Competitive Pokémon is on phones now, but you still need a Switch to become a champion

宝可梦竞技游戏现已登陆手机，但想成为冠军仍需 Switch

To get started with competitive Pokémon battles, all you need is your phone. But to compete at the highest level, like at the Pokémon World Championships, you’re going to need a Switch. And there doesn’t seem to be a good reason why. 想要开始宝可梦竞技对战，你只需要一部手机。但若想在最高水平的赛事（如宝可梦世界锦标赛）中竞争，你就必须拥有一台 Switch。而且，目前似乎并没有充分的理由来解释为何必须如此。

Battle simulator Pokémon Champions originally launched on the Switch and Switch 2 in April, with the mobile version following in June. The experience is nearly identical across the game’s versions; since it’s cross-platform, the choice really comes down to what devices you own and whether you prefer tapping or using a controller. I find myself playing Champions on my phone more often just because it’s always in my pocket and I’m blessed with unlimited data. 对战模拟游戏《宝可梦冠军》（Pokémon Champions）最初于 4 月在 Switch 和 Switch 2 上发布，手机版则于 6 月推出。各版本之间的游戏体验几乎完全相同；由于支持跨平台，玩家的选择主要取决于你拥有什么设备，以及你更喜欢触屏操作还是手柄操作。我发现自己更常在手机上玩《宝可梦冠军》，仅仅是因为它随时都在我的口袋里，而且我有无限流量。

But at this year’s World Championships, the mobile version of Champions wasn’t allowed in competition. As of September 1st, certain local tournaments will allow the mobile version, but regional-level tournaments and above will still require Switch hardware to compete. 但在今年的世界锦标赛上，手机版《宝可梦冠军》并不被允许用于比赛。自 9 月 1 日起，部分地方性赛事将允许使用手机版，但区域级及以上的锦标赛仍要求使用 Switch 硬件进行比赛。

During a roundtable interview at Worlds last week — before the September 1st rules refresh — Champions producer Masaaki Hoshino addressed its absence from the competition. “The reason why we’re using Switch right now is just because graphics are quite nice on the Switch 2,” he said via an interpreter. “Also, because [with] mobile there’s just so many devices out there, if we allow people to bring their own devices, it can be a bit complicated from that perspective.” 在上周世界锦标赛期间的圆桌采访中（在 9 月 1 日规则更新之前），《宝可梦冠军》制作人星野正昭回应了手机版缺席比赛的问题。他通过翻译表示：“我们目前使用 Switch 的原因仅仅是因为 Switch 2 的画面表现相当出色。此外，由于手机设备种类繁多，如果我们允许人们自带设备，从这个角度来看会变得有些复杂。”

This answer made less sense before the rules were updated. Tournaments at the regional level and higher are streamed on official channels, and VGC — the name for the competitive video game circuit — was the most viewed of the four games featured at Worlds this year, according to Esports Charts. Based on Hoshino’s answer and the new rules, it seems like The Pokémon Company views mobile as fine for smaller tournaments, but maybe not premium enough for the biggest VGC stages. 在规则更新之前，这个回答显得有些站不住脚。区域级及以上的赛事都会在官方频道进行直播，根据 Esports Charts 的数据，VGC（宝可梦电子游戏竞技赛事的名称）是今年世锦赛四个项目中观看人数最多的。基于星野的回答和新规则，宝可梦公司似乎认为手机版适合小型赛事，但对于最高级别的 VGC 舞台来说，可能还不够“高端”。

Champions is certainly sharper on Switch 2 than on my iPhone 14 Pro, and it makes sense to want to present the best version of the flagship VGC game in a series often criticized for its graphics. But while competitors are required to bring their own devices to tournaments, the official VGC rules handbook does call out one case where hardware might be provided: during streamed matches. Players can generate a “team ID” for the battle team they’re using in a tournament, and technically anyone can use that ID to create a “replica” of that team on their own account. The handbook says specifically that “Team IDs may be used for recordkeeping or team checks, and they may be utilized on hardware provided by the Tournament Organizer for streamed matches.” If visual fidelity is a concern, there’s at least a workaround already available. 《宝可梦冠军》在 Switch 2 上的画面确实比我的 iPhone 14 Pro 更清晰，在一个经常因画面表现受诟病的系列中，想要展示 VGC 旗舰游戏的最佳版本是合情合理的。但虽然参赛者被要求自带设备，官方 VGC 规则手册确实提到了硬件可能由主办方提供的一种情况：直播比赛期间。玩家可以为比赛中使用的对战队伍生成一个“队伍 ID”，理论上任何人都可以使用该 ID 在自己的账号上创建该队伍的“副本”。手册明确指出：“队伍 ID 可用于记录或队伍检查，并可在主办方为直播比赛提供的硬件上使用。”如果视觉保真度是一个顾虑，那么至少已经有现成的解决方案了。

