Sep 17, 2020
Pokémon Mezastar is an arcade game developed by Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. and Marvelous, which also developed the Pokémon Battrio, Pokémon Tretta, and Pokémon Ga-Olé arcade games. Pokémon Mezastar was officially announced in the May 2020 issue of CoroCoro released on April 15, with more details revealed in a press release on August 12. It was intended to be launched in Japan during summer 2020, but was delayed until September 17 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The game incorporates similar features to the developer's previous titles and continues the use of physical peripherals, in this case tags, to operate Pokémon in battles. These battles are conducted with three Pokémon on each side and take place in a variety of environments. Players can capture Pokémon while playing the game, which are dispensed as tags from the machine. Each Pokémon Mezastar machine consists of two adjacent stations that share a large monitor. This monitor displays the user interface for individual stations, simulating the borders of the display with on-screen graphics while single-player games are in operation. Players can also partake in cooperative battles, during which the interface is expanded to cover both stations. This was previously featured in the arcade title Pokémon: Battle Nine, despite being promoted as a first for a Pokémon arcade machine.
