World Championships
- If you were looking for the anime competition known as the "Pokémon World Championships" in Japanese, see World Coronation Series.
The Pokémon World Championships (Japanese: ポケモンワールドチャンピオンシップス Pokémon World Championships) are an annual event held by the Play! Pokémon organized play division of The Pokémon Company International. The first ever World Championship event was run by Wizards of the Coast, a division of Hasbro, in August 2002 in Seattle, WA[1]. Due to the transfer of the licensing of the Trading Card Game from Wizards to Nintendo, neither company staged a World Championship in 2003. Nintendo resumed World Championships in 2004, and have held them each year since then. Prior to the start of the World Championships tournament structure, the best players from around the world competed at the Tropical Mega Battle between 1999 and 2001, as well as at several Super Trainer Showdown events held in the US in 2000 and 2001.
The events are held in August of a given year. Players must qualify based on overall ratings, national champions, and past performances in the previous year's World Championships (see Championship Point).
Trading Card Game
The championships are staged utilizing that year's Standard format, previously referred to as Modified Format prior to the 2014 season. The 2015 season introduced the Expanded format.
Standard/Modified Format Sets
- 2004 — Expedition to EX Hidden Legends
- 2005 — EX Ruby & Sapphire to EX Emerald
- 2006 — EX Hidden Legends to EX Holon Phantoms
- 2007 — EX Deoxys to Diamond & Pearl
- 2008 — EX Holon Phantoms to Majestic Dawn
- 2009 — Diamond & Pearl to Rising Rivals
- 2010 — Diamond & Pearl to Unleashed
- 2011 — HeartGold & SoulSilver to Black & White
- 2012 — HeartGold & SoulSilver to Dark Explorers
- 2013 — Black & White to Plasma Freeze
- 2014 — Next Destinies to Flashfire
- 2015 — Boundaries Crossed onward
- 2016 — XY to Phantom Forces
- 2017 — Primal Clash onwards
- 2018 — BREAKthrough onward
- 2019 — Sun & Moon to Unbroken Bonds
- 2020 — Ultra Prism onward
Expanded Format Sets
- 2015 — Black & White onward
World Championship decks
- Main article: World Championships Deck (TCG)
World Championship decks are purchasable non-tournament-legal prints of 60-card decks used by World Championship players.
Video games (core series)
The Video Game Championships (VGC) use the core series of Pokémon games and was first staged in 2009 in San Diego, California.
All battles use the following rules:
- The format is Double Battles. A player must bring between 4 and 6 Pokémon and select 4 of them just before the battle. In games that use Team Preview (Generation V onward), this selection is made after viewing the opponent's 6 Pokémon.
- Two Pokémon may not have the same Pokédex number. Mythical Pokémon (and Ash-Greninja) are disallowed. Special Pokémon are disallowed most of the time but certain years instead allow a limited number per team.
- The Soul Dew was disallowed until Generation VII, where its effect changed.
- In games that use origin marks (Generation VI onward), all Pokémon must have an origin mark matching the games used for the competition. This may be substituted with the battle-ready symbol.
- Two Pokémon may not have the same held item.
- All Pokémon battle at level 50. Depending on the year, one of these rules may be in effect:
- Any Pokémon either above or below level 50 will be auto-leveled to 50.
- Any Pokémon above level 50 will be auto-leveled down to 50, but Pokémon below level 50 will not be auto-leveled up.
- Any Pokémon above level 50 is disallowed.
- All Pokémon will be auto-leveled to level 50 during the battle, regardless of whether their actual level is higher or lower.
- Two Pokémon may not have the same nickname. A Pokémon may not be nicknamed the name of a different Pokémon, and nicknames and Trainer names may not be inappropriate.
Year-specific formats
- 2009 — Pokémon Platinum
- Uniquely for this year, players connected their Nintendo DSes to a modified, unreleased version of Pokémon Battle Revolution for at least the semifinals onward. The modified game featured Platinum outfits for Dawn and Lucas as well as no region- or language-locking.[2]
- Any Pokémon above level 50 was disallowed. This disallowed Tyranitar indirectly, as Tyranitar at or below level 50 was impossible to obtain (prior to a Generation VI event).
- 2010 — Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver
- Up to two Special Pokémon were allowed.
- 2011 — Pokémon Black and White
- Only Unova Pokédex Pokémon were allowed. Sky Drop was disallowed due to the Sky Drop glitch.
