Pit of Despair: Pokkén Tournament

Pokkén Tournament
Pokémon Fighting Game!!??!!!
1-2 Players
System: Wii U
Developer: Bandai Namco
Year of Release: 2016

Don't be fooled by the title, Pit of Despair doesn't mean these games are horrible, just that they let me down in a big way. And oh, how Pokkén Tournament let me down.

I think I've made it clear before that Pokémon has had a major impact on me. I adore the entire series to death, even though there are several offshoots I don't like that is one of the major benefits of being such a massive franchise though, even disliking whole swaths of the series leaves a metric ton of content to enjoy. I can't speak for everyone (although, c'mon, I totally am about to) but for me being able to directly control Pokémon in a Pokémon battle has been something I have felt to be a massive missed opportunity since the dawn of the series. Sure Smash Bros offers a few Pokemon to play as, but it wasn't the same. A few years ago there were some leaked images of a Blaziken fighting a Lucario in the streets which sent my heart a flutter. For a long time these remained a mysterious leak until finally Pokkén Tournament was officially announced. First an arcade game, then they announced it would come to Wii U, and finally it would come stateside. Finally. I could whoop the shit out of a Gengar with a Machamp. Sadly, the game whooped the hype out of me.

The first major problem I ran across was the incredibly limited roster. I hoped that it would just be the case of the arcade getting a low fighter count that would be maybe doubled for home release. No. I was wrong. Worse still of the only sixteen playable Pokémon there are two Pikachu's and two Mewtwo's. What? Granted the Pikachu's actually play very differently, but the Mewtwo's don't feel very different at all. Not only that, but the Mewtwo's are unlocked after beating the game (which is a whole other can of worms to look forward to in one of the following paragraphs) which means you only have fourteen playable for most of the game. Still when over seven hundred Pokémon exist this is just... asinine to me. I'm not being unreasonable and saying they all must be playable, especially considering the amount of work that must go into animating each Pokémon, but somewhere between twenty and thirty seems fairly doable.

It doesn't help that the Pokémon that are here are not very well balanced. Garchomp, Pika Libre and Gengar are total beasts for my play style, but others like Blaziken, Machamp (who I so wanted to main) and Braxian just don't work as well in my experience. I'm no fighting game expert, and I'm sure someone has managed to master every Pokémon, but for a more casual fighting game fan, they just feel really unbalanced to a detriment.

The most damning thing though is how you make "progress". I know most fans of fighting games pitch people shit who complain about bad single player experiences. "Uh, do you even actually play fighting games?" is often tossed around, but for me, the single player bit is what draws me into a fighting game. And Pokkén Tournament has possibly the worst. There are a total of four leagues, you slowly work your way through the ranks getting to the top spot by fighting random batches of trainers. Depending on how well you do you are moved up so many ranks, possibly getting knocked down. In the first league it didn't feel that unreasonable to get through this part, but it really drags even in the second league. I haven't made much progress in the third just because of how irritating this is. Afterwards you're thrown into a tournament which you must win, followed by a qualifying match to move up to the next league. The majority of the time the AI is terrible and you can just mash to win, but every so often they'll be using one of the more powerful Pokémon and will cost you more time by winning because you aren't putting your all into it. Apparently it gets harder though.

There are little bits of story sprinkled in, something about how synergy allows people to connect with Pokémon, which is how these fights are.. fought, but there is a mass influx of energy shrouding this Shadow Mewtwo who randomly shows up and you must fight him in-between leagues. It feels pointless, and you eventually unlock both a purified Mewtwo and a Shadow Mewtwo (who was apparently broken beyond belief in the original release). Another instance of doubled up Pokémon.

It's a shame because there are deep fighting mechanics here, and it does look beautiful and I even like the weird fighting mode switching between 3D open arenas and more traditional 2D fighting games. It makes sense for Pokémon battles, and is a visual treat. But, for me personally, there isn't any way to really get to know how to play as the AI either rolls over, or destroys me, and sadly my friends are the same way, either way better than me or much worse. I hope this sets the groundwork for a better sequel. Maybe one that incorporates some RPG aspects, catching your own Pokémon, travelling the region a bit, a much better story mode and hopefully work in some balance. I can't recommend Pokkén Tournament, but I really wish I could.