Hey Trainers!
The much-anticipated Pokémon Champions launched globally yesterday! For those who may not know, Pokémon Champions is a free game designed entirely for Pokémon Battles! Trainers can compete against their friends or other Trainers online in Single or Double Battles. Pokémon Champions will also become the platform for official competitions moving forward!
If you’ve been with us for a while then you know that I’m a big a fan of competitive battling, especially the official Double Battle format that the Pokémon Company uses for their Video Game Championships, known more commonly as VGC. Today I wanted to hop on and give you my initial thoughts on the game and whether or not I would recommend checking it out!
For those of you familiar with my VGC Regulation breakdown articles, you know I tend to ramble just a bit. To keep this article brief, I will assume that you were the same as me and knew all of the information that had been publicly released prior to the official launch. If you don’t, there are some amazing other creators and resources out there that can get you up to speed. I would recommend this video from WolfeyVGC here, who got to play the game early and released a video, as well as Serebii.net, where the team there has been working tirelessly to update their site with all of the newest information. I would highly recommend checking them out!
For this article, I’m going to be explaining things as though you’re already familiar with them. While I won’t be going into anything too technical, I would highly encourage you to use one of these other resources for any terms I use that you’re unfamiliar with.
For this article, I’m going to break it into four sections: my observations, the good, the bad, and whether or not I would recommend Pokémon Champions for you! Let’s take a look!
A Note About Pokémon Showdown
Before we dive in to Pokémon Champions, I feel like I need to talk about its fan-made predecessor. Pokémon Showdown is a web browser simulator that allows you to fully explore the sandbox that is Pokémon battling. It is and always has been free and extremely accessible, allowing you to craft your team to your liking and battle friends and random opponents online. For even the best competitive Trainers in the world, this was the go-to resource to test your team prior to spending the copious amounts of resources to build them up in game.
When Pokémon Champions was announced, everyone knew that this was the Pokémon Company’s attempt to launch an official version of Pokémon Showdown, which was created and is run by fans. Especially with Pokémon Champions becoming the home of official VGC competitions moving forward, they seem to have tried to create a one-stop shop for battling. The question on some people’s minds was: is this the end of Pokémon Showdown?
NO
Full stop, no. While I will get into the specifics later, Pokémon Champions in its current form is nowhere near Pokémon Showdown. This is coming from someone who (spoiler!) is a fan of Pokémon Champions, at least right now. Pokémon Champions was designed to make competitive Pokémon battling more accessible, and it certainly has done that. However, it does not come even close to the accessibility of testing and the sandbox theorycrafting that Pokémon Showdown allows, and frankly, I don’t think it ever will be. This is not a knock against Pokémon Champions, but rather reassurance that Pokémon Showdown is here to stay!
Important Context From Me
I also think that I should make a few things clear before I dive into the meat of the article. I am not a newcomer to battling in the main series games, or a newcomer to the games in general. I don’t say this to put myself up on a pedestal or anything, but rather to show you where I’m coming from and how it might be different to you.
In Scarlet and Violet, the previous installment in the Pokémon series that hosted official battles, I have invested a lot of time. In that game, I have the resources to build up pretty much any Pokémon I want for competitive battles. I played the online ladder in that game extensively, and as such I had a lot of Pokémon that were battle ready. I was able to drag and drop these Pokémon into Champions via Pokémon HOME, which instantly gave me an edge in Champions. However, I will still be trying to look at things from a mostly neutral POV, but know that some of my observations and opinions are based on being a veteran of the series.
Additionally, I am not new to competitive battling. While I would not say I’m anywhere near a pro, I am also certainly not a newcomer. As such, competing in Pokémon Champions was a matter of learning the game and its UI, as opposed to new Trainers who are learning the ins and outs of Pokémon battling at the competitive level. As such, my perspective will be much different than someone picking up competitive battling for the first time, but I will again do my best to try and take a neutral POV.
