Pokemon is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, giving fans plenty of reason to reflect on where it all began. Since the very first games released in Japan all those years ago, Pokemon has grown into a massive pop culture empire. From the anime to the Pokemon TCG, countless spin-off games, and a mountain of merch, Pokemon has quite a firm footing in the gaming and collectibles market. Yet the franchise has been dealing with a major tension since very early on in its history, one that really comes to a head in Pokemon Champions.
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Despite its roots as a single-player RPG, Pokemon has long pushed the importance of community connection. This is clear from modern entries like Pokemon Go, which requires massive groups to complete certain Raid battles. The tension between single-player gaming and forced social interaction has been a part of Pokemon from the beginning, but it may have reached its final form in Pokemon Champions.
Pokemon Has Always Been Obsessed With Multiplayer
Pokemon has been trying to encourage social engagement with fellow fans right from the very beginning. With Gen 1, Game Freak introduced a handful of Pokemon that only evolve when traded. This feature meant that players who truly wanted to “catch ’em all” had to find a Game Boy Link Cable and a willing partner to make it happen. This was pretty novel in a time before online gaming made it easy to link up and trade virtually, and it was also pretty tricky to pull off. In the early years, trading to complete the Pokédex meant you needed to know another Pokemon fan in real life (or buy 2 Game Boys and 2 copies of the game).
That tension between single-player RPG status and forced multiplayer elements carries on to this day. Trading has gotten a lot easier in some respects, as you can trade Pokemon online with people all around the world. But the tradition of locking certain features of Pokemon games behind some kind of multiplayer element continues to be a pressure point for those who prefer single-player gaming. Some multiplayer features, such as Tera Raids in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet or the Battle Royale in Legends: Z-A are arguably optional. But with evolution by trading and version exclusives, the OG series motto, “gotta catch ’em all” has never really been possible for solo gamers.
As someone grew up loving Pokemon games, I know this tension well. These days, I’m a solo gamer largely by choice, because I simply play a lot more games than anyone else in my daily life. But as a kid with social anxiety, it was pretty painful to feel left out of this core element of Pokemon history. Even if you aren’t a kid terrified of talking to other kids, the forced social elements that plague all Pokemon games can be an issue for many reasons. Not every Pokemon Go player is able to frequently leave the house for in-person Raids. Not every gamer is connected to a community to trade Pokemon in main series games or cards in Pokemon TCG Pocket. And yet, despite a fanbase that has plenty of desire for solo-friendly games, Pokemon keeps pushing player interactions.
Pokemon Champions Might Be The First Major Pokemon Game With No Real Single-Player Content
From the moment Pokemon Champions was announced, I suspected it wasn’t going to be for me. And that’s pretty unusual. I’m someone who will try just about any Pokemon game that comes out, especially if it’s free-to-play. To this day, my morning gaming app rotation includes Pokemon Sleep, Pokemon TCG Pocket, and a brief check-in with Pokemon Go. Each of these games does have a social element to it, from swapping sleep research with friends to trading cards or completing Raid battles. But they also offer something for solo gamers like me. As for Pokemon Champions? There’s not a single-player element in sight.
Of course, that’s not entirely surprising news. After all, Pokemon Champions is a battle simulator and the new competitive standard for Pokemon VGC. And the eSports angle of Pokemon has always been about players battling against other players. So, a battle sim that wants you to, well, battle against other players isn’t necessarily an unexpected move. But it is a departure for Pokemon games, and one that is pretty disappointing for those of us who love Pokemon but don’t love the franchise’s forced social elements.
Most previous Pokemon games have had at least something for solo gamers. Even Pokemon Unite, a MOBA game that literally has “multiplayer” in its very genre designation, has CPU battles where players can learn the ropes and test their skills. And games like Pokemon Go offer a good bit of content you can engage with on your own, even if you do miss core elements of the game if you don’t have fellow players to engage. But upon completing the tutorial battles in Pokemon Champions, you’ve got nothing to do but battle against other people.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, given the game’s purpose as the home for competitive play. But it could well mean many players are going to abandon the game early, if they pick it up at all. Pokemon Champions wants to help new players learn to battle competitively. But throwing them into the game with no true practice battles before they’re up against other people who might be way more experienced than they are might not be the way to do it.
I’m hopeful that we might get some CPU battles in the future, for newer players to learn the ropes before being thrown into the trenches of real-life competitive battles. But if not, Pokemon Champions may be the first Pokemon game that truly has nothing to offer solo gamers. And for a series that started as a single-player RPG, that’s kind of wild to think about.
What do you think about Pokemon’s relationship to multiplayer elements even in its single-player games? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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