Honestly what it needs is an actual npc battle mode for casual players to actually hone their skills. Similar to how Battle revolution had NPCs but also you could make your own NPC opponent with your own pokemon. Like to make it actually fun they could do what Sun and moon did and make it a battle tower with pokemon champions and gym leaders from the old games. Even have evil team goons from the old games, that would be hella nostalgic. Like the Halloween event could basically be all the evil team’s bosses
@marcusclark1339 Oh, if it's inclusivity that bother you, don't worry it have nothing to do with it. It's all about cutting costs and development time.
Yeah until everyone copies eachother again, kinda boring there is clearly not enough veriety in op pokemons everytime i see competitive pokemon tournaments it's the same pokemons 😂
@appie7071 Theres the same core in a lot of the teams, but theres also a good chunk of flex spots that are brought to competitions. Yeah its not like every Pokemon is viable but 30-40 regulars is pretty good for a game's competitive scene
the whiplash between the intro cutscene graphics quality and the main menu is insaaaane, like night and day doesn't cover it, it's major production movie vs 2012 game
Are we sure an actual Switch 2 update was even applied? People who installed on Switch 1 said that its all the same amount of data that was downloaded.
me too especially for more casual players like me I know someone's gonna go 'just play the mainline games then' but I still feel like Champions should've had one
@miracilousmirica1994 They want to seperate competetive and casual Pokemon. They always wanted the mainline games to stay "casual" which often lead to bad things in competetive like how hard it was to "train" your pokemon right for competetive stats. In recent generations they gave players more options for stuff like that; but always hid it behind some random items and mechanics so you wouldnt stumble upon it in casual gameplay. They know how exhausting it can be to see a part of the game "not for you". That is why their new strategy is to divorce both of these parts of pokemon. Champions is INTENDED to be barebones and only competetive. They also dont want competetive to be tied to a console; that is why champions will also gain a mobile release. IMO this only looks to be a good thing in regards to the mainline games. Those now can completely focus on the single player and casual experience; and in the worst case things can just be "nerfed" if transfered to champions if needed. Back in the day before game patches being viable; they had to always keep these things in mind and it probably affected gameplay more than once. I get feeling bad because the game isnt for you; i am also mostly a casual player; but Champions actually made me approach competetive play and have fun with it. IMO i have only good things to say about champions(besides the paywall of mega floette for some reason exsisting). If you feel dissapointed that sounds more like you had over the top expectations for a free to play game always communicated to be intended for competetive. (and i actually am surprised how little the battlepass matters; besides Floette you really dont miss anything from not paying a cent into the game/other games)
I would honestly love an offline version of this game to practice your skills with NPC battles (I know the tutorial exists but...) like a battle system where you can select difficulty and have an option to put captions based on your moves being good or bad. I love this game so much for a start but I feel like this would be helpful. ❤
It's crazy to me that moving pokemon from home don't re-roll "illegal" moves. I just wanted to be silly with a full shiny team, but it wanted to spend VP to remove those moves.
@KodexKat depending on what games you have access to, that might not be an option. I do think it’s a little silly that it doesn’t let you change them outright on Champions, but like my previous comment said, you are able to do it in Home before that.
@Jude_McCloudwhat games? Pokemon GO? And sure Pokemon home is the first option to come to mind. The original comment comes off like spending VC to change moves is the only option
@KodexKat considering this is meant to inject interest into the competitive scene, there might not be people who have all the different games that movesets change between. It’s not the only option, but some folks might not know what other options there are.
@FutureOverYouThe game was never intended nor marketed to be “VGC only” it literally has 3v3 singles in the game which is not vgc, which completely disproves your point. It seems like they are intentionally discouraging play of the 6v6 format and that is frustrating to people who like it, so they voice that.
@FutureOverYoutbf this seems like Pokémons official competitor to smogon, where the most popular format is 6v6… I think a ton of people are just wondering why we can’t play 6v6 online officially with our own beloved Pokémon vs on smogon where there isn’t that connection with a Pokémon you may have moved across multiple generations.
I think what seperates Champions for me is just the hope for more. It isn't definitively the final product. More Pokemon will come, it's possible the visuals will be updated, etc.
This. Because we don't even have the Z Megas, and there's missing Megas and mons from Z-A. There's also missing modes like 6 vs 6. I think that since it's a free-to-play, they can take their time with updates compared to a mainline game. Remember, they're trying to get people into competitive, so they're probably easing people into it.
Yes. Yes it is. It's incomplete but it is still fun. Most of my battles have been super hype and have made me laugh with the amount of clutch or just plain lucky moments I've had. One small thing that really bugs me as a fan of game music, the Gold & Silver Trainer Battle Music is NOT from Generation 2. It is the GB Sounds version of the song from Generation 4 which sounds completely different because it has extra instrumentation.
Speak for yourself. The lack of a 6v6 game mode and a completely gutted dex/item pool utterly killed my interest. The fact that Dondozo, a Pokémon they advertised to be in the game since their FIRST TRAILER, isn’t even in it, is just blatant false advertisement. So many people I know play competitive singles, yet champions only has the abysmal 3v3 single format. It’s an embarrassment!!
@edman9953what exactly is competitive singles? Has there ever been a regional or world champion in singles? You like battle simulators you don’t like pokemon.