Finally, I did purchase the starter pack that costs $8 USD. However, I did not purchase either the Battle Pass nor the annual subscription, and I don’t foresee myself doing so in the future. While I’m not technically F2P, I don’t think the starter pack gave me a huge advantage, especially given that I transferred in my team. However, I think that if you are looking to spend a bit of money then the starter pack is the way to go.
I think that finally takes care of all the intro stuff. Let’s get into the article, with my initial observations!
The Graphics
Ok, I see it, you see it, the entire community sees it. The graphics outside of battle are pretty atrocious, specifically the NPC characters in the cutscenes and menu screens. However, the in battle graphics are gorgeous. To me, this is the most important part. If you’re coming to Pokémon Champions expecting a story, you’re playing the wrong game. While I see many people griping online about how bad the character models look, this honestly doesn’t bother me. While I do agree that the Pokémon Company is a big enough company that they should have this down by now, I also acknowledge that this is a free game with a focus on battling, and they nailed that aspect.
The Tutorial
I think the tutorial itself was great. It gave all of the information a new Trainer would need to understand battling, even if they’ve never picked up a main series Pokémon game in their life. The tutorial focuses mainly on the essential aspects of the game, which are battling and recruiting Pokémon (which we will talk about later). All other tutorials, such as character customization, the shop, and more advanced battle techniques, are reserved for when you select those menus. If you’re like me and wanted to get straight into the game, they don’t hold your hand too much and you can dive in pretty quickly.
With that being said, the cutscenes were a drag. The text is slow, the graphics are not great, and there’s a lot of exposition for the lore of the game that honestly didn’t seem too consequential. However, you can skip the cutscenes! As someone who sat through all of them, I would personally recommend not doing so when they are introducing something related to the mechanics of the game, but the lore cutscenes are totally safe to skip.
Recruiting Pokémon
One of the main goals of Pokémon Champions was to create an accessible platform for Trainers to explore competitive battling. As such, there has to be a way to obtain Pokémon in Champions, as some players may not have access to other games. This is done through the Recruiting system, where a Trainer can choose a Pokémon from a randomized set chosen from a larger roster. You can then temporarily recruit the Pokémon for free or use in-game currency to permanently recruit the Pokémon.
There is a limit on how many Pokémon you can recruit for free, but the cooldown can be skipped using other free in-game currency. Pokémon are stored in your box, which has limited storage space. As such, it seems like Trainers who are using only Champions should be using the “temporary recruitment” option for the most part unless they have a clear team in mind that they want to build.
Prior to release, players were very worried about the limited box storage space, and it admittedly is a concern. However, there are ways to earn more box space for free.
When playing through the early ranks of the competitive ladder (which I will talk about later), 5 more box spaces were awarded for reaching the Great Tier. This indicates that, while space may be limited at first, there will be ways to increase the storage outside of spending real money.
Pokémon HOME
It was announced early on that Pokémon Champions would immediately launch with HOME compatibility, unlike most other games. This allows you to send Pokémon into Champions from HOME. While they do take up spaces in your Champions box while they’re in the game, they don’t permanently reside there. The Pokémon are still counted as being stored in HOME, although they can’t be moved to any other games while they’re in Champions. For Trainers with access to Pokémon HOME, this seems to solve the concerns about storage. Additionally, there is a free version of Pokémon HOME, so this can act as a storage increase even for Trainers who are F2P.
**important note: I did not test whether Pokémon encountered in Champions via the recruitment system can be transferred out.
Additionally, there is no limit to how many times you can bring a Pokémon into Champions, at least from my testing. While it is a bit tedious, you can very easily transfer in the Pokémon you need when you need them, then transfer them out.
Training Pokémon
In the main series games, Pokémon have a lot more to their stats than you might encounter in a casual playthrough. While this is primarily designed to ensure that even Pokémon of the same species feel different, it is possible to optimize these stats to give your team a competitive edge, with Individual Values (IV’s), Effort Values (EV’s), and Natures all affecting your stats in different ways. However, optimizing these stats in the main series was previously very difficult or very expensive (using in-game currency) and always tedious. This was one of the main benefits to Pokémon Showdown for testing teams prior to building them in game.
