Once again, the upcoming Pokémon brawler Pokkén Tournament is making headlines, this time on the other side of the pond.
A trademark for the title has been registered by The Pokémon Company in Europe two days ago. What’s not clear is whether this will be for the arcade version or the Wii U port. The former seems the more likely option; given our report last month that restaurant chain Dave & Buster’s were holding localization tests for the US arcade release, it’s likely the trademark is to allow Europe to follow suit and carry out their own localization tests prior to release.
The trademark also mentioned the following:
“Near field communication (NFC) technology-enabled devices, namely, key chain tags, key chains, key fobs, key tags, key rings and key holders, and figurines, to facilitate the transmission and recording and exchange of video game content.”
Unfortunately, this is not confirmation of Wii U’s Amiibo functionality when the game is finally released on consoles. As you may be aware, Pokkén Tournament has already been released in Japanese arcades and the arcade machine has NFC functionality, which incorporates BANA passport. This basically means that Japanese arcade goers can purchase a card (or, in this case, Pokkén related merchandise with NFC functionality) which allows users to store game data from the arcade and transfer this from one machine to another.
As we have mentioned before on our site, The Pokémon Company is in charge of managing the Pokémon brand. With this in mind, it’s wise not to jump to conclusions when it comes to new registered trademarks, which can cover anything from games, clothing, toys, or any other merchandise that is a potential money spinner for the company.
This is not to say that this is unrelated to Pokkén Tournament‘s potential European release, but until we have something a little more concrete, it might be wise to reserve judgement until further details emerge.
Source: Nintendo Everything