Pokémon Fans Upset Over Champions’ Launch Issues and Misleading Promises
Pokémon Champions launched on Switch last night, aiming to redefine competitive Pokémon, but within just 12 hours, many in the community are already labeling it a misfire. After diving into the game myself, I’m taken aback by the restrictions it imposes on what has traditionally been a vibrant competitive scene, making team building for online play feel cumbersome.
Let’s be real here:
VGC should stick with Scarlet & Violet until Winds & Waves drops.
There’s a laundry list of complaints about Champions, but the overarching sentiment is that it’s stifling competitive play in ways that even the mainline Pokémon RPGs didn’t when they limited the roster in Sword and Shield. Champions only allows fully evolved Pokémon, with Pikachu being the sole exception, and even then, the selection is limited to just 186 Pokémon from all nine generations at launch. To make matters worse, some Pokémon that should have Mega Evolutions are missing the necessary items to trigger those transformations. For instance, Raichu, which was showcased in trailers with its Mega Evolution, can’t actually achieve that form in the game.
The most frustrating aspect of the item selection is that they showcased numerous items in the overview trailer but didn’t include them in the game.
Some might argue that starting with a smaller roster helps keep the meta in check, but I doubt anyone anticipated that the game marketed as the ultimate competitive platform would feel so bare. The limitations extend beyond the Pokémon themselves; several essential items for competitive strategies, like Life Orb, Choice Band, and Choice Specs, are absent, making them unusable in official matches.
– Fake Out can’t be selected after its first use.
– Many popular items (Choice Specs/Bands, Life Orb, AV) are missing.
– Less than 200 Pokémon available.
– The NS2 version runs at low resolution and 30 FPS.
– Stalwart Mega Skarmory.
Seriously, who is this game designed for?
The battle formats are also quite limiting. Even in private matches with friends, you can’t engage in a full 6v6 battle; instead, you’re restricted to three Pokémon in singles or four in doubles. Players are also encountering odd quirks, from seemingly bugged move interactions to being unable to use certain moves in situations where they’ve always been viable.
How many months did we wait for a game that feels functionally worse?
On top of all this, the team building and training mechanics are a grind that pushes you to play online in Champions, yet it’s an inefficient way to prepare teams for upcoming tournaments. Stats and moveset adjustments are tied to Victory Points, which you earn by playing ranked matches. While you can accumulate these points relatively quickly, getting even one Pokémon ready for battle is a lengthy endeavor. Imagine trying to prepare an entire team with these constraints! This same currency is also used to buy held items and cosmetics, as well as recruit Pokémon. Honestly, I’m surprised there aren’t microtransactions to let you bypass the grind.
Players are still exploring the game and will likely uncover more frustrating limitations, but Champions has made a poor first impression on the competitive community, which is now forced to adopt it as the official platform for tournaments. Even as someone who doesn’t play VGC, I’m frustrated that Mega Raichu X was featured in the trailers but isn’t actually in the game. Perhaps future updates and patches will improve things, but Champions has certainly stumbled out of the gate.
