Not even a month has passed since Pokken‘s release and a new fighter has been released for the game: Blaziken. Well, semi-released. Players with a Bandai-Namco “BANAPassport” can spend coins on the game’s online app to unlock the fire/fighting type between August 4-31, at which point the character will once again be unplayable until Oak-knows-when. As today was opening day, and since I’ve spent a decent chunk of time playing the game, I decided to I’d devote an article purely on the fire bird who, as you can see above, has quite a blue alternative skin.
If you’re fortunate enough to have played Pokken but don’t have the time, coins, or Japanese skills to use the site’s app, I can summarize its playstyle rather easily: Blaziken feels like a mix between Charizard and Machamp, but has speed closer to Lucario, which makes sense for a bird fire/fighting type. However, for most of you, I need to explain a bit more.
Charizard and Machamp are both power types. As the name implies, they hit rather hard. Charizard’s range is better than Machamp’s, but Machamp hits harder. Blaziken does not hit as hard as either of these characters, but has similar reach, as well as a rush-type move where it does a quick loop in place before dashing at the opponent. The quick delay can leave you open, but it’s not a bad starter for someone you know will try to dodge a traditional projectile. It gives Blaziken a second rush in the field phase, which I felt helped me tremendously with projectile users I wanted to close the gap with.
However, Blaziken also has a few projectiles of it’s own. While its projectiles are not quite as far reaching as fellow standard type Lucario’s, or as devastating as Charizard’s, they’re quite unique. Aside from close range projectiles where fire comes out similar to Charizard’s mid-range flamethrower attack, Blaziken can shoot a fireball at opponents or do a kick that provides a wide, slow moving projectile, which you can see in the trailer at the end of this article. The two compliment each other quite well. In the air, Blaziken can release a narrow fire projectile that shoots diagonally down at an opponent, similar to Pikachu, giving it another ranged attack to help keep enemies off balance.
What’s really interesting though is it’s power-gauge special. Aside from looking pretty cool when it mega-evolves, the power-gauge special performs a series of kicks in front of the player, pauses, and then adds another upward kick if none of your previous attacks hit. Generally, most gauge specials unload in one swift motion, so if your opponent blocks, the full move won’t be execute and you are unable to use that attack again without having to refill your gauge. However, Blaziken’s pause is currently causing players who traditionally counter attack after the barrage to open themselves up to the additional kick at the end. I tried interrupting opposing Blazikens during the pause a few times, but either I was too slow or it simply can’t be done. Either way, should Dave and Buster’s have the character available during their state-side play testing, you’re now properly warned to watch for that pause, dropping your shield after the real final kick to punish your opponent.
While a few bugs were also supposedly fix, the game mostly feels the same as it did last month. Machamp players have found that approaching with one of Machamp’s aerial attacks is quite hard to counter or avoid, and I’ve personally learned how to more reasonably approach ranged-special Gardevoire, but ranged attacks still feel like they’re quite strong. I even practiced my Gengar a bit and was able to beat Blazikens and a few Machamps with almost only ranged attacks (though there are a lot more skilled Machamps now).
Because of it’s mix of ranged attacks, rushes, and above average speed and damage, Blaziken feels quite powerful, especially compared to other standards. I did lose to a Pikachu in the 10+ games I played, but Lucarios fell pretty easily, and Suicune matches were fairly close (I lost due to skill, not because those characters were inherently more powerful). I’d normally expect a new character to feel unbalanced in a fighting game, but perhaps because of the small roster, getting Blaziken right was easy enough. I’m sure the limited availability is a sort of beta-test for the character, but I feel it’s ready for a full release. We’ll see what Bandai Namco thinks after August 31.
Original Author: Laguna Levine