| Pokémon Champions | |||
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| Release Date | Gameplay & Story | Pre-Register & Pre-Order | Review |
Pokémon Champions brings competitive and casual players together on a single standard-battling platform. Read on to learn how it plays, what it's about, and everything else we know so far.
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Pokémon Champions Gameplay
Pokémon Battling and Strategies
Pokémon Champions centers exclusively on Pokémon battles, and is expected to be an official avenue for competitive players to test team compositions and strategies. It utilizes established mechanics such as Pokémon types, Abilities, Natures, and moves, as well as the meta surrounding held items. It also streamlines stat points by confirming the removal of Individual Values (IVs) and potentially Effort Values (EVs).
As of now, only fully-evolved Pokémon will be available for use (possibly except Pikachu, since it still appeared in the team selection menu posted by official media), as confirmed by producer Masaaki Hoshino. He explained that the choice was made to improve accessibility for new players. Still, they plan to introduce pre-evolved Pokémon after several final evolutions have been added.
Mega Evolution
So far, the only confirmed gimmick in Pokémon Champions is Mega Evolution. Mega evolving a fully-evolved Pokémon grants it a new and stronger form, with changes to its stats and, in some cases, Ability.
Mega Evolution in the game bestows Feraligatr, Meganium, and Emboar with new Abilities, two of which have never been seen before. Mega Feraligatr's Dragonize converts Normal-type moves into Dragon-type with a 20% power boost, whereas Mega Meganium's Mega Sol enables moves to function under the harsh sunlight weather condition.
Meanwhile, Mega Emboar will have Mold Breaker, which bypasses the Ability of any target Pokémon it uses a move on. Examples include being able to hit Levitate users with Ground-type moves, striking Pokémon with the Sturdy Ability in one go, and disabling Magic Bounce users from reflecting status moves back at Mega Emboar.
Links with Pokémon HOME
The game integrates Pokémon HOME, meaning players can simply import their Pokémon from titles such as Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, as well as Pokémon GO. There are restrictions, however; not all Pokémon will be transferable to Pokémon Champions, and those obtained within the game cannot be transferred back to Pokémon Home.
Trial and Permanent Recruitment
Aside from using visitors from Pokémon HOME, there is another way to build one's team in Pokémon Champions: Recruitment. A Trial Recruitment entails choosing one Pokémon per day from a randomized selection. Recruited Pokémon from this mode are only available for 7 days.
Meanwhile, players can spend Victory Points (VP) to use Permanent Recruitment. It allows players to recruit multiple Pokémon in a single day and permanently add them to their roster.
Single and Double Battles
There are two formats for the matches: Single and Double battles. Singles places two opposing teams in a 1v1 match, while Doubles adds more complexity to team dynamics with a 2v2 setup.
4 Battle Modes
Pokémon Champions focuses solely on the Pokémon battle system, allowing players to choose from 4 modes: Ranked, Casual, Private, and Online Competitions. Ranked Battle pits evenly matched Trainers in terms of Rank against each other, while Casual Battle makes for low-pressure play, as it does not record wins and losses. Players can also host a Private Battle with a unique room ID that they can share with any challenger. Lastly, Online Competitions are official in-game events with preset battle rules that change every season.
Victory Points to Train, Recruit, and Shop
Victory Points (VP) are the in-game currency that players can earn from battles to fully access the following in-game functions: Train, Recruit, and Shop.
Spending VP paves the way for a desired Pokémon build by swapping moves, altering Natures and Abilities, and redistributing stat points. As mentioned earlier, VP can also be used to permanently recruit Pokémon to one's team several times a day. Moreover, VP lets players purchase shop items, such as held items, Mega Stones, battle music, and character customizations (clothing, accessories, hair & cosmetics, pre-battle poses, throwing styles, and victory poses).
Pokémon Champions Story Plot
Similar to Pokémon Stadium, Pokémon Champions emphasizes competitive, multiplayer battles, diverging from the story-driven experiences typical of mainline Pokémon games. The game’s focus is on online, cross-platform play with four different battle modes. While there's potential for future updates to introduce new content, including story elements, the game’s primary appeal lies in its battle mechanics rather than an expansive narrative.
Pokémon Champions Similar Games
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Pokémon Legends Z-A Adventure, Monster-Catching |
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Pokémon TCG Pocket Card-Game, Multiplayer |
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Pokémon GO Augmented Reality (AR), Location-Based Game |
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Digimon Story Time Stranger Monster-Taming, JRPG |
