Pokemon Champions

POKEMON CHAMPIONS

Pokemon Champions is the newest in the line of "just battling" Pokemon games, like Stadium and Battle Revolution before it, where you can transfer in your Pokemon from other games and just battle other people with them. Plus it allows for both Mega Evolution and Terastalization to be used, but otherwise, it's just the battle sim basically. There are a couple of new human NPCs, being your protags Willem and Becca, arena owner Cordy and his daughter Tatora, rancher Kitt, and champion duo Caraway and Kajima. Not much else really to say.

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

All new Pokemon

Paxton/Harmony, also maybe Taunie/Urbain as echoes?

Pokopian Ditto

Trainer System:

Florian

Juliana

Paxton

Harmony

Nemona

Arven

Penny

Taunie

Urbain

Clavell

Professor Sada

Professor Turo

Jacq

Tyme

Salvatore

Raifort

Dendra

Saguaro

Hassel

Miriam

Lida

Naveen

Jett

Vinnie

Katy

Brassius

Iono

Kofu

Larry

Ryme

Tulip

Grusha

Rika

Poppy

Geeta

Tarragon

Canari

Gwynn

Ivor

Philippe

Corbeau

Lebanne

Jacinthe

Griselle

Grisham

Giacomo

Mela

Atticus

Ortega

Eri

Billy

O'Nare

Briar

Carmine

Kieran

Perrin

Cyrano

Crispin

Lacey

Amarys

Drayton

Ansha

Willem

Becca

Cordy

Kitt

Tatori

Caraway

Kajima

Stages:

Naranja/Uva Academy

Area Zero

Other Paldean areas

Kitakami

Blueberry Academy

Pokemon Sleep stage?

Denis Mansion

Southern Ruins

Pokemon Protection Bureau

Bamboo Borough

Pokemon Unity Lab

TCG Pocket stage?

Lumiose City

Hotel Z

Quasartico Inc.

Prism Tower

Mega Dimension

Withered Wastelands

Bleak Beach

Rocky Ridges

Sparkling Skylands

Palette Town

Bubbly Basin

Dream Islands

Cloud Islands

Champions Arena

Thanks for reading! Next up, we have a handful of smaller games to cover!

Pokemon Pokopia

POKEMON POKOPIA

Next up, we have a brand new venture by the Pokemon company into other genres, and a very successful one at that. Pokopia is sorta like a fusion of Life Simulation games like Animal Crossing, with the blocky worldbuilding aspects of Minecraft, all blended together with Pokemon and a post-human dystopia story similar to Wall-E. It's a really weird blend, but at the end of the day, a really fun one.

You play as a Ditto left behind on Earth after all the humans mysteriously abandoned it. The Ditto takes on a blobby sort of form based on their old trainer and then proceeds to start rebuilding a new world with the help of other Pokemon around it, occasionally adopting abilities from other Pokemon to help it do its worldbuilding, including Water Gun, Leafage, Cut, Rock Smash, Rototiller, Camouflage, Surf, Strength, Rollout, Glide, Waterfall, Magnet Rise, as well as Headbutt, Stockpile, Spit Out, Jump, and a vacuuming ability, all of which the Ditto can just kinda do.

Though most of the other characters in the game are just regular Pokemon, we did get a handful of "character mons," which are mostly just the regular species but with some little aspect that makes them standout as an individual. These include Professor Tangrowth, a sickly pale Pikachu named Peakychu, a Snorlax that slept so long it became covered in moss named Mosslax, a paint-covered Smeargle named Smearguru, a Rotom in a boombox named DJ Rotom, a Greedent chef named Chef Dente, and a Tinkaton with a swiss-army hammer named Tinkmaster.

Locations in the world include the Withered Wastelands, Bleak Beach, Rocky Ridges, Sparkling Skylands, and Palette Town, as well as some new areas from the yesterday-revealed-and-released DLC pack, including Bubbly Basin, Dream Islands, and Cloud Islands.

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

All new Pokemon

Paxton/Harmony, also maybe Taunie/Urbain as echoes?

Pokopian Ditto

Trainer System:

Florian

Juliana

Paxton

Harmony

Nemona

Arven

Penny

Taunie

Urbain

Clavell

Professor Sada

Professor Turo

Jacq

Tyme

Salvatore

Raifort

Dendra

Saguaro

Hassel

Miriam

Lida

Naveen

Jett

Vinnie

Katy

Brassius

Iono

Kofu

Larry

Ryme

Tulip

Grusha

Rika

Poppy

Geeta

Tarragon

Canari

Gwynn

Ivor

Philippe

Corbeau

Lebanne

Jacinthe

Griselle

Grisham

Giacomo

Mela

Atticus

Ortega

Eri

Billy

O'Nare

Briar

Carmine

Kieran

Perrin

Cyrano

Crispin

Lacey

Amarys

Drayton

Ansha

Stages:

Naranja/Uva Academy

Area Zero

Other Paldean areas

Kitakami

Blueberry Academy

Pokemon Sleep stage?

