Despite being slated to return to the Pokémon World Championships in 2017, the competitive Pokkén Tournament scene is facing a massive problem. The console version of the game, which some players train on before competing on arcade units, is badly in need of an update. But the the people behind Pokémon have made no indication that they plan on doing so.


Pokkén Tournament launched first in arcades in July 2015 before heading to Wii U in March 2016. The game merges the monster-battling sensibilities of the Pokémon franchise with the one-on-one fighting mechanics seen in games like Street Fighter and Guilty Gear. The Pokémon Company tapped Bandai Namco Entertainment to helm the project, with Tekken’s Katsuhiro Harada and Soulcalibur’s Masaaki Hoshino acting as producers.

Once it arrived on home consoles in March 2016, Pokkén Tournament was an almost immediate hit, moving just under 70,000 units in Japan alone in its first week. By August, Bandai Namco claimed they had shipped over a million copies worldwide. That year’s Evolution Championship Series saw Pokkén Tournament on Wii U surpass 1,000 participants, making it the only game not named Street Fighter or Super Smash Bros. to achieve that figure in 2016.


But as competition ramped up, Pokkén Tournament’s console community found itself left behind. Additional characters like Darkrai, Scizor, and Empoleon were regularly added to the arcade release, available primarily in Japan, starting in July. The Pokémon Company provided zero word on similar updates for Wii U despite data for these characters having previously been spotted in the console versionby fans datamining the game. Furthermore, these new playable Pokémon were accompanied by balance changes that significantly altered how Pokkén Tournament played.

In the fighting game community, parity is king. With the news that Pokkén Tournament will again be at Worlds and no word on potential updates, the competitive playing field is in peril. It’s still unclear whether the tournament organizers plan to continue using the console release or ship in arcade cabinets for the event. On one hand, players without access to the arcade release (i.e. everyone outside Japan) won’t be able to keep up should the tournament organizers decide to use the latest version. On the other, Japanese visitors who have been playing an updated Pokkén Tournament in arcades will be forced to compete in a game they no longer recognize if Worlds is played on the current Wii U build. The changes made to Pokkén Tournament in arcades are so significant that it’s completely different from the game Wii U players have been stuck with for months, and there’s even a fear that Japanese players will forgo attending Worlds entirely.

“Right now, the rest of the world is stuck two versions behind Japan, and there’s huge differences between them,” top Pokkén Tournament player Wesley “Cat Fight” Garland told me. “For example, Braixen, who is currently considered one of the three best characters in the game, is certainly dropping after being adjusted in the newest patch, which is a pretty big deal.”

Although they’ve been seemingly left behind by The Pokémon Company, the Pokkén Tournament community remains fiercely loyal to their game. Players raised over $60,000 during Evo 2017’s donation drive in an effort to earn a spot at the world’s largest fighting game tournament. Although the game ultimately lost to Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, the Evo organizers plan to support Pokkén Tournament competitions throughout the year to the tune of $10,000.

Garland still has concerns. “The idea of never having the opportunity to learn the same version as Japan definitely crosses players’ minds,” he explained. “If we do get the new characters and balance patches, Japan might already be on a different version. It’s frustrating. There’s a huge amount of potential players waiting to jump into the game for that reason. Having something to look forward to means so much, but right now, we’re in the dark and that worries new players.”


Photo via Dreamhack

In a since deleted tweet, Pokkén Tournament producer Katsuhiro Harada told players that his team has been in contact with The Pokémon Company, following that up with a request that fans no longer ask him about the issue. His statements place the ball firmly in The Pokémon Company’s court, and competitors are hoping the company breaks their silence before it’s too late, either by announcing a release date for the patch on Wii U or possibly even a Switch port. We reached out to The Pokémon Company about the state of the game and its missing patches but did not receive a reply.




“Pokkén players are some of the most unified, dedicated, and positive people I’ve ever met, and spent months before its release analyzing arcade footage, entering early access tournaments, and more,” Garland concluded. “Having a console update would make it feel like all of our efforts this past year weren’t for naught, but ultimately we’re at the mercy of The Pokémon Company. We believe in this game, and we want them to believe and trust us, too. We won’t let them down.”