Pokemon Unite is a Familiar MOBA
With the constant stream of Pokemon games being released, it can be easy to miss new games from the hit franchise. I did a double-take this morning when I saw a title that had “Pokemon Unite” in the heading. I thought to myself “what even is that?”!
So I did some digging, and it turns out Pokemon Unite is a MOBA! But Pokemon-itized!
Wild, right?
For those that don’t know what a MOBA is, just think of League of Legends. Two teams of heroes with various abilities and skills square off in a map that has lanes to fight in. Except, the heroes are now Pokemon.
If that last paragraph didn’t make any sense, think of 5v5 Super Smash Bros with a top-down map. The goal is to conquer the opposing teams’ zones while defeating any enemies in your way.
If this is all still going over your head, check out the trailer below and read on for more details!
Battle Royale Meets Classic Pokemon Mechanics
Pokemon Unite is described as a strategic team battle where players catch wild Pokemon, level up, evolve, and fight other Pokemon while trying to earn more points than the other team. The trailer highlights unique move sets for a variety of some of our favorite pocket monsters. Pikachu even puts the hurt on one of those monkey bois before your trainer hurls a pokeball at it!
The first half of the trailer is just a hype video. At around the 2 minute mark, we finally get to see some real gameplay footage.
It’s unclear how many ‘lanes’ there are on the Pokemon Unite map, but the classic number is 3. This way, you split 5 Pokemon between Top, Mid, and Bottom lanes.
I spotted AOE attacks, ranged moves, and barriers in the short clip. Pokemon likely have an array of basic moves, and at least one ultimate to help them clear the opposing mons from the map.
Interestingly, there’s also some form of quidditch-based basketball going on where you need to hit a sphere into a net. It’s slightly confusing, but hopefully there will be more details closer to launch.
There will be coins to use toward cosmetics, a battle pass, and additional in-game rewards. You can bet that this game will bring in millions of dollars within the first few weeks.
What may be the two best parts of Pokemon Unite are the facts that it is free-to-play AND will have cross-play with mobile! The mobile release won’t drop until later in the year, but you can pick it up for Nintendo Switch in July.
Are you looking forward to trying Pokemon Unite? What MOBA features would you want to see adjusted in this game? Join the conversation in the comments section, below!
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