Denis Mansion

Southern Ruins

Pokemon Protection Bureau

Bamboo Borough

Pokemon Unity Lab

TCG Pocket stage?

Lumiose City

Hotel Z

Quasartico Inc.

Prism Tower

Mega Dimension

Withered Wastelands

Bleak Beach

Rocky Ridges

Sparkling Skylands

Palette Town

Bubbly Basin

Dream Islands

Cloud Islands

Thanks for reading! Next up, we have one major game left, and then we can call ourselves the Champions of Gen IX!

Pokemon Legends: Z-A

POKEMON LEGENDS: Z-A

Next up, we have another entry in the Legends series, apparently not so much about stories from the ancient past, but more general stories the Pokemon Company want to tell while revisiting old areas outside of the mainline games. This one takes place entirely within Lumiose City, the Paris of Kalos, about five years past the events of X and Y, and does a lot to wrap up the story, specifically the story of AZ.

You play as Paxton or Harmony, a young kid who arrives in Lumiose City to compete in a Z-A tournament being held by the Quasartico company. You are quickly roped into Team MZ, a group of kids focused on helping clean up and help out around Lumiose while also bringing in customers for Hotel Z where they live. Their leader is Urbain or Taunie, your rival and a kinda sorta color swap of your main character. Other members include Lida, the younger half-sister of Tierno, and Naveen.

Returning from X and Y, we have our immortal ancient king AZ and his Floette, who now run the hotel together. We also have Emma, who has taken over her adoptive father's role as head detective in Lumiose. Then Mabel, former Team Flare admin, now working as the acting professor at Sycamore's lab as part of her community service. And finally, we have Lysandre, who apparently survived and inherited AZ's curse of immortality, serving his penance as a speaker for Zygarde.

Newcomer characters are mostly people involved in the Quasartico Z-A tournament. Jett is Quasartico's CEO while Vinnie is her secretary, who recruits Team MZ to help investigate strange incidents around the city. Canari (Electric) is a streamer competing in the tournament, while Tarragon (Ground) is her supportive grandpa and construction head of the city. Ivor (Fighting) and Gwynn (Ghost) are a brother and sister duo who oversee a fighting dojo in the city. Corbeau (Poison) is the head of the Rust Syndicate, a Yakuza-inspired crime family who are much more well-meaning than they seem, while Philippe (Steel) is his right-hand man. Jacinthe (Fairy) is a wealthy (and a little bit scary) heiress, and Lebanne (Dragon) is her strongly-implied-to-be-indentured maid. Finally, Grisham and Griselle are two former members of Team Flare who now run a coffee shop and call themselves Team Flare Nouveau.

There's not actually a villain in the story, just a build up of Mega Evolution energy forming underneath Prism Tower, due to the use of AZ's superweapon five years before, which at one point possesses Floette and turns it into a giant plant/biological version of the superweapon. We also got a DLC where we meet Diantha's daughter Ansha and her companion Hoopa, as well as a returning Korrina, who work together to close a bunch of dimensional rifts opening around the city.

As for stages, it's mostly just the city of Lumiose, greatly expanded on from its appearance in X and Y, with lots of Wild Zones where Pokemon can roam freely. Hotel Z is the most distinct new location, as well as Quasartico's headquarters. Prism Tower is also notably featured in the story.

And that's pretty much it! Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

All new Pokemon

Paxton/Harmony, also maybe Taunie/Urbain as echoes?

Trainer System:

Florian

Juliana

Paxton

Harmony

Nemona

Arven

Penny

Taunie

Urbain

Clavell

Professor Sada

Professor Turo

Jacq

Tyme

Salvatore

Raifort

Dendra

Saguaro

Hassel

Miriam

Lida

Naveen

Jett

Vinnie

Katy

Brassius

Iono

Kofu

Larry

Ryme

Tulip

Grusha

Rika

Poppy

Geeta

Tarragon

Canari

Gwynn

Ivor

Philippe

Corbeau

Lebanne

Jacinthe

Griselle

Grisham

Giacomo

Mela

Atticus

Ortega

Eri

Billy

O'Nare

Briar

Carmine

Kieran

Perrin

Cyrano

Crispin

Lacey

Amarys

Drayton

Ansha

Stages:

Naranja/Uva Academy

Area Zero

Other Paldean areas

Kitakami

Blueberry Academy

Pokemon Sleep stage?

