Pokemon Champions Review

by

During the peak of the Pokemon craze in the late 1990s, Nintendo released Pokemon Stadium for the Nintendo 64. Unlike the handheld Pokemon games which were full role-playing adventures, Pokemon Stadium focused solely on battling Pokemon. The game was successful enough to get a sequel and a few similar games, but Nintendo and The Pokemon Company eventually stopped making games in that style after Pokemon Battle Revolution on the Wii. Now, after 20 years, Pokemon Champions is the new game meant to continue the Pokemon Stadium tradition. Unfortunately, despite the long wait, Pokemon Champions doesn’t quite live up to the quality of the original games.

As a huge Pokémon fan, I remember being so excited about Pokémon Stadium! It wasn’t like the main games where you explore a world – it was all about the battles, which was cool enough, but they really went the extra mile. Seeing those Pokémon fully rendered in 3D for the first time was amazing, and being able to connect my Game Boy games was a huge deal. Plus, the mini-games were genuinely fun! Pokémon Champions, though? It feels like it only has the battles, and honestly, that’s not quite enough to keep me hooked like Stadium did.

Whether you’ll enjoy Pokemon Champions really comes down to how much you like competitive Pokemon battling. The game focuses heavily on online battles, offering different modes like Ranked Battles, Casual Battles, and Private Battles, and you can play in both Single and Double Battle formats. The main goal is to win battles online and climb the ranks to become a Champion.

Pokemon Champions is All About Battling

Battles in Pokemon Champions feel familiar to anyone who’s played the main Pokemon games. Players alternate turns, using moves to defeat their opponent’s Pokemon. Understanding Pokemon types is crucial for winning, as using types that are strong against your opponent’s Pokemon is the fastest way to succeed. While abilities, held items, and other details matter, the core of battle comes down to choosing the right Pokemon for the job.

In a typical one-on-one battle in Pokemon Champions, each player selects three Pokemon from a team of six. This keeps the opponent guessing about type matchups until the fight begins, which is a good thing. However, some players wish the game included full six-versus-six battles.

The absence of 6v6 battles isn’t the only letdown in Pokemon Champions. The game also surprisingly omits local multiplayer battles, a feature that fans had come to expect in previous installments. While Pokemon Champions focuses heavily on online play, it’s strange that the game doesn’t even offer the choice to battle friends and family locally.

When you first start Pokemon Champions, it doesn’t offer much in terms of features, making it feel a little empty. However, the battles are visually impressive. While some players have experienced visual bugs, I didn’t encounter any and found the game to look fantastic. The Pokemon and their attacks are sharper than ever before in Pokemon Champions, and hopefully, this improved 3D style will carry over to the next generation of games, Pokemon Winds and Waves.

Although the Pokémon in Pokémon Champions look great, this highlights one of the game’s weaknesses. At launch, the game only includes 187 Pokémon, which is far less than the over 1,000 that are available in total. While a smaller number of Pokémon could lead to more balanced battles, the limited selection ultimately makes the game feel unfinished.

To Catch Them is My Real Test, To Train Them is My Cause

In Pokemon Champions, getting new Pokemon works a bit differently. Each day, players can choose one free Pokemon from a random selection. If you want more Pokemon that day, you can use Quick Coupons or Victory Points. When you find a Pokemon you like, you can try them out for seven days for free, or spend Victory Points to add them to your team permanently.

If you’re a Pokémon fan who uses the Pokémon HOME app, you can transfer Pokémon from other games into Pokémon Champions. Either way, building up your team with new Pokémon is always enjoyable, and it’s fun to see which ones you’ll get. While linking Pokémon catching to in-game points or items could be problematic, Pokémon Champions avoids this by making those resources readily available without requiring purchases.

I’m really enjoying how generous Pokemon Champions is with free stuff! They constantly give you rewards through Daily, Weekly, and Starter missions. Honestly, just playing the game is enough to get a ton of freebies, which is awesome. It means you can play Pokemon Champions for a long time and have a blast without ever feeling like you have to spend any money. If you like the battles, you can seriously get a lot out of this game without paying a dime!

A few players of the Pokemon Champions game are experiencing connection issues. While I haven’t run into major problems myself, it’s a bit frustrating to see the “Communicating…” message before almost every move.

Okay, so VP isn’t just for snagging Pokemon! I can actually use it at the Frontier Shop to get cool held items, Mega Stones, and even stuff to customize my trainer avatar. But the really awesome part? I can use VP to ‘re-train’ my Pokemon – basically, reset their stats and build them exactly how I want. It’s perfect for min-maxing and getting that competitive edge!

As of today, you can’t directly purchase VP (in-game currency) in Pokemon Champions. However, dedicated players can buy the Premium Battle Pass for $9.99, along with a membership that costs either $4.99 monthly or $49.99 annually. This membership offers extra storage space (1,000 boxes), more Battle Teams (15), unique missions, and exclusive music. If you’re a highly competitive Pokemon player and plan to play for a long time, it might be worth considering, but most players won’t need to spend money on it. The free version of the game is quite good, and the membership doesn’t add much that’s essential.

Pokemon Champions is a fairly enjoyable free-to-play game because it avoids overly aggressive or unfair ways of making money, which is a common problem with similar titles. While the Pokemon battles are fun and visually appealing, the game’s main weakness is its limited amount of content. If you’re looking for more than just constant battling, you might not find enough to keep you engaged, but at least the game is reasonably priced for regular players.

Pokemon Champions is out now for Nintendo Switch with iOS and Android versions coming later in 2026.

Read More

2026-04-11 13:05