Everything you missed from the Pokémon World Championships 2024

The 2024 Pokémon World Championships is officially in the books, with winners being named across Pokémon TCG, VGC, UNITE, and Go over the weekend in Hawaii. Along with new champions getting their trophies, the Pokémon community at large also got some news about upcoming content from the franchise. 

During the closing ceremony at every Pokémon World Championship, representatives from The Pokémon Company come out on stage and treat everyone attending the event live or watching from home with a few updates from existing and upcoming Pokémon products. These usually pertain to the games featured at the event, though that isn’t always the case.

Pokémon TCG Pocket probably had the biggest showing this weekend, as Worlds attendees had the opportunity to play a demo of the upcoming mobile game. 

That demo mostly focused on opening packs, showcasing more cards from the Genetic Apex set that appears to be the first digital set featured in TCG Pocket—which looks like it will feature just under 300 cards. This means many of these cards will be exclusive to the app, which looks to be creating its own ecosystem within the Pokémon TCG.

Some additional details like the pull info on these exclusive cards, how packs will function, and an extended look at the Pikachu ex’s immersive artwork was featured in the demo, which you can read more about over on PokéBeach. A new immersive art Mewtwo ex was also revealed in a new commercial, alongside more holographic effects and cards. 

TCG Pocket is live for pre-registration on mobile devices now too and will release on Oct. 30 (presumably globally.) But that isn’t all the TCG news we got. 

Japanese casters showed multiple cards for the upcoming Paradise Dragona set during the TCG side of things, including a pair of Latios ex and Latias ex Illustration Rares—which should be released in Surging Sparks this November in the West. You can view all of those new cards on PokéBeach too!

We will also see the return of Trainer’s Pokémon in an upcoming set, with a trailer revealing a lineup of Pokémon like N’s Reshiram, Marnie’s Morpeko, and more teasers for trainers like Ethan and Misty. That card type will return in 2025.

Pokémon Go got a new trailer showcasing the Dynamax mechanic that will be added to the game for the first time. This coincides with the teasers we have seen in promotional material since the game’s eighth anniversary in July, though we still don’t have a set date just yet or know how it will function (unless you decide to go look at all the datamines floating around.)

Morpeko was also shown off with the ability to change forms using a Charged Attack, though we will need to wait for a breakdown on that too for more information. This could see a new wave of forms being made available for other Pokémon in similar ways moving forward.

Pokémon UNITE didn’t see a threepeat since Luminosity was knocked out early in the event, but after Fennel’s championship run, we saw Armarouge, Darkrai, and Psyduck confirmed as upcoming playable characters coming to the game. Armarouge drops on Sept. 12, while Darkrai and Psyduck will be released in October and November respectively.

To close things out, TPC confirmed that the 2025 Pokémon World Championships will be held in Anaheim, California. In addition to that, the 2026 Pokémon World Championships will return to San Fransico.

As expected, there was no announcement for a mainline Pokémon video game title, meaning we still have no new information about Pokémon Legends: ZA, which is scheduled to release at some point in 2025.

There was not a high chance that Legends: ZA would show up at Worlds after all we have gotten is radio silence since Pokémon Day back in February, and anyone who was hyping up news being there likely doesn’t understand how TPC operates.

It is strange not having any concrete details shared for a mainline Pokémon title in almost six months. But has also been a long time since we have seen a mainline game not released during a fiscal year, which could very well happen with Legends: ZA at this rate.

We will likely hear something about the game before the end of the year, potentially paired with the first reveal of the Nintendo Switch 2 during a Nintendo Direct. But until then, you should take leaks and other insider claims as mere speculation.

If you want to view a full list of winners for the 2024 Pokémon World Championships, you can do so over on Liquipedia or the official Pokémon Twitter account.

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