Pokk?n Tournament Deluxe (DX) - Thoughts
-Woo-hoo!! I've been waiting for this Nintendo Switch port to exist for quite some time, so it's great that it has finally been realized!
-However, this release looks like a total insult to the purchasers/initial adopters of the Wii U edition of
Pokk?n Tournament. At least give them the arcade version's content as downloadable content (DLC)! And didn't the developers even taunt (sort of) the consumers with the data of the arcade fighters being hidden in the Wii U version, too? Just horrible.. :(
-The mere name "
Pokk?n Tournament Deluxe/DX" sounds so cool to me. I'm glad that the Nintendo Switch port is following in
Mario Kart 8's footsteps with the term "Deluxe" as a subtitle for Nintendo Switch ports of Nintendo Wii U games.
-Kind of funny to compare
Pokk?n DX of 2017 to 2001's
Super Smash Bros. Melee (known as "
Super Smash Bros. Deluxe/DX" in Japan).. I mean,
Pokk?n's logo looks Japanese as heck with the background kanji(?), weird portmanteau, and the "DX" at the side inserted for coolness.. I wonder why Melee had its perfectly-viable original subtitle changed in the transition from Japanese to English release..? I kind of like the change to
Melee (mainly because of the term "Melee" now essentially being unique/exclusive to
Super Smash Bros. Melee, and because the English release can still append the WiiU-to-Switch porting term/subtitle "Deluxe" to "Melee" without major problems, should a Nintendo Switch port of the Nintendo GameCube's
Super Smash Bros. Melee ever happen.. However, I wonder what the Japanese title for a hypothetical
Melee port for Nintendo Switch would be, in addition to the English and Japanese titles for a hypothetical port of
Super Smash Bros. 4 (with Wii U and 3DS content) to the Nintendo Switch.. XD
-Anyway, back to
Pokk?n DX - I'm glad that the arcade-originating fighters are getting added to the Nintendo Switch port, but Decidueye was quite a surprise! I thought that it was Hawlucha when I first glimpsed it.. At least the best Alolan starter got added, although one would think that Incineroar would be a better fit due to being a literal heel/pseudo-villainous wrestler..! Although maybe Incineroar would play too similar to Blaziken or Braixen? But at least Decidueye is cool and may be interesting as a non-Flying-type avian fighter..
-I'm still miffed that Masked Pikachu is in over Hawlucha (aside from electrical attacks, I feel that the moveset is easily transferrable to Hawlucha or even Incineroar), although now that I look at it, Hawlucha and Decidueye look too similar to each other in terms of color scheme.. I kind of wish that Hawlucha's normal color scheme was different, since Decidueye, being a starter Pok?mon, kind of needs the green coloration for the Grass typing.. But in any case, no non-Pikachu wrestler Pok?mon are in despite at least 2 candidates? Really? -_-
-I still would like Ditto to be added as the "random character select" button if it hasn't been already.. Also, all playable Pok?mon should have their shiny colors as an alternate costume.
-Still annoyed that Greninja isn't playable yet.. Well, could it be a Nintendo Switch secret character or DLC maybe? The Ash-Greninja/"Mega Greninja" form should be utilized, too.
-I would also like Sceptile's "
Izuna Drop" transferred to a playable Greninja, mainly because that move is typically associated with ninjas, last that I heard. Sceptile can then get a new move to replace it.
-More Z-Move references in suitable places would be nice.
-The
acrofatic Empoleon still irritates me to no end.. We already have a cooler Water-type Pok?mon and a Steel-type Pok?mon that is playable (Suicune and Scizor), there are other Water-type Pok?mon that merit inclusion on the roster (Greninja due to
Super Smash Bros. prestige, and Blastoise for franchise contribution and classically rivaling Charizard), its niche could be satisfied by a thematically better Pok?mon like Hariyama, who is actually Fighting-type (granted, I haven't witnessed Empoleon's entire moveset to make a better judgment, but based on Empoleon's body type and the little that I've seen of Empoleon in action, I feel like Hariyama can easily mimic its moveset - Hariyama can even use water thanks to actually learning Surf in the core series Pok?mon games!) or a heavyset Rock-type (just for filling the complete playable Pok?mon type quota - not necessarily necessary, but would be nice).
-I still feel like the Hitmons should be Assist Pok?mon if they aren't yet, mostly since they pioneered the Fighting type to begin with. They probably may not be suitable for playability due to being too similar to already-existing playable Pok?mon, so I'm willing to compromise with an Assist role..
-playable Heracross plz, when? (I mean, he's just so cool!). At least Scizor is kind of related by tangential counterpartism..
-I still would like Braixen and Croagunk to be fully-evolved as Delphox and Toxicroak, respectively, but I'll settle if their anime counterparts (who I perceive to be Yvonne's/Serena's Braixen and either Brock's Croagunk or Looker's Croagunk) are comfortable in their current forms like Pikachu is compared to Raichu (although Pikachu does have more of an excuse with the Light Ball..)
-not sure if I wanted enhancements for Mewtwo..maybe Mega Mewtwo Y/Awakened Forme if it's not implemented yet, and more cues from Movie1!Mewtwo.
