Masaaki Hoshino, technical director at The Pokémon Company and producer on Pokémon Champions, responded to criticism about the game's graphics today. He said the development team tried their best on both graphics and gameplay for the title [1].
Hoshino noted that Pokémon Champions faces more technical limitations than Pokkén Tournament, where only two Pokémon appeared on screen at once. "I have experience from working on Pokkén Tournament, and one of my goals for that game was actually to make the Pokémon game with the best graphics at the time. And I think we did a good job with that back then. But only two Pokémon were ever visible on screen at the same time. With Pokémon Champions, we have more limitations," he explained [1].
A key constraint for Pokémon Champions is that it must also run on mobile devices, which restricts graphical capabilities further compared to the console-focused Pokkén Tournament. Hoshino said these mobile requirements add complexity to delivering smooth visuals [1].
Despite the challenges, he defended the game's quality by pointing out enhancements like each Pokémon casting its own shadow and improved battle effects, which contribute to the overall experience [1].
A recent report noted that Pokémon Champions appears nearly identical on the Nintendo Switch 2 and original Switch, with the frame rate locked at 30 FPS on both systems [1].
Hoshino summarized the team's position by saying, "Yes, as a Pokémon fan, I naturally understand the various discussions currently taking place within the fan community... I can totally relate to all of it. Regarding the graphics and gameplay, we've truly tried to do our best in both areas" [1].
