Pokémon Champions

Pokémon Champions; Pokémon(ポケモン) Champions(チャンピオンズ)
	; Pokémon Champions eShop banner
Basic info
Platform:	Nintendo Switch (enhanced for the Nintendo Switch 2 via version update), iOS, iPadOS, Android
Category:	Battle simulation
Players:	1-2
Connectivity:	N/A
Developer:	The Pokémon Works
Publisher:	Nintendo/The Pokémon Company
Part of:	Generation IX side series
Ratings
CERO:	A
ESRB:	E
ACB:	PG
OFLC:	PG
PEGI:	7
GRAC:	ALL
GSRR:	6+
Release dates
Japan:	April 8, 2026 (Nintendo Switch); Summer 2026 (iOS, iPadOS, Android)
North America:	April 7, 2026 (Nintendo Switch); 2026 (iOS, iPadOS, Android)
Australia:	April 8, 2026 (Nintendo Switch); 2026 (iOS, iPadOS, Android)
Europe:	April 8, 2026 (Nintendo Switch); 2026 (iOS, iPadOS, Android)
South Korea:	April 8, 2026 (Nintendo Switch); Summer 2026 (iOS, iPadOS, Android)
Hong Kong:	April 8, 2026 (Nintendo Switch); Summer 2026 (iOS, iPadOS, Android)
Taiwan:	April 8, 2026 (Nintendo Switch); Summer 2026 (iOS, iPadOS, Android)
Websites
Japanese:	Official site
English:	Official site; Pokémon.com

This article is about the game. For the type of Trainer, see Pokémon Champion.

Pokémon Champions (Japanese: Pokémon(ポケモン) Champions(チャンピオンズ)) is a free-to-start online-only side series Pokémon game for the Nintendo Switch, iOS, iPadOS, and Android. It allows players to battle using the same mechanics as the core series games, including types, Abilities, and moves. The game was released worldwide on April 8, 2026 on the Nintendo Switch.^{[note 1]}

The game was announced worldwide on Pokémon Day, February 27, 2025, at 11 P.M. JST via a Pokémon Presents. It is playable in ten languages: Japanese, English, German, European and Latin American Spanish, French, Italian, Korean, and Simplified and Traditional Chinese.

On the Nintendo Switch, both a free-to-start version and a paid Pokémon Champions + Starter Pack (Japanese: 『Pokémon Champions』 + スターターパック Pokémon Champions + Starter Pack) bundle are available.

Gameplay

Features

Like in the Battle Stadium in the Nintendo Switch core series games, the game features both a Ranked Battle and a Casual Battle mode. It also features a Private Battle mode for battles with family and friends.
Players can Mega Evolve their Pokémon through the use of a new item called the Omni Ring. Artwork of this item and the Pokémon Champions website suggest that other techniques, such as Z-Moves, Dynamax/Gigantamax, and Terastallization, will also be supported in the future.^[1]
New Abilities are introduced for some of the Mega Evolutions introduced in Pokémon Legends: Z-A: Dragonize, Mega Sol, Piercing Drill, and Spicy Spray.
Only a select pool of Pokémon, moves, and held items was made available at the release.
Players are capable of seeing in-game how often certain held items, moves, and the like are used on specific Pokémon.
The game is online-only; even the in-game tutorials and the Private Battle mode require an online connection as all damage calculations etc. are done server-side.

