Pokémon Mezastar (Arcade)

Titles	Pokémon Mezastar ポケモンメザスタ (Pokémon Mezasuta) Pokémon MEZASTAR (Asia) · 寶可夢明耀之星 (Taiwan) · 포켓몬 태그스타 (Pokémon Tagstar, South Korea)
Platform	Arcade: a twin cabinet with two play stations under one wide monitor, each with three tag lanes and a QR Multi-Scanner
Developer	Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. and Marvelous
Publisher	Takara Tomy A.R.T.S.
Theme song	Hyadain (words and music) · sung by Naomi Tamura and Tomohiro Hatano
Players	1 per station; 2 together in a Special Tag Battle or Trainer Tag Battle
Genre	Kids’ arcade battle and collecting game
Business model	Pay per play. In Japan: ¥100 a game, ¥100 per catch attempt or Get Now! throw, ¥200 for a Memory tag
Sets	19 in Japan, in four series (the original Pokémon Mezastar, Super Tag, Double Chain and Gorgeous Star); separate series abroad
Tags	1,424 numbered tags in the Japanese sets (70–84 a set), graded 2 to 6, plus promotional tags
Released	17 September 2020 (Japan) · 1 April 2025 (Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore) · 2 April 2025 (Taiwan, mainland China) · December 2025 (Philippines) · 13 April 2026 (South Korea) · May 2026 (Vietnam) · June 2026 (India)
Japanese run	Final set from 18 April 2024; machines replaced by Pokémon Frienda from 11 July 2024; customer support ended 31 July 2024. Still running elsewhere in Asia
Predecessor	Pokémon Ga-Olé
Successor	Pokémon Frienda (Japan, from 11 July 2024)
Plays	100 million in 451 days (December 2021) · more than 30 million tags shipped by 31 March 2021

Overview · Quick Answers · Tags & Sets · Gameplay · Trainers & Opponents · Pokémon · Events · Regional Variations · Videos · Trivia · Legacy · Popularity

Overview

Pokémon Mezastar is a children’s arcade machine from Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. and Marvelous, the partnership behind Pokémon Battrio, Pokémon Tretta and Pokémon Ga-Olé. It opened in Japan on 17 September 2020, a little later than planned because of the pandemic, and ran for almost four years and 19 sets before Pokémon Frienda took its place from July 2024. Every cabinet is a twin unit, with two play stations side by side under one wide monitor, and the thing everybody queues up for is the tag: a flat, stadium-shaped plastic token whose QR code the machine reads as it slides along a lane.

In Japan each game cost ¥100. The player picks one of three areas, lines up as many as three tags against a boss Pokémon and its two companions, and spends three to five turns hammering buttons to charge the Attack Roulette and fill each wild Pokémon’s Get Gauge. A weakened Pokémon can then be caught for another ¥100 a throw, and every catch drops out of the machine as a brand-new tag. Tags are graded from 2 to 6, and the Grade 5 Star and Grade 6 Superstar Pokémon, most of them legendary or mythical, are the ones every child is after. A Memory tag saves progress, raises Partner Pokémon and unlocks Trainer battles, and every so often two neighbouring players are swept into a joint Special Tag Battle across the shared screen.

Mezastar belongs to the Sword and Shield and Scarlet and Violet era, and it took on each big battle gimmick in turn, from Mega Evolution and Z-Moves to Dynamax and finally Terastal, alongside inventions of its own: Super Tag attacks, Double Moves and Chain Attacks. It passed 100 million plays in 451 days, far quicker than Tretta or Ga-Olé had managed. When the Japanese run ended, its Meteor Mark tags found a use in Frienda, and the machine itself began a second life across Asia in April 2025, reaching South Korea, as Pokémon Tagstar, in April 2026.

Quick Answers

The questions people ask most about Pokémon Mezastar, answered first and explained further down the page.

Can you still play Pokémon Mezastar in 2026?

Not in Japan. The last set arrived on 18 April 2024, and arcades swapped their machines for Pokémon Frienda from July 2024. Elsewhere in Asia it is still going strong, with machines in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, mainland China, the Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam and India, but it has never been released in the UK, Europe or North America. More →

How much does a game of Mezastar cost?

