Unite Pokémon, the free MOBA from The Pokémon Company and TiMi Studios from Tencent Games, chugs on. The game that was released on the Nintendo Switch in July, came to mobile in September and has received seasonal updates that bring welcome additions like Gengar a spacesuit and a pretty chic blastoise.
But the outfits are only part of the fun. With the game comes an intense competitive scene suitable for a top-down competitive arena game.
At its core, it is a rather accessible game: You play in 5v5 teams, each of which collects points that you can deposit in the goal of an opposing team. The 10-minute matches pass quickly and depending on your experience with MOBAs, some of the contests can quickly become one-sided.
Sometimes the final results of a game can be surprising as you never see the score during an active game. You only see the end result in the end. Instead of a specific scoreboard, players will be presented with general messages such as “We have a huge head start!” pinged. and “We REALLY fight!”
In an interview with the developers Kotaku reporter Ethan Gach asked Unite Pokémon‘s producer Masaaki Hoshino why the scoreboard is not visible to the players.
“Games last 10 minutes and players have a chance to make a comeback, so we wanted people to play until the end without giving up,” said Hoshino.
The lack of a scoreboard prevents people from giving up and quitting – makes sense. In Unite Pokémon, Mechanics like defeating Zapdos – which can cut the time to score significantly – can change the tide very quickly. Only one or two competitors hoarding points can insta-score and completely shift the lead. If you don’t know the score, don’t give up too soon.
While to say that your team is “really struggling” might not be encouraging, it might be better than just watching a huge gap widen.