Pokémon Champions - releasing April 8, 2026

so what do you think

is it good? is it bad?

I don't have a working switch right now and I don't have NSO so I couldn't try it. I think the lack of items is absolutely horrendous and seems extremely limiting, I do not understand why Oran Berry is in whilst the choice items are not. The monetization also looks absolutely deplorable
 
Movesets carrying over is surprisingly a welcome feature when visiting from HOME. I'd def advise if you have the games to EV train & give optimal moves (as well as abilities / natures) before visiting because it saves a ton of VP.

I wish we had just a few more items to play around with. Nothing too OP. Wise Glasses, Muscle Band etc would've been nice.
 
Local Dog said:
so what do you think

is it good? is it bad?

I don't have a working switch right now and I don't have NSO so I couldn't try it. I think the lack of items is absolutely horrendous and seems extremely limiting, I do not understand why Oran Berry is in whilst the choice items are not. The monetization also looks absolutely deplorable
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The monetization is a non-issue, because it's barely there. What do you consider deplorable monetization? There's a membership (Which is actually relatively cheap) that doesn't actually give you.. much of anything and you can't buy VP or anything. You spend on the battle pass & membership and that's it?
 
Perriechu said:
The monetization is a non-issue, because it's barely there. What do you consider deplorable monetization? There's a membership (Which is actually relatively cheap) that doesn't actually give you.. much of anything and you can't buy VP or anything. You spend on the battle pass & membership and that's it?
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I think the only "mandatory" monetization bit is the intro pack

You don't *need* it but going from 35 to 85 slots saves you a lot of sanity when you want to swap teams
 
As someone who does not use Home (and do not have any legendaries in any game anyway), I feel like the 12 month subscription is a huge scam for players like me. Whenever they inevitably decide to roll out legendaries (or, limited pokemon as they call them), I highly doubt they'll let you recruit them like normal mons, they might be Home exclusive. In which case, players without Home will be at a SEVERE disadvantage. I don't know how they will handle this, but for now, I'm not spending a single cent on the game, and if you're in the same situation as me, consider what I've just said.
 
fluff!! said:
As someone who does not use Home (and do not have any legendaries in any game anyway), I feel like the 12 month subscription is a huge scam for players like me. Whenever they inevitably decide to roll out legendaries (or, limited pokemon as they call them), I highly doubt they'll let you recruit them like normal mons, they might be Home exclusive. In which case, players without Home will be at a SEVERE disadvantage. I don't know how they will handle this, but for now, I'm not spending a single cent on the game, and if you're in the same situation as me, consider what I've just said.
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I don't see why they wouldnt.
People treat legendaries as if they are "something special" but they arent other than for the fancy title. (And in fact most leges are worse than normal pokemon at this point, shoutout to incin STILL being the most used pokemon even with the nerfs)

They might end up "costing" more to recruit, or may show up more rarely (es max one per "gacha roll"), but likely will use same or equivalent system, as that is the entire point of Champions.
 
fluff!! said:
As someone who does not use Home (and do not have any legendaries in any game anyway), I feel like the 12 month subscription is a huge scam for players like me. Whenever they inevitably decide to roll out legendaries (or, limited pokemon as they call them), I highly doubt they'll let you recruit them like normal mons, they might be Home exclusive. In which case, players without Home will be at a SEVERE disadvantage. I don't know how they will handle this, but for now, I'm not spending a single cent on the game, and if you're in the same situation as me, consider what I've just said.
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We call this "inventing a problem and then getting mad about it".

Criticize things that people/companies actually do, not hypotheticals that they might possibly do in the future.

I have ~0 'mons in my Home account (last game I played through was... Black?) and I'm having a blast.
 
Local Dog said:
so what do you think

is it good? is it bad?

I don't have a working switch right now and I don't have NSO so I couldn't try it. I think the lack of items is absolutely horrendous and seems extremely limiting, I do not understand why Oran Berry is in whilst the choice items are not. The monetization also looks absolutely deplorable
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure you don't need NSO lol f2p games don't need NSO like how every console does it
 
Between my lacking knowledge of good VGC structures and my desire to stay totally F2P (I don't have HOME), trying to make a solid team is a chore. I've won all my matches, but having what I assume is marginally more competitive experience than my low ladder opponents doesn't say much. Plus I think some of them were bots. Had an opponent try to Dragon Claw my Sylveon more than once.

Also ^ would explain why Champions didn't count for the weekly NSO mission to launch a game with online support.
 
Karxrida said:
Between my lacking knowledge of good VGC structures and my desire to stay totally F2P (I don't have HOME), trying to make a solid team is a chore.
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I also don't have HOME and am doing it entirely f2p, and if it weren't for all those recruit tickets they give you after you do all the tutorials I don't think I would've ever been able to make a team.

I got to Ultra Ball and hit a hard wall in my VGC ability and also tolerance for what is meta in VGC. Ran into like 4 perish trap teams and I'm think I'm done lol.

This game is a lot more generous to a f2p player than I expected honestly. Not being 60 fps and the menus being oddly sluggish is unfortunate but I still had a decent amount of fun.
 
