Ideally it looks nice, is stable for presentation purposes and you can play it from Phone,
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Pokémon Presents - Pokémon Day 2025 - Pokemon ZA Info & Pokemon Champions Announced
- Thread starter DHR-107
- Start date
To have a platform that probably won't crash during tournaments. That's all that's left to justify its existence.
But yeah, if there is no direct IV editor and other QoL features that Game Freak has been dragging their feet to implement, then Champions is dead on arrival. And there's a 50-50 shot they'll even implement a direct way to edit IVs because of how cagey TPCi is about acknowledging the deeper game mechanics.
It's only dead on arrival if they don't force you to play VGC (or at minimum Battle Spot) on it.
They can literally force the game to be used simply by doing that, regardless of the quality or features.
Based on what, what Smogon thinks?
I can see Champions as being very Pokemon Stadium like insomuch that it provides the platform for all of the different games/mobile devices/etc to battle against each other, and that might be it in all honesty.
That would be a bit dull for those of us who follow the championships and play online ourselves but it’s no deal breaker, it would be a very streamlined experience with a specific purpose - besides which, you don’t want it to have the IV editor and the QoL upgrades the main games have, you want the newest main games to sell and then everyone to hit champions for the battling. That’s why you’d split it off like that.
If Champions gets an IV/EV/Nature editor then great, but I don’t see it happening. It looks pretty clear it’s specifically battling simulator.
Again though, if you essentially need to own the main series games to play beyond tutorial-type stuff then that significantly dampens the utility of having a phone version, does it not? I figured the idea was lowering the barriers to competitive play as much as possible but what good is that if John Doe downloads the game only to find out they'll make 0 meaningful in-roads without spending hundreds on a Switch and SV
option a: use rental teams of varying quality through standard stock battles and sometimes online battles until you go damn i should get a switch/sv/whatever
option b: you have that stuff and now you can play fancy pokemon battles on phone
e: I will say I wouldn't be surprised if Champions did offer a way to "edit" your stuff once they're in Champions, just as a matter of convenience. You already (probably) own the game, so here you go. Bottle caps, Mints, Vitamins, Berries. Maybe Max Mushrooms and Tera Shards, if we're feeling saucy.
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Forcing people to play VGC through Champions wouldn't automatically make it successful if it's not considered adequate enough. It will at best funnel in the tournament players because they specifically will have no other options to actually compete, while casual players (the vast majority of Pokémon fans) at least still have Showdown for laddering.
I’m of the opinion that Tera Shards in particular are the most likely customizing items to be included in Champions. How else would you have something like a Tera Grass Aegislash or Tera Steel Togekiss? Restricting which Pokémon are able to use which super-mechanics based on what games they were coded into would essentially require players to memorize every single Pokémon’s appearances across current and future titles, which doesn’t seem like a fair thing to ask of players.
I agree but I do think that, if they did want to do this in that limited way, the player probably wouldn't have to memorize that since they'd likely have the Pokemon disabled
AKA what they do when trying to drag Pokemon between games as it stands, but probably tack on a referencable "ban list" like what Battle Facilities did and also what Stadium and company did on their extra rulesets.
There's basically 4 ways they could make you get mons in Champions:
Home transfers
Premade rental mons
Download other players teams via teamcode
Showdownesque teambuilder
Transfers have to be one option, but they also can't be the only option if phones are a way to play the game that doesn't require a console purchase. Rentals tbh seem like a lot of busywork for GF(1000 mons, multiple formats, maybe unlockable sets, etc), but they're not impossible. "Use other players' teams via code" seems fairly likely, they've done that a lot in the modern era. I can't personally see GF ever implementing a pure teambuilder, it just goes so counter to their philosophy in various ways, even if it's obviously good for the format.
Now, what will Champions have as playable content:
Official VGC tournaments. This is confirmed. It also guarantees sales of about 10 copies if it's the only thing Champions does. Competitive playerbases are, almost by definition, tiny.
Battle sim for all other official formats. Definitely happening. How much that sells is a question, certainly it's only a small fraction of the mainline game purchases that ever play a single multiplayer battle.
A battle tower/Pokemon Stadium setup. (fair battles, diverse rulesets, player vs AI). This is interesting. Post-game facilities are loved by a vocal section of the fanbase, but it's a small fraction. Meanwhile, the Stadium games sold reasonably well depending on your point of comparison. (My personal theory is that the Stadium games being easier, to the point of in-game teams being viable, was crucial to their success). However, setting up 4-8 battle facilities/rulesets/associated NPCs is a lot of work. If it's a game sold for cash, I think they include this. Maybe with only a couple facilities early on and then free DLC of new ones whenever they need a burst of hype. If the game is FTP, no way.
