Pokken Tournament Coming to the U.S. in March

Just a quick update on this story: The Pokemon Company has confirmed that Pokken Tournament is coming to the U.S. on March 18 for the Wii U. The peripheral previously unveiled for the game will also make it stateside at that time.

Here's a look at that controller:

Original Story 11.13.15:

Pokken Tournament is a game concept where no matter how it’s talked about online or how many trailers they release, my initial thought is, “They’re really taking this joke too far.” But it’s real. It’s a real game. Bandai Namco doing a fighting game with Pokemon where Pikachu is a luchador for some reason. Sure, why not?

While Pokken Tournament has had an arcade release in Japan and a very limited arcade release in the US, it will be heading to the Wii U this coming spring. So far there are only nine playable characters with Pikachu Libre being added in the near future and a newly-released boss character named Shadow Mewtwo.

What’s neat is that the home version of Pokken Tournament will feature amiibo support. The first-run copies of the game will feature an amiibo card that will unlock Shadow Mewtwo as a playable fighter.

Just...just we’re SURE this isn’t a big practical joke, right? Like, people have actually played this game? It’s very real? Okay, okay. Just making sure.

Pokken Tournament will hit Wii U on March 18, 2016 in Japan, but the US release has yet to be narrowed down at this point beyond Spring 2016.

In other news, Nintendo announced that it's bringing the first three Pokemon games—Red, Blue, and Yellow—to the 3DS in Feb. 27. These aren't really remasters, unless the wi-fi trading and battles count. Otherwise, Nintendo has kept the classic versions of these games pretty much intact. Check out a trailer:

Gavin Jasper is still smiling over that time he saw Pikachu Libre drop someone with a Stone Cold Stunner. Follow Gavin on Twitter!