Pokemon Tretta might just be the best money-making idea the world's ever seen since... Pokemon

A new Pokemon arcade game has been announced by Marvelous AQL and is heading towards Japanese arcades this July. It's called Pokemon Tretta - the logo for which has been registered in both Japanese and English translations, which bodes well for an international release. But we're a bit weary of it coming out over here. Why? Because it looks likely to be the ruin of every Pokemon fan who dares to play it.

The concept is neat. You pay your 100 yen for a go, which involves spinning a kind of roulette wheel, presumably to randomise attack power. Different locations appear on the screen so you can choose where you want to look for Pokemon next. There, you'll have to participate in 3 vs 3 battles against wild Pokemon. You'll be able to catch foes once you've worn them down, presumably by hitting that pleasantly rounded Pokeball in the centre under the screen. If that's not a button, someone's made the machine wrong.

Above: Those graphics look nice! Here's hoping Wii U yields a similar Pokexperience

When it's all over, the machine will vend cute little tokens called Tretta depicting the Pokemon you've caught. The absolute best feature is the ability to scan Pokemon you've captured back into the game to use as your team next time you play. There's even going to be a Tretta case accessory made by Tomy as well as a Tretta Report Card so you can keep your Tretta Pokedex in order. We're such big kids - this sounds great.

Above: The Tretta storage case and the Tretta report. We've said the word 'Tretta' too many times now and it's lodged in our brains

The graphics for the fights look to be nicely detailed and we're really keen to have a go. Although the thought of any of the featured Pokemon being even slightly rare fills our pockets with dread. Imagine how much it's going to cost to collect the whole set. Especially as Pokemon from the earliest and latest generation are all present in the promotional pictures. Surely they're not ALL going to be in there... are they?

Of course, we're grown men so we don't need to play it really. It's probably all cheap, plasticky nonsense. I mean look at the... wait...

Is that...

TEPIG!!!!

Above: Miih!

Right - what's the cheapest plane ticket to Japan?

Source: Siliconera

Justin Towell

Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.