Pokefight

Pokefight is an online brawl game in which teams of four compete to be the best. In its eight installments, the game has become the most popular game for the X-Ball. It was created by Keita Tanpan and Franklin.

Notable Players

Chimo's Militia

Main article: Chimo's Militia

Chimo's Militia is the most famous Pokefight team. They're currently rank one on the XBall leaderboards and rank two on the Worldwide leaderboards. They began playing back during Pokefight 5, though then it was just Chimo and Den. In Pokefight 6 they rose to the top ranks, but couldn't beat The Legends. In Pokefight 7 they did beat The Legends, reigning supreme until a bit into Pokefight Unlimited when CITA began to beat them.

In Pokefight 5 it was just Chimo, Den, and later Ben. Early in Pokefight 6 Mewtwo joined the team. In Pokefight 7 they replaced Ben with Rief. In Pokefight Unlimited, Rief quit and was replaced by SupaBidoof, who was later "stolen" by CITA. They then found Pan_Cake, their current fourth member.

Gameplay

Pokefight (2005)

Pokefight was a fairly simple fighting game. You could fight as any of ten Pokemon, them being the starters from each game. It was separated into three battle levels as well. The second level had all the Pokemon on their stage one evolutions. Pikachu remained the same, but more powerful at this level. The third level featured every Pokemon fully evolved. Each Pokemon had four attacks initiated with WASD, and moved with the arrow keys. The game was regarded as being fairly easy, but fun in its core.

Pokefight Online (2006)

Pokefight Online was very different from the original. The game centered around a leaderboard where you gained points by fighting and defeating other players. The system was set so that inactivity would hurt your score badly, making the game addicting. Also, each group on the board was a team of three Pokemon. You could use one keyboard for a whole team due to the simple controls, but this made the game more challenging. It was wiser to use multiple computers.

The character roster contained all the original characters plus the secret character Mew, which could be unlocked after you unlocked all the other characters by playing as them in Training Mode. On April Fool's, all Mews would instead be replaced with a Flygon sprite. Many people believe that Keita has something special with Flygon because of this and other instances.

Pokefight X (2008)

Pokefight's release on XBall made it much easier and smoother to play. The XBall version was great for multiplayer in one household. The game also contained a large roster of 100 Pokemon from assorted regions.

Pokefight Returns (2010)

The use of both PC and XBall made gameplay possible for many groups. Groups in one household found it easier on the XBall, while groups far apart could quickly group using the PC. The roster increased to 150.

Pokefight: Four-Mon (2011)

Four-Mon increased the team slots from three to four, which changed gameplay largely.

Pokefight 5 (2012)

Pokefight 5 was the first to feature every currently-known Pokemon as a playable character.

Pokefight Unlimited (2014-2015)

Pokefight Unlimited featured downloadable updates instead of purchasable new games, meaning this installment would be the last needed version. Later on, the game was made available on PC as well, and was split into three leaderboards: X-Ball, PC, and Overall.

History

Pokefight (2005)

Created by Keita Tanpan in March of 2005, Pokefight was originally a small indie fighting game for the PC where you could play as any of the starters currently available. According to Keita, "My other games had never gotten much attention, but I guess I did something right on Pokefight, because after a week or so it was on the leaderboards for the site I put it on." Keita then decided to work on a dream of his, using Pokefight as a model: making an MMO.

Pokefight Online (2006)

Keita had a close friend named Franklin Hagure who also worked on video games. He asked Franklin to work with him on his new game, and he accepted. The two began work in June of 2005 and finished around April of the next year. They bought a server and released their game, Pokefight Online. The game was a huge success, and gained quite a lot of popularity. In 2007, Keita was called upon by Megasoft. They asked if they could make a new version of his game for their new system, the XBall 180. He accepted. However, just before production began, he was out with stomach flu, and he told the company, "I don't really carry the same interest in the game anymore." But it was too late to quit on the game, so he handed the production over to Franklin.

According to a player of Pokefight, the leaderboard on Pokefight Online was ever-changing. However, one team managed to always stay around the top and even stayed in first for three whole months. This team was called Grey Cyclone, and they would follow the series for all of its games. Other teams that reined the leaderboards were The Champon's, Goldfish, and V:.

Pokefight X (2008)

Franklin became director of the game and began work in September of 2007. By December, the game was ready for release. They released it on New Year's, which would later set a tradition. The game was fairly well-made, but, according to Franklin, "kinda lacked that touch Keita had that I can't replicate." The game was a success, but didn't get much attention beyond its original fans.

Many different teams ruled the top spot throughout Pokefight X. One person who played since day one seperated it into five eras:

MachPunch Era: MachPunch was the first team to arise to the top for an extended period of time. However, they only remained for a few months.

Grey Cyclone Era: Grey Cyclone, the team considered the leader of the last game, rose to the top spot for this game as well. They stayed for over six months until a group beat them, which sent the leaderboards into chaos.

Not Much Era: For the rest of the game's first year and a few months of its second, no one team stayed at the top for a long period of time.

Grey Cyclone Again Era: Afterwards, Grey Cyclone returned to the top spot for another eight months, besides a few occasions in which they were temporarily knocked from the top.

