2025’s yearly February Pokemon Presents focused mostly on updates for known games, but there was one major new title in the bunch. Pokemon Champions is a continuation of the Pokemon Stadium and Pokemon Battle Revolution games, allowing players to import their favorite teams from Pokemon Home and battle with them in a new environment. The selection of modes Pokemon Champions will offer isn’t known yet, but the game will come to both Nintendo Switch and mobile devices, and, despite this being new for the latter, offer the authentic mainline Pokemon battling experience.
It only exists as a teaser trailer and a short description right now, but Pokemon Champions sounds very promising. This is the sort of experience that only dedicated fans playing the latest mainline Pokemon game, or anyone matchmaking in the Pokemon Showdown fangame, have been able to enjoy previously. If Pokemon Champions includes Stadium and Battle Revolution’s rental Pokemon and single-player modes, it will open the competitive environment up for everyone, especially if it ends up being free-to-play. Only one other detail about Pokemon Champions exists right now, and while it’s enticingly unique, it’s also ground the Pokemon franchise has never trodden before.
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Pokemon Champions Confirms 3 Different Game Modes
The upcoming Pokemon Champions confirms three different game mode for players to try at launch.
Mega Evolution’s Return in Pokemon Champions is a Big Deal
Bringing A Dropped Gimmick Back Is New For Pokemon
Each Pokemon generation, from the sixth generation Pokemon X and Y onward, has included one major mechanic that exists on top of the regular battle system. Pokemon X and Y introduced Mega Evolution, and it lingered in Generation 7 before Gen 8 dropped it, but the Gen 9 titles Pokemon Legends: Z-A and Pokemon Champions have brought Megas back. After that, each generation’s one-off gimmick was Z-Moves in Gen 7, Dynamaxing and Gigantamaxing in Gen 8, and Terastallization in Gen 9. The items or conditions necessary, and various other details like whether they were universal or for specific Pokemon, changed with each mechanic.
Mega Evolution was the most popular of these, appearing prominently in spin-offs and even the Pokemon anime for years after its first era had passed. Its return in Legends: Z-A and Champions is evidence enough of that, and there’s a good chance new Pokemon will gain Mega forms as part of this movement. Whether Mega Evolution will penetrate Pokemon’s tenth generation and onward is up in the air since it’s a story-relevant power that requires special items, but Pokemon Home integration means it’s possible. That would make Pokemon Champions a preview of things to come, as Mega Evolutions are not alone this time.
Pokemon Champions’ Use of Mega Evolution And Terastallization Is Unprecedented
Working off of the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet battle rules, Pokemon Champions also employs Terastallization. Although only Terapagos benefits from a bespoke form and base star increase from Terastallization like it was Mega Evolution, every Gen 9 Pokemon has a Tera Type, so everything can benefit from its effects. This isn’t a surprise given Pokemon Champions’ timing, but what is surprising is that Mega Evolutions are also usable. Pokemon had only ever mixed battle gimmicks before in the Generation 7 games, and even there, Z-Moves were emphasized over Mega Evolutions and the two had meaningfully different effects.
Mega Evolution And Terastallization’s Coexistence In Pokemon Champions Must Be Explained
Like the introduction of fully real-time traditional Pokemon battles in Legends: Z-A, the use of two battle transformation mechanics in Pokemon Champions is a bold new move for the franchise. It also raises a lot of questions that Pokemon Champions will need to answer, including whether entire teams will need to pick one or the other, whether a Mega Evolved Pokemon can Terastallize, and whether any balance adjustments have been made to accommodate each mechanic’s presence. Such an unusual decision for turn-based Pokemon’s most competitive simulator yet is bold, and Pokemon Champions should take advantage of the attention it brings going forward.
