Got some hands-on time with Nintendo games!
One of the first things I do when I know I’m going to PAX East is to check and see if Nintendo is going to be there. I think by this point, you fine folks know I’m a huge Nintendo fan. Hell, my show on the Shacknews Twitch is The Stevetendo Show. I always want to make it my business to see what Nintendo has going on when they ship up to Boston for PAX East.
It was a nice surprise when Nintendo decided to head to PAX East this year. In the last few years, they have been at the convention, but they haven’t had anything new to share. Well, that changed this year with the big N bringing the Super Mario Wonder Switch 2 Edition update as well as the main event, Pokemon Champions. For those who don’t know, the first day of PAX East has a media-only hour. I usually try to go to the merchandise area during that time because the lines aren’t too bad. This year, I made it my business to get over to the Nintendo booth and play Pokemon Champions. I’m glad I did because I really enjoyed my time with the game. If you have played/liked Pokemon Battle Revolution on the Wii, then you will enjoy Pokemon Champions. This game is all about battling. So much so that the Pokemon World Championships will use Champions as the main battling software for the tourney.
The demo we played at the booth gave players two chances to be Pokemon trainers. You fought another trainer with one-on-one battles and then double battles to finish out the demo. You could pick from pre-made Pokemon teams and then three Pokemon for the one-on-ones and then four Pokemon for the double battles. My one-on-one team was Gengar, Tyrantrum, and Infernape, and I’m sorry to say, we got swept. BUT I returned the favor in the double battle and swept their team with help from Gardevoir and Ceruledge. The battles look and feel crisp. I was talking with a few people in line, and it seemed like they wanted the Pokemon to have more in-between animations, like moving during the battle. There isn’t too much of that, but that’s fine, you aren’t playing the game to watch animations. I will say you should watch the animation for Waterfall when you get a chance, it is gorgeous! During our double battle, I was hearing classic Pokemon music, and I love Pokemon music. It was hard to hear on the show floor, but I managed to make it out. One other Pokemon-related story here. There was a Pokemon Home event where you could get medals for your game, but you had to scan it at the booth. I must have been doing the lord’s work because I have had quite a few people from Japan reach out to see if I could grab the medal for them. I probably will never be as popular as I am right now in Japan ever again.
I also got to play the Super Mario Brothers Wonder Switch 2 Edition+Meetup In Bellabel Park at the booth too. I believe at the time of writing, this version of the game is available. That being said, Nintendo really wanted to show off the multiplayer aspects of Bellabel Park. We played three multiplayer games where we worked together and then three more where it was every man, woman, and Toad for themselves. The minigames where we were working together had us collecting a certain number of coins, not dropping a bob-omb and so on. The main selling point, to this update, in my opinion, is the free-for-all mini games where you compete against other players for top marks. Collecting coins is there, too, but there are other games, too. You can also use different badges to make things easier, or in the case of the dash badge, tougher, because you’re running all the time. One of the games was tag, but with Phantom-like masks and if you had the mask at the end of the time, you lost. There was another one where you tried not to get hit by electricity. If you were hit, you’d lose a life, and the player with the most lives at the end wins. You can also grab stray one-ups in that mini game. I think if you’re playing with people you know, this mode will be chaos.
So to recap, Nintendo came back to Boston this year with some bangers to show. The headline was Pokemon Champions, but Mario Wonder Switch 2 and Pokemon Pokopia are no slouches either.