Home transfers
Premade rental mons
Download other players teams via teamcode
Showdownesque teambuilder
Transfers have to be one option, but they also can't be the only option if phones are a way to play the game that doesn't require a console purchase. Rentals tbh seem like a lot of busywork for GF(1000 mons, multiple formats, maybe unlockable sets, etc), but they're not impossible. "Use other players' teams via code" seems fairly likely, they've done that a lot in the modern era. I can't personally see GF ever implementing a pure teambuilder, it just goes so counter to their philosophy in various ways, even if it's obviously good for the format.
Now, what will Champions have as playable content:
Official VGC tournaments. This is confirmed. It also guarantees sales of about 10 copies if it's the only thing Champions does. Competitive playerbases are, almost by definition, tiny.
Battle sim for all other official formats. Definitely happening. How much that sells is a question, certainly it's only a small fraction of the mainline game purchases that ever play a single multiplayer battle.
A battle tower/Pokemon Stadium setup. (fair battles, diverse rulesets, player vs AI). This is interesting. Post-game facilities are loved by a vocal section of the fanbase, but it's a small fraction. Meanwhile, the Stadium games sold reasonably well depending on your point of comparison. (My personal theory is that the Stadium games being easier, to the point of in-game teams being viable, was crucial to their success). However, setting up 4-8 battle facilities/rulesets/associated NPCs is a lot of work. If it's a game sold for cash, I think they include this. Maybe with only a couple facilities early on and then free DLC of new ones whenever they need a burst of hype. If the game is FTP, no way.
Well I am watching the presents countdown whilst on holiday. Three years running it has been in the middle of my summer holiday!
Hoping for some ZA news and in particular COME ON MEGA DRAGONITE XD
Hoping for some ZA news and in particular COME ON MEGA DRAGONITE XD
MEGA DRAGONITE !!! :) A kind of Angel ?
Emma is asking for help !!! :)
Zygarde forms are here !
16th of October !
Emma is asking for help !!! :)
Zygarde forms are here !
16th of October !
The Dragoniteite... the Dragoniteite is real!
:3 FACE ALERT GEM GEM GEM GEM SHE HAS A :3
I'll say, I hate the mega dragonite design with passion 
But I appreciate that they tried to give it traits from Dragonair at least.
Well the hunt is open to how many more new megas there are.
(Also Mega Flygons enjoyers probably found dead in a corner.... again....)
But I appreciate that they tried to give it traits from Dragonair at least.
Well the hunt is open to how many more new megas there are.
(Also Mega Flygons enjoyers probably found dead in a corner.... again....)
Aw man, they really went and gave one of the best aged and powerful Kanto pokemon a mega...
Well uh, all I can say is, congrats dragonite fans! Hope you enjoy the treat!
Oh, also they gave the treasures of ruin the shiny zeraora treatment, that's actually really cool!
Well uh, all I can say is, congrats dragonite fans! Hope you enjoy the treat!
Oh, also they gave the treasures of ruin the shiny zeraora treatment, that's actually really cool!
I feel like everyone should take note of what I say and then immediately predict the complete opposite.
There’s champions, complete with a training editor for Pokémon. Great QoL upgrade and I genuinely didn’t see it happening.
But oh my god, mega dragonite, so pleased to see him! Finally!!! So happy. I have my shiny dragonite from SV that will get a chance to mega evolve - cannot wait.
Also - I love mega dragonite - better than I imagined it would be. Can’t wait for the plush.
There’s champions, complete with a training editor for Pokémon. Great QoL upgrade and I genuinely didn’t see it happening.
But oh my god, mega dragonite, so pleased to see him! Finally!!! So happy. I have my shiny dragonite from SV that will get a chance to mega evolve - cannot wait.
Also - I love mega dragonite - better than I imagined it would be. Can’t wait for the plush.
I will not be accepting any negative opinions on Mega Dragonite tyvm.
Odd that Colosseum / XD weren't announced, like.. we know they're coming.. why prolong it!!! My opinion on Champions being a VGC replacement is kinda dwindling given what we saw, unless they're making customisation easy cause the main series games will get rid of breeding/IVs etc? idk.. It looks fun though, I hope there's some battle frontier-esque modes.
And on PLZA, Mable being labelled as the acting director is interesting.
Odd that Colosseum / XD weren't announced, like.. we know they're coming.. why prolong it!!! My opinion on Champions being a VGC replacement is kinda dwindling given what we saw, unless they're making customisation easy cause the main series games will get rid of breeding/IVs etc? idk.. It looks fun though, I hope there's some battle frontier-esque modes.
And on PLZA, Mable being labelled as the acting director is interesting.