Pokémon Champions, the newest Pokémon battling game, hit digital shelves today, and it has become the talk of the town for fans worldwide. Mainly, the discourse is around many of the game’s more prominent technical issues, but some players are shining a light on it for a different reason.
As part of the game’s status conditions tutorial, players take on a Gallade with an Arcanine. There’s something unusual about this Gallade, though, as many eagle-eyed players have pointed out: It’s a female. Normally, the gender of an opposing Pokémon wouldn’t spark much discussion, except for the fact that Gallades can only be male. That’s sort of their whole shtick, really; they’re supposed to be the masculine counterpart to the more feminine Gardevoir (which actually can be male, though that’s a longer story).
Although it’s only a minor mistake, it’s an uncommon one for Pokémon games, and some fans on Reddit have said they’re surprised by the uncharacteristic mishap. It’s also a rather innocent one—one fans can actually laugh about, compared to many of the game’s other shortcomings.
Pokémon Champions has several technical problems that fans most definitely aren’t shrugging off, including one that’s “[trapping] Pokémon in limbo” when players attempt to transfer them into the game from HOME, according to pro Pokémon player Justin “AzazeL” Carris. Other players have lamented the fact that the game is locked at 30 fps and that its menus run slowly. Even further still, some trainers are just simply disappointed with many of the game’s limitations around battling, like how you can’t 6v6.
Pokémon Champions arrived today in the eShop at the low price of free-fiddy—which is, to say, completely free, so maybe we shouldn’t be too surprised at its faults. It’s not like any of the mainline series, however; it’s solely a battling game. In it, you can transfer creatures from Pokémon HOME and use them to battle opponents, or you can recruit them, like with your first Starter Pokémon. Recruited Pokémon aren’t permanent additions to your roster, just temporary ones that will leave your employ after a set amount of time.
Despite all of its issues, Pokémon Champions will act as the new home for the VGC, the series’ professional format, with the first official tournament being the Indianapolis Pokémon Regional Championships from May 29 to 31.
If you’re interested in giving the new battling game a go, you can download it for free from the Nintendo eShop today.
