A team variation on the Pokémon concept, Pokémon UNITE will be launched for the Nintendo Switch sometime in July, and it will arrive on mobile platforms in September. The phone and tablet version (possibly part of the rationale for Pokémon UNITE’s title) is apparently due to the necessity to transfer manufacturing resources.
The setting of Pokémon UNITE is Aeos Island, a site where players engage in team combat with the objective of gaining the most points before a timer runs out. Those points may be won by beating wild and enemy Pokémon, then depositing energy in an opposing team’s goal zone.
Some stadiums have various regulations, including the number of teams (up to five players) and which Legendary Pokémon could emerge. The game is “free-to-start” like several other Nintendo mobile and Switch products.
Realistically, though, gamers will be urged to spend on battle passes and other personalization DLC, as well as Unite licenses that enable them to engage in Unite Battles. Those bouts can also be accessible by unlocking Aeos coins through normal play, though.
The mobile version of UNITE is arriving in September and will enable crossplay with June’s Switch version, The Pokémon Company reports. The game will also enable cross-progression, so long as users join in with their Nintendo or Pokémon Trainer Club account.
It will practically be required for multiplatform gamers, as it’s needed to transfer across ranks, in-game cash, and any cosmetic goods for trainers and Pokémon. The title will, in reality, contain three forms of cash – coins, tickets, and jewels, the last of these being acquired with real-world money.
It’s not clear when The Pokémon Company will offer more exact release dates. In the interim, it has published a new video featuring Pokémon UNITE’s entrance cinematics alongside updated gameplay footage that underlines the parallels between RTS and MOBA titles like League of Legends. This includes health bars and even lanes, the latter of which need to be managed to prevent goal shots.
Pokémon UNITE was initially revealed in June 2020. At least two more Pokémon games are due within a matter of months, next up being Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, a merged Switch remake of the Diamond and Pearl games for the Nintendo DS.
The most anticipated Switch title is easily Pokémon Legends: Arceus, shipping January 28, 2022 – that will fulfill a long-standing demand for an open-world Pokémon game and has drawn comparisons to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, although it should play very differently.
