The Pokemon Company has unveiled a new game for mobile devices called Pokemon Co-Master. The free-to-play experience mixes elements of traditional Pokemon titles, such as capturing and battling, with the strategy of games such as Chess or Go.
Pokemon Co-Master was unveiled by way of a trailer, which you can watch above. It shows squads of Pokemon figures lining up on two sides of a game board and clashing. Although additional details haven’t been provided, there also seems to be an A.I. element to the game designed to help players.
Pokemon Co-Master is developed by Japanese company Heroz, which specialises in creating artificial intelligences. Its website states it has previously developed an A.I. and used it to defeat professional Shogi players.
Pokemon Co-Master is set for release later this year in Japan. A western release has not yet been confirmed.
The Pokemon Company is owned by Nintendo, which is expected to begin its push into the mobile games space this year with Miitomo, a game developed in partnership with DeNA.
Nintendo announced it had purchased a stake in DeNA in March 2015. The two companies will collaborate on “new gaming applications featuring Nintendo IP, which [both companies] will develop specifically for smart devices.”
Niantic Inc., developer of Ingress, is also working on Pokemon Go, a game which allows players to catch Pokemon in the real-world by utilising cameras on smart devices.