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finally, the successor to pokemon stadium has arrived
2026-04-09
A game I've been looking forward to playing ever since I saw it announced on YouTube came out yesterday, and I have really been enjoying it so far!
If you were around at the time and remember playing it, Pokemon Stadium was a hell of a game. You built up a team of Pokemon and you battled with them against your friends in real life or against the Pokemon League in the game. Pokemon Stadium, along with its successor, Pokemon Stadium 2 (which brought in Johto-region Pokemon) were probably my favorite Pokemon games.
When I saw Pokemon Champions announced, I could definitely tell it was going to be in the same vein as Stadium and I was all for it. Finally, a great spiritual successor to those games! To make it even better, it is online, so you can link up with your friends and play Pokemon battles, whether your friend is on their Switch or on their phone.
I am sure this is going to change quite rapidly as I continue to bring in new Pokemon and train them for different movesets, but here is my current battle lineup:
I've got several more in the reserves, and I also connected Pokemon HOME to Champions in order to move some Pokemon from there to another Box.
I have very much been enjoying the battle system so far. There are a few different modes, including Online Competitions which I intend to check out. So far, I have only been playing Ranked singles matches. It has been a lot of fun putting my team up against random people from around the world and seeing what kinds of teams they have built, as well.
I have only been playing for about maybe an hour or so now off and on collectively, and I am clearing the "Poke-Ball Tier". I suspect I will find all kinds of tier levels to rank through. I am looking forward to seeing how this game pans out. The battle system is quite fun, and anyone should be able to understand it. If you have played Pokemon Stadium, for example, you should easily understand how the battle system works in this game. I would imagine this would be true if you have played any Pokemon game.
Battles begin with matchmaking happening and getting matched up with an opponent, and then selecting the Pokemon you want to use in the battle. Once the battle begins, you can select from the "Fight" or "Pokemon" menus, which will allow you to select a move to use or switch our your Pokemon. In Ranked matches, you will gain or lose experience in a rank depending on whether you win or lose a battle.
You can assign items for your Pokemon to hold. Items have different effects depending on the item. Some items allow you to gain health after taking damage, while others affect the stats of the Pokemon that is holding it, or enemy Pokemon.
I think this game has a pretty good selection of Pokemon, and it sounds like it is going to be updated with new ones quite often. I have already filled up one Box (counting the Mons I brought over from Pokemon HOME), and I have a nice range of Pokemon ranging from the first generation all the way up to the newest.
It is super easy to discover new Pokemon, recruit them, and add them to the team. You can also use the Training menu to assign them new move-sets and stuff to train on, depending on your playstyle.
Obviously, Pokemon Champions is centered around online play, and it really shines here. It is what I hoped Stadium would be like if you could play it online back in the day. It is a lot of fun to experiment with different team builds with your Pokemon, and then go into the Ranked mode and test out the team.
It only takes a few seconds to find a match, and then you select the Pokemon you want to use in that battle, and get on with it. It is also super easy to set up Private Matches so you can play against your friends, if you'd like.
Pokemon Champions has Mega-Evolutions, so you can come up with some fun strategies around using those and experimenting with your Pokemon. You will need to go into the Shop and purchase the Mega Stones needed for each Pokemon, and then ensure the Pokemon you want to Mega Evolve is holding the item in battles (assign items to Pokemon in the Box menu).
You can get one "free" Pokemon lineup per day, where you don't have to spend any coins to open the gate and recruit new Pokemon. You can also use tokens earned in battles instead of coins to recruit the Pokemon if you have them.
All in all, I've been enjoying the time I've been spending with Pokemon Champions so far. My favorite Pokemon games always seemed to be the Stadium ones, and I loved making a team of Pokemon and going up against other people's teams. Simple, no-nonsense matches. It is even more fun in this one since we can augment our Team with held items!
If you have a Switch system, I certainly recommend giving this game a go if you're a fan of Pokemon. I'd say it is one of my favorite Pokemon games in a long time, and you can't beat the price (it is a free game). Give it a download, build up your Pokemon team, and go into some battles!