Changes from Scarlet and Violet and Generation VIII

Players can now forfeit in the middle of a turn, as opposed to just in between turns.
If a player is disconnected from the server during a battle, they do not automatically lose the game, instead having a substantial amount of time to reconnect before the connectivity issues result in a loss. If a player was disconnected during a battle, proceeding from the title screen will automatically resume that battle. The turn timer decreases as normal while waiting for that player to reconnect, potentially resulting in the game automatically selecting their moves if the server does not receive a response in time.
Moves that the target Pokémon is doubly weak to or doubly resists are now listed as "extremely effective" and "mostly ineffective", respectively, and have their own icons for such as well, rather than being grouped with regular "super effective" and "not very effective" modifiers.
Level is not displayed, with Pokémon stats being calculated as if they were level 50.
Individual values cannot be modified in-game,^[2] with the Pokémon stats being calculated as if they had 31 IVs in all stats.
Effort values are replaced by the new stat points system. In certain circumstances, it is possible to increase stats by one point more than the effort values allow.
Items triggering now causes a pop-up banner to show up (like with Abilities), displaying the item's sprite.
Stat alterations (such as Intimidate's Attack reduction) are now resolved on both opposing Pokémon at once, rather than one by one.
Effects that raise or lower multiple stats at once (such as Parting Shot) now only display one message for all the raised or lowered stats, rather than an individual one for each stat.
Several status conditions were made weaker:
- Frozen Pokémon now have a 25% chance to naturally thaw out each turn instead of 20%, and will always thaw out after three turns.
- Paralysis now has only 1/8 chance to prevent affected Pokémon from acting, rather than 1/4.
- Sleep now lasts 2-3 turns instead of 2-4, with a 2/3 chance to last three turns and a 1/3 chance to last two turns.
Some Abilities were modified:
- Healer now triggers 50% of the time instead of 30%.
- Unseen Fist now deals only 25% damage on protecting targets instead of 100%.
Several moves were modified:
- Snap Trap had its type changed from Grass to Steel.
- Toxic Thread now lowers Speed by two stages rather than one.
- Trop Kick and Psyshield Bash had their base power increased from 70 to 85 and 90, respectively.
- Apple Acid, Fire Lash, Grav Apple, and Spirit Shackle had their base power increased from 80 to 90.
- First Impression had its base power increased from 90 to 100.
- Beak Blast and Mountain Gale had their base power increased from 100 to 120.
- Bone Rush, Infernal Parade, and Night Daze had their base power increased by 5 each, totaling 30, 65, and 90, respectively.
- Crabhammer and Syrup Bomb had their accuracy increased by 5 each, totaling 95% and 90%, respectively.
- Iron Head and Moonblast's secondary effect chances were lowered from 30% to 20% and 10%, respectively.
- Dire Claw's secondary effect chance was lowered from 50% to 30%. It is also now considered a slicing move.
- Crush Claw, Dragon Claw, and Shadow Claw are now considered to be slicing moves.
- Dragon Cheer is now considered a sound-based move.
- Fake Out and First Impression can no longer be used after the turn the user switches into the battle; if the user is forced to use them when ineligible via effects such as Encore, it will instead use Struggle.
- Freeze-Dry can no longer inflict freeze.
- Salt Cure's passive damage was halved, dealing 1/16 of target's maximum HP per turn normally, and 1/8 against Water and Steel types.
If a Pokémon is forced to use a different move than selected due to Encore, it will now perform that move at its usual priority, rather than of the move that was selected.
PP of moves is now set to fixed values of 8, 12, 16, and 20, if their base PP values in Scarlet and Violet (or Generation VIII) were 5, 10, 15, or at least 20, respectively (although the pre-release overview trailer showcases moves with their previous PP values). However, certain moves appear to have those base values modified, causing values different than expected in Champions:
- Baneful Bunker, King's Shield, Protect, and Spiky Shield have 8 PP instead of 12, matching Detect.
- Beak Blast has 8 PP instead of 16.
- Night Slash has 20 PP instead of 16.
- Sandstorm and Snowscape have 8 PP instead of 12, matching Sunny Day and Rain Dance.

Connectivity

Pokémon Champions can connect with Pokémon HOME, allowing for use of Pokémon from the core series games and Pokémon GO, though this is limited to Pokémon that appear in Pokémon Champions. Pokémon originally obtained in Pokémon Champions cannot be deposited in Pokémon HOME. A Pokémon sent to Champions from HOME is referred to as "visiting" Pokémon Champions, and must be received through the Recruit menu in order to be used in the game. The Recruit menu is also used to send Pokémon back to HOME.

When a Pokémon is sent to visit Champions for the first time, effort values (converted to the new stat point system), stat alignment (from either its Nature or Mint), and the moveset of the most recently visited game are carried over. Any changes in Champions are not reflected when the Pokémon is sent back to HOME, and any subsequent changes in another game will not affect the data in Champions. The way effort values are converted to stat points matches how EV training works at level 50 with an odd IV: 4 EVs for the first stat point in a stat and 8 EVs for each additional stat point. Therefore a Pokémon fully EV trained in 3 or 4 stats will have a maximum of 65 stat points when transferred and be able to earn on additional stat point in Champions. Pokémon EV trained in 5 or 6 stats will already be able to be transferred with 66 stat points.

Movesets are carried over even though certain moves and certain Pokémon/move combinations cannot be used in Champions. For example, no Pokémon in Champions can use Psybeam, and Incineroar cannot use Knock Off. If a Pokémon with a disallowed move is in storage in Champions, its minisprite and the move will be displayed with the no symbol, and the Pokémon cannot be placed on a team until the move is replaced using the Training menu in-game.

