A new Pokémon game for smartphones opened for testing in Japan today. Called PokéLand, the iOS and Android game looks to be an even smaller take on the miniaturized spinoff series of action games, Pokémon Rumble.
PokéLand has players commanding a group of sentient Pokémon toys who roam around various maps, defeating as many enemy monsters as possible. Increasing the size of the party requires befriending defeated Pokémon along the way, including some special or rare finds.
Although it has a different name, PokéLand is a clear sequel to the Pokémon Rumble games. The first Pokémon Rumble launched on WiiWare in 2009; further entries came to Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, like 2016’s Pokémon Rumble World, a free-to-play version that most closely resembles PokéLand.
A limited number of Japanese users can register for the Android-exclusive alpha until it ends on June 9. (At time of writing, it appears that the alpha has hit its 10,000-user limit.) The test build consists of six different islands to explore and 134 Pokémon to catch, among a handful of other features. The game also uses the Nintendo Account service, the first Pokémon mobile game to do so.
The Pokémon Company hasn’t announced a Western release for PokéLand yet, so we’ll keep playing Magikarp Jump while we wait.