Battle on, Trainers! You’ll be able to play Pokémon Champions soon

Pokémon™ Champions is a brand-new, free-to-start game that focuses on all the strategy and fun of Pokémon battles!

Made for both new and experienced Trainers alike, the game features familiar mechanics such as Pokémon types, Abilities, and moves. You also won’t need to wait long to play: Pokémon Champions comes out April 8.

Please watch the video for a deeper look at the game. Some highlights include:

Create your team of six Pokémon using the Pokémon HOME app, by recruiting one Pokémon per day in the game, or with the use of Victory Points (more on those later).

Win by reducing the HP of all your opponent’s Pokémon to zero. You can swap one Pokémon for another if you’re in a bind, or use Mega Evolution to power up your Pokémon.

Use one Pokémon at a time in Single Battles or have Pokémon fight 2-on-2 in Double Battles. There are also three different online* battle modes to try out: Ranked Battles, Casual Battles, and Private Battles.

Training is key (you are a Trainer, after all). Change a Pokémon’s moves or adjust its Abilities, Nature, stat points, and more. There’s a lot you can customize, so find a strategy that works for you!

Engaging in battle will earn you Victory Points (or VP). Typically, you can only recruit one Pokémon per day from a random selection, and that Pokémon will only stay recruited for a week. However, by using VP, you can recruit multiple times a day. VP can also be used to add recruited Pokémon permanently to your collection, get items in the Shop, customize your Trainers, and more.

Good luck, out there, everyone! The competition will be heating up soon.

*Nintendo Account and Internet access required for online features. For more info, go to support.nintendo.com.

(Video)