Although Pokémon mobile games are becoming more common place now, Nintendo still is not quite ready to give fans the traditional RPG experience on phones. The latest game, Pokéland, is a Pokémon Rumble-like experience which has you battling various enemy Pokémon in real time across various stages and islands.
The Pokémon series has been one that has spawned a huge number of popular games, from the main series through companion titles and more recently on mobile devices, with Pokémon Go and Magikarp Jump. Pokéland definitely comes into that latter category of games, though it’s a little bit more combat orientated than most of its peers.
Looking like Wiiware title, Pokémon Rumble, Pokéland is an iOS and Android game that has players traveling from island to island and stage to stage, battling large numbers of enemy Pokémon. The screengrabs from the promo site show a couple of familiar Pokémon, as well as some different settings for the game, power-ups and what appears to be some sort of in-game currency.
The app requires a constant internet connection and can be linked to a user’s Nintendo account, so it should be possible to bring in your Mii to play within Pokéland too. Kotaku reports there is an alpha test going on in Japan right now, though only Android users can sign up. It features some six islands, 52 different stages, and 134 Pokémon to play with.
The presumption there is that much more will be added by the time the game is released, though we have no word on when that might be, nor if there will be an international release. However, considering the worldwide popularity of the Pokémon franchise and the success the likes of Niantic has had with Pokémon Go, that seems quite likely.
If you are worried that when you do eventually get to play it that all of the alpha testers will be ahead of you in the rankings, never fear, as it is being reported that progress made during this test will not carry over to the final game.