Following one Pokemon Champions lead’s suggestion that the RPG series’ turn-based combat could see more changes over time, another co-director has doubled down on the idea that the company’s new home of competitive battling will allow for that traditional system to be “preserved” forever.
Although Pokemon has experimented more with its battle system in recent years – with Pokemon Legends: Arceus and Z-A offering variations between the former’s Strong and Agile-style moves and the latter’s real-time combat – the main generational releases and remakes (see the likes of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl) have stuck closely to the turn-based format. However, Champions co-director Kazumasa Iwao recently noted that “there is the possibility that this rule could change little by little.”
He went on to say that Game Freak wants to “challenge ourselves by doing new things” – raising the question of what battle system could be planned for Pokemon Winds and Waves – before adding that the development of Champions began with the idea that “it would be good to put the battle system we’ve constructed into one game that you can keep playing.” Now, in an interview with VGC, fellow co-director Masaaki Hoshino has reiterated this concept.
Noting that he loves Pokemon battles to the point that they’re “part of the reason why I joined The Pokemon Company” in the first place, Hoshino says: “I would love to keep turn-based battles around like forever, regardless of other Pokemon battle styles out there. From that standpoint, I believe that as long as Pokemon Champions is around, turn-based battles will be kind of preserved and will continue forever.”
“Forever” is a word that keeps coming up when it comes to Pokemon Champions. In a group interview with Hoshino attended by GamesRadar+ earlier this year, the lead stated that “we’re planning to keep Pokemon Champions going far into the future – basically forever, as long as the Pokemon series is continuing.” Now that Champions is the game that official VGC tournaments are set to take place in at events such as the Pokemon World Championships, this is more than a PvP spin-off; it’s the lifeblood of the competitive scene, so I certainly hope this is the case.