Denis Mansion

Southern Ruins

Pokemon Protection Bureau

Bamboo Borough

Pokemon Unity Lab

TCG Pocket stage?

Lumiose City

Hotel Z

Quasartico Inc.

Prism Tower

Mega Dimension

Thanks for reading! Next up, let's cover Animal Crossing! No, wait, Minecraft! No, wait, that's not right either.

Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket

POKEMON TRADING CARD GAME POCKET

Next up, we have Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket, a new app format of the Pokemon Trading Card Game that came out in 2024, and blew up quite a bit as far as I could tell. Everyone seemed to really be talking about it for quite a while afterwards anyway. Outside of that, the mechanics are still pretty standard, just streamlined, with lots of gacha mechanics for buying and trading cards and stuff, as you might expect.

And that's pretty much it! Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

All new Pokemon

Trainer System:

Florian

Juliana

Nemona

Arven

Penny

Clavell

Professor Sada

Professor Turo

Jacq

Tyme

Salvatore

Raifort

Dendra

Saguaro

Hassel

Miriam

Katy

Brassius

Iono

Kofu

Larry

Ryme

Tulip

Grusha

Rika

Poppy

Geeta

Giacomo

Mela

Atticus

Ortega

Eri

Billy

O'Nare

Briar

Carmine

Kieran

Perrin

Cyrano

Crispin

Lacey

Amarys

Drayton

Stages:

Naranja/Uva Academy

Area Zero

Other Paldean areas

Kitakami

Blueberry Academy

Pokemon Sleep stage?

Denis Mansion

Southern Ruins

Pokemon Protection Bureau

Bamboo Borough

Pokemon Unity Lab

TCG Pocket stage?

Thanks for reading! Next up, we've covered almost all the games A to Z, or rather Z-A!

Detective Pikachu Returns

DETECTIVE PIKACHU RETURNS

And now, we come to the second game in the Detective Pikachu series that brings the plot and mystery full circle, left hanging by the previous game, though answered in the movie. We once again follow Tim Goodman and his dad's Pikachu as the pair continue to work as detectives, seeking answers to the fate of Tim's father.

Tim and Pikachu are our protagonists once again, with most of their gameplay being point-and-click-based mechanics, but with the new feature that Pikachu can recruit certain Pokemon to act as "rides" in order to get certain places. In the end, just like the movie, Harry's fate is revealed to be that his mind was fused with Pikachu's by Mewtwo in order to preserve him, the difference being that his body was being kept by Mewtwo to heal in the meantime.

Only Frank Holiday and Brad McMasters returns in any meaningful way from the previous game, even Emilia being relegated to minor cameos as a TV reporter from time to time. Instead, Tim is regularly accompanied by his college friend Rachel, the daughter of the town's mayor Howard Myers, who ends up being heavily involved in the main evil plot of the game. The true villain ends up being Charles Merloch, an evil scientist working for Myers who ends up fusing himself with Deoxys during the final battle.

Other notable characters include Tim's mom and sister Irene and Sophia, Rachel's friend Jessica, the new "Pokemon Protection chief" Will Butler, billionaire Sanjeev Denis whose precious jewel goes missing at one point, and Trevor Gordon, Rachel's professor. Plus a number of Pokemon throughout, including Growlithe, Galarian Darmanitan, and Luxray, who can all be ridden.

For stages, once again, we return to Ryme City, with new notable locations including Sanjeev Denis's mansion, the Southern Ruins, the Pokemon Protection Bureau, Bamboo Borough, and the Pokemon Unity Lab.

And that's pretty much it! Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

All new Pokemon

Trainer System:

Florian

Juliana

Nemona

Arven

Penny

Clavell

Professor Sada

Professor Turo

Jacq

Tyme

Salvatore

Raifort

Dendra

Saguaro

Hassel

Miriam

Katy

Brassius

Iono

Kofu

Larry

Ryme

Tulip

Grusha

Rika

Poppy

Geeta

Giacomo

Mela

Atticus

Ortega

Eri

Billy

O'Nare

Briar

Carmine

Kieran

Perrin

Cyrano

Crispin

Lacey

Amarys

Drayton

Stages:

Naranja/Uva Academy

Area Zero

Other Paldean areas

Kitakami

Blueberry Academy

Pokemon Sleep stage?

Denis Mansion

Southern Ruins

Pokemon Protection Bureau

Bamboo Borough

Pokemon Unity Lab

Thanks for reading! Next up, we have yet another Pokemon Trading Card Game in our Pocket!

