Game Freak suggests Pokémon Champions was built partly so it could change battles in future games
The Pokémon developer says Champions was made in part to preserve the classic rules
Game Freak has suggested that it could make further big changes to the Pokémon battle system in the future, after Champions was designed partly to preserve the series’ original battle system.
In a newly published video, Shigeki Morimoto, Pokémon‘s longtime battle director, and Kazumasa Iwao, the game director of Pokémon Champions, reflected on the game following its launch on mobile and Nintendo Switch earlier this year.
In the video, Iwao revealed that one of the reasons for developing the game was to retain the series’ original battle system, as the main series moves away from it.
Iwao wanted players who have “been enjoying the existing style of Pokémon battle for decades” to have a game that would retain the turn-based combat, as games like Pokémon Legends Arceus and Pokémon Legends Z-A moved away from it.
Iwao said that telling fans to just play the new version and that everything had changed “didn’t feel right” to the team at Game Freak, so they wanted to give fans a way to enjoy the classic style of Pokémon.
It’s currently unknown which style of battling will be featured in Pokémon Winds and Waves, which will be released next year on Nintendo Switch 2.
Pokémon Champions, which was released in April on console and June on mobile, allows players to bring their Pokémon from the main series into the game in order to battle other players or change their Pokémon’s stats.
Speaking to VGC in February, the game’s director Masaaki Hoshino told VGC that he “really (wants) to take this element of the series, Pokémon battles, something that sticks around forever.
“Many people have played Pokémon games, they’ve played Pokémon battles, but haven’t really gotten into the PVP side, playing against other players. With this game, I hope to expand that accessibility to make it something that anyone can jump in and enjoy.”
This weekend marks the first edition of the Pokémon World Championships, which will feature Pokémon Champions as the official game for the popular Pokémon Video Game Championships.
The Pokémon Company has said that Pokémon Champions will be used for all competitive Pokémon play going forward, even as newer games in the series are released.
The Pokémon World Championships 2026 will take place in San Francisco, California.
