A weekend of competition and fun! All in one place!For one weekend every year, the highly anticipated Pokemon World Championship takes place somewhere in the world. This year, the Championship took place in Washington D.C. Some dreams were achieved and many of us made some friends along the way. Of course, along with the matches being played by the competitors.
Anyone attending the event can participate in any Side Event located at the venue. These events included Pokemon GO, Pokemon Masters demo, Pokemon Sword & Pokemon Shield, and more! What more could any Pokemon fan ask for?
The event was so big this year that the line to get in the to Convention Center stretched from the building, around the building once and into and across streets. The D.C. streets were being taken over!
Event Overview
The coveted title of Pokemon Master as the Pokemon TCG, VGC, or Pokken Tournament World Champion! Getting these trophies and Pokemon Cards are any soon-to-be Pokemon Master’s dream come true!
This year, with the growth and popularity of Pokemon GO and PvP being added. A Pokemon GO Invitational was added and took place after the opening ceremony. PvP will only continue to grow in Pokemon GO and could one day have an even bigger presence in future Pokemon on World Championships.
The winners this year proudly claimed their prize. Each match was a heated battle. Roars erupting through the crowd in both excitement and anticipation for what was to come next. Both Pokken Tournament and the VGC this year had some of the bigger fan bases surrounding them.
As the weekend moved along and the groups started getting smaller. It was great to see everyone was still having fun! The weekend was strong and putting forth their best!
Demos
Pokemon Masters and Pokemon Sword & Pokemon Shield were big highlights at the event this year. With both having demo stations up. The lines for these demos got so incredibly long they had to remake the line pathways for these.
Pokemon Masters being the new game coming to smartphones later this month. They had 5 demo levels for anyone to test. Two levels allow players to battle while the other 3 were story cutscenes.
Personally, I did notice some frames drop in the game. Not like what we’ve seen in the trailers, but this may have been due to is being a test demo or the larger device they had setup. Other than that it was fantastic! It will take some getting used to selecting each move and who to attack, but once you master that. You’re on the fast track to becoming a true Pokemon Master.
Pokemon Sword and Shield as well was another great test! Getting a handful of the released Pokemon to test. Three of the released Pokemon ended up being the the Galar starters.
The demo had you test play the Water Gym. Solving a puzzle and battling trainers on your way to battle the Gym Leader, Nessie. Dynamax being a prime feature in this battle. Better get ready for a heated battle against any gym leader! Because all eyes will be on you and the battle to come.
Pokemon GO had it’s very own challenge for players to finish. Challenges such as finding and adding someone to your friends list with the letters starting with C and D both. Once you have found your new friends then you were expected to trade with them. When you finished the set of challenges set before you then you could show the judges your completion list. As a reward, you got your very own team logo T-shirt!
Pokemon Center Pop Up
As usual, the World Championship also had the exclusive Pokemon Center with exclusive items such as: shirts, bags, pins, plushies and much more! Exploration being the theme this year, you could find the featured Pokemon decked out in gear for that of an explorer. Items went fast, so you had to be there early to get a chance at getting the high demand items such as the big Pikachu plush items or the Pop Figure Pikachu.
Final Thoughts
Whether you were there to compete or just spectate and have fun. Pikachu was there to greet and see you off. Both on the first floor and the walkway across from one building into the big convention center right across from it.
Worlds 2019 was a blast for everyone. Win or lose, everyone had fun! Next year we can expect another exciting weekend in London! This will be the second time the Pokemon World Championship will be outside of America . Who knows what to expect. Going into the year 2020; Pokemon Sword & Shield will become the new VGC games to play and be seen. Only a few more months until the release of these highly anticipated games. That means only a few more months with more opportunities for big reveals before their release. It’ll all remain a mystery as to what we can expect of the Pokemon World Championships of 2020!
