New WiiWare Game: ‘Melee! Pokemon Scramble!’

A new WiiWare Pokemon game has been announced on the official Pokemon website: Melee! Pokemon Scramble! It will be available for download in Japan beginning June 16th for a price of 1,500 WiiWare points. The information below was translated thanks to Bangiras.

The game is basically this: You own Pokemon toys, wind them up, and then they fight in a Battle Royale until only one toy remains. A Battle Royal is when your Pokemon face-off against dozens of other Pokemon in an arena. You start the game with only one weak toy, but as you play the game and advance, you collect new Pokemon toys. You control the Pokemon directly, using the D-pad to move and buttons 1 and 2 to select different attacks. (For example, Garchomp’s button 1 is Dragon Rage while button 2 is Crunch.) As you progress through the game you earn coins which can be used to recruit new Pokemon and to teach your Pokemon new techniques.

Before you can participate in the Battle Royale, you must power up your Pokemon. To do this, you send your Pokemon out into the wilderness to fight wild Pokemon. The Pokemon can roam freely and use a variety of moves, so it isn’t as restrictive as the main series where you just choose attacks and Pokemon launch them. Wild Pokemon may join you on your journey, and when defeated they drop “P” on the ground, which is the currency of the game. At the end of every level, there is a powerful Boss Pokemon you have to fight.

The game offers two ways of obtaining Legendary Pokemon. If you release some of the Pokemon you have encountered, the Pokemon give you a parting gift – a ticket. The tickets you acquire can be used to recruit Legendaries. The Pokemon Scramble website will also periodically post passwords which can be used to unlock them as well.

Up to four players can battle each other in a stadium mode, using Pokemon toys that are stored on each player’s Wiimotes. There is also a cooperative mode, and a two player battle mode that makes use of the Wii Nunchuck. Additionally, photos can be taken during each match and probably transferred to the DSi and Wii Photo Channel.