The official Pokémon site recently dropped the welcome news that on June 18th, the U.S. will see the release of Pokémon + Nobunaga’s Ambition. Titled Pokémon Conquest here, it’ll mark a wild deviation from the way many people play Pokémon. Players assume the role of a young warlord and, over the course of his journey, build a team of Pokémon for him to command. However, you can also recruit other warlords who make up the traditional Pokémon party, and they each control Pokémon of their own as well. Each warlord or warrior is paired with a signature Pokémon that best suits their personality (such as Scraggy, Jigglypuff, Mewtwo, or Groudon), and this should make for some very interesting party dynamics. While this feels more like the traditional Pokémon formula in nature, the name of the game here isn’t necessarily to catch (or recruit) them all, it’s to conquer ’em all.
You must guide the young hero and his Eevee to victory against opposing warlords of the Ransei region, unseating them from their position of power while gaining that power yourself. It’s like beating a gym leader, except winning doesn’t net you a shiny badge and a TM; you get the whole darn city.
This is a very uncharacteristic Pokémon title, and I’ll admit I didn’t think it would reach the U.S. Look how long it took Fire Emblem to get here, after all. And it wouldn’t be the first time a game hit in Japan and was overlooked completely elsewhere. Thankfully, though, the big N saw the marketability for this title and decided to give U.S. players the opportunity to play Pokémon in a way they never have. Come June 18th, no longer trainers are we; we are warlords.