But is there a technical reason not to allow mobile at every level of competition? “Given that Champions is available on both mobile and Switch, cross-platform play is the trickiest thing,” Hoshino said. “All of the battle calculation is done on the server side, so this is what enables the cross-platform play, but it also was one of the trickiest things in developing Champions.” 那么，在所有级别的比赛中禁止使用手机版是否有技术原因呢？星野表示：“考虑到《宝可梦冠军》同时在手机和 Switch 上运行，跨平台联机是最棘手的事情。所有的对战计算都在服务器端完成，这虽然实现了跨平台联机，但也是开发《宝可梦冠军》时最困难的部分之一。”

So in short, not really. The trickiness of cross-platform play possibly explains the gap between the console and mobile releases of Champions, but that’s solved now that both versions are out (barring things like regular server maintenance, I suppose). 简而言之，并没有什么技术障碍。跨平台联机的复杂性或许解释了《宝可梦冠军》主机版和手机版发布的时间差，但既然两个版本都已经发布，这个问题就已经解决了（除了常规的服务器维护等情况）。

Mobile is also not a problem for other competitive Pokémon games. The mobile version of Pokémon Unite is allowed in high-level competition and it’s worked just fine, though only one player in the finals this year appeared to be playing on a phone as opposed to a Switch. Pokémon Go is only on mobile, and its competitive matches are streamed just like the VGC ones are. These aren’t the best examples in favor of mobile — this was Unite’s last year in the World Championships, and the Pokémon Go spectator experience is by far the worst of the bunch for several reasons — but it’s clearly possible to make mobile work. 对于其他宝可梦竞技游戏来说，手机端也不是问题。《宝可梦大集结》的手机版被允许用于高水平比赛，且运行良好，尽管今年决赛中似乎只有一名选手使用手机而非 Switch。而《宝可梦 GO》仅有手机版，其竞技比赛的直播方式与 VGC 相同。虽然这些例子并不完美——这是《宝可梦大集结》最后一年参加世锦赛，且《宝可梦 GO》的观赛体验因多种原因在所有项目中表现最差——但显然，让手机端参与竞技是完全可行的。

Hoshino said that across the Switch 2 and mobile combined, Pokémon Champions has been downloaded around 25 million times. Given that number is higher than the total Switch 2 install base as of June, it’s likely that at least a few million of those downloads were on mobile devices. It’s anyone’s guess how many of those players are exclusively playing on mobile, but with the recent Switch 2 price hike and higher tech prices overall, it’s possible that at least some prospective Champions competitors will own a phone but not have the budget for a Switch. 星野表示，Switch 2 和手机端的《宝可梦冠军》总下载量约为 2500 万次。考虑到这个数字高于截至 6 月份 Switch 2 的总装机量，很可能其中有几百万次下载来自手机设备。没人能猜出这些玩家中有多少人只玩手机版，但随着近期 Switch 2 的涨价以及整体科技产品价格的上涨，至少会有一些潜在的《宝可梦冠军》参赛者拥有手机，但却没有购买 Switch 的预算。

Building a team and prepping for a tournament is the same whether you’re playing Champions on Switch or your phone. With the single exception of Eternal Flower Floette, which is only obtainable through Pokémon Legends: Z-A, you can get every pokémon you might need for a team within Champions using the gacha-style “recruit” feature. It’s quicker and easier if you already own some Switch Pokémon games, since you can transfer pokémon you caught from those games into Champions via the cloud storage service Pokémon Home, but it’s possible to get the pokémon you need without spending any money on. 无论是在 Switch 还是手机上玩《宝可梦冠军》，组建队伍和备战的过程都是一样的。除了只能通过《宝可梦传说：Z-A》获得的“永恒之花花叶蒂”外，你可以在《宝可梦冠军》中使用扭蛋式的“招募”功能获得组队所需的任何宝可梦。如果你已经拥有一些 Switch 宝可梦游戏，过程会更快更简单，因为你可以通过云存储服务“Pokémon Home”将你在那些游戏中捕捉的宝可梦传输到《宝可梦冠军》中，但即使不花钱，也完全有可能获得你需要的宝可梦。