Pokémon Champions could seriously transform competitive Pokémon play
2026 preview: Pokémon Champions could be the game that brings one of the best parts of Pokémon to the masses
Pokémon Champions could be the biggest thing to happen to the competitive Pokémon scene.
Until now, the barrier to entry for competitive Pokémon has been relatively high, and something that fans learned about in forums and on YouTube. It’s always been a part of the main games, and some in-game content, like the much-missed Battle Frontier, even encouraged competitive-style battling, but until Pokémon Champions, it’s been in the background.
Pokémon Champions promises to teach players the competitive side of Pokémon battles, but it also aims to be the home for serious players and official Pokémon events going forward.
The game is coming at the perfect time. The Pokémon World Championships are getting bigger and bigger, and starting in 2025, the event’s finals will take place in an arena for the first time. Competitive Pokémon is beginning to emulate the battles of the Pokémon League in the anime, with thousands of screaming fans chanting for their favourite trainers.
The only thing that has ever let it down is the visuals of the games themselves. The competitive battling scene has always been, understandably, not the priority of the main series games, meaning that World Championship matches haven’t looked as epic in-game as they have in the bustling arena around them. Pokémon Champions will look to change that.
The other thing Pokémon Champions looks to do is demystify the meta game around competitive Pokémon. Players shouldn’t have to learn about team building online. Pokémon Champions will offer players the chance to play with high-level Pokémon teams, and explain why competitive Pokémon players make the decisions they do.
There’s obviously an audience for this. One of the most popular Pokémon players, Wolfe Glick, receives millions of views on his videos where he breaks down his teams, his training process, and his thoughts on new strategies and moves. Pokémon Champions won’t totally replace the online community of competitive Pokémon players, but it clearly looks to be a first step for players to get into the scene.
“There’s obviously an audience for this. One of the most popular Pokémon players, Wolfe Glick, receives millions of views on his videos where he breaks down his teams”
This move to bring more players into the scene was perhaps clearest when it was announced that Pokémon Champions would be released not only on Nintendo Switch systems, but also on mobile. By disconnecting the competitive side of Pokémon from the main series, the number of people Pokémon Champions opens itself up to is huge.
The game will have compatibility with Pokémon Home so that players can bring their favourite main series Pokémon into Pokémon Champions, but it will also be playable without a mainline game.
It’s been confirmed that Mega Evolution will be supported in Pokémon Champions, but this opens up an important question – how many of the numerous Pokémon battling mechanics will be present in Pokémon Champions, or will be added in the future?
Z-Moves, Dynamaxing, and Terrastal Pokémon have all been massive factors in the competitive scene, so how will Pokémon Champions account for that? We also don’t know how Pokémon Champions will deal with future main series games, and how quickly those new Pokémon and mechanics will be added.
Pokémon Champions has a clear goal: Bring competitive Pokémon to the mainstream. It’s going to do that by being available on the widest number of platforms possible, and by making competitive Pokémon far easier to understand. The factors in its success will be how it accounts for the huge number of different battle mechanics.
Watching competitive Pokémon live is absolutely fantastic. More players should be able to enjoy that, and if Pokémon Champions can manage to bring that to more casual players, it will be a big success.
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