In Japan a game cost ¥100, and so did each attempt to catch a weakened Pokémon and each throw in Get Now! mode. A Memory tag for saving progress was ¥200. Prices abroad are set locally: at Timezone in Singapore, for instance, five credits cost S$10. More →

How do you get Mezastar tags?

By catching them. Battle a wild Pokémon until its Get Gauge is full, pay for a throw at Get Time! and, if the ball holds, the machine dispenses that Pokémon as a physical tag; paying always guarantees at least one catch. Starter sets were sold in shops too, and promotional tags were given away in campaigns such as the launch Dash Campaign. More →

What do the star grades on Mezastar tags mean?

They show rarity and strength. Grades 2, 3 and 4 are everyday Pokémon on red, blue and yellow tags styled after the Poké Ball, Great Ball and Ultra Ball. Grade 5 Star Pokémon come on purple, Master Ball-style holofoil tags, and Grade 6 Superstar Pokémon, mostly legendaries, on black glitter tags with a rainbow design. More →

Does Mezastar have Dynamax and Terastal?

Yes, both. Dynamax and Gigantamax arrived with Set 3 in February 2021 and Terastal tags with Gorgeous Star set 1 in July 2023, joining Mega Evolution and Z-Moves, which had been there since launch. Each gimmick can be used once per game, and the separately sold Dynamax Band and Tera Orb improve the odds of a good result. More →

Can Mezastar tags be used in Pokémon Frienda?

Partly. Pokémon Frienda’s first set accepted Grade 5 and Grade 6 Mezastar tags bearing a Meteor Mark, which call in Support Pokémon rather than joining the team, so a player’s best tags kept a use after the switch. Mezastar had done the same for its own predecessor: its first set took Meteor Mark disks from Pokémon Ga-Olé’s last set. More →

What is a Memory tag?

A red save tag bought from the machine for ¥200. It stores a player avatar and up to 200 saves, raises Partner Pokémon with Star Points, unlocks the strongest Trainers and links to the online Mezastar Club, which keeps records and hands out Support Pokémon Tickets, Battle Tickets and Dress-up Items. There was also a Trial version good for ten saves. More →

What replaced Pokémon Mezastar?

Pokémon Frienda, from the same companies. It was announced on 15 April 2024 and launched in Japan on 11 July 2024, swaps tags for Frienda Picks and reached 100 million plays in 273 days, against Mezastar’s 451. The Mezastar TV YouTube channel became Pokémon Frienda TV on 31 May 2024. More →

Mezastar tags and the sets

The tag is the whole point of Mezastar. Every catch drops a fresh one out of the cabinet, and its QR code carries everything the machine needs to send that Pokémon into battle. Japan had 19 sets in all, arriving every two to three months in four series, and from the second series on, each one came with a new kind of tag and a new battle trick.

A tag is a small slab of plastic, 36 by 64 millimetres and 3.5 millimetres thick, with the Pokémon’s artwork on the front and a QR code holding its type, stats and move. Each one is numbered by set, so Grookey’s Set 1 tag is 1-026, and the colour scheme and star marks show its grade at a glance.

• 19sets in Japan, 2020–2024
• 4series: the original, Super Tag, Double Chain and Gorgeous Star
• 1,424numbered tags across the sets
• 70–84tags in each set

Grades

Grades run from 2 to 6. Grades 2 to 4 are the everyday tags, with portrait artwork and colour bands borrowed from Poké Balls; the two top grades are the prizes. The early sets, each 70 tags strong, split like this:

Grade	Colour scheme	Tags per set (early sets)
Grade 2	Red, after the Poké Ball	14
Grade 3	Blue, after the Great Ball	14
Grade 4	Yellow, after the Ultra Ball	17
Grade 5: Star Pokémon	Purple, after the Master Ball, with landscape artwork and holofoil	15
Grade 6: Superstar Pokémon	Black glitter plastic with a rainbow scheme	10

Special tags

Tags for the battle gimmicks carry marks of their own: Mega Evolution, Z-Move, Dynamax and Terastal tags, plus Mezastar’s own Super Tags, Double Move tags and Chain tags. What each one does is explained under Battle gimmicks.