Yea I hope so! Scarlet and violet was fun for me because I like battling with full teams lol not crazy into the 3v3 and most people I know don’t do the VGC doubles so they totally should add this back for people who play casually with EV trained mons
@MegaBakuganfreakA big thing about Champions is making competitive pokemon more accessible. And that means shorter matches. Getting stuck in an hour long stall match just is not fun for most people (and even with the streamlining in Champions it won't be nearly as streamlined as Showdown). I am going to bet that 6v6 comes later, but it will never be a focus because that isn't what Champions is supposed to be. If you are a fan of Showdown, you are probably better off staying there.
For the record, Smogon has never been popular in Japan and they've pretty much always preferred the official formats and cartridge play. This has been the case since Gen 1, where Japanese players(even to this day on simulators) play Nintendo Cup format while English players play OU. It's an odd dynamic. 3V3 Singles has been the norm since Nintendo Cup 1997 in the official formats hence 6v6 not being supported, it's never been Gamefreak's official one. Sometimes I wonder how different things would be if Gamefreak had marketed their official format in Gen 1 as well in the West as they did in Japan and we didn't have this weird split
14:35 Multiscale only works if your Pokemon is at full hp. Inner Focus only prevents the flinch from Fake Out, which will still take damage and nulify Multiscale when it megas. (Inner Focus still blocks intimidate, but Mega Dragonite is primarily a special attacker)
12:12 I transferred a Shalpha Tyranitar from Z-A into my game and it gave it the Alpha Mark title (The Former Alpha) so the game does register if your Pokémon was an alpha! Also god I really have to agree that this game looks rough. The battles look great but everything else is so rough. I understand why it looks the way it does as it’s a phone game at its core, but it still looks kinda bad. I really wish there was a 60fps patch on S2, but oh well. The game is fun though! I think it’ll help me get a bit more familiar with competitive play as someone who’s mainly a casual player.
Microtransactions? You mean stuff that you can buy ingame for 2000vp aka less than 7 wins (you gain 300 vp for a win and a mega stone cost 2000vp). The only thing that is actually a "cashgrab" would be the 70 dollar cost of being able to play one of the strogest mons mega floette; since you need legends ZA for that. Besides that the game feels like one of the most "fair" free2play games on the current market. Literally; I played 5-7 hours and have 3 teams without transfering anything from home; i also completely styled my character with like 10.000vp because I dont know what to else do with that. How is this a bad system? (outside floette)
@KainDing- Okay But imagine if items didn't require purchasing in ANY capacity, and you just had access to them like most battle sims. So everyone is on a level playing field. Sure, cosmetics could require whatever arbitrary currency they want. But things that give you actual advantages or alter the gameplay in a PVP game should not be easier to get if you throw money at the game. That starts a slippery slope for pay-too-win, FOMO, and holding content hostage.
@BOSSzombie Yeah and imagine every game in the world is free. Are we really going to argue over a free2play game having some microtransactions? Like I have seen games for 70 dollars have worse microtransactions. Champions is 100% easier to "get stuff" than previously; which is why people genning mons for tournaments always was a topic. Also; you can only get the items with the ingame currency; paying real money into the game only "accelerates" how much you get. I also dont know what "slippery slope" you mean when gated content is literally part of pokemon since the first gen.(version specific mons/event pokemon that in some regions were never available etc.) I can give you mega floette as a bad example; but otherwise Champions feels fairer than previous games. Your original comment is grossly overplaying the impact of microtransactions in champions when you literally can buy all available items without spending a cent after 10+ hours of gameplay.
I think we all forget this is just day 1 of a free to play game. Typically, the things were asking for come later in time if we continue to give it support. I played it last night and i like it. I think the recruit part of the game is really neat and it makes me have to learn new pokemon abilities. Its like pokemon showdown, but for consoles. Im excited to see where it goes
I'm enjoying the gameplay but the menus and menu music make everything feel slow motion almost, I really cant sit in the menus in this game. No fast text speed is also a crime
@PokeMiles999 yup! Just waiting to hear the rates, ive recruited quite a few with the free resources you get for completing missions/milestones and the bonuses
@z01zerothehero78 I don't think you're supposed to try and "catch 'em all" in this competitive battle app. Aren't there limited slots in your box? And you can't send things to Home from Champions either, right?
Good entry spot for beginners.. that's what I'm doing and I'm having a blast. Got a great team going.. learning all sorts of things about this community.
@elkinfencer10 shiny hunting and extremely time-limited events are what’s lame. Sorry i didnt keep my shiny mew from 25years ago and soft reset my game 5,000x for a shiny charmander… think ill hack them into my game in about 5 mins time.
To me there's 4 major points that need to be addressed.: - there's many essential items missing, especially with incinerator running absolutely rampant things like Clear Amulet are a must, or Flame Orb for Guts etc. - Casual matches should actually be casual, let me just click matchmake on a 6v6 playlist for both singles and doubles, literally just add a queue fror singles and doubles - Casual matches 100% should also reward VP, just let them only provide 25%, but rn casual battles are neither fun nor useful - a single player tower experience, SV missed a Battle Tower completely and this would have been a perfect game to actually also teach people battling against npcs, while alsp providing a nice continuous challenge.
Yesh... and peeps spreading bad misinformation. There is no switch 2 version currently. Videos lo9k slighrly better due to capture card capturing at 60 fps. Games runs at 30fps at like 720p
Worth noting about all the new Megas: they're specifically designed to give the Mon a VGC niche. - Mega Meowstic is an Expanding Force bot (essentially a sidegrade to Mega Alakazam as far as doubles is concerned, they each have their own tradeoffs) - Mega Skarmory, Excadrill, and Golurk should be obvious - Mega Chandelure is the anti-screens guy - Mega Victreebel and Scovillain essentially serve as free redirection, you're anxious to click into them so they can just sit there and be annoying - Mega Clef and Hawlucha have never before seen ability + move synergy, being Magic Bounce + redirection and No Guard + Entrainment respectively - Etc. Mold Breaker Emboar is honestly still the oddest one out.
