Pokemon Masters Already Has 5 Million Pre-Registrations

Everyone wants to be a Pokemon Master. That might be why DeNA's upcoming Pokemon Masters game for mobile already boasts 5 million pre-registrations worldwide.

The Pokemon Company sent out a press release about Pokemon Masters' successful pre-registration campaign earlier today. You can sign up for the three-on-three real-time Pokemon battling game ahead of its August 29 release date on Android or iOS. In fact, Pokemon Masters has already soft-launched on Android in certain parts of the world, including Canada. You may as well check for yourself. It's a free-to-play title, so it costs nothing to download. There are microtransactions, however.

We've already gone hands-on with a preview build of Pokemon Masters, and we can confirm it's full of references Pokemon fans will appreciate. All kinds of Pokemon Masters show up from the original (Brock, Misty) to the new (Lillie, Gladion), to the trainers who still give you nightmares thanks to war scars that haven't quite faded (Whitney and her damn Miltank).

If you're preparing to take on the very best in Pokemon Masters, you should probably know the battles aren't exactly turn-based like they are in traditional Pokemon games. There's no PvP in Pokemon Masters, either. (Though there is co-op.) Instead, the real-time system links each trainer to one Pokemon, and as you fight you build up a meter for a powerful "Sync Move" that involves both the trainer and their partner Pokemon.

The system apparently takes some getting used to, which is why it's not a bad idea to start looking through our Pokemon Masters guides. A prepared trainer is a winning trainer.