To some of us, Pokémon is just a franchise with a great animated series and fun games. To others, it’s everything – particularly the Pokémon players who have been hoping to score an exclusive invite to compete at the Pokémon World Championships 2023.
Hosted in Yokohama, Japan (the first time the Championships will be held in the franchise’s origin country), the Championships are an in-person event from Aug 11 to Aug 13. Fans who are not in Japan can still catch the action on the official Pokémon Twitch channel.
The Championships will feature competitions for four different games: Pokémon Video Game Championships (VGC), Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG), Pokémon Unite and Pokémon Go. Pokémon Tournament DX, a fighting game included in the Championships line-up the previous year, will not be returning this year.
In Pokémon VGC, players will battle against each other with Pokémon from ninth-generation series Scarlet and Violet for the first time. The ever-popular card game Pokémon TCG also makes a return in the Championships. Both tournaments can be watched on Pokémon’s Twitch channel.
Training for multiplayer online battle arena game Pokémon Unite is also out in full swing, with Luminosity Gaming being the first tier one esports organisation to sign a Pokémon Unite team. The team – made up of Sean “Slashcan” Tucker, William “Overload98” Byrnes III, Nicholas “Junglebook” Kim, Kihyun “Kyriaos” Lee and Angelo “Elo” Huang – was part of last year’s winning team under now-defunct esports organisation BLVKHVND, but only time will tell if they can walk away with the $100,000 USD cash prize again.
The Pokémon Unite competition will be streamed on the PokemonUNITE Twitch channel.
Matches for augmented reality game Pokémon Go can also be watched on the PokemonGO Twitch channel.
Other than the Championships themselves, there are a whole host of activities being held in Yokohama.
On Aug 10, a day before the Championships, NHK Symphony Special Orchestra will put on a performance in collaboration with Pokémon. The performance will include “familiar pieces from the Pokémon game series” (we’re hoping for the familiar “Gotta catch ‘em all!” theme song).
Additionally, some events will be held in the same area as the Championships. While pre-registration for some events has already ended, visitors can check out the other ones, including: Pokémon Fantastic Live Show’s Pikachu Gathering, Pokémon Trainer Cruise, and Pokégenic.
While waiting for the Championships to start, you can watch Road to 2022 Worlds, a YouTube series documenting how Pokémon players trained for the 2022 Championships.
