Pokemon Unite is available to play as a network test until tomorrow

By Ben Bayliss
published

But you'll need a Japanese eShop account

Pokemon Unite key art resize
(Image credit: The Pokémon Company International)

A public network test has gone live in Japan for the upcoming Pokemon Unite free-to-play title.

Launching next month for the Nintendo Switch, Pokemon Unite is currently undergoing a public network test in Japan, and as Nintendo Life details, if you create yourself an eShop account for that region, you'll be able to download the game while it's available. An official tweet reveals that the testing period runs from June 24 until June 26. There's no word on whether a public test will be heading West.

Fancy downloading it? it'll require roughly 1.4GB of space on your Switch and some mental capacity to translate the Japanese account creation so that you can enter the tutorial area and then some Unite Battles on Phantom Island and Eos Island.

If you'd rather wait for the game to release, it'll be heading to the Switch in July 2021 and then later heading to mobile devices in September 2021. It will support crossplay to allow you to play with others on another device, and there will also be cross-progression so you can switch devices and still progress.

Considering you need to make an account to access, it's likely that any progress you make, if any, would be carried to the full launch version. While the 5v5 MOBA-type game is an online title, it has been confirmed that it does not require a Nintendo Switch Online subscription to access it.

While you can watch some gameplay footage in the trailer embedded above, earlier this year some gameplay was leaked from a closed beta that also gives a lengthy insight into what to expect. Lots of details about how the game works outside of Unite Battles were also revealed last week and touches on character customization, tournaments, and microtransactions. The general idea is that there are different arenas that each have different characteristics while Pokemon battle it out while trying to gather energy to become stronger and evolve on the battleground.

If you can't wait for Pokemon Unite and want a new game to play, then head over and check out our list of the 25 Best Switch games that you can play right now.

Ben Bayliss
Ben Bayliss

I'm partial to an action adventure RPG such as Skyrim and Cyberpunk 2077. I enjoy the occasional open-world driving games and even those skateboarding titles. But really, if any game I'm playing has a photo mode, I'll likely be found snapping pictures of anything and everything.