Game Freak has shared a new behind-the-scenes look at Pokémon Champions, explaining why the game was created and how the team approached building a dedicated home for competitive Pokémon battles.
In a new video released as part of Game Freak’s temporary 30th anniversary revival of its official YouTube channel, Morimoto and Iwao discussed the development of Pokémon Champions, including Game Freak’s role in the project, changes made to make battling faster, and the reasoning behind some of the game’s more competitive-focused features.
Perhaps the most interesting detail is the reason Pokémon Champions exists in the first place: Game Freak wanted to make sure the traditional Pokémon battle system would have somewhere to live even as future Pokémon games continue to change.
Pokémon Champions was created to preserve traditional Pokémon battles
Iwao explained that Game Freak had been thinking about what would happen as the Pokémon series continued to experiment with its battle systems.
Players have been battling under variations of the traditional system since Pokémon Red and Green, and some have been playing that way for decades. Simply changing the system and asking those players to move on did not feel right to the developers.
At the same time, Game Freak did not want concerns about preserving the existing battle system to stop the main series from trying new things.
The solution was to create a separate game that could carry the traditional battle system forward and remain playable over the long term. That idea became Pokémon Champions.
Morimoto joked that another motivation was simply giving people like himself somewhere to keep battling when they get old.
The original proposal apparently even included photographs of Morimoto and Hoshino as examples of the people the game was being designed for. Morimoto said he genuinely wanted to create something he could continue playing himself, and Iwao noted that he has done exactly that.
Morimoto says he regularly puts thousands of battles into the games he works on.
Game Freak created the concept, while Pokémon Works handled development
The video also clarifies how development responsibilities were divided.
Game Freak worked on the initial concept for Pokémon Champions and defined what kind of game it should be. The team then prepared documentation describing the game and provided direction on areas including game balance, battle programming and presentation.
Pokémon Works handled the actual development, with Game Freak moving into a broader supervisory role as implementation progressed.
That distinction is useful given how closely Champions follows the mechanics and conventions of the main Pokémon series while being developed outside Game Freak itself.
Getting players into battles faster was a priority
One of the biggest changes compared with the main Pokémon games is how Champions handles Pokémon preparation.
Iwao said the team wanted to rethink the traditional training process because Champions is fundamentally a game about battling.
In a main-series Pokémon game, raising Pokémon, gaining levels and developing a team are part of the adventure. In Champions, however, spending a large amount of time preparing Pokémon would delay players from reaching the part of the game the developers most want them to play.
That led to a system where players can scout Pokémon that are already ready to battle.
Removing much of the traditional training loop created a new design problem. Game Freak had to work out what would motivate players to continue playing when raising Pokémon was no longer one of the game’s main progression systems.
Morimoto described figuring out that gameplay cycle as one of the hardest parts of the project.
Even battle animations and messages were shortened
That focus on getting into battles quickly affected smaller parts of the game as well.
Morimoto said the team placed considerable importance on keeping Champions moving quickly. They reviewed the length of battle effects, messages displayed when attacks connect, and the UI itself.
Where possible, animations and information are displayed at the same time rather than making the player wait for one thing after another.
The goal was simple: spend less time waiting and more time battling.
Champions displays exact probabilities for competitive fairness
Pokémon Champions also takes a different approach to information that has traditionally been hidden or described vaguely.
Morimoto pointed to phrases such as an attack being “likely” to hit as an example. In Champions, the developers wanted numerical probabilities to be shown directly.
Iwao said this was a deliberate decision tied to the competitive nature of the game. If Champions is being treated as a competitive game, players should be able to understand exactly what the probabilities are rather than relying on vague descriptions.
That is why the game displays more detailed probability information than traditional Pokémon titles.
The arena was designed with real Pokémon tournaments in mind
The presentation of Pokémon Champions was also influenced by events such as the Pokémon Japan Championships (PJCS) and Pokémon World Championships (WCS).
Iwao said the developers first asked why people in the world of Champions would be battling every day. Their answer was to build a setting where Pokémon battling exists as a sport that people regularly participate in and watch.
They also wanted to distinguish it from Pokémon Sword and Shield, where battles were presented more like a bright, traditional stadium sport.
Champions instead leans further toward the look of entertainment fighting events, with darker arenas, brighter lighting and a more dramatic presentation.
Part of that decision came from thinking about how Pokémon battles look at actual tournaments. PJCS and WCS matches are shown on large screens in dark venues, and the developers wanted Champions to look good in that environment.
There’s a team inside Game Freak deciding how Pokémon should work
Morimoto also offered an interesting glimpse into how Pokémon themselves are designed from a battle perspective.
Game Freak has an internal team responsible for deciding Pokémon abilities, the moves they can learn and other battle-related characteristics. That includes decisions such as which Ability a Mega-Evolved Pokémon should have.
Team members choose Pokémon they feel particularly knowledgeable about and take responsibility for proposing their settings.
According to Morimoto, there is sometimes competition over who gets to work on particular Pokémon.
Developers will argue that they know a Pokémon better or have a stronger idea for how it should work, before bringing their proposals together and discussing them as a group.
Morimoto says he can play 40–50 battles in a day
That quick team-building system appears to have worked particularly well for Morimoto.
He described how, in older games, he might think of a new Pokémon combination or team idea but decide that preparing the team would take too much effort and simply continue battling with the same one.
In Champions, he can see another player’s strategy, think it looks interesting, and immediately try something similar himself.
Morimoto said he sometimes plays 40 to 50 battles in a day. He also likes being able to look at data showing what moves other players are using and quickly prepare a Pokémon based on what he finds.
Iwao summed up the design goal as getting players to spend their time on team building and battling, rather than the work required to prepare a team.
New players aren’t expected to know everything
Champions is also being designed around the reality that Pokémon battling can be difficult to understand when first starting out.
Iwao acknowledged that a new player is faced with an enormous number of Pokémon and may have no idea which ones to use, how to build them or which moves they should learn.
The game therefore includes an automatic team-building feature that lets players start battling without first understanding every part of competitive Pokémon.
From there, the developers expect players to learn through experimentation. If a particular opposing Pokémon causes problems, a player can change their team or moves and try again.
Because Pokémon builds can be changed quickly, that process of trying, losing, adjusting and battling again is intended to be a central part of Champions.
You don’t need Pokémon HOME to build a competitive team
Morimoto also revealed that he still hasn’t connected Pokémon HOME to his copy of the game.
Instead, he has been building teams entirely from Pokémon obtained through Champions’ scouting system.
He said that approach also gives players an opportunity to discover Pokémon they may not normally use, and that it is possible to reach high ranks using Pokémon obtained this way.
For a game built around competitive Pokémon battling, that may end up being one of Champions’ biggest changes from the main series: the barrier between having an idea for a team and actually trying it is dramatically smaller.
And judging by Morimoto’s 40 or 50 battles a day, that appears to be exactly what Game Freak wanted.