Pokémon Champions is the first official game we’ve had that makes this training system extremely accessible as well as easy to understand for newer Trainers!
In the Training menu, you are able to freely influence your Pokémon’s IV’s, Nature, and moves to your liking. An important note is that IV’s do not exist in Pokémon Champions. I’ll talk a bit more about that later, but it does significantly cut down on the variations that a Pokémon can have stat-wise, which is a good thing for accessibility.
While the EV spread shown above is pretty simple, this does make it infinitely easier to train your Pokémon with a more complex EV spread for more advanced Trainers. While it is a bit overwhelming for newer Trainers, these systems all existed in the main series games, but the information was much more hidden. We have never been able to see a numeric value for EV’s or see the full spread of Natures and their stat buffs/drops in game. If you can master the system then you will certainly have an edge in battle, and Champions makes this so much easier!
However, this all comes with a cost, literally. You must spend in-game currency, with the cost increasing as you change more of your Pokémon’s attributes. While the cost is minimal and can be earned simply through battling, this does mean that testing and making small adjustments will be difficult. I’ve personally bounced between several moves on my Tyranitar, Maushold, and Whimsicott a few times already, and the cost is starting to stack up.
However, the training system is undoubtedly the most accessible it has ever been thanks to Pokémon Champions!
The Battling
And now we’ve reached the whole reason this game exists: battling other Trainers!
As I mentioned previously, the battle graphics are incredible, which is good since this is what you will probably be looking at most of the time. Additionally, the battles move extremely quickly. In previous iterations, it felt like a turn could drag on forever. In Champions, if you blink you might miss a key piece of information. Stat drops on multiple targets, such as using Icy Wind, happen simultaneously. I’ve been using a sand team, and the damage from Sandstorm still happens in turn order but occurs much more quickly. This is great!
The information page that was introduced in Sword and Shield has been updated even further, which is also amazing! Previously, Trainers had to keep track of stat buffs/drops, field effects like Tailwind, and more through taking notes. As you can see at the top of the menu, you can check the status of each individual Pokémon on the field, both yours and your opponents’!
Additionally, a brand new inclusion in Champions builds on the idea of Super-Effective or Not Very Effective hits. If you use a move against a dual-typed target where both types are weak to your move, it will display the text “Extremely Effective”, as seen with Milotic using Icy Wind against Garchomp in the picture. Similarly, a move that is resisted by both types will have the text “Mostly Ineffective” instead. These are building upon previous accessibility features where moves would be labeled as “Effective”, “Super-Effective”, and “Not Very Effective” prior to choosing your move. For newer Trainers who may not be familiar with the complexities of the type chart, this is great!
Pokémon battles have been slowly building upon previous iterations and improving throughout the years. Pokémon Champions takes the existing system and continues to improve it with more and more quality of life and accessibility features. Definitely all positive here!
The Ranked Battle Ladder
The Ranked Battle system is very reminiscent of the systems utilized by Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet. You must work your way up the ranks, with wins earning you points and losses losing you points. You will be matched against a player at a similar rank to you, and you can earn more points by maintaining a win streak.
It should be noted that there is currently only casual and ranked battles. There are no ways of separating out Trainers based on their skill level. Folks who are picking up the game for the first time are being matched up against seasoned VGC veterans who had their team fully trained at launch. However, this is very much a launch-day issue, and will resolve itself in the future. I see a lot of people online saying “Champions isn’t that serious, people on the ladder need to calm down”. Remember that this game was designed to make competitive Pokémon more accessible. These people are not cheating, they simply have enjoyed the game for a long time and have invested significantly prior to Champions. While the matches can be one-sided at times, don’t get discouraged!
