What is it about the Pokémon franchise that makes it stretch across genres so much? There have been Pokémon picture-taking games, Pokémon trading card games, Pokémon virtual pet games, Pokémon party games, and even Pokémon roguelike games. Now Nintendo and Tecmo have teamed up to deliver a Pokémon pseudo-historical feudal tactics and strategy game, and you know what? I'm on board.

Pokémon Conquest takes place in a fictional region named Ransei that is divided into 17 different kingdoms, each of which specializes in a different type of Pokémon. The game's story is divided up into several discrete chapters that advance the story while offering their own overarching goals to complete. You won't be tasked with conquering the whole world right away; you'll first have to be introduced to different human NPCs, meet and battle semi-historical warlords, and of course, start catching Pokémon.

In the world of Ransei each human warrior or warlord can take one Pokémon into battle, which is a sort of turn-based, grid-oriented, isometric, Fire Emblem-style experience. Each battle has a turn limit, so they likely won't be hour-long affairs but instead be focused tactical skirmishes with a set victory condition, like capturing all the flags or simply defeating all your opponents. Each battlefield also has unique features and layouts that give an advantage to Pokémon that can use or bypass them. For example, in one battle I saw a water Pokémon travel through a river through which I couldn't follow. And like other tactical games, additional terrain features like elevation can affect a Pokémon's range or attack power for better or worse. Tactical positioning is of the utmost importance in the turn-based gameplay.

Interestingly enough, each of the Pokémon in the game seemed to have only one attack available to them. Since this unique move is different for each Pokémon species it appears that a lot of thought is required to build a team that's specialized for the task at hand. For example, Abra's teleport move may never do a lick of damage to anyone else, but a maze-like map where you have to capture all the flags on the battlefield may make the small psychic Pokémon just what the doctor ordered.

Where each individual Pokémon DOES differ from its brethren is in what ability it has. Abilities are randomly triggered Pokémon powers that do different things in battle, and make catching different Pokémon of the same species worthwhile. For instance, one Jigglypuff may have the lullaby power, and randomly sing enemies to sleep after it gets attacked, but another Jigglypuff might have a different power altogether.

As to catching those different Pokémon, there are no Pokéballs in Pokémon Conquest. You don't even have to weaken the wild Pokémon you're trying to recruit, simply target it and play a button-tapping rhythm game to seal the deal. However, each human warrior or warlord doing the catching can only keep a certain number of Pokémon in their roster, and each has Pokémon types they're especially attuned to as well as Pokémon types they simply can't catch at all. Managing each warrior's team of Pokémon so they can remain versatile for the unknown challenges ahead is another strategic aspect of the game. And of course, the longer a Pokémon spends with their trainer – err, human warrior or warlord – the more powerful in general that Pokémon will be.

In fact, it's almost like there's a second layer of "catch 'em all" strategy going on with Pokémon Conquest. Not only do the Pokémon have tactical abilities that make a difference in battle, but their human counterparts are also integral due to their special battle abilities, which can be manually activated. It seems like deciding what human warriors and warlords to recruit to your army is just as important as what Pokémon you catch with them.

And this game's second layer even extends beyond managing your human roster; you also have to manage the kingdoms and positioning of your warriors every "month" in the game world. You can gain income from each castle you control, and reinvest that to improve that castle's buildings and shops, or simply spend it to buy items for your Pokémon to carry into battle. The castles also have unique training grounds you can explore and unlock in order to find more wild Pokémon and other human warriors to recruit. Different castles even have unique special facilities that make them more valuable depending on what your overarching strategic goals are. In addition to all that, you need to make sure your castles are manned with your recruited warriors and warlords every month, because not only will you rally your armies to attack and conquer nearby kingdoms, your opponents will attempt to do the same to you should you leave a castle vulnerable!

I have to admit that I'm doing my best not to think about this game as Pokémon Tactics. The truth is that seems to be only half the story. Recruiting human warriors and warlords for your army is just as important as catching the right Pokémon, and managing and defending your castles and kingdoms is as important as dominating at any single battlefield. This was a lot of information to absorb and process during my demo and introduction to the game's systems. But whereas before I was confused as to how a Pokémon grid-based tactics and strategy game would have worked, now I'm ready to dig deeper and find out just how far this idea can go.