@burningdragon91it's a single target move, but in a double battle if you setup a move called psychic terrain it hits both targets it also receives a power boost and additional boost when psych terrain is in effect.
I paid $5 because I was only able to bring over 24 Pokémon because the game requires you to keep 6 in game pokemon from the recruit menu. But I’m able to add over a 1000 pokemon due to my purchase.
I started playing on release and was actually blown away by everything especially as I wasn’t expecting much at all with it being a free game. I played the OG games onwards and have played almost every Pokémon game since. I’m not a competitive gamer by any means. I’ve only played Pokémon, warcraft and minecraft. But this is everything I wanted. I love that I can bring my Pokémon that I’ve preserved from previous games through Pokémon home. I have a 20 year old Garchomp that I adore playing with on here. The nostalgia hit of seeing new animations for moves I haven’t used in years is great. The fact that you can pay VP for a nostalgic battle music package has made me so happy and I have been really lucky in that I’ve come across very few glitches. Also one odd love: you can alter Pokémon names! I have so many Pokémon with nicknames in ALL CAPS because either there wasn’t an option then or I didn’t realise there was a lower case option at the time. And I have never been able to change it because you can’t normally change nicknames. One gripe though… no 3rd gen starters! I love my 3 lv 100 starters from Ruby. Hopefully they will be added in the future.
It's a bummer that it has just been accepted to release an incomplete game. So much potential, customization, fun unique battle options that you could set up (mega vs tera). But they decided to slow drip feed it instead.
@GalaxyProject_ I expected it would be incomplete, but seeing as how it’s been 5 years since I did competitive battles, I see this as an opportunity to remember what I may have forgotten and also try something new while they roll out the other Poké-hancements and more Pokémon over time
looks like I'll wait a few months before jumping into this one, I'm not into competitive anyways. Edit: did people missed the memo? the game was made to incite casual players into competitive hence why it's so simple, Austin literally explains it at the begining.
it's not as simple as everyone's making it seem in a week there will be a way more defined meta, the only thing that's really simplifying the game is all the missing items there's a ton of new megas with new abilities to try out the format being on the weaker side does not make it any less complicated if anything it makes it more. People also win their first 3 pokeball 4 games and for some reason think the players aren't going to get stronger as you climb
I think the limitation of how many Pokemon and held items on launch is another reason why this makes it great way to get into competitive; starting on showdown and trying to build with 700+ Pokemon just felt overwhelming to me, having like 30 items and 200 Pokemon options make it easier for me to narrow down what to start with, then adding new stuff down the road makes champions feel like a tutorial section
Also importantly them doing it this way lets them do the "gacha banner" style of recruiting in batches and makes it easier to target stuff and reroll without said reroll being 700 mons lol they could of started with a bunch of different banners however if they wanna rotate what's available to use vigourly in online battles than it makes sense to do more of a slow roll out of bigger batches. It all kinda just depends on the next updates but to bitch RIGHT NOW about these lower number things is kinda whack.
They could’ve done this exact thing by letting people see the most used pokemon and the items and movesets on said pokemon. That also helps people see what mons are good in only one format and that is good to get on the ground level of breaking down why something is and isn’t good
I am much more relieved about monetization being mostly for those who dont play pokemon much, however I am concerned they have the costs so low right now only to raise them a lot in the future.
@TheChildofAuraReborn Honestly not really. I have been playing without home transfer for a while and you can do some work with rented pokemon and the rewards from playing. BUT you wont be able to have a large amount of pokemon unless you save up, which means no cosmetics if you want to go free.
@AustinJohnPlays I dont "need" but I would just like to have over 30 to just mess around with and enjoy trying differerent teams and such I dont exactly want to pay 50bucks a year to have more box space
@Accountthatexists yeah but swapping Pokemon out isn’t that difficult and just takes a little bit of your time. There’s much bigger issues with the game.
I'm having a blast battling but man the cut scenes are out of a mobile game. I think the games biggest downfall is it is will be a mobile game eventually. If it was Switch only I feel like it would've been better developed.
Honestly what it needs is an actual npc battle mode for casual players to actually hone their skills. Similar to how Battle revolution had NPCs but also you could make your own NPC opponent with your own pokemon. Like to make it actually fun they could do what Sun and moon did and make it a battle tower with pokemon champions and gym leaders from the old games. Even have evil team goons from the old games, that would be hella nostalgic. Like the Halloween event could basically be all the evil team’s bosses
@ajax7590 exactly im tired of dying to dragonite EVERY GAME
And they already have the IP naming convention. Just call it battle tower lol. Or Battle Frontier.
@Homelanderrrrrrrrrthat literally just happened to me , I hit them with ice beam so many times but it just tanks it
They have casual game mode. What aren't you learning in that mode, that you'll learn from NPCs?
@brofessorx5722I’m not trying to get spammed by mega dragonites and other meta pokemon all day long
I miss when Battle Revolution had all the different trainer looks.
@huckberry1 yup cause they could be different but everything creation is amorphous to be inclusive, so telling how that gimped design philosophy
Can't wait for gen10 professor to ask me if I'm a body type A or a body type B.
