The Wii’s one true 2007 killer app, Pokémon Battle Revolution, was revealed in an IGN preview to use a 12-digit friend code that is completely separate from the 12-digit Wii Code that was supposed to simplify this whole business. Perhaps this is because Battle Revolution is basically a way to play with your Diamond/Pearl team with waggle controls. Or perhaps not, and this is just one of those lovely unexplained Nintendo idiosyncrasies. (Only one controller comes with Wii?)

Strangely, despite the Wii hardware having its own friend list, Battle Revolution uses its own, independent friend list. Each game includes a unique 12-digit friend code, different from your Wii system number. To create a friend, both sides have to input the other’s code. How you actually go about exchanging these codes is a mystery, as the information is not included on your battle pass. Once again, I presume Nintendo wants you to only exchange codes with your real life friends.

See, this looks a lot like 16:9 to me…

Like that’ll happen. More good and bad is revealed in the preview: you will get your own battle pass, or trainer card, containing your birthday, location, and a personal message. (Personal information, Nintendo? I feel unsafe!) You can exchange battle passes with a rival after battle but not friend codes, and I’m not entirely sure how that works. There’s no voice chat, and, even worse, one of the most graphically impressive games on the Wii contains no widescreen support. IGN also mentions lag after menu selections, which in a menu-based game is especially bad. Nintendo sure is handling a very important game strangely.

Pokémon Battle Revolution is already available for the Wii in Japan and will be out next year, presumably with Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, in America since Europe gets DS games two years later everywhere else.