Competitive Pokémon is a tricky beast. I've spent the last few years dabbling in double battles, but the grind to train a single Pokémon, let alone a whole team, has cut my competitive career short every single time. That's why I was one of the many anticipating the launch of Pokémon Champions, the series' new free-to-play hub for online battling. After spending the last 48 hours or so battling and training and battling some more, I've got some first impressions.
Let's start with the positives. I'm one of the many who've complained about the epic tutorial sections in recent Pokémon games, including Legends: Z-A, but the onboarding process in Champions is pretty simple. The game introduces you to a couple of new characters, the fundamental mechanics of single battles, and the basics of recruitment in under fifteen minutes, and then, you're good to go. There are a few more tutorials, relating to Mega Evolution and doubles battles, that are optional, but they're worth checking out for the rewards. Then, once you've also tried out the latest Pokémon Champions mystery gift codes, you can get straight into battling.
At the time of writing, the pool of available Pokémon is relatively limited, but I'll be honest, I don't mind that. I can imagine it's frustrating if you already play a lot of competitive Pokémon, with a few big hitters from the most recent Scarlet and Violet meta currently missing in action, but I think that makes the experience more welcoming for those who have previously found competitive formats intimidating. For instance, I never imagined going into this game that I'd be maining Glimmora, the last Pokémon any Charizard user wants to see, but here we are.
The roster of available Pokémon and moves is deep enough to allow for different styles of play, so it feels like the meta already has a bit of nuance. As I mentioned, I've got Glimmora as my damage-dealing go-to. I've also got a Runerigus that rocks a combination of Curse, Rest, Will-O-Wisp, and Phantom Force that's designed to frustrate opponents, inflicting curse and burn damage before resting and immediately waking up thanks to its held Lum Berry. What I'm trying to say is that there's a lot of room for creativity in terms of building your team, and that's my bread and butter as a Pokémon trainer, so I appreciate it.
The training mechanics are also worth highlighting, as I think that developer, The Pokémon Works, has done a great job of streamlining the process. You can change stats, natures, abilities, and moves with a few button presses, and the complications of EVs and IVs are nowhere to be seen. While it costs VP (Victory Points), the primary in-game resource, to train your team, it still doesn't require nearly as much grinding as the main series games to harness the competitive potential of your Pokémon. It's also much quicker to completely change the build of a Pokémon, with a single slider to wipe your stat points down to zero, rather than the main series equivalent of feeding your Pokémon a bunch of stat-specific berries.
It should be clear from the last couple of paragraphs that I think Pokémon Champions has a lot to offer. However, that's not the full story. While I think that some of the immediate criticism has been a little unfair - I'm looking at you, 3.9 user score on Metacritic - there's a lot of room for improvement in several areas.
Let's start with my biggest concern right now - items. There are a lot of staple items missing from competitive play that aren't currently in the game, outside of Pokémon Champions' Mega Stones. For example, Assault Vest is an item that boosts special defense by 50% while limiting the Pokémon holding it from using status moves, and it makes Rhyperior more usable. Without Assault Vest, Rhyperior is quite literally dead in the water, or the grass, or really any special attack that can exploit one of its many weaknesses. That's just one example, but the game also needs Life Orb, Rocky Helmet, and a few other meta must-haves if it really is going to be the new home of the competitive experience.
I'm also not the biggest fan of the visuals, especially when, following the recent Switch 2 Handheld Mode Boost update, battling in Scarlet and Violet looks better than ever. Some of the animations are great, such as Mega Froslass' Blizzard, but a lot of the other attack animations don't live up to that high standard. Mega Meganium's Bullet Seed, for instance, feels like the most basic visual interpretation of that move.
Not only are some of the move animations lacking, but performance has its iffy moments, especially during weather conditions like hail or sandstorm. I wouldn't call it egregious, but considering the resources that The Pokémon Works has to work with, I was expecting something more visually captivating and capable of a stable 30fps. It reminds me of Pokémon Battle Revolution in that it's a touch duller than a Pokémon game should be, or at least I expect it to be, but that game had the excuse of launching back in 2007.
I should also mention that there are a couple of criticisms I've seen floating around that I don't think are all that fair. Most notable is the lack of solo content. To those people, I ask, what did you expect? It's been pretty clear from the outset that the whole idea of Champions is to provide a hub for competitive Pokémon battles, and that's what it does. I'd love a new interpretation of Pokémon Stadium as much as the next trainer, but I don't think anything from the pre-launch information pointed to this game being that. As I mentioned earlier, I'm also fine with the current roster of Pokémon, as it makes for a more approachable early meta.
I've also seen reports of bugs relating to Pokémon Home integration, but I can't comment much on those as I've not experienced any issues. Out of an abundance of caution, I've only transferred a few Pokémon across, but it was a seamless process. I've not sent any back yet, as my shiny Scizor is too busy handing out beatdowns in singles mode, but I'll be keeping an eye on patch notes in future updates regarding any known issues with connecting to Home.
On the monetization front, I don't have much to say right now, as the game has had a pretty generous launch in terms of resources. I've trained at least ten Pokémon while also picking up some swanky clothes for my in-game avatar, and I still have plenty of Victory Points to spare. It's a bit confusing, with a membership plan and a separate battle pass, so I'll need a couple more months to really get to grips with the game's approach to monetization, but for now, it doesn't feel quite as greedy as some other live service games.
Ultimately, I'm having a pretty fun time with Pokémon Champions so far. I think it's got a long way to go, but I can see the potential, especially in terms of new Pokémon and useful items arriving in the game. My main concern going forward is graphics and performance, as the experience currently falls a bit short of what you'd expect from a flagship battle simulator, but there's plenty of time yet for improvements. Whether or not it'll be better in time for VGC integration is another question, but for me, playing on my sofa and frustrating my opponents with Runerigus' wicked ways, I'm not mad.