Have you ever wanted to play as a wild Pokemon in Pokemon Unite? Well, Pokemon Unite Catch 'Em battles are allowing you to do just that. Until late June, you can catch and play as a variety of wild 'mon, including legendaries such as Zapdos and Articuno.
How do Pokemon Unite Catch 'Em battles work?
After bringing in a paid membership option for Pokemon Unite last month, developer TiMi is now introducing a brand new game mode for the mobile and Switch MOBA. Catch 'Em battles allow you to catch a variety of wild Pokemon, and you can then swap to the Pokemon you've just caught, with different 'mon appearing across the map at different points in the game. Here's how it works. Defeating a wild Pokemon will let you catch it, and your battle item icon will be replaced by an image of that Pokemon. Tapping it will swap to the 'mon you've caught. Each wild Pokemon has a basic attack and two moves, but no Unite Move and no teleport function. You also can't score goals with your wild Pokemon.
The full list of wild Pokemon available in Pokemon Unite's Catch 'Em battles includes both regular Pokemon and legendaries. Here's every wild Pokemon you can play as in this new limited-time mode.
- Electrode
- Tauros
- Ludicolo
- Avalugg
- Araquanid
- Drednaw
- Zapdos
- Articuno
- Regigigas
Zapdos, Articuno, and Regigigas get access to special moves that allow them to weaken the opponents' goal, so it's worth keeping your eye out for them. Each Catch 'Em battle in Pokemon Unite takes place in a tweaked version of Mer Stadium with slightly modified 4v4 quick battle rules; shield and HP recovery in forward goal zones have been increased, and you'll find a springboard at your base if one of your goal zones is taken out. Make sure to take a look at the full Pokemon Unite Catch 'Em battle announcement on the official website for the full rundown.
A busy time for Pokemon
As you might expect from the world's most successful media franchise, Pokemon is firing on all cylinders right now. As well as the above Pokemon Unite announcement, today also saw Nintendo dropping a new Pokemon Scarlet and Violet trailer, which also contained a release date for the upcoming Switch RPGs (November 18th, if you're interested). There's change afoot on the corporate level, too; Game Freak co-founder and director Junichi Masuda announced he's leaving the company after more than 30 years and joining The Pokemon Company as its Chief Creative Fellow.
You can download and play Pokemon Unite for free right now on Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android. If you're looking for the next core RPG experience in the series, you can also pre-order both Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet from the Nintendo eShop. We'll bring you more on Pokemon as soon as we get it, and given the frequency with which Pokemon news seems to be appearing right now, we're betting that time won't be too far off.
