Very little was known about Nintendo's NFC reader located on the bottom left of the Wii U's gamepad. While there was a super brief glimpse at the potential with Rayman Legends trailer showing an Assassin's Creed figure being placed on top of it, nothing else was show. Nintendo has stated that the NFC reader could later be used to communicate with phones to make transactions, but let's face it, that's super lame.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have our first demonstration of how the NFC reader will work with Pokémon Scramble U, a successor to the Pokémon Rumble games on WiiWare and 3DS.
Similar to the way Skylanders are placed on the Portal of Power, it looks like a simple scan of a figure when placed on the Wii U gamepad will function exactly the same way, except you (most likely) won't have to keep it on there, because… well how would you play like that?
From what we know, the figures will be priced at ¥200, and the first set will include six (shown) Pokémon with a secret seventh, with more sets to come at a later time. What's more, each Pokémon will be bought in a random capsule, which means buyers won't know exactly what they're getting. Oh Japan, you smart cookie.
It's not certain whether Pokémon Scramble U will make its way to the US, but given the popularity of these little cute critters, it's not absurd to bet on the fact that it will. Also, given that Disney Infinity will sell random packs of power-ups usable in game, selling random packs of Pokémon seems to make a lot of sense too.
NFC toys are starting to become a trend rather than an innovation these days, and in the end, it becomes more about making money on toys that honestly don't do much aside from look cool on your shelf. With Skylanders becoming a yearly release, Disney Infinity hopping on the bandwagon as well, I can see NFC toys becoming the next Season Pass. And while many gamers have the resolve to deny a Season Pass in lieu of just buying the DLC they actually care about, little kids will absolutely devour their parents until they buy them every single NFC Pokémon toy, regardless of how many times they randomly get Pikachu!
[Kotaku]