-I would like a playable Rock-type Pok?mon, but only if it truly brings something to the table (thus fulfilling the type quota as a
bonus trivium) and isn't just including for the sake of fulfilling the type quota.
-It will be interesting to see what new stages or music, if any, will be added.. It still kinda bugs me that the game went out of its way to introduce a new spinoff region and slightly-generic locations when the
Pok?mon core series already has some usable locations, but at least
Pokk?n's locations seem to be infused with personality..!
Are people still upset that Greninja didn't make it to the roster? I was expecting Lycanroc as our sixth gen rep to cover Rock types, we've got Decidueye instead.
Just like the dumb omission of Hoenn's Battle Frontier from
Pok?mon OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire Versions and the core series' purposeful Apricorn Ball scarcity past Johto-based games, I, personally, will continue to be irked by Greninja's exclusion from
Pokk?n until he (or she/it; take your pick) manages to be included as a playable fighter - mainly due to the
Super Smash Bros. (SSB) series and the
Pok?mon anime.
Granted,
Pokk?n is not necessarily beholden to what either of those 2 media does with Pok?mon, and vice-versa. However, with SSB, that is specifically supposed to be a gathering of "all-stars" (whether that status is preexistent or by virtue of SSB roster inclusion in itself) - namely, the best of the best. In particular, Greninja beat out roughly 715 other Pok?mon species (although I guess he mainly beat out just the 70-something Generation 6-introduced Pok?mon species, since his "slot (more accurately, development time)" was specifically reserved for a
Pok?mon X and Y representative Pok?mon. And even then, one can probably exclude Froakie and Frogadier since they're in the same evolutionary line/family as Greninja) for inclusion on SSB's roster, even being prioritized ahead of the highly-wanted, much older, veteran fighter Mewtwo for on-disk/non-DLC roster inclusion for SSB4. With how Greninja snagged a highly-coveted appearance in SSB, the omission in
Pokk?n for less "notable" Pok?mon (anyone not named Pikachu, Charizard, or Mewtwo. Jigglypuff of SSB64 seems grandfather-clause'd over there, so it seems to have some sort of unofficial immunity due to original veteran status) is just outright baffling/bizarre.
Then you have the
Pok?mon anime - everything was fine and dandy until Ash-Greninja showed up, elevating Greninja's status with a super-exclusive form (thus elevating Greninja to Charizard-status above not only Ash's owned Pok?mon species, but among starter Pok?mon as well), making it "special" for no real reason (other than "popularity" and "because they can" and "the mysterious world of Pok?mon", I guess) - to the point where said form got recursively canonized via
Pok?mon Sun/Moon and their corresponding demonstrative (demo) edition/release. With such perceived popularity of a seemingly powerful Pok?mon (never mind Greninja's anecdotal popularity on the Internet via websites/forums and such, in addition to Greninja's competitive notoriety that only increased with the (arbitrary) Smogon ruleset that banned Greninja to the Uber tier) that seems to approach the popularity of Charizard and/or Lucario (in my opinion, at least), Greninja's absence from
Pokk?n is just strange.
And honestly, I feel like every fighting game worth its salt has some sort of ninja character. XD. Well,
Pokk?n is still a nascent franchise, so I can maybe wait until a
Pokk?n 2.. :P. Although, given the reaction I've seen towards
Pokk?n and
Pokk?n DX, it's like some people don't even want the sequel to exist.. ;_; Well, there's room for improvement, certainly, but I think we have a good thing going here (and fans have been clamoring for something close to this real-time action fighting game for years)!
Decidueye's inclusion does support my theory in that it's the overly popular starter of 7th Gen, much like how Charizard, Blaziken and Greninja were most popular starters of their generations. Plus, we hadn't really had a Grass-type starter in that realm of super-popularity yet.
Other than that, everything else seems to have just carried over from the arcade version.
I feel like Sceptile is one of the more popular starter Pok?mon and gives Blaziken a run for its money - mainly by Ash owning one. Sceptile seems to dominate SSB wishlists (although it seems more to complete the starter typing trifecta with Charizard and Greninja on the roster). Even Mudkip/Swampert seem to be somewhat memetic+popular, so the "most popular" among the Hoenn starters seems to be a tough call.. I guess that Blaziken edges out slightly due to Harrison's Blaziken promoting Hoenn strongly in the early days of Hoenn's debut, (best girl) May having one, Blaziken receiving a Mega Evolution before Swampert and Sceptile in
Pok?mon X and Y, and Blaziken getting a significant competitive bump via the Speed Boost Ability.
But I agree, Rowlet/Decidueye seems to surpass its Alolan starter Pok?mon compatriots in terms of popularity (seems mainly due to Rowlet's cuteness, Decidueye's concept, and Ash also owning one) - Incineroar is a bit close, but it's controversial due to the "bipedal vs quadrupedal" issue and the "faux Fire/Fighting starter" issue.. >_>. And Primarina doesn't seem as combat-oriented, although it has its fair share of fans.
