Pika pika! Oh, sorry, you don’t speak Pikachu. The Pokémon World Championships, a competition of many Poké mediums, took over Anaheim this past weekend and briefly demoted Mickey to the second most famous dancing mouse in a little costume in Southern California. Rest assured Mickey, Pikachu will be moving on next year as Worlds will head to San Francisco in 2026, along with some huge changes to competition. Here’s every announcement from the Pokémon World Championships, in case you didn’t catch them all.
A new fan convention premiering next year
While Worlds had plenty of activities for the more casual trainers or those who were eliminated from the competition throughout the weekend, there’s now a destination for fans who want a more traditional convention experience. Alongside the Pokémon World Championships in San Francisco next August, Pokémon XP will make its grand debut as a new fan experience, featuring panels, workshops, special guests, and a store exclusively for ticketed guests. It’ll all lead up to the final day of competition at the Chase Center, the same arena where the Golden State Warriors play — Mewtwo basically has the same stats as a basketball player.
Eternatus lands in Pokémon Go
On Sunday evening, Eternatus reigned terror on the Anaheim convention center. Digitally, of course. For everyone else, they’ll have to complete GO pass tasks this week to encounter Eternatus during the Dark Skies event.
Three new Mega-Ex cards are dropping in TCG
Normally, the phrase “mega ex” sounds like nightmare fuel for your therapist, but thankfully, in Pokéland, it just means even cooler Pokémon. Mega Charizard X ex, Mega Gardevoir ex, and Mega Lucario ex will soon be unwrapped from a pack near you. Well, if you’re able to score one. New evolution Mega Dragonite is coming too, but we assume it will probably be released after Z-A.
More Mega-Exs are coming to Pokémon Pocket
Mega Gyarados ex, Mega Blaziken ex, and Mega Altaria ex are debuting this Fall to Pocket to a digital pack near you soon.
A beloved Eeveelution will fight in Pokémon Unite
Okay, Dhelmise and Empoleon will be there too. Empoleon, Dhelmise, and Vaporeon will be added to Pokémon Unite, with the first joining on September 19. The latter two will be added at a later date.
Introducing a battle club format for Pokémon Z-A
For the next main series video game, there will be a new online battle format where trainers try to defeat the most Pokémon during a set amount of time. Each battle helps players rise in the ranks and the ranks reset every season, so you’ll have to consistently play if you want to stay on the leaderboard.
A new game will take the main stage at Worlds next year
Pokémon Champions, originally announced in February, will become the new game for the video game portion of the world competition; it will seemingly have a similar play style to Pokémon Stadium. The free-to-start game comes out sometime in 2026 for mobile users (iOS/Android) and Switch players.
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