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Pokémon Rumble U's Skylanders-Like Gameplay Revealed in Video

The first promotional video for the Pokémon Scramble U game debuted on Friday, and it confirms that players can buy physical figures that will interact with the game, similar to the hit Skylanders franchise.

The game is a successor to the 2009 Ransen! Pokémon Scramble (known as Pokémon Rumble in the US and Europe) Wii Ware game, and the 2011 Super Pokémon Scramble (known as Pokémon Rumble Blast in the US and Europe) 3DS game. In the game's story, several Pokémon capsule toys accidentally fell into a river and got lost in the wild. The toys must make the long journey home to their Pokémon shop, fighting battles along the way.

In real life, players can download the game as the first Pokémon game available on the Wii U console. When a player buys a physical figure and puts it on top of the Wii U's GamePad, the pad's built-in near field communication (NFC) sensor will detect the figure and put the same character in the game itself. 649 different kinds of Pokémon will be available in the game.

The game and the figures go on sale on April 24. The game itself will cost 1,800 yen (about US$18). Capsule toy machines at Pokémon Centers nationwide will sell the first batch of randomly distributed six figures (plus one secret figure) for 200 yen (US$2) each. People who pre-order the download card for the game at a Pokémon Center will receive a special Pikachu NFC figure as a bonus.

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