Pokemon Champions Gives Gen 10 the Perfect Excuse to Go in…

Pokemon is gradually easing into the Nintendo Switch 2 generation, and the latest Pokemon Presents has revealed its next steps. Various titles like Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, Pokemon Go, Pokemon Unite, and more are still receiving updates, while Pokemon Concierge and Pokemon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch'd & Pichu are pushing deeper into television. Pokemon Friends just launched for Switch and mobile platforms, Pokemon Legends: Z-A is just around the corner, and Pokemon Champions is landing in 2026. There's a lot to look forward to, and Pokemon Champions is bringing something especially valuable to the franchise.

Since its inception, Pokemon has given players the means to train their Pokemon teams and compete with each other, but never quite like Pokemon Champions will. Taking influence from the Pokemon Stadium series and Pokemon Battle Revolution, Pokemon Champions serves as a Pokemon battle simulator with online matchmaking. Even with a combination of rental Pokemon and Pokemon HOME integration, that offering may sound thin, but it also introduces the chance to tweak Pokemon stats, natures, and abilities as a core feature. This is a huge shift in priorities for Pokemon, and should enable future games to take the series in other directions.

Pokemon Champions May Have a Secret Weapon on the Switch 2

Pokemon Champions is a game that aims to provide the best battling experience, and the Switch 2 may have something that will help it do that.

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By Enricko Ozoa

Pokemon Champions Is All-Competition, So Generation 10 Can Be Something Else

PvP Fans Will Be Thoroughly Served By Pokemon Champions

The existence of Pokemon Champions should prompt a companion game that focuses on what it doesn't, with that being storytelling, exploration, and general innovation. All of that sounds like strong pillars for Pokemon Generation 10 to focus on, and it feels like the franchise's momentum is already pushing it in their direction. Anytime Pokemon has taken a serious crack at narrative, like in Pokemon Black and White, the first few Pokemon Mystery Dungeon entries, and most recently Scarlet and Violet, have drawn positive responses from fans, so Generation 10 might as well keep S&V’s streak up.

Meanwhile, Pokemon Champions can service players that prefer raw competition, especially those who are interested in experimenting with the battle system. That's not to say that Pokemon’s tenth generation should exclude its online aspects, but Game Freak and The Pokemon Works will have a more focused receptacle to test out mechanics, bring back old species that are otherwise stuck in Pokemon HOME, and provide an especially slick presentation for PvP matches. Mainline Pokemon titles have already split their resources between competitive and casual features, so letting both have their own game will better serve their particular crowds.

Generation 10 Is Free To Be Pokemon’s Big Narrative Moment

With Pokemon Champions present in the franchise’s ecosystem to engage those who want to be the very best, Pokemon Generation 10 can turn its attention to those still wanting to catch ‘em all, at least in theory. More room to experiment in its narrative space can't exclude the usual tenets of Pokemon, but it does allow for new methods of realizing them. At the very least, restoring the goal of filling out a National Dex by focusing mostly on new Pokemon before the postgame will feel more fitting in a game already trying out new things, and provide a solid foundation to build up a more involved plot.

Pokemon Gen 10 Can Try Anything With Pokemon Champions To Fall Back On

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet were somewhat scattered in their attempt to fit three parallel storylines into their open world, but fan reception proves it was worth the risk. Now, Pokemon Generation 10 can dive even further into unorthodox storytelling, like featuring a player character with a set personality, sequences spent in one-off areas, or taking over other characters entirely. Greater attention can even be paid to building up lore for Generation 10’s region, and gym progression is now more of a suggestion. Pokemon Champions takes the pressure off of Pokemon to be an all-in-one package, so it should take this chance to become something else.

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