- 2012 — Pokémon Black and White
- Sky Drop and Dark Void were both disallowed.
- 2013 — Pokémon Black 2 and White 2
- Sky Drop and Dark Void were both disallowed.
- 2014 — Pokémon X and Y
- Only Kalos Pokédex Pokémon were allowed. Dark Void once again became allowed.
- 2015 — Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
- 2016 — Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
- Up to two Special Pokémon were allowed.
- 2017 — Pokémon Sun and Moon
- Only Alola Pokédex Pokémon were allowed. Kantonian form counterparts to Alolan forms were not considered to be part of the Alola Pokédex. Mega Stones were disallowed.
- 2018 — Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon
- 2019 — Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon
- Up to two Special Pokémon were allowed. In addition, the season was split into three series:
- Sun Series (2018-09-04 - 2019-01-07): Mega Stones, Primal Reversion, Rayquaza with Dragon Ascent, and Z-Crystals were all disallowed.
- Moon Series (2019-01-08 - 2019-04-01): Mega Stones, Primal Reversion, Rayquaza with Dragon Ascent, and Ultranecrozium Z were disallowed.
- Ultra Series (2019-04-02 - 2019-08): All Mega Evolution, Primal Reversion, and Z-Moves are allowed.
- 2022 — Pokémon Sword and Shield
- Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 and 2021 World Championships were cancelled and the season was eventually extended to last three years with several different series:
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In the games
In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, the top four competitors from each division of the Video Game Championships from the 2012 World Championships were featured in the World Championships Tournaments in the Pokémon World Tournament. In the Generation VI games, unused text exists for the top three competitors as opponents in the Battle Maison.
In Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, several NPCs at the Battle Resort mention the Pokémon World Championships.
In the anime
- Main article: World Coronation Series
Trivia
- Event-exclusive Pokémon have been relevant on the following occasions:
- In 2009, the only tournament-legal Dragonite were event-exclusive. (Rotom's alternate forms were indirectly disallowed due to the game automatically transforming them back into normal Rotom upon connecting with any other game.)
- In 2010, Origin Forme Giratina was tournament-legal but event-exclusive.
- The banning of Dark Void between 2011 and 2013 indirectly indicates that Smeargle with Dark Void, which requires an event to obtain, was tournament-legal in 2009, 2010, 2014, 2015, and 2016.
- Zorua and Zoroark were event-exclusive but tournament-legal in 2011 and 2012.
- Gigantamax Meowth, Snorlax, and Toxtricity were event-exclusive but tournament-legal between their release and the release of The Isle of Armor (which made them available without an event).
- The first half of 2020 is the only time that non-event Pokémon have been excluded because of rarity. Specifically, Gigantamax Pokémon that were rarely available normally in-game did not become allowed until the start of the first Wild Area News event that temporarily made them more common. This would become moot with the release of The Isle of Armor, which would make all relevant Gigantamax Pokémon available without relying on rarity.
Pokkén Tournament
Games used
- 2015 - Pokkén Tournament (arcade version, invitational only)
- 2016 - Pokkén Tournament
- 2017 - Pokkén Tournament
- 2018 - Pokkén Tournament DX
- 2019 - Pokkén Tournament DX
Pokémon GO
- 2019 (invitational only)
- Junichi Masuda and Shigeki Morimoto were among the exhibition opponents.
Scheduling and matchups
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The Championships are set over three days with a last chance qualifier (known to players as "The Grinder") on the Friday to fill seats left vacant for various reasons (no travel, local qualifiers) until all seats are filled. The second day is limited to Swiss Pairings over a set number of rounds, and the top players (16 each in the Junior and Senior Divisions, as well as the top 32 in the Masters division) move onto the Sunday rounds. The format for this final is single elimination, until the finals, which are a best two matches out of three to decide the World Champion. There are three divisions: Junior (known as the 10 Years Old and Under Division until 2006), Senior (known as the 11 to 14 Year Old Division until 2006) and Masters (called the 15 Years and Older Division until 2006). In 2010, a Last Chance Qualifier was held on Friday to fill all vacant spots. In 2011, a Masters age Division was added to the VGC to parallel the TCG. The event format consists of Swiss rounds, followed by a single elimination tournament. In 2009, the top two advanced to play the finals on Sunday, whereas since 2010, the top eight advance to play in a head-to-head single elimination event to decide the World Champions.
In other languages
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See also
References
External links
