Pokkén Tournament launches in North America in March

Pokkén Tournament, the Wii U port of Bandai Namco's arcade title, is coming westward on March 18, The Pokémon Company confirmed.

The fighting game is a Pokémon-style take on Tekken, complete with its own unique fighting pad peripheral. That controller will make it stateside, too, to be used with the Wii U version.

Included among the combatants are a variety of pocket monsters, including Pikachu, Lucario and Mewtwo, who is among the most recent additions to the game. The Pokémon Company also announced today another new fighter: Chandelure, whose design is based on a chandelier, making for one of the more unique members of the roster.

Pokkén's official English website lists the full lineup of playable monsters, as well as gameplay footage and additional information. Although the site's not fully updated yet, future sections will explain new features and modes, like how amiibo cards will work with the game.

The amiibo card line debuted with Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer. In its arcade iteration, Pokkén Tournament used special cards to which players could write their save data.

We checked out the game in an actual arcade last fall, where we deduced that it's less like Tekken and more like a Pokémon-only Super Smash Bros.

Correction: Nintendo announced that Pokkén Tournament would offer amiibo support during a Nintendo Direct in November. The first-run of the game will include copies of a Shadow Mewtwo card, which will unlock the fighter.