Pokémon games are among the most popular and highest-grossing video games in the world. With over 1.3 billion units sold, the series consistently dominates sales charts. And now, with Pokémon Champions, Nintendo is offering gamers a new way to slip into the Pokémon universe. And this one won’t cost a thing.
Well … sorta.
Pokémon Champions is a free-to-play game that leans into the battling action at the core of this massive card-collecting and video gaming franchise. Champions is essentially an arena battling game for Switch and mobile users.
OK, for those who have never dabbled in the Poké realm, let me give you a very brief primer. (Or, if you’d like a more in-depth primer, check out Kennedy Unthank’s blog “The Theology of … Pokémon.”)
Pokémon (short for “pocket monsters”) are creatures that have their own unique abilities and elemental types. In fact, it’s those types—including fire, grass, water, fairy, ground, steel and 12 others—that play heavily into who wins or who loses in a battle. For instance, fire is strong against grass, grass dominates water, ground beats electric, etc. In the majority of Pokémon games, players go through a grinding process of wandering around the game realm, collecting different types of creatures and building a good dependable battle team. Then they toss their captured Pokémon into contests where they try to outlast one another—the losing battler simply faints and then rests up for another day.
Most all of that is carried over into Champions, except for the many hours of legwork. There’s no wandering around in hopes of finding some special Pokémon, for instance. There are no levels to grind for. Developing your creature’s move sets, power levels and stat spreads is as easy as clicking into menu options and spending VP—the in-game currency.
In fact, VP is needed for just about everything in Champions—from recruiting and pumping up Pokémon to actually keeping the creatures on your team permanently. (More on that in a moment.) VP currency, though, is the reason I used the word “sorta” up above. In the beginning, Champions is very generous with its VP distribution. But as your bankroll dwindles, you need to earn more VP in small amounts during battles. Or you can buy more with real-world cash.
Choosing which little battlers to recruit is really the only tricky part of the game. There are two ways to do that.
Champions lets you go to an in-game ranch to recruit from a daily, rotating list of 10 different Pokémon. You can trial-use the critters for a small amount of VP or keep them permanently with a large chunk of VP cash.
Series veterans, however, have another option. They can import a favorite Poké companion through a separate free app called Pokémon Home, a cloud-based Pokémon storage system. And they can pull Pokémon into that app from recent games (which are not free) that they’ve played such as Pokémon Sword and Shield, Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Pokémon GO. But there are limitations: There are a mere 190 fully evolved Pokémon allowed into Champions at this point. So your favorite Poké pal may not make the list.
From there, players can compile several different teams of Pokémon to compete in ranked, casual and private battles against friends or random competitors from around the world. Gamers compete in single and double battles that all require a constant internet connection.
Pokémon Champions is a colorful way for players to experiment with Pokémon battles without having to invest hefty amounts of time and money to play the series’ games. (Though parents should note that there are voluntary in-game purchases, which could get quite expensive if left unchecked.) And fans of the franchise get a new way to interact with some of the Pokémon they’ve collected in past games.
The battles feature blasts of color and elemental splashes without being messy or foul in any way. The game environments and characters are cheerful and positive.
The biggest potential problem with Pokémon Champions is that the system is designed to draw younger players into making real-world money transactions to speed up their in-game competitive abilities.
In addition, there is no way to play the game offline with friends.
Pokémon Champions is a fun way for family and friends to get a little more Pokémon in their lives. But in-game transactions can be pricey if you want quick changes and stronger builds.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
