As Pokemon celebrates its 25th anniversary, the series had seen its fair share of branching out over the quarter-century, experimenting with various genres outside of its RPG-adventure origins. Some of its titles that break away from its traditional gameplay often become classics in their own right, like the New Pokemon Snap taking an on-rails "shooter" approach.
The Switch announcement of Pokemon Unite would come as a little surprise for fans to see the Pokemon franchise tread new ground, specifically a genre as popular as the MOBA, or Multiplayer Online Battle Arena. Combining the ideas of leveling up your monsters to grow stronger and complete objectives with traditional Pokemon gameplay, Tencent Games' TiMi Studios aims to "unite" the two genres in a way that's accessible for both veterans and newcomers in its newest trailer.
Pokemon Unite's new trailer serves as both a cinematic and a gameplay trailer, featuring teams of 5 led by team captains Pikachu and Scorbunny respectively. Throughout the trailer, several game mechanics are featured including Pikachu and Scorbunny at one point battling wild Pokemon, in the latter's case, it's enough for Scorbunny to evolve into Raboot. Teamwork is also a key element as a powered-up Absol easily dispatches a Fletchling, allowing a friendly Lucario to make the save for Pikachu who was its next target.
The gameplay half of the trailer expands upon the cinematic half by showing trainers a summary of the objectives needed to win a match of Pokemon Unite via a point system. As players battle opposing and wild Pokemon, they collect Aeos energy, named after the region Unite is located in. With the Aeos energy from defeated Pokemon in tow, trainers will have to deposit the energy in the enemy's goalposts to score points. The team with the most points wins the game which means every fight counts.
Players who wish to try the Pokemon MOBA won't have to wait too long, especially for those who were unable to participate in the beta this year. At the end of the trailer, Unite formally announced a release on the Switch just in time for the Summer, a season that's expected to be a successful one for the Switch with titles including Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin.
While Unite will release on the Switch alongside mobile platforms, the game's free-to-play model offers services expected from similar games, including cosmetics for both trainer and Pokemon. During the Canada-only beta earlier this year, leakers have revealed a battle pass system for the MOBA, which has historically been a premium service in other similar titles although it is uncertain if this will mean Unite will be "pay-to-win."
Pokemon Unite releases in July 2021 for the Switch and September 2021 on mobile devices.
Source: Pokemon Unite