There are only two days left until the worldwide launch of Pokkén Tournament, and I am still struggling to decide which of the sixteen playable pokémon I’m going to choose as my partner for the single-player campaign.

Over the last two days, I rand down the lists of which ones I’m not overly interested in, and which ones may make the cut if they’re fun enough to play. Today, it’s finally time to go over the five pokémon fighters that I am most likely to choose from.

BLAZIKEN

I knew from the moment that I first saw the starters in Pokémon Sapphire that Torchic was absolutely going to be my choice. The adorable little fire-type chick melted my heart, and I had no idea about the awe-inspiring powerhouse that it would eventually evolve into. Blaziken is another one of those pokémon that is considered to be overpowered, and it shows. Blaziken has incredible speed and strength, and its mega evolution only serves to amplify those traits even further.

Blaziken and I go way back. Like, way way back. I have a special attachment to this pokémon not only because it was super powerful in the game, but because I have a lot of really good memories tied to my first playthrough of Pokémon Sapphire. I purchased the game at a point in my life when I wasn’t really interested in Pokémon any more, but decided to play it because my brothers were playing and it was a great way for us to connect. Also, I bought it while on a trip to Disney World, and it was a great way to pass time in the hotel at the end of each day. Finally, it is one of those games that really floods me with memories of summer spent out at the cottage, so we’ve got a triple dose of strong sentimentality there.

But Blaziken doesn’t get by on nostalgia alone. No, I think that it’ll make for an incredibly solid fighter, what with it actually being a fighting-type pokémon and all. Plus, it’s just totally badass in every way, even though it’s a chicken. And you just can’t ignore that.

Continue reading The Pokkén Dilemma: The Top Tier

Pokkén Tournament, the new Pokémon fighting game, launches this Friday, and I’m taking a look at each playable fighter in hopes of deciding who I’m going to choose as my go-to monster. Realistically, I’ll have to give each one a spin and then choose a favourite based on play style, but it’s fun to sort them out based on which ones I already like.

Yesterday I ran down the pokémon that I feel I’m least likely to play as, and today we’re going to take a look at the monsters that have me on the fence:

MEWTWO

Mewtwo is a psychic powerhouse, artificially created by cloning and messing around with the DNA of Mew. He is the original unstoppable force in Pokémon; a Pokémon that you can only find and capture after becoming the Champion in the original Red and Blue versions. I’m not too fond of the idea of psychic-types in a fighting game, but Mewtwo can be a physical threat as well, especially when it evolves into Mega Mewtwo X and gains a secondary fighting-type.

Mewtwo has shown that it is a capable fighter in Super Smash Bros, where it uses a combination of deadly psychic attacks and its powerful tail to pummel its opponents. However, while it is a large and somewhat slower, it’s actually a very light fighter, and can be launched fairly easily. I like playing as Mewtwo in Smash, but I don’t know if it will be as satisfying to play in Pokkén.

There is also a secret (and unlockable) boss character known as Shadow Mewtwo (pictured). I don’t know at all if the dark version plays differently from regular Mewtwo, but it hasn’t really pique my interest yet. Time will tell how I end up feeling about this non-canon form.

Continue reading The Pokkén Dilemma: The Maybes

Guys, I don’t know what to do. Pokkén Tournement is just days away and I have no idea which monster I want to choose as my main. Sure, I could just try them all and then choose based on my findings, and that’s probably exactly what I’ll do. But I do think that it’s fun to go over the competitors and try to figure out which one I’d like the most, based on wild guesses and theories.

To be honest, I don’t scrutinize trailers and other promotional videos to try to figure out the attributes and abilities of each character before playing them. Most of my thoughts are just based on my existing thoughts about the Pokémon in question, how they perform in other games, and how their designs might affect their performance in a one-on-one fighting game.

Let’s look at the monsters that I’m least interested in first:

SCEPTILE

The final evolution of the grass-type starter from Ruby and Sapphire, Treecko. while it’s in a dire position because I don’t usually give a hot damn about grass-type starters, Sceptile is actually one of the cooler ones, at least in my opinion. A big ol’ lizardy guy with some manner of tree for a tail.

I would imagine that Sceptile would use that tail in the bulk of its attacks, because it’s got pretty puny little arms. It does have blades on those arms, but they still seem like more of a liability than a real asset  Plus, man, grass type. I am really not a big fan overall, even though I love the colour green. There are a few grass-types that I absolutely love (like Roserade and Gourgeist), but for the most part I just can’t be bothered with ’em.

Continue reading The Pokkén Dilemma: The Unlikely