Pokémon Champions isn't perfect, but that hasn't stopped me playing it non-stop for days

Pokémon Champions has had a mixed debut, but the haters are wrong — this title is precisely what I dreamed it would be: the perfect jumping-in point to Video Game Championships (VGC), the series’ competitive format.

Champions is a free-to-play title for the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2— with a mobile release also planned — and the sole focus of the game is battling. There’s a bit of story to get you into the action, but there’s not a dedicated single-player mode beyond the quick training courses and a few moments that you see as you progress through the competitive ranks.

This battle focus extends so far that Champions also excludes the series’ iconic catching as a method to add ‘mons to your lineup. It’s instead replaced by recruitment and collection — the first is a loot box-like mechanic where every 22 hours you can select one of ten random critters to add to your roster either on a 7-day trial (free) or permanent basis (using VP or a ticket), while second has you bring in pokémon from your Home storage (which are added from other titles like Legends Z-A or Scarlet and Violet).

Once your team has been sufficiently sculpted using the training service — which gives you full control over your partners’ stats, moves, ability, and nature — you’re ready to hit the Single or Double battle ladder, with my focus being on the VGC-style double battle scene as I find it the most engaging.

VGC’s Route 1 equivalent

Now I’ve explained the Champions basics, what makes it so approachable? Well, for a start, it really strips the competitive scene back so that you aren’t overloaded with possibilities.

The first is your ‘mon selection. As is common for the first VGC format of a new game, Pokémon Champions has a seriously limited pool — just 186 out of the series’ 1,025 official species make the cut, not including alternate forms and mega evolutions. Crucially powerful pokémon such as legendaries, paradox pokémon, and ultra beasts are absent.

With some critters clearly much worse than others, and some intended for either single or double battles exclusively rather than both formats, Champions’ selection feels approachably tight. If you’ve played the recent games, you can easily accrue a synergistic team using Home transfers, and with a bit of practice, you’ll quickly learn your favorable and unfavourable match-ups — and how your strategy should adapt accordingly.

Another tweak is something we haven’t seen much before: the item pool is very restrictive. Every pokémon can enter battle with an item, and it’s arguably as important as your ‘mons moves and ability, if not more so.

With Champions, several VGC mainstays have been left behind — there's no Life Orb, assault vest, or clear amulet, to name a few. There are a couple of utility picks like leftovers and focus sash, but the large majority are type damage boosters and mega stones.

While a lack of items is frustrating to some, as you can’t easily port game plans from previous entries into Champions right now, this smaller starting pool again makes team planning much simpler, as there are fewer moving parts and strategies to consider. It also puts a higher focus on the flashy mega evolution mechanic, which does help to make battles feel more exciting.

With fewer good items in the game, the drawbacks of giving your partner a mega stone over something else aren’t present — as currently a mega stone is the only sensible item to make some carry.

I also love that Champions’ tutorials are quick yet informative, and reward your time well. Even as someone with a solid grasp of the core game, I’ve quickly gone through all of the tutorials to earn their prizes, as it wasn’t a hassle at all.

Actually free-to-play?

There are some fair criticisms of Pokémon Champions. The title can reportedly be buggy (though I haven’t experienced any issues), the 30 frames per second (fps) framerate is a little disappointing, and I wish changing a ‘mon’s moves wasn’t quite the VP drain it is, but one critique I don’t understand is that this title is pay-to-win.

To help me test this game, Nintendo did send me a premium battle pass, a one-month membership, and the starter pack, which each included a bevy of supplies, but I didn’t activate them until I’d spent several hours in Champions. Instead, in my first hours with the game, I got the free-to-play experience, and boy, do you get loaded up with support.

Using the VP and bonuses I earned from missions and tutorials, I was able to train and outfit an entire rain team I had been excited to try — relying on Mega Meganium’s new ability to fire off powerful solar attacks as if it were in the sun, even when it’s pouring. And I had enough VP left over to pick up some cool new threads and poses to flex on my foes.

The only aid I used was Pokémon Home to bring in a team from my collection rather than relying on Champions’ recruitment method, as the loot box-like system is admittedly not ideal for collecting specific pokémon. Though if you’re playing Champions, you’ve probably played some of the other titles, even the free-to-play Pokémon Go (which is actually where a lot of my team came from), so using Home doesn’t feel like cheating.

I’ve played my fair share of free-to-play games, and Champions doesn’t register as anything close to egregious in its monetisation tactics.

All that’s to say: I love Pokémon Champions — it’s precisely what I hoped it would be, and I’ll absolutely be sinking more time into it: plus its mobile release can’t come soon enough.

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