The 19 Japanese sets

Mezastar ran through four series in Japan: four sets of the original Pokémon Mezastar, then five each of Super Tag, Double Chain and Gorgeous Star. The first five sets had 70 numbered tags each; Legacy, Gorgeous and Ultra Beast tags pushed later sets as high as 84, for 1,424 numbered tags in all. Every set, with some of its Superstar headliners and what it added:

Outside Japan the sets are different again. The international edition that opened across Asia in April 2025 has its own sequence of series, starting with Stardust and Galaxy, so its tags do not match the Japanese numbering; see Regional Variations.

Gameplay

Mezastar is built so that a five-year-old can pick it up in seconds, but there is more going on than button mashing. Both modes, Get in Battle! and the battle-free Get Now!, start from a hub where the player chooses what to play. The names used here translate the Japanese machine’s; on the English-language machines in Asia the two modes are Battle and Catch! and Catch now!

The cabinet

Get in Battle!

Get in Battle!The main mode. The player cycles through three areas, each guarded by a high-grade boss flanked by two weaker Pokémon, and slots up to three tags into the lanes; any empty slot is filled with a random rental Pokémon. The opponent strikes first. The player then pushes a tag up its lane to choose an attacker, guided by icons that show how its type fares against each target. A battle lasts at least three turns, with a fourth and a fifth awarded for successful catches.

Speed, roulettes and button mashingA coloured divider shows who moves first, blue for the player and red for the opponent, and a Flash Chance lets the player steal the initiative by tapping 1 and 2 as fast as possible. Before each attack the Attack Roulette adds a bonus of between 5 and 50, depending on grade, and frantic pressing during the animation adds more. Damage weighs the attacker’s Attack or Special Attack against the target’s defences. A Pokémon that has just attacked is tired for a turn, losing Speed and its roulette, so it pays to rotate the team.

Get Time! and catchingDamage fills each wild Pokémon’s Get Gauge, and a full gauge puts it in Get Chance. At Get Time! the player pays for a throw and a Ball Roulette spins through Poké Balls, Great Balls, Ultra Balls and Master Balls, with the odds set by the Pokémon’s grade, the gauge and the ball. Paying guarantees at least one catch, which drops out of the machine as a tag. If nothing reached Get Chance, a Last!! Get Time! offers one final attempt, and Bonus!! Get Time! sells up to four extra Quick Ball throws at random patches of grass.

Support Pokémon and ticketsPokémon caught during a game join a Support roster of up to five, which attacks ahead of the main team through a Support Roulette. More supporters came from Support Pokémon Tickets, each valid for a fixed window: digital ones in the Mezastar Club, such as Complete Forme Zygarde at launch, and paper ones from magazines and start campaigns. During Set 1, Grade 4 and 5 Pokémon Ga-Olé disks with a Meteor Mark could be scanned as supporters too.

Get Now!

Get Now!Get Now! skips the battle altogether. Five patches of grass of different sizes appear, and the player has seven seconds to scatter sweets to lure Pokémon in; patches marked ? or !? hide higher-grade finds. A cursor then sweeps across the patches, and pressing 1 or 2 stops it and launches a Quick Ball that reveals and dispenses whatever was hiding there. It carries on until the player stops paying or all five patches are empty, and Memory tag holders earn Star Points for every catch.

Playing together

Special Tag BattleWhen both stations are in use, a Superstar Pokémon can burst onto the shared monitor and invite the pair into a Special Tag Battle, and either player can join partway through. With both in, the battle spreads across the whole screen: each player fields three Pokémon, and the team has three turns to fill a shared Get Gauge. The higher of the two Attack Roulette results counts, and an Everyone Attack finale sends in both sides’ Pokémon at once. The catch is not guaranteed, but if it works, both players get a copy of the tag.

