Well, I didn't stop it last time, and it proceeded to...not really do anything, so...

Red League is where the game really starts dragging. It's so many fights, just grinding away, ranking up. If this was my only game to play and I were REALLY into Pokemon, it'd be okay. However, I've got other games to get to, big games, that I'd much rather be playing. So grinding fights in this game is...not something I'm into right now.

Win all five fights in a set and you move up quite a bit, but lose even one and it's basically a wash for that set, you're only moving up a little bit even if you win the rest.

After another redundant league, I win enough fights with randos to do another tournament full of randos. That gets me to the next boss:

And uh...it's just another rando NPC that leaves zero impression. Three leagues down...and the game really does feel finished at this point. To celebrate getting my third gold medal, here's another live appearance by America's Sweetheart, Sydney Sweeney!

It's pretty cool to have your own generation's Marilyn Monroe, on billboards wearing nothing but footballs.

iPIKACHU ES MUY SUAVE!

Black Mewtwo appears yet again, and it's time for another fight with him. This time...I have to win.

He's easier than before, but still a monumentally tough foe.

It takes many tries, far more than anything else in this game, but I managed to eke out a win. He's got 3000 HP, which is about 4 times more than any other fight in the game and about 5 times more than your character has.

The next phase of the game involves meeting up with various rune-keepers to get the power you need to seal away Black Mewtwo for good. Everyone just sorta forgets about the Pokken Tournament at this point, which makes me wonder why they even have a fourth league on the board. It's distracting. Just have three leagues and then have more added as postgame.

"The Pokemon trainers are certainly getting...fitter these days."

I have to fight some of these runekeepers, like the elegant Nora and her Gardevoir. These characters are actually kind of memorable, unlike the herd of randos up to now. Probably because there's an actual story going on.

"Yes, the trainers are definitely getting fitter."

Once all of the traveling and rune-activating is done, Black Mewtwo is isolated and trapped within a shadow vortex, or something to that effect. Time to go in for the finishing strike and save the land from...whatever it is that this guy was going to do.

This final fight with Black Mewtwo is on a whole other level from the others. I have to win, again, but now I have to win two rounds. He's got a whole litany of new, vicious attacks, like these energy slashes.

I found one strategy, and only one strategy, that worked like a charm. Using Pikachu's Back+A attack, which fires a web of electricity that entraps the foe. Sorta like Cyrax's green net in Mortal Kombat 3. Use that, followed by a Gohan body crash (Pikachu does this automatically) and Mewtwo rarely seems to avoid it for some reason. Does a lot of damage, too. So I kept playing defensively and launching the electric net when I could.

Luckily for me, Round 1 was the only one I really needed to worry about. It's the drag-out bout where you need to be better than him, as neither of you has any particular advantage. The other two rounds are nearly scripted. This first round took me many tries, like the other fight with him.

Once I finally got a round win over him, I was pretty relieved. And then...

Round 2 has him activate Burst Mode halfway through, which gives him ultra-stats and never wears off, so he just completely beats you down after that. He also has, quite literally, the FREEZA DEATH BALL.

For his super move, he NUKES THE PLANET.

Unavoidable mega-damage, plus he EXTINGUISHES ALL LIFE IN THE WORLD. The global floods alone are enough to wipe out all coastal cities. With an infinite Burst Mode, he can just do this super move again if you last much longer.

At this point I was freaking out a bit, and then... Round 3 gives YOU infinite Burst Mode, and he loses his, so now you just get to blast him from pillar to post. It's basically a gimme fight. Round 1 was the only one I needed to worry about, which is great, because it was an incredibly tough fight.

And that...pretty much concludes the story. Black Mewtwo is turned back into regular Mewtwo and leaves in peace, the oddball person that heralded his arrival leaves with the other runekeepers, our hero is praised for saving the world.

So, the game's pretty much done. Here's more Sydney!

With an outfit like that, Sydney could be a female Pokemon character!

So after all that, it's pretty anticlimactic when we go back to another redundant series of fights with randos with the Chroma League.

I tried with Chroma League, I really tried. It's just all boring redundant fights, they're pretty hard at this point so I only win about two thirds of the time, and I barely make any progress through the ranks like that. Each set of five fights, if I'm unlucky enough to go 3-2, will barely move me along at all. If I'm unlucky and go 2-3, I lose ground in the rankings. If I have a great showing and go 4-1 I move up like seven spaces. Regardless, starting in 90th place, I got to about 70th place before I just couldn't be arsed with this game anymore and looked up what happens:

After the Chroma League is a battle with the champion, this Glenn fellow and his Machamp. of course it's a Machamp.

I'll give this guy credit for actually looking like a boss fight, compared to all the randos all game.

He goes all out with this Machamp and it weighs in at a cool 700 HP, plus lots and lots of Burst Mode power. Other than being really strong, it's nothing that different from any other Machamp from the rest of the game.

That gets the title of champion for your hero. This guy used Garchomp, which I really should have used for my playthrough. After that, credits roll. The Chroma League seemed super redundant and extra, so I didn't miss anything by tapping out. The story felt concluded with the Black Mewtwo battles and I'm not sure why the credits didn't roll then.

The even weirder part is that after the credits a secret 5th league unlocks, the Iron League. So there's yet another league? Even more reason why the 4th league should have just been postgame. Have them both after the credits! The first 3 leagues would make for a perfect single-player game, then you've got the  runekeeper battles and the Black Mewtwo battles, then the two really tough leagues can unlock after the credits roll for players who want (a lot) more.

Final thoughts on this game? It doesn't have the RPG or collecting gameplay of the Pokemon series (and gaining stat points/levels doesn't count) and it doesn't have the fun combat or intensity of the Tekken series. If anything, the leveling system ends up being a detriment because it locks you into sticking with one character. I wanted to switch to Garchomp halfway through this and couldn't (though I suppose I could have just caught him up by pressing A zillions of times in that first leveling up cycle I discovered. That just isn't really something I feel like doing, or spending more time with this game for that matter. It was alright, perfectly fine, but I can see why it wasn't a bigger deal in the grand scheme of things (both in competitive fighting and also the Pokemon series).

Next: POKEMANIA continues

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