On that note though, one thing I have noticed is that the ranked battles system does include bots. While this hasn’t been officially confirmed yet, people who are familiar with ranked systems will see the signs. The opponent has a generic name, uses a mismatched team with poor moves or attributes, and locks in their moves and team immediately. Additionally, these battles only appear after you have lost a battle or two without winning. For example, I lost two battles in a row (I MISSSED 4 MOVES PLUS 2 CONFUSION HITS IN A SINGLE BATTLE), then got matched up against a trainer with an Arcanine using Scary Face (a move never seen in competitive), a Whimsicott using Seed Bomb (it’s a support Pokémon usually, but a Special Attacker otherwise), and a Kingambit with Pressure as its Ability (it will always run Defiant to be viable). They locked in their moves each turn immediately and made bad moves like using Aggron’s Steel type moves against my Incineroar instead of its Rock moves (it used a Rock move later in the same battle). This is clearly designed to ensure that you can’t drop your ranking too far thanks to a string of losses, but bots in a competitive game are always controversial.
The Sandbox
This is the biggest reason why I think that Pokémon Showdown will continue to exist, even more so than the cost to train Pokémon. At present, there is a limited number of Pokémon that are able to be transferred into Pokémon Champions. Additionally, only Pokémon that are fully evolved are eligible (minus Pikachu because its Pikachu). The only Battle Gimmick that is available right now is Mega Evolution. This limitation cannot be circumnavigated by transferring in Pokémon from HOME, as the same list of Pokémon are eligible from there.
To be clear, I am 100% sure that this roster will continue to grow moving forward. Of course it’s frustrating not being able to use your favorites (my beloved Metagross did not make the initial cut), but remember that the game has been out for a day. Patience is a virtue!
However, the sandbox is not just limited to Pokémon. A significant portion of Items are not included in the game. While I didn’t expect every Item to be available, especially the ones that are irrelevant to battling, there are some staples of competitive battling, such as the Life Orb, Assault Vest, Rocky Helmet, and even the Choice Band/Specs, that are missing from the game. This is the first time that the Item sandbox has been limited this heavily.
Again, I’m sure this will grow over time, but while I was expecting a more limited roster of Pokémon, I expected most of the Items that have been foundational to competitive battling to be in the game at launch.
Mega Evolutions
The fan favorite mechanic is back! While this shouldn’t be a surprise, Mega Evolutions are at the center of every battle right now. Many of the Mega Evolutions introduced in Legends: ZA are featured using main series battle mechanics for the first time in Champions!
This was one of the things I was the most excited for. Whether or not Mega Evolution is your preferred Battle Gimmick, no one can deny that it’s an incredible premise!
It should be noted that not all Mega Evolutions are currently available. The only Mega Evolutions that are available are the ones for Pokémon on the currently allowed roster. This means that in addition to some of the new Mega Evolutions being missing (justice for Mega Staraptor), some of the older Mega Evolutions are as well. I guess my Mega Metagross team will have to wait…
As of now, Z-Moves, Dynamax, and Terastalization are not in the game. However, I’m sure they will be introduced alongside new additions to the sandbox later on, and I’m excited to see them return in the official competitive format!
Alright, I just covered a lot of stuff just from my first several hours of playing. While I’ve mentioned it a bit throughout the explanation, let’s hash out what the good and the bad are. I’ll do my best to keep everything objective and constructive, and I won’t be covering every little gripe I have with the game or every amazing thing either. Let’s start with the good!
The Battling
Since the game centers entirely around battling, this was the biggest thing the developers had to get right, and thankfully they did! All existing quality-of-life features have been included, and some have even been improved upon! The battles move much faster and keep you on your toes the whole time!
Additionally, the battles look great! Again, while the graphics are not great outside of battles, that doesn’t matter nearly as much as if the battles themselves had looked bad. Pair this with updated sprites and move animations, and Pokémon battles have never looked this good on the Switch!