-_-
@marcusclark1339While I do understand this is a kid's game overall, but I would rather not look 12 at least in the battle sim game.
@marcusclark1339 Oh, if it's inclusivity that bother you, don't worry it have nothing to do with it. It's all about cutting costs and development time.
@novapulser9396 “even the idea of someone maybe doing something they’ve never done but i don’t like scares me.”
Based on the notification I thought it would be another "No. Austin John out"
EXACTLY my thoughts too haha.
My farts are better than Pokemon Champions’ farts
Hear me out - the number one thing this game did for me was made me CRAVE the actual mainline Pokemon games even more 😂
Made me want a good one which is nothing new winds and waves looks shite.
Surprised it didn't start with
YES
I do miss the Announcer from Stadium, wish they'd bring him in, but no voicework at all yet again~
Aww the voice from stadium would have been a CRAZY awesome addition.. i was wondering why the battling felt like.. empty?? and i feel like that’s why
It makes sense when you realize they'll have real life announcers during tournaments, but having it be a option would be nice.
I didnt notice until I noticed i was doing the pokemon stadium voicelines myself 😂
@AutumnOwlexjust have a toggle to have it on or off simple solution
The one from Battle Revolution would also be nice
Name your charizard "Charizard X" for mind games
lmao this would work on me too
i don't ever remember which is which
It's all fun and games until your Pokemon get stuck in transfer limbo between HOME and Champions.
Does that happen
@nnightkingj There is currently a glitch, yeah.
@JohnGreen92100 thanks for that I had a feeling I should wait before transferring over my Pokemon
I only transferred pokemon that I didn't care about transferring back.
Yup my pokemon are trapped
It's like week one of Master Duel where everyone ran blue eyes and toons and fun decks from their childhood which is really cool to see
And then they duel against Drytron, VW, Eldlich stun deck
Yeah until everyone copies eachother again, kinda boring there is clearly not enough veriety in op pokemons everytime i see competitive pokemon tournaments it's the same pokemons 😂
@appie7071 every team have Incineroar
@appie7071 Theres the same core in a lot of the teams, but theres also a good chunk of flex spots that are brought to competitions. Yeah its not like every Pokemon is viable but 30-40 regulars is pretty good for a game's competitive scene
0:45 GET OUT OF MY HEADDDDDDDD
@cloga69 i read this in the smiling friends voice 😆
How
Much
Do
You
Believe
In
This
World
puddle of mudd reference????
@Chrispy6-7
🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
the whiplash between the intro cutscene graphics quality and the main menu is insaaaane, like night and day doesn't cover it, it's major production movie vs 2012 game
first time youve ever seen a pokemon game? this is kinda the norm. Has been for a LONG time.
@DudeGuy-f2v you have not played any legends game or scarlet and violet on switch 2 if you’re saying this
@DayzAhatthe legends games look mediocre at best and scarlet/violet only look good after 3 years of looking like a n64 game
"it's... a game" cool, all I need to know
Tbh I thought you where saying Whimsicot was ugly in the thumbnail and we where about to throw hands. lol 😂
I want those stickers for the contest that would add to the pokeball effects after throwing it
Are we sure an actual Switch 2 update was even applied? People who installed on Switch 1 said that its all the same amount of data that was downloaded.
The Switch 2 version is a little bigger. But it doesn't feel like this is or should be a S2 Version.
@De_GeckoI heard the switch 2 version is coming later? Is that correct or is it out now?
Out now
Didnt saw any S2 version stuff, where does that info come from ?
Still looks fuzzy and low rez on my switch 2
It looks like Pokemon Battle Revolution without the cool battle maps
Or any of the pve single player content
Also it feels mid in champions
Or even a announcer and not even all the mons (which revelations technically could at the time)
And without the expressive animations
@ThatBusyBoi expressive animations and Pokemon size scaling! We had it so good back then 😭
I wish it had a story mode so we could learn the basics without having to outright fight real people immediately.
me too especially for more casual players like me
I know someone's gonna go 'just play the mainline games then' but I still feel like Champions should've had one
@miracilousmirica1994 They want to seperate competetive and casual Pokemon.
They always wanted the mainline games to stay "casual" which often lead to bad things in competetive like how hard it was to "train" your pokemon right for competetive stats.
In recent generations they gave players more options for stuff like that; but always hid it behind some random items and mechanics so you wouldnt stumble upon it in casual gameplay.
They know how exhausting it can be to see a part of the game "not for you". That is why their new strategy is to divorce both of these parts of pokemon. Champions is INTENDED to be barebones and only competetive. They also dont want competetive to be tied to a console; that is why champions will also gain a mobile release.
IMO this only looks to be a good thing in regards to the mainline games. Those now can completely focus on the single player and casual experience; and in the worst case things can just be "nerfed" if transfered to champions if needed.
Back in the day before game patches being viable; they had to always keep these things in mind and it probably affected gameplay more than once.
I get feeling bad because the game isnt for you; i am also mostly a casual player; but Champions actually made me approach competetive play and have fun with it. IMO i have only good things to say about champions(besides the paywall of mega floette for some reason exsisting). If you feel dissapointed that sounds more like you had over the top expectations for a free to play game always communicated to be intended for competetive. (and i actually am surprised how little the battlepass matters; besides Floette you really dont miss anything from not paying a cent into the game/other games)
14:13 we don’t deserve Joe Merrick
I would honestly love an offline version of this game to practice your skills with NPC battles (I know the tutorial exists but...) like a battle system where you can select difficulty and have an option to put captions based on your moves being good or bad. I love this game so much for a start but I feel like this would be helpful. ❤
I think ill just play battle tower in older games lol
@mattie.f00considering they CHEAT, no thank you lol
It's crazy to me that moving pokemon from home don't re-roll "illegal" moves. I just wanted to be silly with a full shiny team, but it wanted to spend VP to remove those moves.