Trainer battles, tag battles and tournamentsSet 2 introduced Trainer and Battle, in which a Trainer can cut into Get in Battle! for a five-turn fight. Each set brought five Trainers, the last two open only to Memory tag holders, and wins earned trophies; from Set 4, Battle Tickets let players rematch them with optional challenges. Super Tag set 4 added the Trainer Tag Battle, a two-player, six-on-six bout against a pair of Trainers, and later sets ran ranked campaigns, an eight-player Tournament in Double Chain set 2 and a Star Trainer Tournament in Double Chain set 4.

Memory tags and the Mezastar Club

Memory tags and Partner PokémonA red Memory tag cost ¥200 and stores an avatar, male or female in one of five colours, plus up to 200 saves, and its data can be moved to a fresh tag when it fills up. Each set offered three unevolved Partner Pokémon, beginning with Grookey, Scorbunny and Sobble, which evolve as the player earns Star Points; if need be, an Egg hatches one. Holders also unlock the strongest Trainers of each set. A Trial Memory tag held just ten saves.

The Mezastar ClubThe QR code on the back of a Memory tag opens the Mezastar Club website, which keeps the player’s encounter and catch records and hands out Support Pokémon Tickets, Battle Tickets, Present Tickets and, from Set 4, Dress-up Items for the avatar. Super Tag set 3 added Weekly Stamps, Memory tag Missions and Double Star Points.

Battle gimmicks

Mezastar folded in the main series’ big battle gimmicks as it went, from Mega Evolution to Terastal, and invented a few of its own. Each needs a tag carrying the right mark, can be used once per game, and either powers up the Attack Roulette or swaps it for a signature move.

Mega Evolution Chance!Part of Mezastar from the first day. A Pokémon whose tag carries the Mega Evolution mark can Mega Evolve once per game, and Charizard, one of the Superstars of Set 1, had tags for Mega Evolution and, once Dynamax arrived, Gigantamax as well. Mega Evolution stayed in the game to the end, alongside every gimmick that followed it.

Z-Move Chance!Also there from launch. A Pokémon with a Z-Move tag can unleash its Z-Move once per game, and Pikachu’s Grade 6 Superstar tag in Set 1 was one of them. Gorgeous Star set 3 took the idea further with Ultra Burst Chance!: Necrozma’s Dusk Mane and Dawn Wings tags could turn into Ultra Necrozma mid-battle and use its own Z-Move, Light That Burns the Sky.

Dynamax Chance!Arrived with Set 3 on 10 February 2021, and with it Gigantamax, which Pikachu and Charizard were among the Pokémon to use. A Pokémon with a Dynamax tag can Dynamax once per game, and the Dynamax Band, an accessory sold separately, improved the starting odds of the Dynamax Chance! roulette.

Terastal Chance!The last of the main-series gimmicks, added with Gorgeous Star set 1 on 6 July 2023 for the Paldea generation. A Terastal tag lets its Pokémon Terastallise once per game, upgrading the spaces on its Attack Roulette and unlocking a Terastal move whose type decides its Tera Type. The separately sold Tera Orb improved the starting layout of the roulette, and Gorgeous Star set 4 brought back Koraidon, Miraidon and other legendaries in Terastallised form.

Super TagMezastar’s own idea, launched with Super Tag set 1 on 8 July 2021 and the series that bore its name. A Super Tag has a blue band naming a partner Pokémon, whose move is printed on the back; when the tag’s Pokémon attacks, the partner follows up, so two Pokémon strike in succession. Gorgeous Star set 3 extended it to Grade 6 tags, and Dialga became the first Superstar with one.

Double Move and Chain AttackIntroduced together with Double Chain set 1 on 7 July 2022. A Double Move tag lets one Pokémon attack twice, while Chain tags string up to three of the player’s Pokémon together in a Chain Attack. Double Chain set 3 put Double Moves on legendary Grade 6 tags, with Eternatus among them.

What it costs

Mezastar is strictly pay as you go. What things cost in Japan:

Overseas machines are priced locally, and some of them work a little differently; see Regional Variations.

Trainers & opponents

Mezastar has no story, but it built up quite a cast. Trainers first appeared with Set 2’s Trainer and Battle, every set after that brought its own line-up, and the heroes of the anime dropped in as guests, from Ash and Goh to the leads of Pokémon Horizons.

