Four New Pokemon Announced at Pokemon World Championships

Junichi Masuda, one of the founders of Game Freaks and a major architect of the Pokemon franchise, just announced a combative new Pokemon for Pokemon Sun and Moon at the Pokemon World Championships. Cabrawler is a unique Fighting type Pokemon that looks like a crab with boxing glove-like claws. A teaser video was shown featuring Cabrawler knocking out a variety of powerful Pokemon, including Legendary Pokemon. Masuda mentioned that Cabrawler was a "highly competitive Pokemon" and said he hoped trainers would use the Pokemon at next year's World Championships.

Shortly after Masuda made his big announcement, The Pokemon Company released a new trailer for Pokemon Sun and Moon that showed off several Pokemon previously revealed in Japan. The two sandcastle ghost Pokemon are named Sandygast and Palossand. Both have the special ability "Water Compaction", which causes their Defense stats to increase whenever they're hit with a Water attack. Bewear's pre-evolved form was also formally introduced as Stufful, an adorable Normal/Fighting dual type that resembles a red panda.

That wasn't the only big announcement made at the Pokemon World Championships. A new wrinkle will be introduced into the next set of Pokemon Trading Cards. The "GX" cards will feature superpowered attacks similar to the Z-Moves featured in Pokemon Sun and Moon. Like Z-Moves, these attacks can only be used once per battle, which means that players will have to choose wisely as to when they should unleash it. Obviously, GX moves will be a major part of the Pokemon Trading Card Game as it transitions into its next generation of cards later this year.

In addition to the weekend of competitive Pokemon play, the Pokemon World Championships have become known for its big Pokemon announcements. In 2013 and 2014, the Pokemon Company announced Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Slowbro, and last year Pokken Tournament was officially announced for the Wii U. The Pokemon World Championships now feature a Pokken Tournament division in addition to competitive Pokemon video game and trading card game competitions.