‘Pokemon Scramble U’ Is Nintendo’s Answer To ‘Skylanders’
Pokemon Scramble U is coming from Nintendo and it’s a lot like Skylanders.
As technology improves, gaming continues to evolve. Nintendo usually led the pack for years with innovations that its competitors tended to adopt later on. The analog stick was Nintendo’s idea (N64). The motion sensor controller was Nintendo’s idea (Wii). Portable game systems were Nintendo’s idea (Game Boy). You see the trend here.
Now Nintendo is copying someone else’s idea for the Wii U, at least in Japan.
Skylanders is a game based on toys you scan for character information for use in the game itself. Disney Infinity did the same thing with their pool of cartoon characters, including Mr. Incredible, Captain Jack Sparrow, and Mike Wazowski from Monsters, Inc..
Much like the gumball machines the older folks know, the Pokemon figurines for Pokemon Scramble U are sold in unmarked containers which randomly have different toys in them.
Nintendo’s Pokemon Scramble U supposedly uses the GamePad’s “near field communication” reader to scan Pokemon toys made especially for the game. This acts much like the bar code reader on your iPhone or Android phone, which scans a pattern and translates it into the system to bypass using the search function. In much the same way, the GamePad scans the Pokemon toy and converts information on the toy into an on-screen character you can use in battles.
Where Skylanders figurines normally cost around $8-10, Pokemon figurines will cost $2 each. However, considering you don’t know which one you’re getting until you open it, you’ll probably buy a bunch of them just to get the one you want. Card games like Yu-Gi-Oh! Work about the same way, in that you don’t know what you bought until you open the package.
Pokemon fans are notorious for their urge to “catch ’em all,” so Nintendo shouldn’t see any problems marketing such a thing. However, Nintendo has no plans yet to release the downloadable Pokemon Scramble U or its accompanying toys in the US, but they may come around.
What do you think about Nintendo’s Pokemon Scramble U?
Pokemon Scramble U is Nintendo’s answer to Skylanders goo.gl/ekmMi
— Shacknews (@shacknews) March 15, 2013
