The Pokemon franchise has made its way to numerous genres over the years. There are the traditional Pokemon turn-based RPGs, but there's also Pokemon fighting games, rail shooters, dungeon crawlers, augmented reality games, and more. And soon the Pokemon franchise will be able to add yet another genre to the mix, as the Pokemon Unite MOBA is set to launch as early as next week.
Pokemon Unite, which is perhaps best described as a League of Legends-style Pokemon game to those who aren't terribly familiar with MOBAs, finally has a release date. As announced by The Pokemon Company, the Pokemon Unite release date for Switch is Wednesday, July 21. The Pokemon Unite release date announcement was made with a new trailer that gave fans a fresh look at what the gameplay has to offer.
This new trailer reiterates what's been established by previous Pokemon Unite gameplay trailers. It shows members of the Pokemon Unite roster battling it out, fighting each other as well as focusing on scoring points at the objective. About halfway through the new Pokemon Unite trailer, though, it then shifts away from the Pokemon action to detail what else fans can expect from the free-to-play game come its July 21 release date.
Pokemon Unite will have extensive customization options when it comes to the player's Trainer as well as their Pokemon. Based on what's seen in the trailer, the Pokemon Unite customization options blow the main series games out of the water, with players given unprecedented freedom when it comes to designing their human character. Players will also be able to unlock and equip a variety of items for their Pokemon as well, like an innertube for Snorlax and beachwear for Garchomp.
The trailer then ends by highlighting Pokemon Unite's multiplayer features and revealing how fans can unlock an extra Pokemon for their roster. Anyone that downloads and plays Pokemon Unite on the Nintendo Switch prior to August 31 will unlock Zeraora for free. Zeraora is a Mythical Pokemon that was first introduced in the Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon games and has proven to be fairly popular with the community, so its addition to the roster will likely be a welcome one.
So far, Pokemon fans have reacted positively to this Pokemon Unite trailer, showing a sharp change from public perception of the game. The initial Pokemon Unite announcement was met with widespread disdain as fans were hoping to see main series Pokemon games instead, but now that the Diamond and Pearl remakes and Legends: Arceus have been announced, it seems fans are more open to the idea of a Pokemon MOBA spin-off game.
Pokemon Unite launches July 21 for the Nintendo Switch with a mobile version coming in August.