Pokémon Champions Coming To Mobile This Month

Mega Charizard Y and the rest of the Pokémon Champions are making the jump from Nintendo devices to mobile this month. The multiplayer battler, which has become the platform for competitive Pokémon tournaments, launched on Switch in April.

Mobile Launch And New Champions

Pre-registrations are available now, and the game will launch on the App Store and Google Play on June 17.

To mark the occasion, The Pokémon Company is also launching new Champions. And, cross-play will be available immediately after the game’s mobile release.

A Muted Response

Players can choose teams of 3 or 4 Champions to battle against other trainers in ranked or casual matches. On launch, the game got mixed reviews.

While the battles were largely praised for their combat-heavy addictiveness, the game was slammed for offering so little content. There are limited challenges and no single-player content.

The roster of 186 Champions is also pretty measly, considering there are more than 1,000 unique Pokémon species.

What it does, it does well. But Pokémon Champions doesn’t do very much. It feels like a mobile game, even on Switch. Which makes sense, considering it was always the plan to have cross-platform play and pit Switch players against mobile. But, even for a cross-platform title, it feels like Champions needs some padding out.

Pokémon’s Paltry Population Problem

There are two ways of recruiting new Champions. You can import them from Pokémon Home or recruit them from the Farm. With recruiting, it is pretty hit or miss whether you’ll be offered a Champion that you actually want. Especially considering the lacklustre roster.

But the list of available characters will expand, albeit very marginally, on mobile release day.

Players will be able to claim Raichu through their in-game mailbox after the mobile release. You will also get Raichunite X and Raichunite Y Mega Stones.

Raichu X is an electric-type Pokémon with the Electric Surge ability. Raichu Y is also electric and comes with the No Guard ability.

The Pokémon Company has gone all in on Champions. It replaced Scarlet and Violet in official tournaments, and it will see regular updates and new content in the coming months. Its cross-play capabilities are also intriguing, and battles are fun, although the game’s content is limited.