Thursday, March 17, 2016 marked the day that Nintendo NY opened up the doors and welcomed players and spectators alike for a Pokkén Tournament Early Access competition. 16 competitors faced off in the new game that released today, and two winners were crowned, one each from the two divisions (Senior – born from 2001 and later, and Master – born 2000 and earlier).
The tournament was streamed live on Nintendo’s media channels and the competition was fierce from start to finish. The event lasted for just over 4:30 hours, but it was great to watch all of the contestants battle it out to see who would eventually be crowned champion. Nintendo of America also live-tweeted the event throughout, so a lot of the details were made available for those unable to watch live.
The first competition saw the Senior Division competitors’ Quarterfinals rounds take place which set up an incredible slate of Semifinalists.
From there, we saw the competition move on to the Masters Division which was structured in the same manner. That Semifinals bracket was as such:
Afterward, the exhibition tourney between all of the trainers took place. The winner of that competition was Trainer Justin Wong.
From that point forward, it was all about the Seniors and Masters Divisions’ Semifinals and Finals, respectively. Squaring off in the Finals were the young competitors, Wayland and Cayden. Their battle was epic, and even came down the the final deciding round of the final game of a best 3 out of 5 games Final. There was even the drama of the winner having to come from behind to win after being down 2 games to 1 early.
The Masters competed at a very frenzied pace, and all of the competitors really put on an incredible show. The Finals came down to a battle between Jeffrey and Tevin, and a tough battle, it was.
This competition was so exciting to watch, especially as it went on and got more intense. Watching the competitors play this game, even as it is still very new, really did create an excessive level of anticipation for me, and I am sure it did the same for many other viewers, as well. I highly recommend picking the game up if it was even remotely on your radar. The game play was described, on site, as a mix of several different fighting games, but still with a style all its own.
Are you excited to play Pokkén Tournament? Were you able to watch the competition yesterday? Will you be picking it up today? Or have you already picked it up? Who do you think will be your favorite Pokémon to play with?
As always, gaming is meant to be fun, so keep gaming!!
And if you’d like to watch the competition once again, or even for the first time, feel free to check it out below:
Creits:
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