You can do it in Home before transferring.
Change the moves in the original game first you crybaby😂 tf kinda complaint is that when there’s a free and simple solution you’re choosing to ignore
@KodexKat depending on what games you have access to, that might not be an option. I do think it’s a little silly that it doesn’t let you change them outright on Champions, but like my previous comment said, you are able to do it in Home before that.
@Jude_McCloudwhat games? Pokemon GO? And sure Pokemon home is the first option to come to mind. The original comment comes off like spending VC to change moves is the only option
@KodexKat considering this is meant to inject interest into the competitive scene, there might not be people who have all the different games that movesets change between. It’s not the only option, but some folks might not know what other options there are.
Kinda crazy that there’s no 6v6 singles
No. It's the new VGC platform. The singles whining is crazy.
@FutureOverYou You seem really pressed it's not that serious
@FutureOverYouThe game was never intended nor marketed to be “VGC only” it literally has 3v3 singles in the game which is not vgc, which completely disproves your point. It seems like they are intentionally discouraging play of the 6v6 format and that is frustrating to people who like it, so they voice that.
@FutureOverYou ‘Singles Whining’ as though 6v6 hasn’t been the most popular format since the inception of online play
@FutureOverYoutbf this seems like Pokémons official competitor to smogon, where the most popular format is 6v6… I think a ton of people are just wondering why we can’t play 6v6 online officially with our own beloved Pokémon vs on smogon where there isn’t that connection with a Pokémon you may have moved across multiple generations.
Why did we get a nice typeface only in Legends ZA, and then never again
1:23 If you press A, it skips the text animation.
Got swept by a Lum Berry Scale Shot Garchomp. Gotta love it
We leave Legends ZA only to get cooked again by Garchomp😭😭😭
Garchomp strikes again I see
Nobody mentioning how Protean has been absolutely slaughtered
14:30 ah yes, my favorite, multi scale after being hit by fake out 📈
Dragonite has roost so it actually can work in situations
@Tblizzy808 Unless that fake out is followed by a blizzard from mega froslass lmao
4:50 my daughters name is Paisley, bought this jacket right away
Just wanna take the time to say been watching your videos for 5 years now and I appreciate and Love you Austin John 💯
I trust his takes on Pokemon news more than anyone else on RUclips. He gives it to you straight without the clickbait BS that so many YTers use.
I think they just say, make a game for battles. Ok we just do the minimun lol
I think what seperates Champions for me is just the hope for more. It isn't definitively the final product. More Pokemon will come, it's possible the visuals will be updated, etc.
This. Because we don't even have the Z Megas, and there's missing Megas and mons from Z-A. There's also missing modes like 6 vs 6. I think that since it's a free-to-play, they can take their time with updates compared to a mainline game.
Remember, they're trying to get people into competitive, so they're probably easing people into it.
@brandoncherry6264 True but I don't feel forcing everyone into direct battles with people will help either.
My farts are better than Pokemon Champions’ farts
@windcrow5751Especially since casual battles are already a thing.
@p-__ you want a sticker?
Yes. Yes it is. It's incomplete but it is still fun.
Most of my battles have been super hype and have made me laugh with the amount of clutch or just plain lucky moments I've had.
One small thing that really bugs me as a fan of game music, the Gold & Silver Trainer Battle Music is NOT from Generation 2. It is the GB Sounds version of the song from Generation 4 which sounds completely different because it has extra instrumentation.
@CassieRollVT definitivamente
Wait until it’s revealed that Stallar Terapagos can undo the primal and mega Rayquaza weather sets.
@CassieRollVT the gen 2 GB version is in the game for free already, the one in the shop is the HeartGold Soulsilver version
Speak for yourself. The lack of a 6v6 game mode and a completely gutted dex/item pool utterly killed my interest. The fact that Dondozo, a Pokémon they advertised to be in the game since their FIRST TRAILER, isn’t even in it, is just blatant false advertisement. So many people I know play competitive singles, yet champions only has the abysmal 3v3 single format. It’s an embarrassment!!
@edman9953what exactly is competitive singles? Has there ever been a regional or world champion in singles? You like battle simulators you don’t like pokemon.
16:40 Austin John used Crunch! It’s extremely effective!
Removing 6v6 is the lamest thing they’ve done and we definitely need more mons in the game but it is fun
I feel both can/will happen in an update. So I'm personally not stressing, but i get the frustration though.
Yea I hope so! Scarlet and violet was fun for me because I like battling with full teams lol not crazy into the 3v3 and most people I know don’t do the VGC doubles so they totally should add this back for people who play casually with EV trained mons
The 3v3 is just like Pokemon Stadium. You see yoir whole team and pick 3 based on your opponents teams. Don't understand what the issue is.
@MegaBakuganfreakA big thing about Champions is making competitive pokemon more accessible. And that means shorter matches. Getting stuck in an hour long stall match just is not fun for most people (and even with the streamlining in Champions it won't be nearly as streamlined as Showdown).
I am going to bet that 6v6 comes later, but it will never be a focus because that isn't what Champions is supposed to be. If you are a fan of Showdown, you are probably better off staying there.
