00:00Pokemon Champions, the soon-to-be-dedicated hub for Pokemon's traditional turn-based PvP,
00:05has a lot riding on it. Pokemon's video game championship scene is one of the most interesting
00:10parts of the entire franchise, but it's easily one of the most complicated. For a game series
00:15undeniably aimed at children, the competitive battling scene has one of the mightiest entry
00:20barriers of any game's PvP mode. Pokemon Champions is set to slam that barrier to entry
00:25more fiercely than ever before. During my one-hour hands-on, I quickly realised this isn't just
00:31another Pokemon Stadium-like battling game. This is about swinging the doors of competitive
00:36battling wide open, even for fans who don't own any of the other games. The biggest barrier
00:41that's being blasted down here is your Pokemon stats. While veterans can import perfectly trained
00:46Pokemon from home, newcomers can get to grips with these systems with Champion's simplified version.
00:52Even with my admittedly limited competitive experience, I was able to forge a total beast
00:57of a team, with an undefeatable Charizard that wiped the floor with its opposition.
01:01This team building does operate on a gacha system, and stat changes require in-game resources,
01:07and it's unclear just how quickly or with how much difficulty these will accrue through normal
01:12gameplay. Monetisation here is where the big question of longevity arises, but I'm quietly
01:17optimistic that with the option to import your own carefully crafted teams, Champions will
01:22be absolutely viable whether you choose to invest in it or not.
01:26I'm not telling you what it's about.
Comments