CynicalGiant said:
I also don't have HOME and am doing it entirely f2p, and if it weren't for all those recruit tickets they give you after you do all the tutorials I don't think I would've ever been able to make a team.
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I mean those help but I'm kind of blind firing with what mons to grab and praying it's competent. Editing stats and movesets also adds up if you have to do it more than once.

Oh, and as an aside, no replay function is kind of cringe.
 
ArcboundWolf said:
We call this "inventing a problem and then getting mad about it".

Criticize things that people/companies actually do, not hypotheticals that they might possibly do in the future.

I have ~0 'mons in my Home account (last game I played through was... Black?) and I'm having a blast.
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We call this "strawman".

I haven't criticized TPC in my post, I am simply raising concern and staying careful.

I do not have home and I am also enjoying the game despite my concerns.
 
seeing stuff like this is pretty cool

overwatch/marvel rivals streamer Flats got to masterball in Champions

"Have never played Pokemon VGC but have always been excited to give it a try some day. 24 Hours after Champions released I've completed the Unranked to Masterball RankWhat a WILD ride, Champion next?"
"Important note the record was just my last session/stream of the day, earlier I today i was 12-12 it wasnt lookin good LOLAlso sorry for not having a better photo but heres the squad"

https://twitter.com/x/status/2042082305989108055
 
fluff!! said:
We call this "strawman".

I haven't criticized TPC in my post, I am simply raising concern and staying careful.

I do not have home and I am also enjoying the game despite my concerns.
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I mean, dramatically stating how upset you are (about a situation that does not exist) sure seems like a criticism to me, but you do you.

Not a fan of the whole "just raising concerns uwu" defense. Stupid hypotheticals are still stupid.

You're ignoring the subscription because you don't find it adds value — same as me. If you're not spending any money and still having fun, what exactly is the problem?
 
CynicalGiant said:
I got to ultra and didn't get any additional ones, I think only the membership has more team slots?
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ant4456 said:
do you unlock more team slots when you rank up like box space or am i just locked to 3 forever because its kind of actually more annoying than the box space right now
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You get 5 additional box spaces for reaching great ball and ultra ball rank in ranked singles. At least that's what I got so far, idk for other ranks.but apparently CynicalGiant didn't get them? You might want to check how many spaces you have, you start with 30 for reference.
 
fluff!! said:
You get 5 additional box spaces for reaching great ball and ultra ball rank in ranked singles. At least that's what I got so far, idk for other ranks.but apparently CynicalGiant didn't get them? You might want to check how many spaces you have, you start with 30 for reference.
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team slots not box slots. you only have 3 team slots and the 15 locked ones are only available if you buy the membership.
 
Perriechu said:
The monetization is a non-issue, because it's barely there. What do you consider deplorable monetization? There's a membership (Which is actually relatively cheap) that doesn't actually give you.. much of anything and you can't buy VP or anything. You spend on the battle pass & membership and that's it?
Click to expand...
Ok I see, I thought you'd need to buy VP. I still don't like that changing your mon around needs a limited ressource, but I guess the monetization is better than I thought

still not big on the lack many items though. How's the meta game rn with these lacking?
 
I am very glad to see that the Leech Seed nerf not being implemented was because it was never meant to be nerfed. Somehow, Celesteela returned.
Local Dog said:
Ok I see, I thought you'd need to buy VP. I still don't like that changing your mon around needs a limited ressource, but I guess the monetization is better than I thought

still not big on the lack many items though. How's the meta game rn with these lacking?
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Lowish power, it's kind of been refreshing and it gives a few megas extra value that they won't have once a regulation with items gets added. It's really, really weird not having covert cloak or clear amulet, after a decade of scarlet and violet vgc, and no assault vest is also a touch weird. I'm pretty positive on it, though, even if I'll be very glad once we get more items added. I feel like it's kind of almost a custom tailored meta to let people try out the new toys, as it were.

fluff!! said:
As someone who does not use Home (and do not have any legendaries in any game anyway), I feel like the 12 month subscription is a huge scam for players like me. Whenever they inevitably decide to roll out legendaries (or, limited pokemon as they call them), I highly doubt they'll let you recruit them like normal mons, they might be Home exclusive. In which case, players without Home will be at a SEVERE disadvantage. I don't know how they will handle this, but for now, I'm not spending a single cent on the game, and if you're in the same situation as me, consider what I've just said.
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Disliking something because of a scenario you made up in your head is a little bit strange. There's zero evidence to support anything you've said. Definitely only spend money as you wish, though.
CynicalGiant said:
I got to ultra and didn't get any additional ones, I think only the membership has more team slots?
Click to expand...

They might be only a reward for singles, possibly, unless this was you playing singles. I hit Master Ball last night with the Mega Skarm team and have received zero extra box space. Could be meant to be a benefit of singles since its ladder doesn't really serve a real purpose for competitive, it's a reason for people to dabble in it.
 
Local Dog said:
How's the meta game rn with these lacking?
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You can check usage stats in-game, which gives a pretty decent idea of the meta, especially for Doubles. Singles is less popular so the stats aren't quite as reliable. Right now, the top 10 is
1. Garchomp
2. Charizard
3. Primarina
4. Archaludon
5. Hippowdon
6. Corviknight
7. Mimikyu
8. Gengar
9. Kingambit
10. Meowscarada

Keep in mind those are 3v3 stats.
 
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