The Pokemon arcade fighting game Pokken Tournament will get an exclusive controller and Wii U bundle in Japan when it will release on the 18th of March 2016. Said controller is designed to mimic the arcade cabinet experience of the game.

The game itself is a 3D fighting game similar to the Dragon Ball Shin Budokai series, where players fight Pokemon against Pokemon directly in real-time, with an added support from various other Pokemon. The gameplay looks smooth as silk and rather brutal for a Pokemon game, with every move having a strong impact feel, giving players a sense of tremendous power.

On the graphics side, the game looks pretty stunning for a Wii U game, with amazing effects accompanying the special moves made by the fighters. Even though the arena itself does not suffer damage when you choose to throw a massive boulder with Machamp, the added screen shakes and flying particles make up for the lack of terrain deformation.

The game will support both the Wii U Gamepad as well as its Pro Controller. But Nintendo has made clear that its emphasis will be directed towards the arcade-styled exclusive controller.

The choice of adding Japan exclusive merchandise with the game’s release is not something new. Nintendo has already done this with special edition Nintendo 3DS versions for Monster Hunter and Zelda. Even though this leaves the Western market rather angry, it is something that Japanese companies commonly do.

The controller itself is similar to a Xbox controller in its design, without any analog sticks. It sports a d-pad alongside 4 main buttons and two triggers positioned on the back. It is a rather simple design, but it looks elegant and pretty comfortable.

The game bundle will consist of a Wii U 32GB console, black version, the Pokken Tournament game itself, a list of moves available in the game as well as an exclusive Shadow Mewtwo Amiibo card. The latter might bring the most criticisms from fans and game critics as well, considering the popularity which Amiibo figurines have gained over the past year, with some of them priced at thousands of dollars per piece, depending on their scarcity.

The exclusive Pokken Tournament controller is priced at 3480 yen while the console bundle reaches 36800 yen. Some of these bundles might make their appearance on Ebay after their launch, but consumers should expect their price to go up, without adding the payment towards transport.

The Wii U game console is still going strong despite its competitors, PS4 and Xbox One, stronger graphical and processing power. This is mainly due to the fact of the immense catalog of available games that the console has. Add to this the new Pokemon game, and its position might even overthrow its more “hardcore” competitors.

Even though Pokken Tournament will get an exclusive controller and Wii U bundle in Japan, the Western markets might get the same bundle as well, when the game will release worldwide. But the controller will, unfortunately, remain exclusive to the country. This will not stop the game from gaining hype until its release, with more and more gamers aching to play as their favorite Pokemon in a battle against Mewtwo or other legendary Pokemon.

Image source:www.pokemon.com