The Accessibility
This is probably the biggest upside of Pokémon Champions. The Pokémon Company set out to make competitive battling more accessible, and I think they certainly achieved that. To be clear, it is still not on the level of Pokémon Showdown. However, compared to every other official game, this is in another league! There have been small improvements over the years, such as Bottle Caps, Item Mints, and more accessible EV Vitamins. However, Champions gives you all of the information you need and allows you to adjust your Pokémon’s attributes like never before!
Accessibility in battle has been improved as well. Again, this is building upon previous updates to the game, but Champions has the best iteration. More information is available in battle, such as the multipliers for stat buffs as well as information on current battlefield effects. These are things that top-tier competitors were always tracking mentally or in their notes, but having it as a built-in part of the game at last is amazing!
The Price
I think we have to remind ourselves that the game is free. I 100% agree with folks online that the game is lacking the polish that we should expect from a large developer like Pokémon. However, I care a lot less about the lack of polish since I didn’t spend a penny for the game, and the mechanics are all working as they should.
I know a lot of people were concerned about the paid elements of the game being required. While there are certainly benefits, I can safely say that none of the paid elements feel instrumental to success in Pokémon Champions. In fact, most of the items you can buy with the in-game currency or via the paid options are cosmetic. Concerns about box storage space have been somewhat abated, as there seem to be F2P ways of earning more storage. I still wish there was more in the base game, but at least paying for it is not the only option.
In fact, I would say that if you are going to invest some real money into the game, I would say a Pokémon HOME subscription is much more worth it, even if you’re just playing Champions. If you have even one of the other Switch Pokémon games then HOME is a no-brainer. As far as the Champions bundles are concerned, I would say the starter pack is the best, as it is a one-time purchase and includes additional box spaces. To be clear, I’m very glad that certain Items are not locked behind the Battle Pass, but this also means that I’m almost certainly not going to buy it, as the Items can be earned through other means, I can transfer in the Pokémon from HOME, and the cosmetic items alone are not worth the price tag.
When it comes down to it, I saw it as buying the game for $8 USD. The annual subscription and Battle Pass are not required to succeed, and that is a good thing!
Again, I am trying to keep this criticism constructive. A lot of issues that players are complaining about will iron themselves out with time, and are likely only at the center of the conversation because they are exacerbated on launch day. However, there are some issues that I still want to talk about.
The Sandbox
TO BE CLEAR, I want to separate myself from the folks that are mad about their favorites not being included. That is not the issue I have here, and I’m 100% sure that more and more Pokémon will be added over time.
My issue is that the sandbox is limited not only more than I think is reasonable, but in strange ways as well. However, even the most stripped-back formats have included the staple Items of competitive Pokémon at the very least. While I understand newer items like the Loaded Dice or Covert Cloak being excluded, the Items are currently so limited that some Pokémon might as well have no Item. I think that limited formats are a good thing, especially early on. However, some of the extremely powerful strategies and Pokémon from recent generations have been introduced, and many of the Items that have been introduced to help mitigate those issues are not here. For example, Venusaur with the Ability Chlorophyll can outspeed almost anything and put it to Sleep using Sleep Powder, and Mega Charizard Y makes this setup extremely easy. The number of good Grass types to help counter this are extremely limited. Normally, a Pokémon could hold the Safety Goggles Item to be immune to Powder moves, but Safety Goggles are not in the game, so this combination is extremely oppressive.
I could go on with more examples, but I think I’ve made my point. I think that if the Pokémon Company truly wants to make Pokémon Champions the go-to game for competitive battling, then they need to have the sandbox available. However, this does not mean that everything has to be legal in the current format. We have seen this for both Pokémon and Item limitations in the past. The Regulation system in Scarlet and Violet regularly banned/unbanned Pokémon from being usable, but the formats changed regularly. In Sun and Moon, certain formats banned Mega Stones or Z-Crystals, meaning they could control what gimmicks were available.