Downloadable content

In addition to certain in-app purchases, the game offers the Pokémon Champions + Starter Pack bundle as downloadable content which provides the player with certain in-game benefits.

Banner	Name	Price
Banner	Name	ARS	AUD	BRL	CAD	CHF	CLP	COP	CZK	DKK	EUR	GBP	HKD	JPY	KRW	MXN	MYR	NOK	NZD	PEN	PLN	SEK	SGD	THB	TWD	USD	ZAR
	Pokémon Champions + Starter Pack	$9,899	$10.50	R$38.90	$9.99	6.90 CHF	$7,230	$32,300	175.00 Kč	52.00 kr	€6.99	£5.99	$49	¥980	₩10,000	$144.00	RM31.90	83.00 kr	$11.55	S/28.00	30.00 zł	78.00 kr	$9.78	฿279	$200	$6.99	R146.00

Starter Pack

This pack includes the following extras:

50 additional Pokémon Storage spaces which allows the player to permanently store 80 Pokémon by default instead of 30 (or 100 spots instead of 50 if the player has progressed to Champion Rank).
The Battle! (Trainer Battle) song from Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! as background music.
30 Teammate Tickets, used to permanently recruit Pokémon from Roster Ranch (1 ticket per recruitment).
50 Training Tickets, used to waive VP costs when training Pokémon (1 ticket per training session, regardless of the sessions cost in VP).

Supported Pokémon

Main article: List of Pokémon in Pokémon Champions

Not all Pokémon available in Pokémon HOME are present in the game.^[3] More Pokémon may be added in batches alongside new regulations.^[4]

Shop

Main article: Shop (Champions)

The Shop screen is divided into two sections: the Premium Shop, where memberships and Premium Battle Passes can be purchased with real-world currency, and the Frontier Shop, where VP can be exchanged for held items and clothing.

Staff

Main article: Staff of Pokémon Champions

Version history

Nintendo Switch

Version

Release date

Official note

More information

1.0.2

April 8, 2026

N/A

Initial version when downloading from the eShop.

1.0.3^[5]

April 22, 2026

The following issues have been fixed:

The explanation for Leech Seed is incorrect.
The gender listed for certain Pokémon in the tutorial is listed incorrectly.
The player is unable to select a move when they move the cursor over Mega Evolution while viewing move details and then press the B Button.
The Unnerve ability doesn’t work on Pokémon with certain abilities, and they are able to eat Berries.
The changes in speed caused by held items are not reflected in the order in which abilities activate.
Certain other issues related to networking and visual appearance during battles.

The Mystery Gift code redemption website was also updated to allow Nintendo Account login requests.

Release

Date

Locations

April 7, 2026^{[note 1]}
April 8, 2026

Nintendo eShop: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Gallery

Switch game icon
Game logo in all languages
Key art
Second key art
Willem, the male player character
Becca, the female player character
Omni Ring
Tatora
Kitt
Cordy
Caraway
Kajima

In other languages


Language		Title
Chinese	Cantonese	Pokémon Champions
Chinese	Mandarin	Pokémon Champions
French		Pokémon Champions
German		Pokémon Champions
Italian		Pokémon Champions
Korean		Pokémon Champions
Spanish	Latin America	Pokémon Champions
Spanish	Spain	Pokémon Champions

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Due to time zones, the game was released on April 7, 2026 in North America, even though it was released at the same time as the rest of the world.

References

↑ Pokémon Champions | The Omni Ring—A Battle Essential! "Other special features may be added to the Omni Ring in the future! Research is being conducted to make the Omni Ring capable of drawing out a variety of Pokémon capabilities."
↑ https://www.gamespot.com/articles/pokemon-champions-will-take-a-key-stat-out-of-its-battle-equation/1100-6538998/?ftag=CAD-01-10abi2f
↑ February 27, 2025 Press Release — POKÉMON EXPANDS ENTERTAINMENT OFFERINGS WITH NEW WAYS TO PLAY IN THE POKÉMON LEGENDS: Z-A VIDEO GAME AND THE REVEAL OF POKÉMON CHAMPIONS
↑ Pokémon Champions | Seasons and Regulations! "The Pokémon you can use and other parameters will change with each new set of regulations. You never know—new Pokémon just might become eligible."
↑ 『Pokémon Champions』更新データ（Ver.1.0.3）配信のお知らせ (Japanese; archived)

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