Closing Era: After the announcement of Pokefight Returns, fewer and fewer people played the game. Grey Cyclone quit alongside many of the high-ranking groups, leaving the leaderboard in chaos until the server's close.

Pokefight Returns (2010)

According to Keita in a interview, "After Pokefight X, I realized I had just let down a great series of my own creation. After a year of laziness, I called Franklin for the first time in three months and asked him if he wanted to make another one." The two quickly collaborated with Megasoft, planning a game release for both PC and XBall 180. On New Year's of 2010, they released Pokefight Returns for both systems. This game, unlike Pokefight X, was poorly advertised. Many fans were surprised to find there was a new game in the series. However, the game became extremely popular, gaining a huge crowd of new fans. With this in place, Megasoft decided on the release of another Pokefight.

In Pokefight Returns, there were a few teams who fought for the top: Grey Cyclone, Squarebucks, and House Telvanni. Other teams rose to the top, but only once or twice and didn't stay long before being batted down by one of the other groups.

Pokefight: Four-Mon (2011)

This time, Keita was prepared for another series. He wanted to add something to the game, so he made the daring move of adding an extra player slot, increasing the number of players per team from three to four. Franklin says, "I thought this might screw up the game, but Keita really seemed to like the idea, so we all went with it." Just in time to again release on the first day of 2011, Pokefight: Four-Mon came out for the XBall and PC. The game was taken with heart by the fans. Surprisingly, many teams liked the added slot and were able to find a fourth member. This ensured a sequel to the series.

Four-Mon completely changed the leaderboard. Grey Cyclone didn't join the game until later in, dooming them from ever being the top team. The only original top team to be in the top three for an extended period of time in this game was MachPunch. The top was debated by the new stars MidWinter and The Legends for a good while until The Legends settled at the top for the last months of the game.

Pokefight 5 (2012)

Pokefight 5 was planned to be a more storyline-dependent game than the others, but in the end they trashed the idea. However, Pokefight 5 was the first game to feature every currently-known Pokemon as a playable character, and also dropped the PC. It was released on New Year's of 2012. The game was also known for the ability to purchase "vanity characters" which was removed when many though it was not like Pokefight to have purchasable content in-game.

The Legends steadily help first place for the entire year of Pokefight 5. Many teams squabbled over the second and third spots, but eventually The Legends were the unchallenged best team.

Pokefight 6 (2013)

Pokefight 6 was, according to many, "the worst Pokefight in the franchise." The reasoning behind this was similar to that of Pokefight X. In early production of the game, Keita "fell into a very sudden depression," according to Franklin. "This wasn't new of him, but this time he was so down he didn't even make an effort to come to work. He told me he didn't want to work on yet another Pokefight." With the loss of their producer, the team was confused and panicked. Franklin did his best to keep them together, but when the game was released, it was sloppy compared to the last. Despite this, it was the game in which the most well-known team in the game, Chimo's Militia, made its true call to popularity.

The Legends solidly help place one for another year at the addition of Pokefight 6. They were nearly beaten by The Thunder Benders early on, and later in their career Chimo's Militia took spot two and nearly matched them by the game's close.

Pokefight 7 (2013-2014)

Soon after the release of Pokefight 6, Megasoft told Franklin they wanted to release a seventh installment as one of the first games for the XBall Zero. Franklin considered this quite an honor and didn't want to lose the opportunity, but he knew from experience that he needed Keitia to make the game a true Pokefight game. With what he called, "a lot of pestering, motivation, and advice," he convinced Keita to help him. The two worked quickly to produce the game just in time for the release of the new console in November. They met their date and Pokefight 7 was released. It was an amazing improvement and a huge success. Pokefight 7 was soon rated the top game for the console and received positive reviews from all sites and groups. With renewed energy, Keita agreed to continue Pokefight for an eight game.

The Legends once again steadily held the first place in Pokefight 7 for much of the game. However, about halfway through the game's lasting period, Chimo's Militia defeated The Legends and held the top spot for the remainder of the game.

Pokefight Unlimited (2014-2015)

The first mention to the public of the next Pokefight was at a June conference with some of gaming's biggest inspirations. Keita and Franklin talked there, where Franklin mentioned, "Pokefight 8 will be the last Pokefight. But it will also be the awesomest." And around Christmas of 2014, Pokefight Unlimited was released. The game featured a download feature so that new versions could be installed rather than purchased. The game had indeed been rated as the best of the series and continues popularity today. However, Keita and Franklin hate the game, They say they had little to do with the production, and that Megasoft treated them unfairly.

Chimo had been at the top for months, besides when the Teddiursaz temporarily jumped up using a "cheat move" that was removed by a "hacker with good intentions". Recently, in the Overall Board, CITA and Chimo have squabbled over the top, CITA taking reign once Chimo's Miltia lost a member- (TBC in the next episode).

Trivia

• In very early versions of scripts seen vaguely in pictures, it appears Pokefight used to have the name "PSC". In a 2015 conference, it was confirmed that this stood for Pokemon Smash Champs, but they didn't want the game to feel like Smash Bros, so they changed it.