By Dexerto | Created at 2026-08-26 13:31:50 | Updated at 2026-09-18 20:53:32
3 weeks ago
Pokemon’s traditional turn-based battle system could undergo major changes in future games, with Game Freak revealing that spin-off battle sim, Pokemon Champions, was partly created to preserve that format, regardless of where the mainline games go.
Turn-based battles have been at the core of the series since Pokemon Red and Green launched in Japan in 1996, but Game Freak has increasingly experimented with how its games handle combat.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A has already experimented with exactly that outside of the core RPGs by replacing traditional turn-based combat with real-time battles. Now, Pokemon Champions director Kazumasa Iwao has suggested the wider series could also continue moving away from its established rules.
Pokemon Champions preserves classic battle system
Iwao discussed the future of Pokemon battles alongside longtime series battle director Shigeki Morimoto in a new behind-the-scenes video published by Game Freak.
As translated by GamesRadar, Iwao explained that one of the driving forces behind Pokemon Champions was the possibility that the battle system used throughout the franchise “could change little by little” in the future.
“There are people who have been enjoying the existing style of Pokemon battle for decades, going all the way back to Red and Green, Gold and Silver, and so on,” he said.
Rather than eventually telling those players that battles had changed and they simply needed to move on to the newest format, Game Freak wanted somewhere the existing system could continue.
“At the same time, we obviously want the series to continue taking on new challenges,” Iwao explained. “But we also didn’t want to neglect the battle system we’ve had up until now.”
The comments don’t mean Game Freak is abandoning turn-based combat entirely, but essentially give Game Freak more freedom to experiment elsewhere without completely replacing the style of competitive battling longtime players know.
Whether that means a shake-up as soon as Pokemon Winds and Waves isn’t clear, as Game Freak hasn’t revealed what kind of battle system the Switch games will use, and there’s currently no confirmation that Winds and Waves will abandon traditional turn-based combat.
Pokemon Winds and Waves will be released on Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027. So far, the only new Pokemon we’ve seen are the three starters Trainers will get to choose from at the start of their adventure.