Pokemon Sleep

POKEMON SLEEP

Next we have Pokemon Sleep, an app that helps you track your sleep patterns and helps you sleep better, all with Pokemon appearing around a sleeping Snorlax the longer you sleep. There's not really much else to say about it.

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

All new Pokemon

Trainer System:

Florian

Juliana

Nemona

Arven

Penny

Clavell

Professor Sada

Professor Turo

Jacq

Tyme

Salvatore

Raifort

Dendra

Saguaro

Hassel

Miriam

Katy

Brassius

Iono

Kofu

Larry

Ryme

Tulip

Grusha

Rika

Poppy

Geeta

Giacomo

Mela

Atticus

Ortega

Eri

Billy

O'Nare

Briar

Carmine

Kieran

Perrin

Cyrano

Crispin

Lacey

Amarys

Drayton

Stages:

Naranja/Uva Academy

Area Zero

Other Paldean areas

Kitakami

Blueberry Academy

Pokemon Sleep stage?

Thanks for reading! Next up, Detective Pikachu Returns! Um, yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

POKEMON SCARLET & VIOLET

And now, we start up Generation IX, the most recent generation up to the present time. The primary flagship games this time around were Scarlet and Violet, which took place in the Paldea region, heavily based on the Iberian Peninsula and taking influence from Spain, Portugal, and Latin America.

You play as Florian or Juliana, a new student starting at the Naranja or Uva Academy (depending on the game), with your school life forming a major part of the story's structure. In lieu of a distinct "Professor" like the old games, the faculty of the school takes up that role in various ways. The headmaster Clavell fills most of the Professor role, giving you your Pokemon and all that, while Jacq, Tyme, Salvatore, Raifort, Dendra, Saguaro, and Hassel teach biology, math, language, history, battle studies, home ec, and art respectively, and Miriam as your school nurse. Professor Sada or Turo (based on the game you play) are also professors you interact with, and are heavily plot relevant.

Across the games, you have three main plot lines you can follow, which are heavily guided by three main rivals: Nemona, Arven, and Penny. Nemona competes with you along the standard Pokemon League course, with your gym leaders being: Katy (Bug), Brassius (Grass), Iono (Electric), Kofu (Water), Larry (Normal), Ryme (Ghost), Tulip (Psychic), and Grusha (Water), with Rika (Ground), Larry again (Flying this time), Poppy (Steel), and Hassel the art teacher (Dragon) as the Elite Four and Geeta as the champion.

Arven's story has you chasing down specific herbs guarded by boss Pokemon so that he can heal his sick down and uncover the mystery behind his missing parent, the aforementioned Sada or Turo. Penny guides you in taking down Team Star, a group that started out as bullied kids banding together before going rogue, becoming bullies themselves, and abandoning school. Their leaders are Giacomo (Dark), Mela (Fire), Atticus (Poison), Ortega (Fairy), and Eri (Fighting). In the end, Penny reveals herself to be their original founder.

After the game was released, two DLC packs came out, one set in Kitakami based on basically the last section of Japan not covered by the first four games, where you meet siblings Carmine and Kieran, teacher Briar, and photographer Perrin. The second was set in Blueberry Academy, an underwater school off the coast of Unova, with an Elite Four of Crispin (Fire), Lacey (Fairy), Amarys (Steel), and Drayton (Dragon), and its own headmaster Cyrano. Other characters include the post-game rich tourist couple Billy and O'Nare.

As for the stages, cities include Mesagoza, Cabo Poco, Los Platos, Cortando, Artazon, Alfornado, Cascarrafa, Porto Marinada, Medali, Levincia, Zapapico, and Montenevera, plus the landmarks of Naranja or Uva Academy, Asado Desert, Icerend Shrine, Colonnade Hollow, Glaseado Mountain, Casseroya Lake, Groundblight Shrine, Firescourge Shrine, and Area Zero in the very center. Add to it Kitakami and Area Zero and we have quite a bit.

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

All new Pokemon

Trainer System:

Florian

Juliana

Nemona

Arven

Penny

Clavell

Professor Sada

Professor Turo

Jacq

Tyme

Salvatore

Raifort

Dendra

Saguaro

Hassel

Miriam

Katy

Brassius

Iono

Kofu

Larry

Ryme

Tulip

Grusha

Rika

Poppy

Geeta

Giacomo

Mela

Atticus

Ortega

Eri

Billy

O'Nare

Briar

Carmine

Kieran

Perrin

Cyrano

Crispin

Lacey

Amarys

Drayton

Stages:

Naranja/Uva Academy

Area Zero

Other Paldean areas

Kitakami

Blueberry Academy

Thanks for reading! Until next time, get some Sleep, and I'll post the next game tomorrow!