Pokkén BanaPassports

Pokkén Tournament is known in part for its arcade version, though this version may be considered to be at a downturn. However, this particular version has left a legacy that goes beyond the game. Bandai Namco, the developers with whom Nintendo collaborated to create this game, has a card system that is used to store players' IDs for all their arcade games - including Pokkén - known as the BanaPassport. For this system, Bandai Namco created a tie-in, and the result was BanaPassport cards with Pokkén images on them.

Five card designs were created, and these feature the images of Pikachu, Lucario, Gardevoir, Machamp, and Suicune, arguably the most well-known of the in-game Pokémon fighters. Unlike some of the other card designs, these images are oriented vertically (portrait) rather than horizontally (landscape). Now, these cards were famously distributed during the location tests of the arcade version of Pokkén, and they were limited in number. This makes them collectors' cards as much as they are cards to be used to play the games.

These cards are very neat to have and to use to play the arcade games, yet their collectible status makes them a little too precious for that. Certainly their collectible status also means a more lofty price tag than regular BanaPassports that are currently available. Still, some of my friends show interest in these cards so they can play Bandai Namco arcade games with their own IDs. I am really enamored by the Pikachu one, as are a couple of my other friends. Another one of my friends is taken by the Lucario one, and I've not seen much interest in the three other cards with their different images. I'm not sure I would like to pursue any of these cards given the chance, and even if I obtain one, I'm not sure if I would use it to play.

On the other hand, there are not many Bandai Namco games in local arcade game centers that can be played online using the card, for the simple reason that... they're offline, and the game centers and the local game distributor are loath to make them online, to the detriment of players. I've seen only one actual Bandai Namco game (not Pokkén, though) that is actually playable online with a card, but it's a game that I'm not interested in. There is, however, another online local arcade game that can be played with BanaPassports, and ironically, it's not even Bandai Namco's - it's Sega's, and it's called maimai, something that in the past had its own minor Pokémon connection. The reason is that both BanaPassport and Aime (Sega's player ID card system) share the same implementation, which technically means you only need one card to play all their arcade games. It was this and the Pokkén BanaPassports that came up as a matter when I had that wonderful day on Friday and met a fellow Pokémon fan. We talked about what it would take to get one of these BanaPassports and how interested we actually were in them.

While it seems I may never be able to play Pokkén Tournament in the arcades, the Pokkén BanaPassport is a fascinating legacy of this game that at the least has asserted its presence as an arcade game, and one that truly transcends the game itself due to its Pokémon and miscellaneous connections. As a Pokémon fan, it becomes my fascination too.