Pokémon Champions director Masaaki Hoshino wants the franchise to retain the turn-based battle mechanic “forever,” and doesn’t see a situation where it would be removed from the game.
Some recent Pokémon titles have made adjustments to the standard turn-based battle formula, with Pokémon Legends: Arceus making significant tweaks with open-world capture of wild Pokémon, before major tweaks in Legends Z-A saw the approach switch to open-world battles.
That has brought the future of the turn-based battle mechanic under the spotlight, especially with the plethora of upcoming titles Pokémon is reportedly working on, but in Hoshino’s eyes, he’d keep it the same forever.
Turn-Based Battles Will Remain in Pokémon Champions Forever
“Personally, I love Pokémon battles, and part of the reason why I joined The Pokémon Company is for Pokémon battles,” he told VGC at the Pokémon World Championships.
“I would love to keep turn-based battles around forever, regardless of other Pokémon battle styles out there. From that standpoint, I believe that as long as Pokémon Champions is around, turn-based battles will be kind of preserved and will continue forever.”
Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves, the tenth generation of the Pokémon franchise, will land on Nintendo Switch 2 next year and are expected to retain the familiar turn-based battle mechanics, with the Legends series seemingly being the main scene for alterations to core mechanics.
It seems clear the turn-based mechanics won’t be removed from the franchise permanently, however, though there could be further experiments in future titles.
Check out the Pokémon Champions overview trailer below.
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