@XCsuperstarr2010 Yeah, i much prefer bring 6 pick 3 singles
6v6 Battles just take way too long
For the record, Smogon has never been popular in Japan and they've pretty much always preferred the official formats and cartridge play. This has been the case since Gen 1, where Japanese players(even to this day on simulators) play Nintendo Cup format while English players play OU. It's an odd dynamic. 3V3 Singles has been the norm since Nintendo Cup 1997 in the official formats hence 6v6 not being supported, it's never been Gamefreak's official one. Sometimes I wonder how different things would be if Gamefreak had marketed their official format in Gen 1 as well in the West as they did in Japan and we didn't have this weird split
Porygon missing is the biggest L
14:35 Multiscale only works if your Pokemon is at full hp. Inner Focus only prevents the flinch from Fake Out, which will still take damage and nulify Multiscale when it megas. (Inner Focus still blocks intimidate, but Mega Dragonite is primarily a special attacker)
12:12 I transferred a Shalpha Tyranitar from Z-A into my game and it gave it the Alpha Mark title (The Former Alpha) so the game does register if your Pokémon was an alpha!
Also god I really have to agree that this game looks rough. The battles look great but everything else is so rough. I understand why it looks the way it does as it’s a phone game at its core, but it still looks kinda bad. I really wish there was a 60fps patch on S2, but oh well. The game is fun though! I think it’ll help me get a bit more familiar with competitive play as someone who’s mainly a casual player.
Don't forget that most of the the new mega pokemon abilities, are the same as the older abilities from the older mega pokemons
Evil thumbnail, my boy whims did nothing wrong
Lowkey love watching how the thumbnails change over the course of the day. 😂
0:36 alright Austin I’m going to need the link for that Charizard tumbler/cup/thermos
its by Igloo. $23 www.igloocoolers.com/products/pokemon-16-oz-can?variant=42918043320403
@AustinJohnPlaysA man of the people, thank you💯
This seems like it started like a great idea that got caught in the deadly grip of microtransactions at the last second and shot itself in the foot.
No? You can get everything important for free
Microtransactions?
You mean stuff that you can buy ingame for 2000vp aka less than 7 wins (you gain 300 vp for a win and a mega stone cost 2000vp).
The only thing that is actually a "cashgrab" would be the 70 dollar cost of being able to play one of the strogest mons mega floette; since you need legends ZA for that.
Besides that the game feels like one of the most "fair" free2play games on the current market.
Literally; I played 5-7 hours and have 3 teams without transfering anything from home; i also completely styled my character with like 10.000vp because I dont know what to else do with that. How is this a bad system? (outside floette)
@KainDing- Okay
But imagine if items didn't require purchasing in ANY capacity, and you just had access to them like most battle sims. So everyone is on a level playing field.
Sure, cosmetics could require whatever arbitrary currency they want. But things that give you actual advantages or alter the gameplay in a PVP game should not be easier to get if you throw money at the game.
That starts a slippery slope for pay-too-win, FOMO, and holding content hostage.
@BOSSzombie Yeah and imagine every game in the world is free.
Are we really going to argue over a free2play game having some microtransactions? Like I have seen games for 70 dollars have worse microtransactions.
Champions is 100% easier to "get stuff" than previously; which is why people genning mons for tournaments always was a topic.
Also; you can only get the items with the ingame currency; paying real money into the game only "accelerates" how much you get.
I also dont know what "slippery slope" you mean when gated content is literally part of pokemon since the first gen.(version specific mons/event pokemon that in some regions were never available etc.) I can give you mega floette as a bad example; but otherwise Champions feels fairer than previous games.
Your original comment is grossly overplaying the impact of microtransactions in champions when you literally can buy all available items without spending a cent after 10+ hours of gameplay.
Justice for Mega Scolipede! Corbeau will be avenged!!
“Its ugly, except for the part of the game where you will be spending 90% of your time. There I will admit it's beautiful.”
I hope this means we get more Pokopia videos! 😁
I think we all forget this is just day 1 of a free to play game. Typically, the things were asking for come later in time if we continue to give it support. I played it last night and i like it. I think the recruit part of the game is really neat and it makes me have to learn new pokemon abilities. Its like pokemon showdown, but for consoles. Im excited to see where it goes
1:42 Facts!!! 😂
@tirrywilliams ipdcel, it’s over.
I'm enjoying the gameplay but the menus and menu music make everything feel slow motion almost, I really cant sit in the menus in this game. No fast text speed is also a crime
I got a shiny freezer rotom from my recruits in champions; I am so stoked
Wait you can get shinies?
Aka you have one less box space in Champions, forever
@PokeMiles999 yup! Just waiting to hear the rates, ive recruited quite a few with the free resources you get for completing missions/milestones and the bonuses
@poetsandalmakercant catch 'em all if you're worried about that
@z01zerothehero78 I don't think you're supposed to try and "catch 'em all" in this competitive battle app. Aren't there limited slots in your box? And you can't send things to Home from Champions either, right?
0:25 not really, the battles are exactly the same but team building got the TCG Pocket treatment for sure
The UI and human character parts remind me of Pokemon Battle Revolution lmao
Feels like they had the Pokemon Unite team make it 😭
Love competitive Pokemon for the gameplay but holy it could use some visual and framerate polish
@Braxophone Nope, they had the BDSP team do it, and we know how that went.
Oh hi Brax 😭 doing a different type of grinding I see
Good entry spot for beginners.. that's what I'm doing and I'm having a blast. Got a great team going.. learning all sorts of things about this community.
