There’s a new Pokémon game out that is probably this generation’s iteration of Pokémon Stadium or Colisseum.  Although seeing your Pokémon battle in 3D isn’t as big of a deal anymore, and neither is the ability to battle online.  So I guess this one just consolidates everything and lets you battle the Pokémon you’ve trained from all sorts of different games.  At any rate, it’s free-to-play so let’s take a look at it.  It’s available on Switch 1 & 2, and later mobile devices, but reviewed on Switch 2 here.

I think the main idea here is to use your Pokémon that you’ve stored in Pokémon Home, another free-to-play app.  But I don’t have that because I don’t really play any of the mainline Pokémon games anymore, just the spin offs.  I guess I could use my Pokémon from Legends ZA, but eh, I dunno.  Just didn’t feel like it.  So what can you do if you don’t use Home?  Well you can visit the in-game Pokémon ranch and rent out Pokémon for 7 days or pay VP to buy them.  You earn VP by winning battles.  You can also spend VP to customize your trainer and other things.

There are plenty of ways to battle online here.  You can do ranked, casual, or private battles.  There’s also tons of tutorials, mission checklists with rewards, and special events.  Unfortunately, as a free-to-play game, it sure does take a lot of VP to buy anything.  Of course they want you to do the in-game purchases.  Plus I just lost interest after a few days.  I’m kind of tired of the standard turn based battles.  But if you REALLY like Pokémon games and have the Pokémon Home app, you might like this.

Kid Factor:

Pokémon Champions is rated E for Everyone with an ESRB descriptor of Mild Fantasy Violence.  Pokémon use cartoony physical and elemental attacks and defeated ones just fall over.  Reading skill is needed, and parental supervision is recommended for the in-game purchases.

Tags: Game Reviews, Movies with Children, Television