I conducted an expansive interview with four important figures in America’s Pokkén Tournament scene: BadIntent, Cat Fight, Swillo, and Milln. Last week each of these players talked about the scene as it exists now, and how they viewed the importance of majors and weeklies to competitive Pokkén. You can read their answers here.
This week, I pressed the players on Pokkén’s future.
Crow_Spaceboy: Do you think it’s important for Pokkén to try to integrate into other scenes? For example, appearing alongside Street Fighter tournaments, or Pokémon events. Or, do you think Pokkén should strike out on its own, a la the dark days of Melee?
BadIntent: I think it’s extremely important that Pokkén tries to integrate with the FGC. I read somewhere that the breakdown of players that entered Pokkén at The Crossover was over 50% players that played Smash. One of the things holding it back, obviously, is that it’s on the Wii U. Smash players already have a Wii U. This was always going to be a problem, and TPCI has tried to bridge that gap with giving early access to RIP, Justin Wong, etc, back during World Championships before the game came out.
Most of them don’t play anymore, but there’s one person from that group that still does and he’s really important–Coach Steve. I would love it if TPCI would partner with him or something. Some of my friends only know about Pokkén because of Coach Steve. DC was also a really good pick up by TPCI. If you have a Justin Wong promoting your game, or Ricky Ortiz, or Daigo, or whatever, it blows up. It doesn’t really matter if they’re great at it, or if they’ve seen the game in action or not–it’s just the endorsement that helps.
Cat Fight: I definitely think it should be present at other FGC events, like CEO. APEX not necessarily a FGC event but it has a growing FGC presence. The response from those events was really awesome, and I think those events brought in lots of new players. There’s less of a response from just the Pokémon specific events. I really think Pokkén appeals more to FGC than Pokémon players. And right now, I don’t think the game can grow on its own. It could have it’s own big event, if, say, there were a major focused on Pokkén with other FGC games at the side.
I’ve been talking with Defend the North organizers, working on getting Pokkén in the main room. I think the more stuff like that we can get that to happen, the more players we can bring in, and retain.
Swillo: I think right now one of the best ways to integrate Pokkén into other tournaments is just through Smash. They are both on the same console. They are both unorthodox fighters, though Pokkén is probably closer to a “traditional” fighter than Smash is. On top of that, it’s way easier to get into mid-level play in Pokkén then in Smash. It’s a lot quicker to pick up fundamentals in Pokkén. Anywhere Smash tournaments are played, Pokkén should try and be there. You could try and go to FGC events with SFV and stuff, but I feel you’d have a harder time to get people interested. I think a lot of people would like the game if they sat down and played it. And I think there’s lots of top players that, if they wanted to pick up a side game that doesn’t necessarily require hours of grinding in training mode to get into the meta of top play, Pokkén would be perfect for them. Pokkén has lots of intricate elements but sitting in the lab for hours is not a requirement.
Milln: Man… it would be nice if we could integrate. But… I don’t want the game to fall into the trap of feeling like it can’t stand up on its own when it can. We have 1000+ entrants at EVO. We capped at CEO. People were calling the game dead while I was sitting there at a capped event. Every time someone says that I just think “are you even paying attention? Are you using your eyes?” It’s just… I was probably going to use this as a closing statement or something, but now’s fine. I’ve said before, anyone that thinks the game is dead, or dying, or going anywhere but forward, was never looking in the first place. They are not, and have not, been paying attention since March when the game came out. I’ve said this before on Twitter. I stand by it.
It’s irksome because I’ve been in the FGC for about 8 years. I was sort of falling out of the FGC and this game brought me back. I acknowledge how the FGC rolls, and it is one of their favorite things to punch and kick and beat up games and scenes that they don’t play or know anything about. It’s always going to happen. It’s the community’s favorite thing to do. It’s also not real, no matter how much people that don’t play say it.
So, yeah, I got derailed. Pokkén can go the ultra grassroots route, but it’s not ideal. It would be more difficult if we did that, because that is when the game has the chance of failing. It’s disappointing to think about that, but it’s realistic. If you go grassroots, you cut off a certain segment of potential players. It takes more than top players for a game to keep it going. It takes medium players, people that go 0-2, it takes everybody. It’s why Smash will always succeed. Everyone plays it. Also, everyone talks about it constantly. There’s drama and blowups. There’s, like, no drama in Pokkén. We don’t have villains. I don’t think we want them, either.
Crow_Spaceboy: So, Nintendo’s newest console, the NX, is now a reality. How important do you think a port, or sequel, announcement for Pokkén for the NX is to the community?
