Live Magazine : June/July issue

In battles, the support Pokémon
has a set amount of time before
it can be activated, from quick
charges that benefit the player a
little, to long charges that benefit
player a great deal. It is a bit of
a shame that support Pokémon
can’t be mixed and matched instead
of being forced to use them
in a set, even though the sets of
Pokémon generally complement
each other.
Each Pokémon has a special
form they can enter called a Synergy
Burst. During battle, causing
hits, using specific support
Pokémon or collecting Synergy
Power in Field Phase raises the
Synergy Gauge. Maxing it out
sends you into Synergy Burst,
which increases your Pokémon’s
stats and upgrades your moves,
and if the Pokémon has a Mega
Evolution, Mega Evolves it. Once
per Synergy Burst, a Burst Attack
can be used, which if it hits,
causes massive damage. The
Synergy Burst is comparable to
that of Mega Evolution from the
newer Pokémon games, which
changes a Pokémon’s appearance,
stats, and ability. As a
Pokémon fan things like this do
right by the main games.
The last aspect of battles is Nia’s
Cheer. Nia acts as a menu descriptor,
tutorial, and story device,
but more on her later. A
number of cheers are unlockable
that give various benefits based
on how the battle is going which
can influence a number of things,
such as maxing out your support
Pokémon or Synergy Gauges.
Pokken Tournament has five
main game modes – Practice,
Single Battle, Local Battle, Online
Battle, and the Ferrum
League story mode. The game
suggests trying the Practice area
first, which contains tutorials, a
free training, and practicing the
specific moves and combos of
each Pokémon.
Single Battles allow straight
up player versus computer action,
with various options to fiddle
with. There’s basic battles,
which are the former, or extra
battles, which throw in a Mario
Kart-esque element with random
boxes. Gaining one can boost
the synergy gauge, recover HP,
and can give a positive or negative
status.
Local Battles play out exactly the
same, except with two players,
with player one being forced to
play as the GamePad. Its arcade
roots really shine here, as instead
of playing as both characters
on the TV, player one’s point
of view shown on the GamePad
is from their Pokémon, while
player two uses the TV and has
the view of their Pokémon. As a
side effect of showing this much
action from two points of view at
once, the framerate is cut in half.
It’s unfortunate, but it plays really
well.
Online battles are split between
Rank and Friendly Matches. Battles
here are in their basic variety,
so no extra battles. Rank consists
of a point system where players
of the same rank are matched
against each other. Win battles,
earn points. Earn enough points,
upgrade your rank. Friendly battles
can be played with anyone
with no impact on grade, or specifically
friends. To play with a
specific person, instead of a lobby
system, players have to en-