Pokemon Rumble U coming to Europe and North America

Nintendo has confirmed that Pokemon Rumble U is coming to the west. The eShop game will be released in Europe on August 15th and in North America on August 29th. As you may already know, this will be the first title that makes use of the GamePad's NFC abilities, allowing players to enter characters into the game by placing figurines on the high tech controller. The figurines are optional and will be sold exclusively at GameStop.

It appears the Big N is still trying to figure out the details for Europe. Here's what they told MCV when asked about the figurines being sold in the region:

We're still working through the plans for the small number of figurines we plan to release, and will update people in due course.

Here's a brief overview of the features in the latest entry in the Rumble series:

• Pick up and play controls
• Locations such as Sparkly Playland, Mysterious Forest, and Blue Sky Park
• Ssingle player and four-player simultaneous play
• Lots of characters to unlock
• Plenty of collectibles
• All 649 Pokemon discovered up to Pokemon Black & White
• GamePad touch screen is used to activate weapons like bombs

Video after the break.

Pokemon Rumble U - 12 minutes of gameplay footage

Pokemon Rumble U is now available on the Wii U eShop in Japan. The latest entry in the Rumble series features all 649 Pokemon and is the first game to make use of the GamePad's NFC capabilities, allowing players to enter characters into the game by placing figures on the high-tech controller. The toys can be purchased for 200 yen, the equivalent of approximately $2.

There has been no word on whether or not the eShop title will be released outside of Japan, but seeing as how the first two games made it to the West, it seems quite likely.

YouTube user NintenDaan has downloaded a copy from Nintendo's digital store and created a video which shows 12 minutes of gameplay footage. You can watch it after the break.