BadIntent: This kind of ties into the theme of “expanding to the greater FGC”. One of the big issues of Pokkén is that it’s Wii U exclusive. I think if the NX does well, and Pokkén is IN on the ground floor, it’ll find itself in a lot of people’s hands. For that reason alone, that’s great. Also, they haven’t announced the DLC for the arcade characters yet. Imagine that the NX comes out and a port with the arcade characters is announced. That would sell copies. A new demographic of players on a new system.
Cat Fight: I think it’s really important. People suspect that the NX is either going to bring a Pokkén 2 or a port with the DLC they are showing off. Maybe new features that are currently absent in the final game. Either way, a launch title sequel for the NX would be huge, both for the community and, I think, would be huge. I’d love to be able to spectate, have lobbies, have a better training mode. Those are big things that I think would help a lot in a sequel, too.
Swillo: I feel like it’s going to happen. Darkrai in arcades and the data for other characters on the disc… obviously Nintendo is slowing down on Wii U stuff, and they want to push the NX. It’s probably going to be a platform people want to pick up. A Pokkén 2 or Port would fare better–and Pokkén already did well–because no one is really going to be buying a Wii U at this point. Everybody who wanted a Wii U, has it already. I’m not sure what they are planning, exactly, but they are definitely saving Darkrai for something. Many people think it’s for a Season 2 DLC or something, but it seems weirdly late in the game’s life cycle to do that. I think these new characters for a port or sequel.
Milln: I don’t know if any of us care. [laughs] Preface this with the fact that I’m usually only talking with top players, and maybe mid-level or casual players feel differently than top players do. In the end, their opinion is more important than top players. All of us acknowledge it would be cool, but, we’re not waiting with bated breath. Maybe mid or casual players feel their game is dead if the game isn’t constantly being updated. Excuse me, Crow, but let me go inform the Melee players that their game is beyond deceased. Let’s forget about playing Marvel. I can go on.
People think more content generates more people, and they are right, but they stop thinking there. More importantly: more people generates more people. So, like… there’s a quote I’m aware of, “Commotion generates promotion.” It’s trite, but it’s true. I like it. I had a conversation with someone, they were saying “I was struggling with finding motivation to play. Hopefully they will do something soon.” And I’m just thinking “Who’s they? Why don’t you do something? You can play. You could be playing, and encouraging others to play.”
Crow_Spaceboy: What do you want to see from Pokkén?
BadIntent: You know, what I want is not even that wild. I just want more advertisements for the game aside from just having a big prize pool. Talk to CEO or Norcal Regionals and integrate into these tournaments. Kind of like the Capcom Pro Tour–Capcom doesn’t have to do a whole lot of extra work managing the event. They just let the events do their thing. If NCR, for instance, is promoting the event themselves, they don’t have that issue like at Dreamhack where they announced the event two days before the tournament itself. Everyone already knows about these major tournaments. Integrating into these events will do a whole lot for any game, especially Pokkén.
Cat Fight: I’ll answer a couple of ways. I definitely want Darkrai. [laughs] That’s #1 in my mind, because he’s my favorite Pokémon. The wait is killing me. Outside of that, just because I love the game so much, every time I go to an event I want a challenge. It makes me want to go back home and reflect. I feel like there’s so much left to explore in this game, even if, you know, I would like to think I’m pretty good at it. I could still become a lot better, and I want to show people the possibilities I see. I want to share that experience with the scene. Seeing the scene grow and explore this game. That’s what I want.
Swillo: I want a lot of things! I want an actual record feature in Training Mode. I want stage select and color select for competitive play. Stadium is neutral and all but it’s also boring. I’m really big on my music and stages. It’s also really strange that Pokkén doesn’t even give you a palette swap option. I like having that extra way to personalize my play. As far as game play, I’d like to see the game move a little faster. At the highest levels of play, the game is very defensive. From a spectator point of view, the game probably shouldn’t always be this slow, methodical head game. It’s great for players but there could be more there for spectators.
Milin: A Pokémon Company official league would be cool. It is a Pokémon game, after all. It’s got their name on it. It’d be great to see them support it. It’d give the plural on their Pokémon Championships website some meaning. [pauses, then laughs] They need to replace all the Scizor files in the game with Scyther. Let’s see… they have a buff in the game that is currently not utilized in engine outside of Extra Battle mode, and that’s hit stun resistance. It’s on Garchomp’s high stance, and in burst mode. That’s the only time you see it in the regular game, and you don’t see it as a buff. Maybe they could give that to a new support Pokémon. What else… I would like some extra features that would improve online mode. Why are we limited to three support sets for online mode? How about a stage select for LAN? [pauses] Eh, maybe not. That’d give Smash players the opportunity to pull up a long list of stage counter pick rules. I think we’re all just tired of Stadium’s theme song. Music select. Give us that. And a record function in training mode. I’m sure everyone’s going to say that.