1:26 if you hold the A button it will speed up text speed for what it’s worth. But yes you could also just skip haha
I’m very happy I devoted so much damn time into scarlet and violet. I can change anything and everything before sending them over to home
Im very happy i genned the entire shiny dexes from Sw/Sh, BD/SP, and S/V
Saved me thousands of hours lmao
@alexjung9724 hacked* hella lame
@elkinfencer10 shiny hunting and extremely time-limited events are what’s lame. Sorry i didnt keep my shiny mew from 25years ago and soft reset my game 5,000x for a shiny charmander… think ill hack them into my game in about 5 mins time.
@alexjung9724 Dirty hacker cheating pokemon in, stay away from everyone else
@alexjung9724 bragging about genning entire dexes in the VGC community, lmao. Typa guy to get swept by a Friend Guard Maushold.
Man I always love how they put such little effort into their games
0:07 it’s something to say the least… I think it will get better as June makes its way and when it comes to the App Store
Highly agree.
never happens with pokemon games
@jonahcalvo1873 Its literally the entire point of this game
It's "Ugly and it's Proud!!" 06:07
0:47 heck you for that
yeah there’s a grain filter over the game lmao
To me there's 4 major points that need to be addressed.:
- there's many essential items missing, especially with incinerator running absolutely rampant things like Clear Amulet are a must, or Flame Orb for Guts etc.
- Casual matches should actually be casual, let me just click matchmake on a 6v6 playlist for both singles and doubles, literally just add a queue fror singles and doubles
- Casual matches 100% should also reward VP, just let them only provide 25%, but rn casual battles are neither fun nor useful
- a single player tower experience, SV missed a Battle Tower completely and this would have been a perfect game to actually also teach people battling against npcs, while alsp providing a nice continuous challenge.
I love that Mega Malamar (who got an ENTIRE ad series) isn’t on the mega list for round 1…wild 😩
I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one to notice how *BAD* it looks out of battles
@InconspicuousFruit2 first thing I noticed. I was like “wtf im on switch 2 and it still looks like that?”
Yesh... and peeps spreading bad misinformation. There is no switch 2 version currently. Videos lo9k slighrly better due to capture card capturing at 60 fps. Games runs at 30fps at like 720p
My issue was the frame rate... its HORRIBLE
When Austin John has issues with a Pokemon game, you know they messed up.
17:23 lol you get what you paid for Austin, oh wait it’s free 😅
I had a lot of fun transferring pokemon I've had for probably 10 years to make my first team, felt right to bring them together
I need you to sponsor that charizard Cousy or whatever it was you were drinking out of so I can buy one for myself. That was legit
He has in the past and they are always sold out. I believe the brand is igloo
Another cost would be is the Pokemon Home subscription if you got a living dex there
Worth noting about all the new Megas: they're specifically designed to give the Mon a VGC niche.
- Mega Meowstic is an Expanding Force bot (essentially a sidegrade to Mega Alakazam as far as doubles is concerned, they each have their own tradeoffs)
- Mega Skarmory, Excadrill, and Golurk should be obvious
- Mega Chandelure is the anti-screens guy
- Mega Victreebel and Scovillain essentially serve as free redirection, you're anxious to click into them so they can just sit there and be annoying
- Mega Clef and Hawlucha have never before seen ability + move synergy, being Magic Bounce + redirection and No Guard + Entrainment respectively
- Etc.
Mold Breaker Emboar is honestly still the oddest one out.
U mean like every single mega
Not just the new ones
Megas are the weakest gimmick
Can you please tell me the use case for Meowstic?
@burningdragon91
Personally I dont use it
Malamar is a WAAAY better mega for psychic
Or Alakazam
mold breaker emboar is to hit meta pokemon like skarmory with earthquake because of mould breaker
@burningdragon91it's a single target move, but in a double battle if you setup a move called psychic terrain it hits both targets it also receives a power boost and additional boost when psych terrain is in effect.
I wonder who the developer was.
"The Pokémon Works, a joint venture between The Pokémon Company and ILCA."
Oh, oh no.
Tatted up Freckled Cowgirl got me acting UNWISE
But real talk, this looks ROUGH
Dude, can't we just get something like Pokemon Stadium with an updated Pokédex. Jeez.
0:22 Where can I get that Charizard Cup?
Fr fr 😂
@lopmon709 it’s a insulated can made by igloo.
@lopmon709 I believe it's the Igloo x Pokemon collab I was looking at them earlier today 😅
Igloo sells them.
@Erosion1923 thank you
There’s no way this should be the tournament standard in this state
I think I’m gonna pass on this game
I’m glad champions doesn’t require nso to play but I wish they had a campaign or npc story
I paid $5 because I was only able to bring over 24 Pokémon because the game requires you to keep 6 in game pokemon from the recruit menu. But I’m able to add over a 1000 pokemon due to my purchase.
Only for a month though, not sure how that’s gonna work when your membership runs out
I started playing on release and was actually blown away by everything especially as I wasn’t expecting much at all with it being a free game. I played the OG games onwards and have played almost every Pokémon game since. I’m not a competitive gamer by any means. I’ve only played Pokémon, warcraft and minecraft.
But this is everything I wanted. I love that I can bring my Pokémon that I’ve preserved from previous games through Pokémon home. I have a 20 year old Garchomp that I adore playing with on here. The nostalgia hit of seeing new animations for moves I haven’t used in years is great. The fact that you can pay VP for a nostalgic battle music package has made me so happy and I have been really lucky in that I’ve come across very few glitches.
