Pokémon Champions Review: Not The Pokémon Online Stadium People Hoped For

In many ways, Pokémon Champions is the game fans have been asking for since the series went online in the Gen 4 era, being closer to the old Pokémon Stadium titles than the modern titles. Fans have been crying out for a dedicated combat system, which is why so many unofficial Pokémon battle simulators are extremely popular online, especially as they allow for cross-generational battle mechanics.

The issue was always that Pokémon battles are just one part of the series. People play Pokémon for a variety of reasons, as people love the catching, collecting, exploring, and story as much as the combat. The question is whether the average Pokémon fan will show up for a dedicated battle game.

Pokémon Champions is finally here to give the casuals a chance to experience the big leagues, as it opens the door for competitive high-level matches in a way never seen before. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite stick the landing and feels more like a work in progress than a complete product.

Pokémon Champions Is a Free Ticket to Championship Play

Pokémon Champions is a free-to-play (or rather, free-to-start) battle simulator for Nintendo Switch & Switch 2, with mobile ports in development. Don't expect any kind of single-player content in the traditional sense, with the player going on a journey to defeat Gym Leaders, collect Badges, challenge the Elite Four, conquer the Champion, and catch them all. No, this game is all about battles against other players.

What's surprising about Pokémon Champions is just how unintrusive the monetization is. The real money purchases are for cosmetic items, Pokémon GO-style box upgrades to let players store more Pokémon, and tickets that hasten access to certain Pokémon from a rotating random roster.

It's genuinely surprising that the game doesn't push a pay-to-win agenda, though that could have been death for a game all about competitive battles. The only question is whether The Pokémon Company sticks to this going forward, as the game is suspiciously generous at launch, but as Pokémon GO proved, this could change on a dime.

It's possible that Pokémon Champions could be pushing Pokémon Home subscriptions, as it's possible to bring Pokémon over from that app, but even this can be done without any subscriptions, as anything in the Pokémon Home basic box is free to move over to Pokémon Champions.

Pokémon Champions Has a Lack of Content at Launch

While Pokémon Champions does have a handful of quirky NPCs, these act as little more than cosplayable faces for the various facilities. It won't be long before the player has to jump into a match, which is where most of the content is found in Pokémon Champions.

At launch, Pokémon Champions has around 180 Pokémon, which is a respectable number, even if fans are annoyed that it's missing the entire Pokédex. It's more frustrating that, except Pikachu, the entire roster is final-stage Pokémon. This means there currently isn't much variety in the pool of top-tier Pokémon, and creatures like Incineroar are already dominating the scene, meaning players should expect to see the same few faces at the higher levels of play.

It's more frustrating that there's a lack of modes in Pokémon Champions at launch, with only 3v3 singles and 4v4 doubles at launch. Fans were expecting the full 6v6 experience, like in the mainline games, and it's shocking that it's not already in Pokémon Champions.

There's also annoyance over the absence of Tera-type Pokémon, which were shown during the debut trailer, where cross-generation battle gimmicks were promised. At launch, only Mega Evolutions were present.

It feels like Pokémon Champions is intentionally missing a lot, so it can be added in future updates. Frankly, I'd rather the game cost $10-20 at launch and have more features off the bat to keep me interested, than be hooked into a live service that's going to keep trying to pull me back in over time.

It's Never Been Easier to Build & Use Competitive Pokémon

Easily the best aspect of Pokémon Champions is how easy it is to actually experience competitive battles, and I don't just mean picking a team and throwing them into a match. Pokémon Champions offers extensive customization and training options for Pokémon, helping players tailor them to their needs.

In Pokémon Champions, changing a Pokémon's Nature, Ability, and move pool is only a button click away. In the mainline games, these are nightmares to accomplish, especially in the older titles, where players had to endlessly breed until they got what they wanted.

It's also possible to adjust stats using helpful sliders, allowing players to distribute points as needed. Throw in a handy menu where players can buy useful held items and Mega Stones (though these require in-game currency), and the end result is the ideal way to test out strategies.

Those who don't have a team of stacked Pokémon from the mainline games can select some from a random selection of Pokémon that are available in the ranch. These use tickets that allow them to be temporarily or permanently hired, but these tickets are easily acquired by completing tutorials and daily missions, meaning it shouldn't be too hard to build a competitive team with little work.

If only the mainline Pokémon games made it this easy to prepare competitive battles. It's these quality-of-life changes that could make Pokémon Champions the main way people engage with online battles, as it cuts down on the pointless busywork that has haunted the franchise for so long.

But What About the Battles in Pokémon Champions?

The battles in Pokémon Champions are the same as those players have experienced in the mainline games. It's the same turn-based mechanics that have evolved from Pokémon Red & Blue, except with fancy visuals.

Anyone who enjoys the battles in the mainline Pokémon games will get that experience distilled in Pokémon Champions, though the question is whether it can maintain their interest. As previously mentioned, there's no catching or story in this game. Anyone who likes the fights will like what Pokémon Champions has to offer.

Pokémon Champions has some fantastic tutorials that explain the mechanics well, in ways that the mainline games never even attempt. They also offer some great in-game rewards for completing them, incentivizing players to learn how the mechanics work.

The graphics in Pokémon Champions are a step up from the abysmal visuals in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, though still not quite on a New Pokémon Snap level. There are also a ton of customization options for the human trainers, though the game's outfits leave a lot to be desired. The lack of cool clothing feels intentional, with better gear saved for further down the road and locked behind paywalls.

Pokémon Champions has a ton of great songs from the franchise's history that can be used in their battles. Anyone who wants to go retro can whip out the Game Boy-era battle themes if they so choose. It's just a shame there aren't many battle arenas in the game, as there's a ton of scope for locations from the series.

Pokémon Champions Launched in a Rocky State

It's a good thing that Pokémon Champions is free, as it launched in a rough state. Content aside, the game had a litany of bugs and technical issues, down to basic text errors, where moves had incorrect info. Fortunately, some of these were addressed, but there are still a ton still present and being chronicled by fans online.

Pokémon Champions is a live-service game, so it's natural that issues would crop up when it finally went online. These problems will (hopefully) be solved over time, but it's not a great look for the game to be in this rough a state off the bat, especially with Pokémon Scarlet & Violet's terrible state on the Nintendo Switch still in the minds of fans.

As Pokémon Champions is going to add content over time, I'm left wondering whether this will start a cycle of bugs being introduced with each content update. There are few things more frustrating than losing a Pokémon battle due to the game quitting out, and regular occurrences would quickly kill any interest I have in Pokémon Champions.

Closing Thoughts

Pokémon Champions feels like a work in progress, in a bad way. While the battles are fine and the QoL improvements are a godsend, there's a distinct feeling that the product is unfinished and lacks vital content that will be rationed over time. Throw in the bugs, and the result is a game that I might want to check out in six months or a year, but doesn't have enough quality content to attract me now.​​​​​​​