I Need Pokemon Champions to Learn from Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Mistake

When Pokemon Stadium was released on Nintendo 64, it was a pretty big deal to me. The prospect of being able to transport my Game Boy team into a 3D game and battle with them on a TV screen was really exciting. I spent months raising a large number of Pokemon to Level 100, carefully selecting moves that would not only complement their types, but also help bail them out if they ended up with a disadvantage. But the most exciting prospect of all was having new content; at that point, I had exhausted every possible challenge there was to find in Pokemon Red. In those days before online play, when I really only had a handful of friends to compete against that actually played Pokemon, I was thrilled about challenging the game’s various Cups and the Gym Leader Castle.

More than two decades later, the video game industry has changed quite a bit. Development teams put a lot less focus on creating tough CPU opponents, instead putting their resources into online PvP. When Pokemon Champions comes out on Nintendo Switch and mobile devices, the game will attempt to channel the feeling of playing Pokemon Stadium; in fact, the debut trailer featured shots of the Stadium games, as well as Pokemon Battle Revolution. I really want to be excited about Champions, and the trailer had me feeling a lot of nostalgia, but my big concern is that the developers will focus entirely on PvP. What I really want to see is the same level of content that made Pokemon Stadium feel so special in the first place.

I wouldn’t feel so concerned about this if not for Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket. The mobile game offers just about everything I could want in a video game version of the TCG. The graphics are crisp and sharp, collecting cards is fun, and the gameplay has plenty of smart deviations from the physical TCG. However, it’s missing the one key feature that would truly make it perfect, and that’s a single-player mode. I can’t help but daydream about how great it would be to have the campaign from the old Game Boy Pokemon Trading Card Game, but with the gameplay and graphics of Pokemon TCG Pocket. It seems like a match made in heaven.

As much as I enjoy playing PvP matches in various games, one of the big problems is that they quickly become boring, as players become overly focused on following specific trends. Pokemon TCG Pocket is a perfect example of this; anytime I jump into an online match, it feels like I’m going up against the same abilities used by the same Pokemon cards, regardless of who my opponent is. There are only so many times you can run up against a Serperior/Celebi ex Deck, or a Darkrai ex/Weavile ex deck. Thanks to the internet and how players are quick to embrace the “meta,” I often feel like there’s less variety when playing against human opponents than I would get from those created by experienced game developers.

Allowing players to compete around the world is one of the things that has made Pokemon so appealing over the years. In many ways, the competitive aspects of Pokemon have helped the world feel real. It’s just a shame that this often comes at the expense of PvP. I relish opportunities in Pokemon TCG Pocket when new solo events are added. At the very least, it feels like an opportunity to play a few rounds where I can try out new strategies for taking down a set opponent, instead of having to go online and get my butt kicked.

I’m probably wishing for too much from Pokemon Champions. At the end of the day, the game seems like a way for The Pokemon Company to keep all the multiplayer PvP elements of the franchise in one place. Just as Pokemon Home was seemingly established as a centralized replacement for the National Dex for the mainline games, Pokemon Champions seems poised to offer the same thing, but with multiplayer battles instead. Given that, there probably isn’t room for the type of thing that I’m looking for. Even still, I’m holding out hope that the developers give me some reason to get invested.

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I have to keep telling myself that no one really knows what to expect from Pokemon Champions. So far, The Pokemon Company has only shown a brief snippet of gameplay, and details are pretty minimal. It’s possible I could get my wish, and the game will feature a robust package that matches the appeal of the original Pokemon Stadium. I would love to feel that level of excitement again, but I can’t help thinking it’s just going to be another experience like Pokemon TCG Pocket where it just falls short of what I’m looking for.

Are you looking forward to Pokemon Champions? Do you think the game will have some single-player options available? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!