Cute but deadly

Pokémon Rumble U — actually translated as Pokémon Scramble U in Japan — arrives on the Wii U eShop in Nintendo's homeland on 24th April. The Pokémon Company and Nintendo will no doubt be hoping that as well as the game itself performing well, it'll get a lot of interest and sales of the accompanying NFC figurines; rather like the Skylanders series minus the customised portal, gamers only need to place the toy on the NFC area of the Wii U GamePad and the character then unlocks in the game.

Considering the financial success that Activision has enjoyed with its toy range, it's no surprise that the catch 'em all instinct of the 'mon series is being made literal with these toys. While six toys have been revealed to accompany the game on launch day, Coro Coro magazine has revealed a further six (plus one secret 'mon) on the way to Japan from 25th May — Eevee, Mewtwo, Croagunk, Zoroark, Litwick and Genesect. The magazine also revealed that additional characters will be unlockable with passwords found in places such as the magazine, while one-use Pokémon will be available via special IC Cards — these, like the figurines, will use the NFC scanner in the GamePad.

We can, of course, expect Pokémon Rumble U to make it to the West eventually, and considering recent comments from The Pokémon Company that it's "cleared the decks" for toy licensing, we'd be amazed if it passed up the opportunity to launch a similar NFC figurine money-spinner outside of Japan; in Nintendo's homeland the toys will be 200 Yen (approx. £1.40 / €1.60 / $2).

You can see the first batch of toys and plenty of footage in last month's trailer, below. What do you think of this second batch, and are you interested in collecting these for this game? Let us know in the comments below.

[source officialnintendomagazine.co.uk]