Game Idea: Pokémon Tennis

Mario Tennis is awesome. The tight controls, awesome gameplay, and Mario-themed courts and playable characters make for solid fun.

Now, take the tight controls and gameplay, and add monster battling.

Pick your Pokémon Trainer and two starter pokémon to begin. Trainers have the basic stats of your standard tennis player. Speed, power, technique, or tricky playstyles.

 Pokémon either are attack, defense, speed, or special.

Now, the game begins like this: Trainer and the two starter pokémon appear together on either side of the court. One Trainer serves the tennis ball, which is really a pokéball (of course).

Tennis ensues. While you as the trainer are going after the ball with your tennis racket, your starter pokémon are launching attacks on the other team (Pokémon cannot attack until the ball is served). Fire pokémon shoot fireballs. Water pokémon shoot water. Grass pokémon throw leaves, etc. The pokémon can also help deflect the ball back to the other court. If a pokémon hits a Trainer with an attack, the trainer is stunned for a moment or moves more slowly.

Now, when a pokéball gets scored against a team, the gameplay momentarily stops to reveal which pokémon was inside of that pokéball. The team who just scored gets that pokémon added to their side of the court. A total of three pokémon per side is allowed at a time. If more than three are won by a side, those pokémon sit on the sidelines and wait.

Each pokémon has a heart meter of 3. If they’re hit by three attacks (or two super-effective attacks, which deal double-damage), they are knocked out. If a trainer has pokémon on the sidelines, those pokémon will join as others are out. The reason each side starts with two starter pokémon is so that no team can start with a type advantage over the other.

Now, the game can end in two ways: 1. All pokémon on one team are knocked out or 2. Six total pokémon are knocked out on one team (this can be adjusted in the gamemode select screen to be increased, decreased, or even made unlimited).

Unlike in the RPGs, pokémon will try to dodge attacks (so the game won’t end after only a few attacks!). However, pokémon can be controlled by other players, if there is someone available. This can lead to 4 player co-op, or two-vs-two rival matches. If there are only two players on the same team, the pokémon player can jump from pokémon to pokémon with the push of a button, sort of like how you can switch characters on Mario Strikers.

Now, there are other types of pokéballs that come into play as the game goes on. There are Evolution Balls, which, if a Trainer scores with one, he gets to evolve one pokémon on his team. Evolution allows that pokémon to move faster, hit harder, and gives them an extra heart on their life meter.

There are Snatcher Balls, which, when scored against a Trainer, steal one of the pokémon they have sitting on the sidelines, if any. This ball does not steal any pokémon currently in play, however.

Then there are Legendary Balls, which, when scored, a Legendary Pokémon can be called to unleash a massive attack that can take several heart points or even knock out any pokémon hit by the blow.

The Wii U gamepad is used by the Trainer, and it allows him to select which pokémon should come into play from the sidelines, which pokémon to evolve, and when to launch Legendary attacks. The sidelines “bench” has a maximum total of three slots. If a Trainer scores a point, but has no more slots open for pokémon, then the ball acts just like an Evolution Ball.  

The attacks of the pokémon don’t all have to be for damaging the other team. Poison types could unleash smog that makes it harder for the other team to see. Ice types perhaps can make the other team’s court slick. Psychic types might use “mental energy” to make the ball move slower when it is coming toward their trainer. Flying types might steer the wind against the other team. Electric types might paralyze other pokémon briefly. Ghost types could “confuse.” So on and so forth.

Overall, I’d say that the courts would have to be a little bigger and wider than in Mario’s Tennis, perhaps the ball movement a little slower. Just to accommodate for the craziness of so many pokémon on screen.

Well, that’s all I got! Thanks for reading!

Thanks for stopping by my blog!
UNRAVELSPACE UNRAVELTIME