Joined by the team to introduce the new details, including the infamous Katsuhiro Harada, the livestream (which was over an hour long) gave away a lot of information! To make it easier to get through all the information, I've listed it below. You can also check out the livestream in full for yourself on Youtube (sourced from and with commentary provided by MaxEzzy).
- NEW FIGHTERS! - The livestream revealed three new playable fighters, bringing the current roster up to five. The three new characters include Suicune, Gardevoir, and Pikachu. While I can understand why Pikachu has been included (I feel a little stupid for not expecting it), I think most fans were not expecting that crazy critter to be in the roster and so far feelings seemed to be mixed about having the much-abused icon included. Also in the video is a screenshot of the select character page, with a sixth space blanked with a question mark - a character yet to be revealed or one that will be unlockable through gameplay? And does this mean there will only be 6 characters?
- SUPPORT POKEMON! - Recently on Twitter I was asked by a fan if I thought the game would include a tag team mechanic, and I was inclined to say no, but when it comes to Bandai Namco Games you can never really predict what they're going to do. That said, they have included Support Sets of Pokemon, which I assume you will be able to use like an assist. Only two sets have been revealed so far: Set A - Fennekin and Emolga; and Set B - Snivy and Lapras. Set C is yet to be revealed.
- LOCATIONS! - There were two locations shown in the livestream, one - Chrom Town - had already been revealed during the announcment trailer, however a second location - Poh's Volcano - has been revealed! It looks pretty amazing.
- MODE SELECTIONS! - The Mode Select screenshot from the video appears to reveal that the game will have three different modes: Versus mode (where players can take each other on 1vs1 style), and the other modes are a bit of a guess, but the Trophy I am assuming is like a tournament mode, and the other image seems to display a single machine, so potentially a single player mode.
- THE CABINET! - So quite a bit was actually revealed about the cabinet. Firstly, we got a sneak peek at what it will look like: Single player (linkable) cabinets with tall character marquees and blackout screens on the side. The controller is a Nintendo style console controller with the four way directional control, four push buttons and L and R side buttons - this would support whispers after the game's anouncement that the arcade version is more of a test run for a console port. The cabinet will also use the BANAPASSPORT system.
- WHERE CAN YOU SEE IT! - JAEPO! That's right, it looks like the game will be on display at the Japanese Amusement Expo this year, taking place on February 14th from 10am-5pm. So for all you lucky people making your way to the JAEPO Show next month, you can check out the new game there at the Bandai Namco booth.
Check out some images below from the livestream, and also some video gameplay of pikachu in action so you can see whether or not you are pro-Pikachu for the roster:
