Nintendo has announced that Pokemon Champions will officially launch for Switch 2 and Switch 1 consoles on April 8. The competitive battling game is free to start, but Nintendo and The Pokemon Company will also release a Starter Pack bundle on launch day that includes additional Pokemon storage space, an extra battle song, and more. Switch 2 players will also be able to download a free upgrade for the game that improves its visuals on the hybrid console.
In case you missed it, Pokemon Champions focuses purely on the battle aspect of the franchise. Familiar gameplay mechanics like turn-based combat and each Pokemon having four moves to use in battle will be present, and like the main games, strategies will revolve around type affinities and abilities.
The new overview trailer also revealed three different modes of Pokemon battles–Ranked Battles, Casual Battles, and Private Battles–and how they can be tackled in both Singles and Doubles formats.
Some of the Pokemon teased for the game include Mega Meganium, Mega Emboar, and Mega Feraligatr, who all appeared in last year’s Pokemon Legends: Z-A. The good news is that if you played the game, you can import them into Pokemon Champions through Pokemon Home, and you can also bring in Pokemon from other games to fill your roster.
The Mega versions of Meganium, Emboar, and Feraligatr will also have never-before-seen abilities in Pokemon Champions. Meganium gets Mega Sol, Emboar gains the Mold Breaker ability, and Feraligatr can turn Normal-type moves into Dragon-type moves with the Dragonize ability. The release date for the mobile version of Pokemon Champions hasn’t been confirmed yet, but the game is on the way to iOS and Android devices later this year.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Pokemon franchise, and Pokemon Champions arrives shortly after the launch of the surprise hit Pokemon Pokopia. The new pocket monster game could make competitive Pokemon the most approachable it has ever been, as taking part in this side of the franchise has been notoriously difficult for newcomers. As for the mainline series, Pokemon Winds and Waves was officially revealed on Pokemon Day, but the Generation 10 game is only launching in 2027.