Wii U Pokemon Fighting Game Gets Release Date, New Amiibo Details

Pokken Tournament, the upcoming Pokemon fighting game for Wii U, will launch on March 18, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have announced. Previously, the companies said the game--a port of a Japanese arcade game of the same name--would arrive for Wii U sometime in March.

Nintendo also confirmed that everyone who buys an early copy of the game will get a Shadow Mewtwo Amiibo card. Tapping the card on the Wii U GamePad brings the playable Shadow Mewtwo character into the game. Note that this is an Amiibo card, not a figure; a Shadow Mewtwo Amiibo toy has not been announced.

In other Pokken Tournament news, new playable characters for the game leaked earlier this week.

2016 is the 20th anniversary of the Pokemon series and Pokken Tournament's release in March is just one development fans of the series can look forward to. A Pokemon ad will run during Super Bowl 50 in February, while classic Pokemon games Red, Blue, and Yellow will launch through the eShop on February 27. That's not a random date--it's 20 years to the day after the first Pokemon games were released in Japan on February 27, 1996.

Additionally, Nintendo is releasing a New 3DS on February 27 featuring pre-installed copies of Pokemon Red and Blue. For more on how the Pokemon 20th anniversary festivities, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.