Pokemon Champions Makes One of the Boldest Roster Decisions in Series History

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Competitive Pokemon is getting a fresh start with the April 8th launch of Pokemon Champions. This new battle-focused game will become the official standard for Pokemon competitions, replacing the Scarlet & Violet era. It’s designed not just for experienced players, but also to welcome newcomers to the competitive scene with a simpler, more accessible battle system. The developers have made several key decisions to ensure Pokemon Champions provides a smooth and easy-to-learn experience.

A significant change in Pokemon Champions is the removal of Individual Values (IVs). Instead of IVs, players will use in-game currency called Victory Points to customize their Pokemon’s stats, moves, and abilities. This isn’t the only new approach to team building, however. The game will start with a smaller selection of Pokemon, focusing on fully evolved forms and leaving out earlier stages of evolution. While Pikachu might be an exception, Pokemon Champions generally won’t include Pokemon that need to evolve – only their final forms will be available.

Pokemon Champions Hopes to Welcome Newer Competitive Players with Streamlined Roster

Playing Pokemon Champions recently, I noticed something immediately: you can’t find basic, first-stage Pokemon. Instead of catching Pokemon, you acquire fully evolved ones at the Roster Ranch. This is different from most Pokemon games where you typically find and train Pokemon from their earliest forms. Even older, battle-focused games like Pokemon Stadium let you use unevolved creatures. This makes the selection of Pokemon in Pokemon Champions smaller than in any other game in the series. While it’s a surprising decision, there’s a specific reason behind it.

So, the developers actually had a big discussion about this! They decided to only include fully evolved Pokémon in the game at launch to make it easier for new players to jump in. That means even if you try to bring your Pokémon over from Pokémon HOME, you’ll only be able to transfer the fully evolved versions that are already in the game’s list of available Pokémon. It’s all about making it more accessible, I guess!

It’s rare to see this in the world of Pokémon, but the change actually makes some sense. Competitive battles usually focus on fully evolved Pokémon anyway. Plus, new players might mistakenly bring weaker, earlier-stage Pokémon to battles while they’re learning, which can be discouraging. However, limiting the options to only fully evolved Pokémon does exclude some previously popular competitive choices that haven’t reached their final form.

Fans Might Miss Popular Competitve Contenders with Pokemon Champions

Competitive Pokemon battles usually feature fully evolved Pokemon, but there are a few exceptions. Some Pokemon that haven’t fully evolved can actually be more powerful than their evolved forms with the right strategy. The game Pokemon Champions restricts players to only fully evolved Pokemon, which means some popular and effective choices—like Chansey (often better than Blissey), Porygon2, and Murkrow—aren’t available.

Things might change in the future, though. Pikachu is currently available despite not being fully evolved, likely because it’s the series mascot and Ash’s Pikachu never evolves. The game’s developer, Hoshino Masaaki, has mentioned the possibility of adding other unevolved Pokémon to Pokemon Champions eventually. However, this probably won’t happen until the game has a lot more fully evolved Pokémon. So, if you’ve been relying on unevolved Pokémon in your strategy, you might need to adjust it as Pokemon Champions expands.

What are your thoughts on Pokémon Champions choosing not to use their basic, unevolved Pokémon in battle? Share your opinion in the comments below and join the discussion on the ComicBook Forum!

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2026-03-29 22:13