Pokemon Follows In Skylanders’ Footsteps

When the Wii U was still a secret and we had just learned that the controller would include a near field communication sensor, we all speculated about what it could possibly be used for. Now Nintendo has an answer. Duh! It’s a Pokemon game called Pokemon Scramble U!

What better way to make money off of a franchise's sheer addictive nature than to make action figures part of the experience? Kotaku has recently revealed some details about the upcoming Pokemon Scramble U, which will use near field communication (NFC) Pokemon Figurines, much like Skylanders does with its NFC figurines. The figures will then be scanned by way of the NFC sensor on the Game Pad to become Pokemon that you can use inside the game.

The downloadable game will be priced at 1,800 yen, or approximately $18.70 here in America, and each figure will retail for 200 yen or $2.08. According to Kotaku, there will be six different types available, as well as one special-type, placing the cost of the “full game” at 1,300 yen, or $14.55. Added together with the cost of the game itself, it’s still less than a normal $60.00 title.

Specific gameplay details of Pokemon Scramble U are not widely available. However, it has been revealed that you will be able to raise your scanned Pokemon in various ways and scan it into other players' games as well. It is currently unclear as to whether or not Nintendo will release more “expansion packs” of Pokemon figurines in the future. It is also unclear whether or not Pokemon Scramble U will see a US release. Pokemon Scramble U will be available as a digital download in Japanese territories on April 24th, 2013.

If these figures come to our shores, would you buy them up until you've caught them all? Let us know why or why not!