Review: Pokkén Tournament DX (Nintendo Switch)

Take direct control of over 20 prized Battle Pokémon as you unleash a flurry of powerful moves in adrenaline-fuelled matches! Call upon Support Pokémon to assist in the fight, then unleash your Pokémon’s unique Burst Attack as you work your way up the ranks.

Pros:

• Gorgeous HD graphics.
• 3.2GB Download size.
• Character (Avatar) creator-Set eye colour, Facial expression, Male/Female.
• Pro controller support.
• Amiibo support.
• Seven modes- Story, Single match, Practice, Local, Local wireless and online. Daily fight is your seventh.
• Daily fight- Randomly generated fight with set rules and Pokemon. The few dailies I have done have all been get 3 wins in 5 fights. You get bonus items and EXP.
• Can rebind controls.
• Tutorial- Optional and covers the mechanics of the game.
• Over 20 Pokemon including new ones from Pokemon Sun and Moon.
• 16 Sets of supports. Each support is a team of two and have different charge times and do particular moves from stunning the enemy to giving you health.
• End of battle breakdown with a star rating in areas like defense offense and burst with an overall star rating and cash prize depending on rating.
• Earn cash to buy new customisable options for your avatar. Unlock new avatar buying options by playing the game and doing particular tasks.
• Each Pokemon has its own level and you earn EXP from fighting. Levelling up grants an unlock point that you can allocate to strength, Defense,  Support time and burst.
• Unlock new titles for your player card by playing and/or completing tasks.
• Fast loading times.
• Detailed move list in pause menu.
• Has its own in game achievements.
• Mission panel- You perform certain tasks to reveal a picture, Earn bonus cash and eventually once you unlcok the whole image you get a special key.
• Locations are taken straight from the Pokemon universe from all games they look simply inviting and fun with a lot of background animations.
• Player card- Set one of your unlocked titles, Add a preset greeting and you can change these whenever you want to.
• Story- Played out the same way in each league it goes; Win league matches to increase your rank and qualify to the tournament, Finish the tournament then face off against a boss of sorts. The boss of sorts fight is a promotion match that once you win unlcoks the next league.
• Fast fluid combat and controls.
• Advisor- Gives advice, Adds buffs inbetween rounds. You can select her cheer skill which changes what buffs you may get between rounds.
• Can re allocate Pokemon upgrade points at anytime for free.
• Japanese and English audio options for your advisor.
• Stats- Battle log, Play info and saved replays.
• Local mp- Choose to play as splitscreen or you share the same screen.
• Combat- You fight as normal in an arena. Doing a set of moves can trigger and change the game from a 3D fighter into a almost 2D up close combat. Again you can then transition out from the up close back to the open 3D fighting again.
• Accessible thanks to the way the fighting works. You have a homing atttack that gets you up and close, A ranged attack is self explanatory.
• You feel rewarded constantly as titles and avatar unlcoks constantly drop after matches.
• Sports channel presentation.
• Fight styles- Aside from the one on one you also get a team battle option where you choose a stable of fighters and have to elimate all opposing players to win.
• Looks superb on the small or big screen.

Cons:

• The single player whilst entertaining is only like that in short fire bursts. The early leagues are very simple to win which kind of kill your motivation.
• No online tournament options to play with friends.
• If you are not bothered by avatar options then you don’t get the same feeling of love as someone who loves constantly changing out their layout.
• Combat can boil down to just button mashing.