It has been 20 years for the reason that first Pokémon World Championships occurred in Orlando and in what could also be a transfer to have fun, the Pokémon World Championships returned to a spot the place it has regularly been held: Hawai’i. Nevertheless, this time moderately than being on the massive island, it went to the island of O’ahu and the town of Honolulu.
Following the World Championships in Yokohama final yr is a Herculean activity with many arguing it might have been one of the best one ever. So the query stays, did it handle to high final yr?
What was there to do?
Final yr, there was a lot across the occasion that it principally took over Yokohama, so in that regard, Hawai’i 2024 positively looks like this was a little bit of a step again. Nevertheless, that doesn’t imply that there was nothing to do.
Contained in the occasion
The occasion was break up between two venues. Within the Hawai’i Conference Middle, you had the primary occasion which wanted a move to get into. Upstairs there have been many actions: a Pokémon Worlds Museum which showcased the historical past of the Pokémon World Championships; a gallery to showcase the High 100 entries within the current Pokémon TCG Illustration Contest; a service provider nook the place native sport shops might promote Pokémon-related merchandise in addition to a Gather & Commerce nook to permit so that you can commerce playing cards. There was additionally a playable demo of the approaching sport Pokémon TCG Pocket.
New to the World Championships this yr was Pokémon Talks, a gaggle of panels you would attend that lined a wide range of parts throughout the Pokémon franchise. There was a panel with the TCG artists, one other discussing the implementation of the dub & localisation of the anime, and one that includes earlier World Champions. These added a pleasant spin to the occasion and made it really feel like Worlds is increasing past only a aggressive occasion and turning into a full celebration of Pokémon.
Coach City
Positioned within the Hilton Hawai’ian Village resort simply ten minutes down the highway from the Championships was the Pokémon Worlds Coach City. The Coach City was absolutely accessible to everybody no matter whether or not they had entry to the primary World Championships and was akin to Matsuri Park final yr and the Worlds Village within the London World Championships.
There have been many small actions like garden bowling and surfboard ornament alongside present screenings and Pokémon meet and greets! The Pokémon Play Lab additionally returned for 2024: This teaches folks the way to play the Pokémon TCG, Video Video games and (new for this yr) Pokémon Unite.
Drone Present
The Pokémon drone present on the Hilton Hawai’ian Village on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday was spectacular. This was utterly completely different from final yr and showcased a wide range of Pokémon that matched the Worlds theme together with a Pikachu driving the waves on a Mantyke. The drone exhibits are all the time high-quality and we hope it’s going to proceed to be a mainstay.
Different
As all the time, there was additionally an area Pokémon GO occasion which featured elevated spawns of assorted battle-focused Pokémon, all flowers variations of Flabébé, Scuba Pikachu with a singular catch card and elevated spawns of the Hawai’i-exclusive Pokémon, Comfey.
Pokémon Middle
As anticipated, the Pokémon Middle was additionally on the occasion and packed stuffed with merchandise. This time, the shop primarily centered on attire and TCG equipment, however there was after all plush, the standard Bear Walker skateboard and a Ukulele, which was some of the desired objects. Different unique merch included the primary Worlds paintings and two completely different Hawai’i-themed strains: Alolan Exeggutor and a Pikachu & Munchlax line.
One good, new contact to the Pokémon Middle in Hawai’i used to be that there was stay music. And, not solely was there a musician taking part in within the Pokémon Middle itself, however there have been regularly dancers outdoors dancing to conventional Hawai’ian music.
Now, we are able to’t point out the Pokémon Middle with out mentioning the problems, and sadly, the scalpers descended on it once more; some even instantly tried reselling stuff actually outdoors the Pokémon Middle. This was an abhorrent follow, particularly because it meant that individuals who received slots later within the day couldn’t essentially get what they needed. That is one thing we hope The Pokémon Firm Worldwide clamps down on in future occasions.
The Championships
The Pokémon World Championships is primarily a aggressive occasion and the end result of one of the best of one of the best. This yr, over 3,000 gamers from 53 nations and areas, throughout 4 video games and three age divisions certified and competed within the World Championships; that is a formidable quantity of gamers, particularly as virtually 2,000 of them have been within the TCG and 1,000 within the VGC, which centered on Scarlet & Violet.
This yr featured a change the place the highest gamers for every sport in every area weren’t given a bye for the primary day of battles; now, they solely get to skip the primary spherical, which opened all the things up fully. Not have been these gamers assured to be amongst the highest of the highest at Worlds however needed to combat their manner via it much more.
Pokémon UNITE
Pokémon UNITE was the primary sport to wrap up this yr. The massive story was that, after two years of profitable, Luminosity dropped out of competition fairly early on; this meant the stage was set for some new World Champions. This yr featured a change within the format as nicely: As a substitute of being double elimination for the finals, it was a typical bracket with best-of-three matches culminating within the last that was best-of-five.
