Pokémon UNITE Opening Cinematic

The subject of this article has no official name. The name currently in use is a fan designator; see below for more information.

The game Pokémon UNITE has an opening cinematic. On the Nintendo Switch version, it plays automatically when the game is first opened. It can be replayed from the game's title screen with the Replay option, or by staying on the title screen for long enough. It was unveiled before the game's release as part of a video promoting the game, released on June 17, 2021. The video has different names depending on the source. On the The Pokémon Company International Official Press Site, the video with this cinematic is called the "Pokémon UNITE Coming Soon Trailer". In the YouTube upload for the Pokémon UNITE channel, it is called "Pokémon UNITE is coming this summer!". A second upload for audiences in the United Kingdom is on The Official Pokémon Youtube channel. The cinematic depicts a Unite Battle on Remoat Stadium.

Plot

The cinematic begins above Remoat Stadium. Two teams wait in their bases for a Unite Battle. The orange team consists of Pikachu, Mr. Mime, Lucario, Snorlax, and Talonflame. The purple team consists of Cinderace, Garchomp, Greninja, Absol, and Slowbro. Everyone glows blue as Aeos energy reduces their levels back to level 1. This makes Talonflame devolve into Fletchling, Cinderace devolve into Scorbunny, Garchomp devolve into Gible, Greninja devolve into Froakie, and Slowbro devolve into Slowpoke. The stadium projects a holographic map of itself into the air, which includes the timer. There are ten minutes on the clock. It counts off from four, then announces the start of the battle. Both teams rush out onto the field.

Pikachu runs onto a path, then swerves into the orange team's side of the Central Area to encounter three Aipom. Two Aipom get away, dashing through the grassy field, but the last is too shocked to escape. Pikachu capitalizes on this with Electro Ball, knocking the Aipom out and allowing Pikachu's Trainer to catch it from off the field with a Unite Ball. Similarly, Scorbunny heads to the purple team's side of the Central Area, a beach themed region, and uses Ember. It bounces off two Lillipup and ends on a third. This last one is knocked out, and captured by Scorbunny's Trainer. Due to the Exp. Points gained, Scorbunny evolves into Raboot, and celebrates alongside a hologram of its Trainer.

Absol chases Fletchling off the Bottom Path and into another beach area, then attacks with Slash. Fletchling goes down, crashing into the sand just as Pikachu shows up. Absol creeps forward, charging its horn to attack Pikachu, but Lucario leaps into the fray. Lucario uses Aura Cannon to blast Absol from the air, then jumps again to grab Aeos energy passed from offscreen and dunk it into one of the purple team's goal zone. The map updates the totals: the orange team now has 103 points compared to the purple team's 97. There are thirty seconds left in the match.

Pikachu stops to help Fletchling up, only to be alerted to Cinderace making a run for a goal zone by its evolution from Raboot. As Lucario recovers from the second jump, Pikachu dashes down the Bottom Path to beat Cinderace there. Cinderace's route to the goal zone closest to the orange team's base takes it through the Central Area, where Mr. Mime and Snorlax team up to slow it down. There are only ten seconds left in the match. Mr. Mime uses Barrier and Snorlax uses Block, each of them putting up an energy shield to block passage to the goal zone. Cinderace is unfazed, and jumps high over both Pokémon. A clump of Aeos energy is passed to Cinderace, who it kicks down toward the goal zone. Pikachu arrives at the goal zone and leaps into the path of the Aeos energy to stop it. The animation cuts away to the aerial view of the stadium and the Pokémon UNITE logo.

Characters

Humans

• Aeos Trainers (x2, male and female)

Pokémon

The orange team coming out of their base

Orange Team

• Pikachu
• Mr. Mime
• Snorlax
• Lucario
• Talonflame

Purple Team

The purple team coming out of their base

• Slowbro
• Absol
• Garchomp
• Greninja
• Cinderace

Wild Pokémon

• Aipom (x3)
• Lillipup (x3)

Videos

English

This is the "Pokémon UNITE is coming this summer!" video on the Pokémon UNITE channel

By Pokemon

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Trivia

• The interface elements of the holographic map are similar to the interface of Pokémon UNITE.
• Technically speaking, it is very possible what Bulbapedia identifies as Absol using Slash to be Absol's basic attack.
• It is also possible for what Bulbapedia identifies as Scorbunny using Ember to be Scorbunny's basic attack.
  • In either case, neither attack bounces between targets in the way the cinematic depicts.
• The attack Lucario uses is hard to determine. It could be either Aura Sphere or the unique to this game Aura Cannon, but the Lucario in Pokémon UNITE has Aura Cannon and not Aura Sphere. Even then, its not a direct match for Aura Cannon's animation in the game. Aura Cannon does not burst, it appears more solid, and the color is a lighter blue. Given this animation is for Pokémon UNITE, it is probably Aura Cannon.
• Cinderace attempts to score from far away from the goal zone in this cinematic. Such a ability is not included in Pokémon UNITE: scoring can only be performed while next to or within a goal zone regardless of how the Pokémon scores points.
  • Also, when Pokémon score in Pokémon UNITE, they enter a Status condition like state during which they cannot be affected by other Pokémon. In the video game, Pikachu would not be able to stop Cinderace at the point it has already begun to kick the Aeos energy.

External Links

• "Pokémon UNITE is coming this summer!" uploaded to The Official Pokémon Youtube channel for UK audiences

References

This article is part of Project Sidegames, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon Sidegames.