Mezastar Navigators

Masato, Ai, Sakura and J presented Mezastar TV, the official weekly YouTube show, and stepped into the machine as well. Sakura could be battled with a Battle Ticket in Super Tag set 1 and ran a ranked score challenge of her own, J fronted the Special Training from Mr. J! campaign in Super Tag set 5, and later sets offered tag battles and, in the final set, medal battles against all four.

Star Trainers

Every set’s five Trainer and Battle opponents built up to a Star Trainer, the strongest of the five and open only to Memory tag holders. Masahito held the title in Set 3, Nobure in Super Tag set 1 and Hasas in Double Chain set 1, and others included Takeru, Momoka, Atla, Tarmo and Ishuta. Several came back in pairs for limited Trainer Tag Battles, often with clothing for the player’s avatar as the prize.

Ash

Ash Ketchum joined Mezastar with Super Tag set 1 as a random challenger, part of a tie-in with Pokémon Journeys that also put anime-themed tags in the set. He was back in Double Chain set 1 as one of the Masters Eight, and in the summer of 2022 a ranked tag battle against Ash and Leon offered Charizard T-shirts for the avatar.

Goh

Goh, Ash’s research partner in Pokémon Journeys, arrived with him in Super Tag set 1. Like Ash, he had no fixed slot in the line-up: he could interrupt any session of Get in Battle! at random as a surprise Trainer and Battle opponent.

Team Rocket

Jessie, James and Meowth could ambush players in Super Tag set 1, one of nine possible Trainer and Battle opponents in that set alongside its five regulars, Ash, Goh and Navigator Sakura. Like the other anime guests, they turned up at random rather than to a timetable.

Later sets brought in more guests from the anime:

• The Masters Eight: Double Chain set 1 brought in Ash, Alain, Diantha and Iris from the Masters Eight of Pokémon Journeys, and Double Chain set 2 added Leon, Cynthia, Lance and Steven. The second set also held an eight-player knockout Tournament for Memory tag holders, from 27 October to 21 November 2022, modelled on the anime’s Masters Eight Tournament.
• Liko and Roy: The two leads of Pokémon Horizons: The Series could challenge players from Gorgeous Star set 1 as three-star Trainers. Beating them earned no trophy or clothing, but the player could take home a tag of one of their Pokémon.
• Friede and Amethio: Friede, captain of the Rising Volt Tacklers, appeared in the same set as a tougher four-star challenger, and Amethio of the Explorers, the anime’s antagonists, was among that set’s Trainers too.

Opponents set by set

A selection of the opponents, set by set. Regular Trainers cut into Get in Battle!, Battle Ticket opponents are called up with a ticket, and Trainer Tag Battles pit two players against a pair:

Set	Opponent	Battle	Prize and notes
Set 3	Smart Shopper Fuyuko, Bodybuilder Makoto, Fashionable Girl Mizuha, Rumoured Trainer Hiroki and Star Trainer Masahito	Trainer and Battle	The set’s five regulars. Masahito, the strongest, is only for Memory tag holders; wins earn trophies
Super Tag set 1	Star Trainer Nobure	Trainer and Battle	Heads a line-up of a Courier, a Fledgling Trainer, an Intelligent Lady and a Fishing Girl
Super Tag set 1	Mezastar Navigator Sakura	Battle Ticket	Her ranked Challenge from Sakura! ran from 28 August to 15 September 2021; the top 100 scorers were sent a certificate by post
Super Tag set 1	Ash, Goh and Team Rocket	Anime guests	Random challengers from Pokémon Journeys, making nine possible Trainers in the set
Super Tag set 4	Star Trainer Takeru and Junior Trainer Hotaka	Trainer Tag Battle	The first tag battle pair, from 24 February 2022: three rounds, six Pokémon a side, in Memory tag mode
Double Chain set 1	Star Trainer Hasas	Trainer and Battle	Tops Hot-Blooded Teacher Ryoma, Bug Catcher Girl Yoshika, Mountaineer Toshiyuki and Tour Guide Natsuki
Double Chain set 1	Ash, Alain, Diantha and Iris	Masters Eight guests	Random special opponents, alongside the regulars and limited campaign battles
Double Chain set 1	Star Trainer Hitomi	Battle Ticket	Tickets handed out at Namco arcades from 28 July to 21 November 2022; an Eternatus T-shirt for the avatar
Double Chain set 1	Ash and Leon	Ranked Trainer Tag Battle	30 July to 24 August 2022; Charizard T-shirts as prizes
Double Chain set 2	Leon, Cynthia, Lance and Steven	Masters Eight guests	The second wave of champions, in the set that held the eight-player Tournament
Gorgeous Star set 1	Liko, Roy and Friede	Pokémon Horizons guests	Three stars for Liko and Roy, four for Friede; the prize is a tag of one of their Pokémon
Gorgeous Star set 1	Star Trainers Tarmo and Ishuta	Trainer Tag Battle	20 July to 16 August 2023, with a jacket for the avatar; a Masato and Sakura tag battle followed
Gorgeous Star set 5	Star Trainers Hasas and Momoka	Trainer Tag Battle	One of the last tag battles in Japan, with headwear as the prize, held alongside medal battles against the four Navigators