The battles have been powerful however in the long run, the Japanese staff FENNEL managed to repeatedly maintain their very own and utterly management the sphere of play racking up excessive scores with main variations towards their opponents, XoraTigersGaming and ended up profitable the finals 3-0.
Winner
Pokémon GO
On Championship Sunday, all of it kicked off with Pokémon GO. Whereas this division had that many format modifications over the previous yr, a number of new Pokémon have crept in and have develop into helpful within the format resembling Annihilape and Clodsire, and so they confirmed up within the grand finals.
Within the finals, Yekai managed to manage issues very simply and took a fast lead together with his staff which included Shadow Quagsire, Annihilape, Charjabug, Lickitung, Skarmory and Altaria. Whereas Inadequance managed to take one win within the best-of-five format, within the last match it turned apparent who was destined for victory and when Inadequance solely had his Giratina left whereas Yekai had his Lickitung, Inadequance realized that he didn’t have an opportunity and relented, crowning Yekai because the 2024 Pokémon GO World Champion
Winner
- Yip Kai Cheng “Yekai0904”
Pokémon TCG
The 2024 World Championships marked the primary occasion the place the Shrouded Fable set was authorized in a aggressive atmosphere; that threw plenty of issues up within the air with a number of playing cards within the format turning into used generally, resembling Fezandipiti ex.
There was a little bit of controversy which triggered the winner of a High 8 match to be disqualified for “unsportsmanlike conduct”, which meant his opponent received to undergo to the High 4. his opponent to undergo to High 4. That opponent was Fernando Cifuentes, who then managed to win his High 4 match and make it to the finals and, ultimately, the entire thing.
The finals ended up being a match of Paradox Pokémon, Future versus Historical. You had an Iron Thorns ex deck run by Fernando towards a Roaring Moon deck run by Seinosuke Shiokawa. These matches have been powerful and will go both manner — each gamers gained one match every. There was a lot backwards and forwards on this sport and each Fernando and Seinosuke have been evenly matched, however in the long run, Fernando managed to achieve the higher hand, knocking out Seinosuke’s Roaring Moon ex and turning into the primary ever Pokémon TCG World Champion from Chile. the gang erupted in a manner you don’t usually count on for the Pokémon TCG.
Winners
- Juniors: Sakuya Ota (Japan)
- Seniors: Evan Pavelski (US)
- Masters: Fernando Cifuentes (Chile)
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet has been operating the Regulation G format for the reason that begin of June 2024; this format permits you to usher in one Restricted Pokémon resembling Mewtwo, Miraidon and so forth.
The finals got here to a head with Yuta Ishigaki, who a staff primarily constructed round Trick Room with Ice Rider Calyrex as his restricted, and used Pokémon resembling Iron Valiant (which hasn’t seen a lot play), towards Luca Ceribelli who ran a Miraidon alongside Iron Palms and Ogerpon.
Early on, Miraidon confirmed its true energy and the way it can do some huge harm with relative ease and Luca managed to pilot it in such a manner. The battles got here to at least one win every and the ultimate battle noticed Luca not Terastallizing his Miraidon, however moderately his Ogerpon to get a good increase within the Assault stat and take out Yuta’s staff, inflicting Yuta to stay with simply his Pelipper and ending the match.
Winners
- Juniors: Kevin Han (US)
- Seniors: Ray Yamanaka (Japan)
- Masters: Luca Ceribelli (Italy)
Coming Quickly…
For the primary time in Pokémon World Championships historical past, not one however two future years have been revealed. In 2025, the Pokémon World Championships will return to Anaheim, California on the Anaheim Conference Middle, the place it final occurred in 2017. In 2026, we’ll be heading to San Fransisco, the place the Worlds final occurred in 2016.
Whereas two California-based World Championships in fast succession could also be questionable to those that prefer to journey, having the dates meant that individuals can plan forward.
Was it higher than final yr’s?
It’s actually laborious to say whether or not the Pokémon World Championships in Hawai’i have been higher than in Yokohama. There was a lot to do on the 2023 occasion, however a lot of it was tied to lottery tickets so folks couldn’t actually attend all the things.
In Hawai’i, there was much less to do nevertheless it was extra open to attendees. General, the occasion was enjoyable and there was nonetheless sufficient to do, and apart from the problems with inventory on the Pokémon Middle, everybody I spoke to had an absolute blast going to Hawai’i to have fun. It really was a superb time for all folks.
A turning level?
The Pokémon World Championships appear to be at a turning level. The aggressive circuit is quickly rising quickly with the current European Worldwide Championships and North America Worldwide Championships each being the largest occasions of all time for Pokémon, however with the modifications to the subsequent season, it implies that moderately than over 3,000 folks qualifying, it looks as if lower than half of that can qualify with solely round 400 VG slots and fewer than 1000 TCG locations throughout all age divisions.
If this implies the World Championships are contracting as an entire, or in the event that they’re turning into extra of a celebration, we have to wait and see.
