Jump Festa Reveals Shocking New Spinoff Game: ‘Pokemon + Nobunaga’s Ambition’

Breaking news! The Jump Festa trade show has just unveiled a new Pokemon crossover game: Pokemon + Nobunaga's Ambition. The DS game will be released in spring 2012 and is a collaboration between The Pokemon Company and Koei, the makers of Nobunaga's Ambition.

Nobunaga's Ambition is actually a RPG that is on multiple gaming platforms in Japan - according to Wikipedia, "Nobunaga's Ambition is a series of turn-based grand strategy role-playing simulation video games, first released in 1983 by the Japanese video game developer Koei. Nobunaga's Ambition takes place during the Sengoku period of feudal Japan. As the title suggests, the player is tasked with achieving the ultimate goal of warlord Oda Nobunaga: the conquest and unification of Japan. Selecting Oda Nobunaga is optional, however, as the player is also able to choose from a variety of other regional daimyos of the time."

Obviously, this new DS game will use the above premise but with a Pokemon theme. It seems that it will be a Pokemon game that takes place in the past with ancient Pokemon Trainers, as you can see in the official game artwork below. The male and female players will start out with Eevee - they are the boy and girl in the pictures below. The names of the "bushou," or military soldiers, are Oichi (the girl with the Jigglypuff), Mitsuhide (Articuno), Shingen (Groudon), and Kenshin (Mewtwo). As was already obvious, Nobunaga is the man with Zekrom. The official website promises that more bushou will be revealed in January. The region the game will take place in is called "Ranse."

A video promoting the game is also on display at Jump Festa, as you can see below. My friend has translated its narration, which says, "Sharing your heart with Pokemon... bushou (military commanders) with hearts connected to Pokemon... a time when he (Nobunaga) held 17 castles... the Legend of Ranse, resurrected... the war of bushou and Pokemon begins!"
The image to the right contains actual screenshots from the game; in the top left screenshot, you can see various stats. From this information, it appears your success as a Pokemon Trainer determines your "military rank" within the game. Gin has translated the screenshot in the top left as "Power: 60, Intelligence: 60, Charm: 65, Containers: 4, Specialty: Normal (referring to a Pokemon's type), Military Power: Full Speed, Tool: Potion." The two bubbles in the screenshot say, "Instant move up" and "20 HP restored." The next screenshot with the girl and Eevee says "Let's go!" The final screenshot with the Piplup is how the overworld will look and says, "The water gate opened."

As you can see in the game screenshots below, it appears you manipulate your Pokemon on the field, sort of like in Pokemon Ranger. You can order them to fire attacks and whatnot. The full extent of this system is currently unknown, as is the game's overall goal. Other than what is posted here, we literally know nothing else about the game at this time, but hopefully more information will be revealed within the next month on Pokemon Smash and in CoroCoro magazine.