Pokémon Champions is out now on mobile with a competitive battle-focused take on the series

• Pokémon Champions is out now on iOS and Android
• It offers an exciting, battle-focused take on the franchise's creature collecting action
• Jump into a new in-game event, and even bring across Pokémon you've captured in Pokémon Go!

With the Pokémon franchise set to celebrate its 30th anniversary this year, it shouldn't be surprising that there's plenty of motion on mobile too. And with the debut of Pokémon Champions on iOS and Android, fans can jump into an all-new action-packed take on the franchise with a major battling focus!

Pokémon Champions essentially distils the Pokémon experience down to a simple, turn-based battle-focused format. You'll dive into arena battles against other players and computer-controlled enemies where the objective is to build a roster of six Pokémon and duke it out in a big, glitzy arena that has all the excitement of climactic battles from the original series.

Enter the arena

Of course, that's just the main selling point of Pokémon Champions. But there's a surprising amount of tie-ins to other games in the franchise too. By linking Pokémon Champions to the Pokémon Home app, you can bring in creatures that you've collected from the likes of Arceus and Pokémon Go as well!

Champions has had something of a mixed reaction from fans, but I reckon that's mainly due to it ditching the exploration and RPG elements so sacred to the franchise and sticking with a purely battle-centric format. For some that might be missing the core appeal, but I'll bet others are excited to just jump in and duke it out.

Best of all, starting with the launch today and all the way until September 2nd, you can jump into a new in-game campaign. Focusing on Raichu, it'll net you a free example of this Pokémon alongside Mega Stones to evolve it into Mega Raichu X and Y. Not a bad way to start off your battles!

Looking for more RPG action on mobile? Check out our list of the best RPGs on Android to find some of our top selections if all the battle-focused action of Pokémon Champions is a bit much for you!