The Biggest Announcements From The Pokémon World Championships

By Elijah Gonzalez | August 18, 2025 | 12:30pm

Video Games News Pokémon

The Biggest Announcements From The Pokémon World Championships

The 2025 Pokémon World Championships just came to a close this weekend in Anaheim, California, resulting in winners being crowned for Pokémon Scarlet/Violet, Pokémon TCG, and more. And alongside the competition, Nintendo also offered a final round of updates for their existing and upcoming games on Sunday, with smaller and bigger announcements alike. Here’s what was announced during Pokémon World’s closing ceremony.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A Has Free-For-All Multiplayer

While Nintendo already implied that Pokémon Legends: Z-A would have some form of multiplayer, we finally got the specifics. The game will feature a free-for-all mode where four trainers battle simultaneously. You have three minutes to defeat as many opposing trainers’ Pokémon as possible, and whoever scores the most knockouts in that time span wins. There will be a casual mode and a ranked option.

Pokémon TCG Pocket Gets Mega Evolutions

This fall, the mobile game Pokémon TCG Pocket will be getting Mega Evolution cards, a form of ex Pokémon that has high strength at the cost of going for three points when knocked out (which means if you defeat one, you immediately win the game). Altaria, Gyarados, and Blaziken Mega Evolutions were shown, and they will be released with the upcoming fall update for the game.

Pokémon Champions Will Now Be The Competitive Standard For Worlds And More

Pokémon Champions is an upcoming mobile and Switch release that takes the standard turn-based battles of the series and gears them towards multiplayer play. It will replace Pokémon Scarlet/Violet for the VGC format at the Pokémon World Championships in 2026. Champions will feature Mega Evolutions (introduced in Gen VI) and Terastallization transformations (from Gen IX).

Mega Evolutions Returning To Physical Pokémon TCG

Continuing the trend, the physical Pokémon Trading Card Game will also feature the return of Mega Evolutions. The cards teased include Mega Charizard X, Mega Gardevoir ex, Mega Lucario ex, and Mega Dragonite ex.

Pokémon Go Adds Eternatus Face-Off

The legendary Gen VIII Pokémon Eternatus will be the focal point of Pokémon Go’s upcoming Pokémon Go Fest 2025’s Max Finale, which will run from August 23 to 24.

Pokémon Unite Getting New Characters

The MOBA Pokémon Unite is getting new playable critters, including Empleon, Dhelmise, and Vaporeon. Empoleon will be out September 19.

Pokémon World Championships 2026 Will Be In San Francisco

Lastly, Pokémon World Championships 2026 will be coming to San Francisco on August 28 to 30, 2026. There will also be a “fan experience” called Pokémon XP in the city during the event, which includes “panels, unique workshops, special guests, exclusive merchandise, and so much more.”