Pokémon Champions review: Peak monster battling

image via Engadget

August 28, 2026, 1:00 PM

• •Pokémon Champions is a free-to-play competitive-only Pokémon game on Switch, Switch 2, Android and iOS with no traditional story mode or explorable world.
• •The game simplifies team building by letting players recruit Pokémon directly, normalize them to level 50 and assign generic stat points instead of managing IVs and EVs.
• •The reviewer says this lower-friction system makes competitive play far more accessible while still preserving strategic depth in online battles.
• •Current drawbacks include limited battle formats, sparse default storage, and monetization built around a starter pack, monthly membership and battle pass.
• •The article notes that Champions already hosts major tournaments and that the Pokémon World Championship is using it to crown top players.

Engadget’s review argues that Pokémon Champions succeeds by focusing entirely on competitive battling instead of a traditional single-player adventure. The game removes much of the usual grind by letting players recruit Pokémon, standardize levels and customize stats and moves quickly. The reviewer praises that accessibility and says it reveals the strategic depth of Pokémon’s PvP system, while also highlighting shortcomings such as limited formats, storage restrictions and layered microtransactions. Even with those issues, the piece concludes that Champions could become a major long-term platform for competitive Pokémon play.

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