The newest Pokémon game will introduce a new way to battle like never before. Releasing Wednesday, “Pokémon Champions” will offer players the chance to compete against their friends and others online in a competitive style game.
Among the first Pokémon highlighted in this upcoming game are the new mega evolutions introduced in “Pokémon Legends: Z-A,”
For those new to the franchise, Pokémon are collectible creatures that you can battle against one another or collect for fun. In “Pokémon Legends: Z-A,” you travel to the fictional Lumiose city, inspired by Paris, to discover the mysteries of mega evolution and to help Pokémon live in harmony with people.
This game introduced a number of new mega evolutions. These special transformations take place in battle and temporarily power up Pokémon.
Among these new special transformations include fan favorites such as Dragonite, Clefable and Garchomp. The game’s first partner Pokémons’ final evolutions, Meganium, Emboar and Feraligatr, also get this power up. First partner Pokémon are the Pokémon trainers are initially given when starting the game.
However, due to the mechanical limitations in this game, the full battle potential of these three Pokémon was not realized in their introductory game. This changes with the upcoming release of “Pokémon Champions.”
Pokémon abilities are special powers that often help Pokémon get an edge in battle and create various effects. Meganium and Feraligatr get new abilities never before seen in the Pokémon franchise, while Emboar has a previously featured ability called Mold Breaker.
Mega Meganium has a chance to become quite popular. Called Mega Sol, this ability grants the Pokémon the power to treat its moves if it’s always in harsh sunlight.
For context, harsh sunlight is a special weather effect that alters the way certain moves work, such as solar beam — a powerful grass type move — typically requiring one turn to charge. However, in harsh sunlight, the charge turn is removed. Furthermore, certain healing moves such as morning sun heal more in harsh sunlight.
For people interested in competitive Pokémon, this is huge because it removes the set up turn required for setting up harsh sunlight.
Mega Feraliglatr’s ability may not be as flashy, but it introduces some interesting possibilities as well. Called Dragonize, this ability turns the Pokémon‘s normal type moves into dragon type moves. In Pokémon, if you use a move of the same type as your Pokémon, it becomes more powerful.
Mega Delphox was also revealed to have a glow up with the gaining of the ability Levitate, which allows it to float and grants it immunity to ground-type moves. This is exciting because Delphox is fire type Pokémon and typically would receive extra damage from such moves.
The possibilities of this are exciting because this is the first time we are seeing these Pokémon with main line Pokémon game mechanics. In Pokémon, there are two typical categories of games, mainline games, which are considered the primary iteration of games, are specifically formulated to follow paths such as gym battles or trials and completing the Pokédex. Side games are more experimental and do not follow the same formula.
The goal of this new game is to introduce players to a more competitive side of Pokémon. Normally, competitive Pokémon battling has remained somewhat separate, but “Pokémon Champions” will make it easier than ever to try competitive battling with helpful tools, such as being able to customize Pokémon stats and changing their abilities with victory points.
Currently the focus will be mega evolution, but further updates will bring in other battle gimmicks such as Z-moves from “Pokémon Sun and Moon” and Dynamax from “Pokémon Sword and Shield.” Furthermore, all future competitive Pokémon tournaments will be taking place exclusively through “Pokémon Champions.”
Interestingly this is the first battle simulator game released since “Pokémon Battle Revolution” on the Nintendo Wii in 2006.
“Pokémon Champions” will be available on the Switch, Switch 2 and mobile devices.