Pokémon

Mezastar’s 1,424 numbered tags span all nine generations, from the Kanto starters to Koraidon, Miraidon, the Paradox Pokémon and Terapagos, and legendary and mythical Pokémon fill most of the Superstar slots. Many headliners came round more than once as the sets went by, often in a new form or with a new gimmick.

Pikachu was a Superstar from the start, with a Z-Move in Set 1 and a Gigantamax tag once Dynamax arrived, and Charizard had Mega Evolution and Gigantamax tags before becoming one of the first Gorgeous tags in Gorgeous Star set 1. Calyrex’s Ice Rider and Shadow Rider forms were Superstars from Set 4, and both were Support Pokémon Tickets when Super Tag set 1 began. Dialga and Palkia headlined Super Tag set 3, timed with Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, and Nihilego, Guzzlord and Stakataka launched the Ultra Beast tags in Gorgeous Star set 2. The Paldea legendaries Koraidon and Miraidon were Superstars in Gorgeous Star set 1 and came back in Terastallised form in set 4.

• PikachuSet 1 Superstar, Z-Move
• CharizardMega and Gigantamax tags
• CelebiShiny Star tag, Set 1
• ZacianSet 1 headliner
• ZamazentaSet 1 headliner
• EternatusTwo Superstars in Set 4
• CalyrexRider Superstars from Set 4
• DialgaSuper Tag set 3 headliner
• PalkiaSuper Tag set 3 headliner
• NecrozmaUltra Burst, Gorgeous Star set 3
• NihilegoThe first Ultra Beast tag
• KoraidonGorgeous Star set 1 Superstar
• MiraidonGorgeous Star set 1 Superstar
• TerapagosShields a Pokémon, from December 2023

Partner Pokémon

Each set named three unevolved Partner Pokémon for Memory tag holders to raise with Star Points, and the first trio was the Galar starters:

• GrookeyLaunch Partner; tag 1-026
• ScorbunnyLaunch Partner
• SobbleLaunch Partner

Events & milestones

Set start dates are in the table above. Between them Mezastar kept up a steady flow of campaigns, tournaments and milestones; these are the main ones of the Japanese run:

2020 and 2021

2022 and 2023

2024: the end in Japan

Regional Variations

Outside Japan, Mezastar arrived only after the Japanese machines had gone. An international edition, promoted by Marvelous’s subsidiary in Singapore and its base in China, opened across Asia from April 2025, with partners such as Timezone in Singapore, SEGA Taiwan and Quantum Amusement in the Philippines. Where and when it launched:

The international edition also differs from the Japanese original in several ways:

• The international machines run their own series rather than the Japanese sets: the Stardust series, in four Versions, then the Galaxy series, in three, and further series after that, each with Regular Special Tags never issued in Japan. Taiwan’s first wave held 73 tags.
• English-language machines have their own names for the modes and phases: Battle and Catch!, Catch now!, Catch Time and the Catch Gauge, and the tags are Meza Tags.
• In Singapore a Trainer ID adds an extra Master Ball to the Ball Roulette and enters the player in Battle Score rankings, and Timezone sells five MEZASTAR Credits for S$10.
• Taiwanese machines take EasyCard, iPass and icash cards, and turning a caught Pokémon into a tag costs NT$30.

