Masaaki Hoshino, technical director at The Pokémon Company and producer of Pokémon Champions, has addressed the widespread discourse regarding the game’s graphics.
In an interview with Eurogamer Germany, Hoshino was asked if the team tried to get the best possible graphics from the game, or if it had other priorities.
“Yes, as a Pokémon fan, I naturally understand the various discussions currently taking place within the fan community,” he said.
“I can totally relate to all of it. Regarding the graphics and gameplay, we’ve truly tried to do our best in both areas.”
Hoshino recalled his experience working on 2015 Wii U fighter Pokkén Tournament, which he used as a point of comparison when talking about Champions.
“One of my goals for that game was actually to make the Pokémon game with the best graphics at the time,” he explained.
“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.”
While Hoshino did not elaborate on these limitations, a possible constraint may be that Pokémon Champions also needs to run on mobile devices.
He defended the team’s work by pointing out that all of the game’s Pokémon each have their own shadows, and that all of the battle effects were created from scratch – which Hoshino thoroughly reviewed himself.
Pokémon Champions launched on Nintendo Switch on April 8th, and will release on mobile devices later in 2026. It is a free-to-play game focused on multiplayer Pokémon battles.
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Written by Reece Heather
A veteran Zelda Universe editor and First-class journalism graduate, Reece emerged with a Nintendo 64 and a lifelong obsession after a narrow escape from Santa’s Naughty List in 1998. Outside of games, he’s reading Punisher comics, being bossed around by his cocker spaniel, and cornering innocent bystanders to rant about the importance of game preservation.
