Pokemon's Combat Will Officially Change In Future Mainline Games

Pokemon Champions Will Keep Classic Combat Alive As Mainline Games Change Image provided by Nintendo and Game Freak. Published Aug 22, 2026, 9:15 AM EDT George is the Lead News Editor for TheGamer, and has been working in the industry since 2021 after graduating from the University of South Wales with a bachelor's degree in Journalism. He has also previously written for RPG Site, WhatCulture, and PlayStation Lifestyle. George is an expert on platformers, action games, and fighters, but tends to play as many releases as possible. This hands-on experience lets him dive into gaming communities and follow the latest trends. Some of the games George has extensively covered first-hand include Dead Rising, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, Assassin's Creed Shadows, and Ninja Gaiden 4. Sign in to your TheGamer account Two key Pokemon developers have confirmed that Champions was created to preserve the series’ more traditional combat style as the mainline games “gradually” change. While Pokemon is one of the biggest and most beloved media franchises in the entire world, it’s fair to say that the games get a bit more criticism than other areas of the series. One of the main complaints is that the mainline games in the series simply don’t change things up enough while still treating the player like they somehow don’t know type weaknesses. As we’ve seen from Legends: Arceus and (admittedly a little less) Legends: Z-A, Pokemon fans actually really appreciate having the combat changed up a bit between games and not just following the same structure. It seems that Game Freak is planning this for the mainline entries going forward, which is why Pokemon Champions is a thing. Pokemon’s Combat Is Likely To “Gradually” Change Going Forward Champions Will Keep The Classic Style Alive Over on Twitter, reliable Pokemon insider CentroLeaks highlighted a video that was just posted on the official Game Freak YouTube page. The video features series veteran Shigeki Morimoto and Pokemon Champions co-director Kazumasa Iwao sharing stories about the game’s development, including why it was created in the first place. As most of us kind of assumed back when it was announced, Champions was made with the intent to maintain a certain standard for Pokemon’s combat style and basically become the main competitive game. Iwao notes that the “rules of battle” are going to “gradually change” with each new Pokemon game, but that it wasn’t fair on long-term fans to keep up with each new entry. Iwao notes that this has been a “sticking point” for Game Freak for some time now since the developers want to “try new challenges in the series” while not abandoning the battle mechanics that made Pokemon such a hit. That’s why Champions is here - to “continue the battle system that has been around” and “make it playable for a long time”. Of course, this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. We’ve already seen from Legends how the series can perform when done differently, and it’s likely that Nintendo will want to keep evolving that branch of the series. From the sounds of it, though, we should expect the mainline new-gen entries to switch things up a bit too. Pokemon Champions Systems Released April 8, 2026 ESRB Everyone / Mild Fantasy Violence Developer(s) The Pokémon Works, Game Freak Publisher(s) Nintendo