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[title]Ask any Pokémon fan and chances are they can recall the exact moment they became obsessed with the franchise. For me, it’s convincing my parents to let me sell off old clothes and unwanted toys at a boot sale in an effort to raise £20 for Pokémon Yellow in the summer of 2000 – a core memory if ever there was one. Up until that point, I’d collected a few cards here and there and watched the anime religiously before school each morning, but owning my first mainline Pokémon game for the Game Boy is when my immersion into the world of Pokémon truly began.
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Since its first games launched in Japan in 1996, Pokémon has grown into one of the world’s biggest franchises. The mainline video games and the official Trading Card Game (TCG) are as popular as they’ve ever been, and new generations of fans have joined the journey as Pokémon trainers, collectors and community members.
It’s why this year’s Pokémon Worlds – shorthand for Pokémon World Championships – held in San Francisco for a second time was always going to be huge. The pinnacle of the competitive play calendar for Pokémon fans, Worlds has quickly evolved from players battling it out in hotel conference rooms to giant convention centres and now huge arenas. Thousands of people travel to the event each year, but with this being a special 30th anniversary year for the franchise, Worlds activated its mega evolution for the occasion.
Championship Sunday – where the final battles of the season take place – was held at the Chase Center in front of tens of thousands, but this year also brought the inaugural edition of PokémonXP: a fan convention celebrating every corner of the world of Pokémon.
Scheduled across three days in line with the Pokémon World Championship matches taking place in tandem, PokémonXP welcomed more than 50,000 fans to the Moscone Center, which had been transformed into a Poké paradise. A full programme of panel discussions, interactive installations, creative workshops and more photo opportunities than Pokémon Snap! put this on a scale of Wailord proportions.
As a fan of all the different facets of Pokémon, there was so much to see and do. Getting insight from the people who create the world is a golden nugget for fans who appreciate the craft behind Pokémon as much as the competition and collecting – whether that’s Aardman animators and writers previewing the upcoming Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d and Pichu; a rare opportunity for fans to ask The Pokémon Company CEO and President, Tsunekazu Ishihara, questions; or hearing from popular Trading Card Game artists about their creative process behind some of their favourite card illustrations.
Rayquaza Road was the main outdoor highway connecting the different spaces of the event, and itself was an immersive showcase of fun activities: Pokémon skateboards being shown off at the halfpipe, the community coming together to help build a giant LEGO Rayquaza, or the adorable Pokémon Parades (Ampharos and Slowpoke stole the show, but I have to give a special shout out to Geodude too). The emerald pasture also gave fans the opportunity to pose with life-size models of popular Pokémon – from the classic opening battle between Nidorino and Gengar, to a giant Kingler chilling at Krabby Cove (a deep cut reference for TCG fans). These are just a few highlights of how the characters were brought to life for fans of all generations.
These elements ran through the Pokémon Museum and Pokémon Art Gallery inside, spotlighting key eras of the gaming franchise from its green and black monochrome beginnings right up to the colourful, open-world experience we get to enjoy today. Seeing classic consoles and games on display alongside nostalgic toys and memorabilia really hit home just how far the franchise has come.
Pokémon is a global phenomenon, so it’s little surprise that the crowd was largely international. Partly that’s down to competitors flying in from all over for their shot at the World Championships, but also Pokémon is clearly helping fuel the fast-emerging ‘hobby holidays’ travel trend, where more young people are using their vacations to indulge in their passions and interests. The huge popularity of PokéPark Kanto since it opened in Tokyo earlier this year – not to mention the launch of an actual Pokémon-themed airport – is proof of the appetite already out there.
‘We’re roughly the same number of players here as the Winter Olympics has athletes.’
PokémonXP will run during ‘select years’ for now, with the team reviewing this inaugural edition before deciding how – and how often – it returns. Having spent three days there myself, I’d argue the case makes itself: few events manage to serve the collectors, the competitors, the community, and the casual fans in one space. That’s a rare trick to pull off, and one worth building on annually. Pokémon World Championships, meanwhile, will continue to grow year-on-year.
In terms of competitor numbers and attendance at the final matches, Pokémon Worlds is already one of the biggest esports events on the circuit. This year, the company reports that over 3,000 players qualified, with 2,700 turning up to compete – making it the biggest instalment yet for competitive play. Chris Brown, Director, Global Esports & Events at The Pokémon Company International, wants that growth to keep accelerating. ‘Over the next five years, we are intending to slowly move to doubling the total number of qualified players,’ he told the media during a roundtable interview, noting that Worlds is already one of the most accessible competitions out there: ‘We’re roughly the same number of players here as the Winter Olympics has athletes.’
The swell of interest – from people wanting to compete and fans wanting to watch – has turned Championship Sunday into a spectacle in the same league as some of the world’s most beloved sporting events. This year’s edition at the Chase Center opened with Pokémon Unite’s final showing at Worlds, followed by an emotional rollercoaster of a Pokémon GO final, both delivering all the passion you’d expect at the highest level of play.
The Trading Card Game finals, contested across three age divisions (Junior, Senior and Master), are the prestige matches of the day, showcasing the strategic prowess and dedication of the competitors. The Masters saw a brilliant showdown between TCG veteran and former champ Diego Cassiraga from Argentina and rising superstar Andrew Hedrick of the US, with Hendrick clinching his first ever TCG World Championship title.
But it was the Video Game Championships (VGC) that brought the real spectacle to a packed arena. This was the first year Pokémon Champions – the dedicated turn-based battle game released earlier this year to be used at the VGC tournament – featured at this level of the competition. Vikram Thiagarajan of the UK took the win in the VGC Seniors category, becoming the first British winner of a Worlds title in 11 years. In the Masters final, Kazuki Kage of Japan beat fellow countryman Kazutaka Hatahori to huge cheers from the arena for his Mega Dragonite.
There was one moment in particular during the Masters final – Basculegion firing off the move Last Respects at the opposing Baculegion for a one-hit KO – when the crowd erupted. This, I thought to myself, is the electric atmosphere I’d always daydreamed about while battling away in Pokémon Yellow all those years ago, brought to life. The evolution of Pokémon Worlds has been astounding: where we once grew up exploring the fictional regions of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and beyond, we now get to travel our own world thanks to Pokémon staging these epic, real-world events. I genuinely believe there’s never been a better time to be a Pokémon fan. Bring on Pokémon Worlds Singapore in 2027.
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