'Pokemon Duel': The New Pokemon Game That No One Knows About, Might Not Surpass GO

Pokemon is one of the most popular franchises of Nintendo. A heavy advertising is done whenever there is a new Pokemon game so usually fans are getting hyped just before a game comes up. Pokemon GO! and Pokemon Sun and Moon has been surrounded by hype before their release dates.. It builds up the question now as to why "Pokemon Duel", the new Pokemon game for mobile phones, seems to just appear out of thin air.

It turns out that this game was released in Japan a year ago and only hits the western side of the world this year. As reported by Forbes, it is a "gacha" game that involves loot boxes that may contain legendary or rare items. It is like the Pokemon version of Clash Royale.

Venture Beat reported that the game was released on January 24 for iOS and android. Pokemon Duel is a board game and the Pokemon pieces could be moved across the game, much like chess. The first player that could get its piece to the opponent's side of the game wins. You can block your enemy's Pokemon through your own Pokemon. When two opposing Pokemon are next to each other, a battle will commence and the losing Pokemon  will be thrown out of the board and out of the game.

You can also combine pieces, evolve them, and make them more powerful via items so that it would be harder for your opponent to throw your Pokemon out. The usual status inflictions such as "poison" and sleep are also in this game. With so many options and so many features, the game is so complicated than last year's Pokemon Go. The game is not bad, but the gameplay is not as simple like Pokemon GO and it will probably intimidate the new players of Pokemon franchise and the players that isn't used to the usual Pokemon strategic games.

Pokemon Duel failed to attract the same number of players as the Pokemon GO did. But it is still early to conclude that the game is a failure. Who knows, maybe an event will make this game a huge success.