As part of this year’s annual Pokemon Day celebrations, The Pokemon Company unveiled a brand-new game calledPokemon Champions. This upcoming spin-off title, which was announced for Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android, was described as a competitive battle simulator of sorts. The Pokemon Company confirmed thatPokemon Championswould trim down all the story content from the mainlinePokemongames to deliver a more focused, PvP-only Pokemon battle experience. The game, it said, would not only feature several gameplay elements from the mainlinePokemonseries, but also full cross-platform support, as well.
The initial reveal trailer forPokemon Championswasn’t particularly informative, nor did it contain a lot of proper gameplay footage. The latest presentation for the game, however, gave viewers a much deeper look at its core mechanics. During the recent Pokemon Presents, The Pokemon Company showed offa new trailer forPokemon Championsand announced that the game would be launched in 2026. Alongside this news, the company provided a brief overview of the three main battle modes inPokemon Champions, as well as its formats and recruiting mechanics. One of the most interesting bits of information that came out of this trailer, however, was only covered briefly, and it pertained to some new training features - features so strong, Gen 10 may want to keep them in mind.
Pokemon Champions Allows Players to Train Their Pokemon in a Rather Unique Way
Players Can Easily Adjust the Stats of Their Pokemon in Pokemon Champions
Like all the mainlinePokemongames,Pokemon Championsis going to feature a system that allows gamers to train their Pokemon. This title, however, is going to approach training very differently compared to other installments in the franchise. InPokemon Champions, players will be able to customize virtually every aspect of their Pokemon with the press of a button, fromAttack and Defense statsto Abilities and movesets. Each time a player adjusts the stats of their Pokemon, however, they have to spend some Victory Points, which can be obtained through Ranked Battles and other methods.
In addition to basic stats,Pokemon Championswill surprisingly give players the option tomodify a Pokemon’s EVsand change its nature right out of the gate. Considering how difficult it is to curate these particular aspects of a Pokemon in the mainlinePokemongames, this is pretty significant. EVs, for those who are unaware, are special stats that are primarily obtained by defeating Pokemon in battle, which differ depending on the Pokemon that is defeated. Nature, meanwhile, is a trait that determines how a Pokemon’s stats grow as it levels up.
The term “EVs” stands for “effort values.” This feature is sometimes referred to by The Pokemon Company as “base points” instead.
EVs and Natures Are Two Pokemon Stats that are Normally Hard to Train For
The maximum number of EVs that a Pokemon can have is 510, and the more EVs it acquires through battle, the more powerful it ends up becoming. Due to how valuable they can be for competitive purposes, many gamers have attempted to train their Pokemon in order to boost their EVs. This, however, is often an incredibly arduous task, in part because the mainlinePokemongames do not explicitly reveal the amount of EVs a Pokemon has. Whilenatures aren’t hiddenin the same way that EVs are, this trait unfortunately cannot be changed, regardless of how much training a Pokemon undergoes.
Pokemon Champions May Influence the Trading System in the Gen 10 Pokemon Games
Since The Pokemon Company is making it easy to customize EV and natures inPokemon Champions, one can only wonder if it will apply this design philosophy to the training systems of the next mainlinePokemongames, as well. Although it’s hard to say if the company will actually do something like this, given how little is known about Gen 10 at the moment, such a significant change to these systems could prove to be interesting. While some gamers would probably be disappointed if The Pokemon Company simplified the training mechanics inthe Gen 10Pokemontitles, others might be happy about this decision, since it would lead to less grinding and overall tedium. Either way, ifPokemon Championsis well-received by fans, then The Pokemon Company may potentially implement some of its features in futurePokemonentries.