Videos & media

Six official videos: the how-to-play film, both theme songs, two series trailers and a first look at the final set.

The official how-to-play film for the original machine, from The Pokémon Company’s Japanese channel.

The music video for Hyadain’s theme song, Behold! Pokémon Mezastar!!

The trailer for Super Tag set 1, the set that brought in tag attacks.

Double Chain set 1’s trailer, showing off Double Moves and Chain Attacks.

The music video for the Gorgeous Star series’ own theme song.

The Mezastar Navigators try out the final set, Gorgeous Star set 5, ahead of its release.

Trivia & facts

• Mezastar was the first arcade machine from Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. and Marvelous to use a twin cabinet. Putting two stations under one monitor is what makes the Special Tag Battle possible, as a Superstar can burst across the screen and pull whoever is at the next station into the same fight.
• Bandai Namco Amusement opened Mezastudio Kawasaki, a dedicated Mezastar venue at namco Lazona Kawasaki, on launch day. With 16 machines and 32 play stations, it had more Mezastar machines than any other namco arcade.

• 

  Each series is named after the trick it introduced: Super Tag after its tag attacks, Double Chain after Double Moves and Chain Attacks, and Gorgeous Star after its premium Gorgeous tags.

• 

  The final Japanese set, Gorgeous Star set 5, was a send-off: it put every gimmick in the game, from Mega Evolution to Terastal, on a legendary or mythical Pokémon, doubled Star Points and ran a Thank You Campaign.

• Zacian and Zamazenta bookended the Japanese run. The Crowned Pokémon headlined Set 1 in September 2020, returned in Double Chain set 1 and were Superstars again in the very last set.
• The Dash Campaign that began two days after launch gave primary-school children a free Pikachu tag, a sample Memory tag, a starter book and a how-to-play DVD.
• Set 1 included a Shiny Celebi Star tag, and Set 2 followed it with a Shiny Celebi Support Pokémon Ticket.
• Eternatus had two different Superstar tags in Set 4 alone, became a Double Move user in Double Chain set 3 and was offered as a Support Pokémon Ticket in Gorgeous Star set 1.
• From 15 December 2023, Terapagos could appear during Get in Battle! and shield one of the player’s Pokémon from damage, a helper rather than an opponent.

Legacy

What came after

• Announcement – May 2020. Revealed in CoroCoro Comic with a summer 2020 launch in mind, then delayed by the pandemic
• Japanese launch – 17 September 2020. Set 1 goes live and Mezastudio Kawasaki opens
• Super Tag series – 8 July 2021. The first change of series, adding Super Tag attacks and anime guest Trainers
• 100 million plays – 14 December 2021. Reached in 451 days, against about 600 for Tretta and 800 for Ga-Olé
• Double Chain series – 7 July 2022. Double Move and Chain tags arrive, along with the Masters Eight
• Gorgeous Star series – 6 July 2023. Terastal and Gorgeous tags and the Pokémon Horizons Trainers
• Final Japanese set – 18 April 2024. Gorgeous Star set 5 begins, three days after Frienda is announced
• Pokémon Frienda – 11 July 2024. The successor launches and replaces Mezastar machines store by store; customer support for Mezastar ends on 31 July
• Launch across Asia – 1 April 2025. Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, then Taiwan and mainland China a day later
• Pokémon Tagstar – 13 April 2026. The South Korean launch, about nine months later than first planned; Vietnam and India followed in May and June

Where to play it today

Pokémon Mezastar can no longer be played in Japan. Its final set, Gorgeous Star set 5, arrived on 18 April 2024, Pokémon Frienda began replacing the machines store by store from 11 July 2024, and customer support ended on 31 July 2024. Japanese tags still change hands second-hand, and Frienda’s first set gave Grade 5 and 6 tags bearing a Meteor Mark a new job as Support Pokémon. Elsewhere in Asia the game is very much alive: as of October 2026 its international edition runs in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, mainland China, the Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam and India, with series of its own. It has never been released in the UK, Europe or North America, and there is no home version.

