The Pokemon Trading Card Game--a version of which currently exists online for computers--is coming to iPad.
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An official version was spotted at this weekend's Pokemon World Championships, seen in the screenshot above (provided by this Twitter account). Kotaku was told by a Pokemon Company representative that the game will be coming to iPad later this year. The online PC version is an official product as well, found on the Pokemon website.
Competitive card games have been successful on the iPad, with Hearthstone as the shining example of how well it can be done. Nintendo and its developers do not have a history of releasing games for hardware other than its own--some apps at most--so this marks quite the leap of faith for the usually conservative company. The franchise has mass appeal, though, and it's probably a safe bet to expand the game to the iOS community.
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Hopefully the card-collection system is not exploitative on iPad--the experience could be ruined by too many microtransactions, prohibitive booster pack pricing, or a lack of ways to unlock cards in-game without paying. The old Pokemon TCG for Game Boy took a different approach, offering an experience more similar to the main Pokemon titles in which you battle gym leaders, collect better cards, and play through a campaign.
In this case, the game is more like Magic: The Gathering, Hearthstone or Solforge: sit down in a match with your preferred deck and outplay your opponent. Ideally this translates well to iPad, and fans get a worthy port.
