I've talked about this before, but I hate that Killer Instinct is exclusive to the XBO. That was my most hyped next gen game (aside from Sunset Overdrive) that wasn't a Nintendo exclusive. I played it on my friends XBO and nearly cried. It's a really cool fighting game. XBO owners are very fortunate when it comes to that game!
But thinking about it further, if Pokken Fighters is really done well and really does turn out to be a fighting game, I will forget about Killer Instinct faster than Pokemon fans forget about the existance of Masquerain or Quillfish. So forgetable.
But what is well done? How might this mystery game play? There the obvious like-ness to Tekkén by Namco. With Namco already colaboration with Nintendo in the two new Super Smash Bros. games, it's not too difficult to imagine them stretching that over to a completely new Pokemon fighting game.
But then there's that small video clip:
When you look at it, the graphical style is very similar to Tekken. Well, as similar as a Pokemon Tekken game can be. However, the way they are facing each other and the way the camera is used doesn't really match up to the Tekken games. Actually, it doesn't really match up to any fighting games.
Well, not exactly any fighting games. There is another Namco-developed fighting game with full 3D battles and a camera exactly like that. No, it's not a Dragon Ball Z game.
The Naruto fighting game series. Though not as deep as the Tekken series or most any fighter, they always get decent scores and are generally considered good games. While I'd prefer a more complex Pokemon fighting game, I can understand why Nintendo would rather keep the game simpler for a younger audience. These games are known for they're huge character rosters (I think the most recent one had like 80 characters total) and their really enjoyable story modes, even for a fighting game. The first one even had a completely explorable city.
That got me thinking. What if Pokken fighters took place in this Battle Frontier-like city? What if the game had you play through this cool story mode where your goal is to become the Fighting Tournament champion with your Pokemon. The way you unlock Pokemon in the local multiplayer mode is by capturing or defeating trainers in the story mode. In the open world, you travel around the city as the customizable trainer, but when you enter battles, it's a 3D fighting game. The story doesn't have to be long either. Maybe 6-8 hours. More preferably 10-12 hours. Almost every fighting Pokemon could be a character.
There are 46 fighting types all together excluding the legendary musketeers. That's including most evolutionary stages. Just that alone is enough to make a game like this work. Imagine you're playing the story mode with your Cumbusken, and after your tenth win, it evolves into a Blaziken? That would be sick! They could even add to the list. Pokemon like Lobunny, Gardevoir, and Zangoose would be awesome in a game like this. If the Naruto games can have 80 character sizes and Pokemon is know for it's huge number of Pokemon, why can't it too reach a high roster count? It definitely has enough characters. This has the potencial to be an awesome fighting game, but an even more awesome Pokemon game.
And the online... Shivers. Really time online Pokemon battles... Maybe there'll be a "tag" mode where you can have three on three fights ala tekken tag tournament? But with three Pokemon? Like a real Pokemon battle? Droolz...
Even if it's strictly a 2D fighter in the standard sense, it could still be great. I definitely think we'll finally learn about the illusive "Pokken Fighters" at e3 this year, but what do you guys think?
