Nintendo held a Pokémon Presents stream back in July 2025 featuring announcements of upcoming titles from the near 30-year old franchise featuring new games in addition to Pokémon Champions: a modern take of an old Nintendo 64 classic.

The Pokémon Presents stream revealed three new games coming for the Switch, Switch 2, and even on mobile devices for iOS and Android. One of them is the reveal of a title that was previously teased prior to the launch of the Switch 2: Pokémon Champions. To many, it’s a throwback to the era of Pokémon Stadium!

Pokémon Champions was previously announced during Nintendo’s Pokémon Day 2025 livestream on February 27. During the July 2025 stream, a trailer launched with an estimated release date, which turned out to be April 8, 2026.

Original Announcement Trailer

The game features multiple game modes from Private and Ranked battles, as well as formats for battling with single or double Pokémon. Additionally, you can use personally captured Pokémon using the Pokémon Home services from previously released Pokémon games that uses the service. Otherwise, a team can be constructed through a recruit feature similar to rentals in Pokémon Stadium. Players can crossplay between the Switch and mobile devices.

Pokémon Champions looks to close the gap since the release of Pokémon Stadium 2 on the Nintendo 64 and Pokémon Colosseum on the Gamecube for those who prefer to have a battle-focused Pokémon game. Although Sword and Shield and Scarlet and Violet have served it’s purpose during the era of the first Switch, it’s exciting to see a stand-alone Pokémon battle game for the first time in 20 years! It will also be used in future live Pokémon championship events, replacing the current gen Pokémon games such as Scarlet & Violet.

Pokémon Champions Overview Trailer

Pokémon Champions is now available on both Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. The game will be available for iOS and Android devices later in 2026.

[Source: Pokemon Channel]