At long last, the new competitive battle sim Pokemon Champions has arrived. Longtime competitive players and curious newbies alike are getting started with the latest new Pokemon game. So far, reception has been pretty mixed thanks to the limited selection of Pokemon and items in the game, paired with some server lag and glitches. But there are still plenty of Pokemon fans sinking time into checking out what the new competitive standard has to offer. And a new fan theory has already emerged.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Officially, Pokemon Champions doesn’t offer much in the way of single-player, PvE content. Outside of the initial opening tutorial and a few battle tutorials, Pokemon Champions pits players against one another. The Battle screen offers Ranked, Casual, Private, and Online Battles, all of which pair players against other Pokemon fans in real time. However, many players already suspect that Pokemon Champions is using a tactic from other Pokemon games. Though AI opponents aren’t officially confirmed, many fans suspect their losing streaks landed them a fight against a bot, much like what happens in Pokemon TCG Pocket and Pokemon Unite.
Pokemon Champions Players Are Already Trying to Spot the Bots in PvP Battles
Pokemon Champions has been out for less than a day, which means plenty of players are still learning the ropes. Even seasoned competitive players have to adapt to the game’s small pool of available Pokemon and items. But the game is heavily geared toward helping new players get into competitive battles for the first time. You can recruit and train Pokemon right in the game, and the onboarding tutorial gives you enough tickets and Victory Points to make a go of it. But fans already suspect that some in-battle behavior may be the work of AI opponents rather than inexperienced newbie players.
In the r/PokemonChampions subreddit, players are starting to put forth theories on how to spot bots in the game. As Redditor @SirePuns puts it in a recent post, “I think they match you up with bots after a couple of losses, I just can’t prove it.” Unlike Pokemon TCG Pocket, which did explicitly note the potential of getting matched with an AI opponent in ranked battles, Pokemon Champions does not officially have bot accounts designed to take it easy on players. Yet some in-game behavior is being flagged by fans as a “dead giveaway” of bots in the mix.
With the game’s free-to-play status, it’s very likely that many actual human players are still learning the ropes. After all, the tutorials might teach you the bare bones basics of typing and movesets, but they can hardly catch you up on the PvP meta. Even so, some players think they’ve spotted indications that the game could throw pity AI opponents your way if you lose enough matches in a row. This has become fairly common with games that feature a ranked PvP component, so it makes sense that people are on the lookout for it here.
In particular, players think that spamming moves like Scary Face or Facade could mean their opponent isn’t human. Some also suspect that wearing certain cosmetic items beyond the standard set this early on could be a sign. Though, as someone who spent way too much time on my own avatar before doing battle, I’d argue that some of us just love a little character customization. At any rate, some fans are pretty sure they’ve gone up against at least a few bots. As most gamers are still making their way up through the lower ranks, the theory is that some “easy” opponents could be baked into the system to keep players from getting discouraged early on.
While many are convinced Pokemon Champions has some bots built into the matchmaking, it may be too soon to say for sure. Even if some opponents seem to be making baffling battle choices, it could be that you’re just more likely to match with an inexperienced newbie after a few losses. After all, human beings can be bad at winning competitive Pokemon battles, too.
Until and unless Pokemon Champions confirms the presence of bots in its matchmaking system, this remains a fan theory. Either way, it’s likely that these suspiciously easy opponents will filter out as players hit higher ranks. As players move beyond the lower tiers, they’ll be more likely to match with seasoned battlers and less likely to find “pity” opponents, whether human or bot.
Have you played against anyone you suspected might be a bot in Pokemon Champions? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
