Pokémon Champions has been out for less than a day, and it’s already causing a stir in the series’ competitive world. The online battle game launched with an unexpectedly small list of compatible Pokémon and held items, forcing long-time players to rethink their age-old strategies.
Released on April 7, Pokémon Champions is a free-to-play game that breaks the online battling of the RPG series out into its own Stadium-like game. It will run as a live service game that adds new content over time, which means that the day one version doesn’t contain everything you’d expect to find in games like Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
For starters, only 186 Pokémon are available to use in the game currently. (By comparison, Pokémon Stadium 2 featured 251 monsters.) The list includes old standbys like Charizard and Garchomp, but plenty of monsters didn’t make the cut. If you wanted to import your Blaziken or Togekiss into the game from Pokémon Home, for instance, you won’t be able to until they are added to the game. Pre-evolved forms also aren’t available, which means that competitive formats like Little Cup are not currently possible in Champions.
The limitations also extend to held items. At present, you can only buy and use a truncated list of items in Pokémon Champions that includes berries and key tools like Leftovers. Fan-favorite items like Life Orb and Assault Vest are not in the game currently, nor are Choice items. The list limits what kinds of strategies and builds are viable in the game at present. For instance, the absence of Light Clay means that defensive screen-setters like Klefki aren’t nearly as effective as they can be in the mainline RPGs.
The immediate reaction from the Pokémon community across social media is split. Some are criticizing the game for missing key features, including traditional 6v6 battles. Others see the missing items and monsters as a healthy shakeup for the series’ meta, forcing players to change up stale strategies and creating a less overwhelming experience for newcomers. The hope is that more items and monsters will come to the game over time, switching up the meta on a regular basis.
The jury is out on whether the changes will be a net positive for the competitive world, though. The missing items, for instance, could stand to push out niche strategies while creating a scene where every team you face is sure to utilize the same few items and monsters. It’s reminiscent of Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket‘s early days, where a few powerful decks dominated online battles due to a lack of options. It’s too early to say what this all means for Pokémon Champions, but it’s certainly going to require some adjustment for long-time players.
