Pokemon Rumble U Brings Action-Figure Scanning Action to Wii U

Nintendo and the Pokemon Company have announced that Pokemon Rumble U will be coming to Wii U on August 29, 2013, via the Nintendo eShop. The game is the latest in the Pokemon Rumble action-RPG series, following the 2009 release of Pokemon Rumble for WiiWare and the 2011 release on Pokemon Rumble Blast for Nintendo 3DS. Up to four players can play in cooperative and competitive modes. This entry features all 649 Pokemon through Pokemon Black/White 2.

The real draw for Pokemon Rumble U is the inclusion of Near Field Communication (NFC) action figures, not unlike Activision's Skylanders games. The figures can be scanned into the game using the Wii U GamePad. The NFC Figures can save in-game data, including the Pokemon's current status and movelist. Your Pokemon can be leveled up using Coins found within the game. The NFC figures aren't required to play the game like Skylanders, but they will probably add a bit of collectible fun to the title.

The initial release of figures will total eighteen Pokemon, including Pikachu, Victini, Deoxys (Normal Forme), Eevee, and Genesect (pictured below). Starting on August 29, all figures will be sold exclusively at GameStop for a suggested retail price of $3.99. Pokemon Rumble U will set you back $17.99 on the eShop.

Of course, no one knows how good the game will be. Pokemon Rumble and Pokemon Rumble Blast didn't exactly light up the charts with gaming goodness: the games had Metacritic scores of 59 and 56 respectively.