Most Wanted:

Pokken Tournament Characters

By Brandon Sultana and Harry Sheridan

August 31, 2015

 

 

So Pokken Tournament, the Pokemon fighting game of our dreams, finally got confirmed for not only a Western Release, but that it’s coming to the Wii U. Additionally, with new characters being confirmed to come with time, as shown by Blaziken and Pikachu Libre both coming post-release, we decided that we should talk about who we would like to join the fight.

 

Bran’s Picks

The Hitmons

From the minute the game was even RUMORED, every one said that the Hitmon Pokemon (Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, and to a lesser extent, Hitmontop) needed to be in this game. They are the pinnacle of fighting types, being some of the most well known of the bunch. While the two from Gen 1 are definitely more iconic, Hitmontop also brings interesting things to the table, and I think all 3 of them would make great additions to the game. I don’t have much of an attachment to any of them, as I’ve never used any of them in a playthrough, I still really like them in terms of design and can easily see their potential. Hitmonchan and Lee would be very easy to make, being based on punches and kicks respectively. Giving Hitmonchan moves like Close Combat, the Elemental Punches, and Bullet Punch, would be really awesome to see, while giving Hitmonlee very powerful kick attacks like Mega Kick and High Jump Kick is a must.  I’m not quite sure how they would handle Hitmontop, as most of his moves revolve around him spinning, but I’m sure they could find a way to make it happen.

 

Excadrill

As of right now, Generations 5 + 6 are completely unrepresented in terms of playable fighters (Unless you count Pikachu Libre, which you shouldn’t). I think that Excadrill would be an excellent pick for a Generation 5 fighter. Not only is he one of the most popular Pokemon from the generation, but he also feels like a very fitting addition. Similar to it’s appearance in the main series, Excadrill could be very fast and hit pretty hard, using it’s claws to swipe at enemies, and even dig into the ground to avoid attacks as well as hit opponents. He could even use some ground based moves like Earthquake to get some range on his opponents.

 

Haxorus

One of the most popular Pokemon types out there is the Dragon Type. They are well known for being strong, menacing, and just general bad-asses. My favorite out of the bunch is Haxorus, and I think he’d be great for the role. I think it’d be the perfect blend of awesome and stupid if a lot of his moves revolved around him swinging his giant axe-face at people because let’s be real: Those stubby claws aren’t going to do much. I can foresee him as the tallest fighter in the game, and being able to use his sheer size to overwhelm other the fighters. He wouldn’t be very agile, but would back a massive punch with various Dragon-Type and other miscellaneous moves.

 

Harry’s Picks

 

Hawlucha

When Pikachu Libre was announced, I immediately felt my heart sink. A luchador character that isn’t the masked (bird)man of mystery? Preposterous! Hawlucha is easily one of my favorite Pokemon introduced in Generation 6, which we desperately need more reps from (considering the fact that there aren’t any at all), and he’d be absolutely perfect for Pokken. I mean, come on, he’s literally the “Wrestling Pokemon”! As far as gameplay goes, I think Hawlucha could play with a combination of aerial and grapple moves, using his speed and flight to get in close followed by grapple combos to overwhelm its opponent.

 

Heracross

Backstory time: I absolutely LOVE Gen 2 of Pokemon. Gold was the game that really got me into (well, more like “obsessed with”) the Pokemon series. And since most of my favorite Pokemon (such as Murkrow, Gligar, Aipom, and Heracross) are from Gen 2, I would’ve been very disappointed with myself if I neglected to include at least one of them on this list. It wasn’t an especially hard decision to choose between them, though, since one of them stood out as the most obvious choice: Heracross. Based on the Japanese rhinoceros beetle, a very popular fighting insect in Japan, Heracross would be slow but possess incredible strength. His moves would include a number of grapples and tackles, which could have the ability to knock back and stun opponents.

 

Ursaring/Beartic/Pangoro

Because every Tekken game needs a fighting bear.

 

 

 

Also shout-out to our two favorite Pokemon: Sharpedo (Bran) and Honchkrow (Harry), who don’t stand a chance in hell of getting in.