Also one odd love: you can alter Pokémon names! I have so many Pokémon with nicknames in ALL CAPS because either there wasn’t an option then or I didn’t realise there was a lower case option at the time. And I have never been able to change it because you can’t normally change nicknames.
One gripe though… no 3rd gen starters! I love my 3 lv 100 starters from Ruby. Hopefully they will be added in the future.
4:37 my sweet summer child, this a live service game now… EVERYTHING will have a cost 😭
If you hold B the text goes faster btw.
It's a bummer that it has just been accepted to release an incomplete game. So much potential, customization, fun unique battle options that you could set up (mega vs tera). But they decided to slow drip feed it instead.
Gmax gonna break it
So far gonna use gmax eevee
@GalaxyProject_ I expected it would be incomplete, but seeing as how it’s been 5 years since I did competitive battles, I see this as an opportunity to remember what I may have forgotten and also try something new while they roll out the other Poké-hancements and more Pokémon over time
Honestly I don't usually play competitive VGC so I am looking forward to messing around with this but it's funny how rough it released
looks like I'll wait a few months before jumping into this one, I'm not into competitive anyways.
Edit: did people missed the memo? the game was made to incite casual players into competitive hence why it's so simple, Austin literally explains it at the begining.
Then this is not for you, champions is clearly competitive focused
Then a competitive battle sim is not for you! Try Legends ZA or Pokopia.
Just play let’s go pikachu bro
If you arent into competitive just skip, that's literally the focus here
it's not as simple as everyone's making it seem in a week there will be a way more defined meta, the only thing that's really simplifying the game is all the missing items there's a ton of new megas with new abilities to try out the format being on the weaker side does not make it any less complicated if anything it makes it more. People also win their first 3 pokeball 4 games and for some reason think the players aren't going to get stronger as you climb
Shout out to bro timing his background music to start when he turned off the game music. I see you.
Just remember, you either play to win (in which of course you'll embrace the meta) or play for fun (in which case who cares about the meta)
The graphics are definitely a "Hey, this is also on mobile" reminder.
I think the limitation of how many Pokemon and held items on launch is another reason why this makes it great way to get into competitive; starting on showdown and trying to build with 700+ Pokemon just felt overwhelming to me, having like 30 items and 200 Pokemon options make it easier for me to narrow down what to start with, then adding new stuff down the road makes champions feel like a tutorial section
Also importantly them doing it this way lets them do the "gacha banner" style of recruiting in batches and makes it easier to target stuff and reroll without said reroll being 700 mons lol they could of started with a bunch of different banners however if they wanna rotate what's available to use vigourly in online battles than it makes sense to do more of a slow roll out of bigger batches. It all kinda just depends on the next updates but to bitch RIGHT NOW about these lower number things is kinda whack.
Or they could get off their ass for the first time since gen 7 and complete it at launch.
They could’ve done this exact thing by letting people see the most used pokemon and the items and movesets on said pokemon. That also helps people see what mons are good in only one format and that is good to get on the ground level of breaking down why something is and isn’t good
Watching Milotic heal 91% with haze looked pretty fun though
I am much more relieved about monetization being mostly for those who dont play pokemon much, however I am concerned they have the costs so low right now only to raise them a lot in the future.
I think it's extra scummy actually, because people who may try to get into Pokemon are being paywalled out of playing.
@TheChildofAuraReborn Honestly not really. I have been playing without home transfer for a while and you can do some work with rented pokemon and the rewards from playing. BUT you wont be able to have a large amount of pokemon unless you save up, which means no cosmetics if you want to go free.
Pokopia is the calm before the Champions storm
18:38 Was that nicknamed Meganium in a ranked battle? They never used to allow nicknames in ranked before, right?
Might be casual.
I've done a ranked battle and my opponent had a nicknamed pokemon
@keenankidd3643hell yeah thats awesome!
13:55 That genuinely might have been me, I was running that machamp with its base set with a weird unoptimal TR team on day 1 in doubles 😂🤣
0:45 SIX SEVENNNN
I think this is great for anyone who is just getting into battling
That 30 size box limit bro😭😭😭😭
May i ask why you may need more than 30 pokemon at a time?
@AustinJohnPlays I dont "need"
but I would just like to have over 30 to just mess around with and enjoy trying differerent teams and such
I dont exactly want to pay 50bucks a year to have more box space
As you move up in the ranks you unlock bankspace.. I just got five extra spaces for moving up in singles.
@Accountthatexists yeah but swapping Pokemon out isn’t that difficult and just takes a little bit of your time. There’s much bigger issues with the game.
@AustinJohnPlaysbrother I had 4 boxes of comp mons just from Scarlet Violet
Isn’t this game just Pokémon stadium in 2026?
Having to choose between Pokémon Champions and No Mon's Sky was definitely not in my bingo card for today. 😂😂
Lmao, for real
Invincible actually also has the ability to”innards out”
It is lowkey fun and free but man it was ugly noticed first thing when I saw the title screen but I enjoyed it xD
I heard the good the bad and the ugly gold rush theme in my head. Thank you 😂😂😂.
I'm having a blast battling but man the cut scenes are out of a mobile game. I think the games biggest downfall is it is will be a mobile game eventually. If it was Switch only I feel like it would've been better developed.
It is going to be running on a phone so that adds up.
they will add more battle items. i enjoy the limited options atm.