Pokemon Unite was released this morning on the Nintendo Switch, launching with 20 playable fighters.
The Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) takes place on Aeos Island, a remote compound that is home to regular gladiatorial contests. Here, pokemon duke it out to harness the inlet's mystical energy source and then use this to score points in five-a-side matches.
The basic premise is that you must defeat other players (or roaming A.I. bots), absorb their "aeos energy", and then head over to the enemy goal zone to deposit your winnings.
Think of it like you are playing a game of basketball using your opponent's lifeforce, although it is considerably less disturbing than that makes it sound.
Matches necessitate strong coordination with your teammates and everyone should ideally be taking on a specific role, whether they are an attacker, a defender or a healer.
By doing this, you should be able to strike a good balance between protecting your own territory and going on the offensive to earn more points.
Speaking of which, the victors at the end of the match will be those who scored the most goals before the timer ran out.
What Are the Starter Fighters in 'Pokemon Unite'?
Upon starting the game, you will have access to four starter pokemon (those being Machamp, Garchomp, Crustle and Cinderace).
After completing the training portion, you will then receive further licenses to use Slowbro and another fighter of your own choosing.
If you log in prior to August 31, you will also receive Zeraora as an additional launch bonus, which can be redeemed by browsing your in-game mail.
As such, when you head into your first online match you could potentially have seven out of 20 fighters at your disposal, with at least one representative from each of the game's different classes.
To unlock the rest of the launch pokemon, you can either purchase their licenses from the "Unite Battle Committee", or level yourself up through the in-game battle pass.
Given that Pokemon Untie supports cross-progression, anything that you unlock now on the Nintendo Switch will carry over to the mobile version of the MOBA that launches in September.
Which Fighters Can Evolve in 'Pokemon Unite'?
Apart from Zeraora and Pikachu (who can be unlocked as a reward for completing the training), all starter fighters in 'Pokemon Unite' are capable of evolving.
For instance, Slowbro debuts as a Slowpoke at level 1, before metamorphosing into its final form at level 4. Meanwhile, Talonflame begins its life as a Fletchling at level 1, evolves into a Flectchinder at level 5, and then reaches its full potential at level 7.
For a comprehensive overview of these evolution paths, Newsweek has already compiled an in-depth list.
How to Evolve Fighters in 'Pokemon Unite'
You might assume that you will be gradually levelling up your fighters over time and that, once they have graduated to their final form, they will stay that way forever. Unfortunately, that is not the way it works here.
Instead, your pokemon will evolve very rapidly over the course of a single match (usually reaching maturity within a few minutes) and will then completely reset once the game is over. In other words, their evolution is only a fleeting upgrade that does not last, akin to how you unlock killstreaks in Call of Duty.
This means that you will never be able to start a match with a fully developed Charizard, for example, and will always have to work your way up from a Charmander.
To accelerate your fighter's evolution in a match, you will need to gain temporary experience points (XP) by defeating wild A.I. bots, knocking out the opposing team or scoring goals.
As you perform these actions, you will steadily fill up a little wheel next to your character's health bar. Each time this wheel is filled your pokemon will level up.
Every character has different milestones that they must reach in order to evolve, whether they need to get to level 4, level 5, or even level 9 in some cases.
As such, you might need to defeat quite a few opponents before you unlock your pokemon's final form, so make sure to play aggressively if that is the case.
On the other hand, if your pokemon starts out relatively weak, you can always farm experience by avoiding other players altogether and going after the A.I. bots until you have sufficiently bulked up. Incidentally, you do not need to worry about your hard work being undone when you respawn, as the XP wheel's progress does not reset after you die.
There is still an incentive to level up pokemon that do not evolve (like Zeraora), as this will enable them to learn new moves throughout the match.
