Pokemon Tretta Lab heading to 3DS, includes scanner accessory

Nintendo is to bring the previously arcade-only spin-off Pokemon Tretta Lab to the 3DS in Japan this year - and the game includes a hefty-looking accessory for the machine.

Pokemon Tretta Lab is a co-development with Marvelous AQL, and is best described to Westerners as a game that vaguely channels Skylanders. Tretta are disc-shaped items with images of Pokemon on them, and by slotting them into the arcade machine the Pokemon in question is then summoned in-game to battle. Winning a battle nets you another new Tretta as a reward.

The 3DS version of the title is developed by Marvelous, Tomy and Nintendo, and will ship with a large Tretta Scanner accessory. It straps to your handheld and allows players to then slot in the Tretta discs.

The new 3DS port will let players engage in battle as in the arcade and also read up more on stats and information about Pokemon players own the Tretta of. The game is set to come with three Tretta, and another will be offered as a pre-order bonus.

The game is out in Japan in August. It's unclear if this will ever make it West, but now that the game is out of arcades it certainly stands a better chance. Thanks, Siliconera.