Some locations to offer game for testing

Dave and Buster's executive Kevin Bachus revealed via Reddit that the Pokkén Tournament arcade game will be available for testing at some locations of the restaurant and arcade franchise. Bachus, senior vice president of Entertainment and Game Strategy for Dave and Buster's, expressed in a Reddit comment that if the game does well in testing, it will be available at all locations.

The company will also test Tekken 7 at some of its locations. Bachus wrote in a comment that he and Namco are "more optimistic" about the success of Pokkén Tournament than Tekken.

Pokkén Tournament debuted in Japanese arcades earlier this month. The eight playable pokémon available at launch were Charizard, Weavile, Lucario, Machamp, Gardevoir, Suicune, Gengar, and Pikachu. Support pokémon, which can be called to assist in battle with the "L" button, include Emolga, Lapras, Snivy, Frogadier, Eevee, and Fennekin. Blaziken will join the game in an August update.

Battles have two phases. During regular play, a pokémon fills its gauge to activate "resonance burst," where the pokémon is powered-up for a limited time and can perform a special attack.

The game includes tutorial and single-player modes, as well as an online mode that connects players to other arcade systems across Japan. Players can store their battle records and increased battle stats on a "Bana (Bandai Namco) Passport." Using this feature unlocks more support characters.