How it was made

Mezastar was the fourth Pokémon arcade series from Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. and Marvelous, after Battrio, Tretta and Ga-Olé. It was revealed in CoroCoro Comic in May 2020 with a summer launch in mind, but the COVID-19 pandemic pushed it back to 17 September 2020, by which time Ga-Olé was being wound down in Japan.

Two ideas set it apart from Ga-Olé. The shared monitor let players at neighbouring stations merge their screens for cooperative battles, and Ga-Olé’s round disks gave way to flat tags with QR codes. The launch had a showcase venue in Bandai Namco Amusement’s Mezastudio Kawasaki, and Mezastar TV on YouTube went on to promote every set that followed.

Mezastar beyond the machine

Theme songsThe theme song, Behold! Pokémon Mezastar!! (Kenzan! Pokémon Mezastar!!), was written and composed by Hyadain and sung by Naomi Tamura and Tomohiro Hatano, and it was remixed for the Super Tag and Double Chain series. The Gorgeous Star series had a theme of its own, Full Throttle! Pokémon Mezastar! Gorgeous Star, released with a music video on the official Pokémon YouTube channel.

Mezastar TVThe official YouTube show posted its first video on 20 September 2020, three days after launch, and a new one every Friday after that. The Mezastar Navigators, Masato, Ai, Sakura and J, played each new set, ran challenges and fronted in-game campaigns, and after the final episode the channel carried straight on as Pokémon Frienda TV on 31 May 2024.

Magazine tie-insShogakukan’s children’s magazines carried paper Support Pokémon Tickets throughout the run, among them CoroCoro Comic, CoroCoro Ichiban!, Televi-Kun and Pokémon Fan, each adding a named Pokémon such as Lapras, Drednaw or Darkrai to the Support roster for a few months. The arcade chains Molly Fantasy and PALO ran ticket campaigns of their own, and Namco venues handed out Battle Tickets.

Venues and goodsFrom Gorgeous Star set 1 there was a Mezastar City venue in each of Japan’s 47 prefectures, offering a special TV Edition mode starring the Mezastar Navigators. Official goods were sold alongside the machines: the starter set, the Mezastar Box and Binder for storing tags, and the Dynamax Band and Tera Orb accessories.

Popularity & reception

Plays and tags

Mezastar is measured in plays and tags rather than copies sold. More than ten million tags were shipped within about a month of launch and over 30 million by 31 March 2021, and on 14 December 2021 Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. announced that the machine had passed 100 million plays, counting one play for every coin inserted, in 451 days. Pokémon Tretta had needed about 600 days to reach the same mark and Pokémon Ga-Olé about 800, though Mezastar’s own successor, Pokémon Frienda, has since done it in 273.

• 100mplays in 451 days (December 2021)
• 10m+tags shipped in the first month
• 30m+tags shipped by 31 March 2021
• 10countries and regions in Asia since 2025

What the makers said

Like the other Pokémon kids’ arcade machines, Mezastar was sold to game centres rather than reviewed, so it has no critics’ scores; the business results tell the story instead. In its results for the year to March 2022, Marvelous said Mezastar had “非常に好調な売上を記録” (recorded very strong sales), and the company went on to give its arcade games a business segment of their own. When the international edition opened in April 2025, Marvelous reported that it had “好調なスタートを切っている” (got off to a strong start).

With no review scores to go on, Mezastar’s reception is best read in its numbers, and for a machine aimed at children of four to eight they were outstanding. Its makers singled out the cooperative Special Tag Battle, in which neighbouring players team up on the shared screen, as a particular draw. Mezastar beat Tretta and Ga-Olé to 100 million plays by a wide margin, made a strong start abroad in 2025 and set the pace that Frienda, its own successor, has since beaten.

Further reading

More Pokémon arcade games on the site: