Announced earlier this year, Pokémon Champions appears poised to become the successor to old favorites like Pokémon Stadium, but we haven’t learned much about the game to this point. That changed today, thanks to a new trailer from The Pokémon Works, detailing some of what players should expect with the upcoming battle-focused title.
Similar to Pokémon Stadium, players can import the Pokémon caught on their mainline game journeys. This time, it’s done through Pokémon Home. However, you can also recruit Pokémon to join their teams, including Trial Recruitments that allow Pokémon to join your team for a limited time. To permanently recruit a Pokémon, you must use Victory Points, earned through methods like winning Ranked Battles. Victory Points can also be used to train Pokémon and fine-tune their stats and moves.
Once you have your team, you can compete in Ranked Battles or Casual Battles against trainers around the world, or Private Battles against friends. Battles can also be traditional Single Battles or more chaotic Double Battles.
Pokémon Champions is set to arrive on Switch, iOS, and Android in 2026. If you’d rather not wait to get your battling fix, Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Stadium 2 are available on the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack N64 library on Switch 2 and Switch, and Pokémon Colosseum is confirmed to come to the Switch 2 GameCube collection in the future.