In summation, I completely understand the bans from a competitive balance standpoint, especially early in the game. However, not having these Items to experiment with more casually is a huge downside, and while this issue will slowly be fixed over time, I think this is a problem within the context of what the Pokémon Company’s goal seems to be with Champions. For now, I will still be building and testing my teams on Showdown for the foreseeable future, especially if we continue to lack basic Items.
No Practice Mode
This one is a bit complicated. I talked about some of the issues related to this in the observations section but not about this specifically.
Let’s say that I’m a new Trainer who is picking up not just competitive battle, but main series Pokémon for the first time. I’ve gone through and recruited my Pokémon and spent the currency to build what I think is a pretty solid team. I finally go to test the team and hit the ladder, and I get my team wiped off the face of the earth by a Trick Room team with Torkoal spamming Eruption. Umm… what???
Competitive Pokémon is extremely complicated. While its true that Champions eliminated one of the biggest barriers to entry, being the team building aspect, the fact remains that there is still a lot to learn. There are the training simulations available, but those are scripted battles with a set group of Pokémon, acting more like an interactive cutscene than anything. While Casual Battles exist, the odds of you getting a match that will actually teach you something there are low. If you hit the ladder, you will likely alternate between getting destroyed by a veteran to playing a bot with a completely nonsensical team.
I of course understand that losing is part of the process of learning competitive Pokémon. I went through it myself years ago. However, I don’t think there are enough tools to help newer Trainers learn the ins and outs of battle. For example, I played a match where the player lost because they kept trying to use Prankster moves against my Dark type, and another where my opponent kept trying to lower Milotic’s stats only to be swept away by a +6 Scald thanks to Competitive. If you have no idea what that means, imagine how confused my opponent must have been. I’m sure this is happening constantly right now to Trainers everywhere.
So what’s the solution to this problem? I think that having more training simulations would be an amazing start. Even if its scripted, introducing aspects like Tailwind or Trick Room would be very helpful. Nowhere in the game does it tell you that Dark types are immune to Status moves affected by the Ability Prankster, or that Grass types are immune to Powder moves. Having these advanced simulations available for Trainers who are looking to take competitive battling seriously could be a huge step up.
Additionally, some PVE battles against more intentionally designed NPC’s would also help a lot. Again, the slop that the bots are using on the ladder hardly counts as practice. Maybe demonstrate common team archetypes, such as a Rain team with a Rain setter, Water types to take advantage of the rain, and Steel and Grass types that benefit from the reduced Fire damage. This would give players some exposure to these common, more complex aspects of battling before hitting the ranked ladder themselves. I know from personal experience that being beaten down by more experienced players until you finally improve is not the most fun way to play the game.
I think the answer to this question is yes, but with an asterisk.
I think that if you’re a fan of Pokémon, then it is definitely worth checking out, especially since it’s free! However, you should set your expectations before going in, and I don’t mean about the quality of the game.
This is a game designed for competitive battling. If you are expecting a casual battle simulator, then this is not it, especially on the ranked ladder. Of course, everyone is welcome to play and enjoy Pokémon as they like! However, do not be surprised to find your opponent taking the match seriously. Competitive players have been waiting for a dedicated battling game with modern mechanics for years. You will be battling Incineroar, Archaludon, Whimsicott, and the rest. Veteran players will be transferring in their teams from previous games that have been optimized to their peak performance. While your Eeveelution team may be fun, it will almost certainly lose. Yes, the game is a bit sweaty, but that’s what it was designed for – people who take battling seriously or want to learn how to battle seriously.
As long as you understand that going into Pokémon Champions, then I think you’ll have a great time! Additionally, if you’re looking to learn about competitive battling, then there has never been a better time to start!
And there we have it! Pokémon Champions is far from a perfect game, but you can’t beat the price tag! I’m really excited to see how this game continues to grow! With that though, I think it’s time for me to get back to perfecting my Mega Excadrill team on the ladder. Hopefully I’ll see you all out on the battlefield!
