Pokémon Champions is finally here, and well, it’s not quite as polished as many people would have wanted. Within hours of the free-to-play game releasing on Nintendo Switch, social media was flooded with complaints from fans, targeting Champions’ “horrible” performance, clunky menus and overall lacklustre presentation.
Developed by The Pokémon Works (the powerhouse joint venture between The Pokémon Company and ILCA), Pokémon Champions is now the new “standard platform” for the entire Video Game Championships (VGC) circuit. It’s essentially a battle simulator, reminiscent of Pokémon Stadium and Battle Revolution, but built for the modern Esports era.
What’s wrong with Pokémon Champions?
Sadly, Champions hasn’t gone off to the start it would have wanted, with a number of gamers calling for a patch to fix the “horrible” Nintendo Switch 2 performance. Aggressive input delay, slow FPS and frame pacing issues are just some of the gripes players have highlighted just hours after the game’s release.
“The framerate even on Switch 2 is so awful. It’s capped at 30 with clear frame pacing issues, animations are stuttering for no reason,” wrote one user on the Nintendo Switch 2 subreddit just hours after launch.
“So far the game feels really janky from a technical perspective. Massive downgrade from SV and Z-A which were locked 60 in battles on Switch 2.” Another added: “Even navigating the menu feels horrible, really hoping they release a fix asap this is insane.”
Champions marks the first 30fps Pokémon game on Nintendo Switch 2, with the enhanced versions of Scarlet and Violet, as well as Pokémon Legends: Z-A, both running at 60fps on the new handheld. For some reason, despite the extra horsepower on offer, Champions is locked to 30fps on both Nintendo Switch systems.
“Yeah I’m hoping I haven’t downloaded the Switch 2 patch yet… Please tell me that’s the case or I’m already pretty checked out. You’re telling me this is the premier battle system for the foreseeable future,” said another.
Additionally, Pokémon Champions has been slated for its ridiculously low number of usable creatures on launch. On release, the game has fewer than 200 of the 1028 Pokémon available to use, although it does include Mega Evolutions.
As the future platform for official Pokémon esports battling and online play, Champions’ low number of available creatures is a huge flaw for players. With hardcore fans trading their creatures into Pokémon Home across generations for years, having less than 20% of the roster available on launch is a big issue.
For anyone who has played a modern Pokémon game since the start of the Nintendo Switch era, a lot of these issues are expected. Every game in the series since its shift to 3D has suffered from horrendous netplay and performance issues, and Champions is just the latest entry in a long line of infuriating releases.
When is the next Pokémon Champions update?
Right now, The Pokémon Company has not released any official roadmap for the future of Champions. However, the developer has noted that the game will see regular updates with new Pokémon, new transformation styles (such as Dynamax), a mobile release, and other additions as the game continues.
Additionally, the game will likely see some form of major content addition whenever a mainline release occurs. At the time of writing, the next mainline Pokémon game is the upcoming Winds and Waves, which isn’t planned to release until 2027.
