Coverage – Pokémon World Championships 2024 | Atomix

Aloha!

Video games have long been much more than just forms of entertainment. In addition to having taken off as authentic works of art that will go down in history as an important part of our culture, they have become the perfect excuses to get together and, above all, unite. Proof of this is what The Pokémon Company It takes place year after year in different locations around the world, returning in 2024 to the paradisiacal Hawaiian archipelago so that we can have a new edition of the already recognized Pokémon World ChampionshipsOf course, things did not disappoint and we had a wonderful weekend full of great moments both in terms of competition, spectacle and above all, coexistence as I already told you, because unlike the so-called esports, here you do not live in a hostile or complicated environment.

This year’s edition was particularly special for several reasons. On the one hand, there was the enormous challenge of surpassing what was achieved last year in Yokohama, where of course, The Pokémon Company The event went all out in its own country and on the other hand, there is the return to the Hawaiian Islands, one of the most important venues for the championship after having already hosted the event on two occasions in the past. With all this in mind, the Hawaii Convention Center opened its doors to welcome the little more than three thousand competitors, as well as hundreds of other spectators and members of the press. In our special article we tell you about how it went, what there was to see and of course, who ended up taking the glory in the different games in which the competition took place.

The champions

Let’s start with the most important thing, the players. We had an extremely intense weekend with great surprises in the competitions within the four different disciplines. On the one hand, Japan did not have the results it expected and was far from being the dominant force it is every year, while the United States also struggled to take victories that it normally has in the bag, especially in Masters categories. On the other hand, the Latin American representation hit the jackpot, taking things like the world championship of TCG in the Masters category, as well as a Top 4 in Pokémon Unite and a third place in Pokémon Go.

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Below we leave you how the most important results of the Pokémon World Championships 2024 held in Honolulu, where a significant cash prize pool of several tens of thousands of dollars was awarded:

Pokémon Unite

1.- Japan. ($100 thousand USD)

2.- South Korea. ($75 thousand USD)

3.- Peru. ($65 thousand USD)

Pokémon GO

1.- Yekai0904 (Hong Kong) ($20 thousand USD)

2.- Inadequacy (Netherlands) ($15 thousand USD)

3.- MartoGalde (Argentina) ($13 thousand USD)

Pokémon TCG

1.- Fernando Cifuentes (Chile) ($50 thousand USD)

2.- Seinosuke Shiokawa (Japan) ($30 thousand USD)

3.- Jesse Parker, Raz Wolpe ($20 thousand USD)

Pokémon VGC

1.- Luca Ceribelli (Italy) ($30 thousand USD)

2.- Yuta Ishiyaki (Japan) ($20 thousand USD)

3.- Michael Kelsch, Seong Jae Jeong ($15 thousand USD)

Lights, museum and purification

As I already told you, the Pokémon World Championships They are much more than a series of competitions. It is true that the event started out as something small, where only the skill of players from different parts of the world was measured, but as everything grew, the company itself saw it as a great opportunity to do activities in parallel and even make announcements, which ended up turning everything into more of a convention where any fan of the brand can have an incredible time, even when there is little interest in who wins in this or that discipline.

This year, the event opened in a very particular way, because before everything started at the Hawaii Convention Center, we were part of an interesting pre-event in the vicinity of the hotel where we had the opportunity to stay. There, in addition to having our first real meeting with the Pokémon World Championships 2024we appreciated a special purification ceremony in a ritual of the Hawaiian polytheistic religion, where a priest along with Pikachu, blessed the championship and cleansed all those present of any bad energy. You see, something I noticed this week in which we were in contact with the culture of Hawaii, is that there is a strong belief in the purity of the soul and how we should behave in order to be much better people.

We’re in Honolulu for the Pokémon World Championships 2024!

This is how the pre-event was experienced. More content will be available on our networks soon. pic.twitter.com/FIJIXqw9mx

— Atomix.vg (@atomix) August 15, 2024

I say this because at the end of the second day of the championship activities, we were part of a second purification ritual known as the throwing of the Genki ball. Every so often, locals usually make balls the size of a baseball or so, to purify different bodies of water on their islands. These spheres are made of a special bacteria, grains of rice, clay and other ingredients. Right on the shore of the Ala Wai Canal, which is one of the main rivers that cross the city of Honolulu, a priestess performed another ritual so that those of us who were there would throw the balls into the body of water. An extremely interesting activity and completely different from the conventional ones.

Leaving aside the more cultural part, which of course was one of the most enjoyable when one comes to a Pokémon World Championshipsthe beaches of Waikiki were filled with lights during the night in what is already becoming a tradition at the championships. Just like a year ago in Yokohama, The Pokémon Company went all out with a spectacular nighttime drone show in which giant figures of several of the franchise’s most well-known characters were formed, accompanied by music that still gives me goosebumps just remembering it. Let’s hope that this continues in future tournaments, as it gives life and a very special aura to the entire event.

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The weekend was over and inside the Hawaii Convention Center, in addition to having the traditional competition floor where the competitions were held, part of almost the entire second floor was dedicated to parallel activities such as the exchange of business cards. TCGan art exhibition and my favorite, a museum that commemorated the history of the championships and the franchise in general. In this room you could see some of the competitor’s merchandise from years past, and even an exhibition of Pokémon games and Nintendo consoles. I think it is always worth applauding when the decision is made to look a little at the new and the future, to remember a little of the past.

Even though we didn’t have the huge amount of activities that we did see a year ago in Japan, the approach that we were given to part of the Hawaiian culture through something like Pokémon It was sensational. Nothing to say about the event. Once again, The Pokémon Company makes it clear that he knows his business and knows how to organize this type of event so that competitors, spectators and the press can have a great time. Of note is the new line of cards for TCGnew characters from Pokémon Uniteand the date of Pokémon TCG Pocket which were announced during the closing ceremony by Tsunekazu Ishihara himself.

Let’s go shopping

Pokémon is not one of the biggest brands in the world by chance. Practically from its conception in the mid-nineties and of course, birth at the end of that same decade, it was conceived to go beyond video games to become a multimedia franchise that had as one of its main pillars the sale of merchandise. Each new creature in the series is created under very high quality standards and above all, with the idea of ​​what kind of products they are going to create around it. For this reason, one of the most important and beloved places for fans every time there are some Pokémon World Championshipsis the Pokémon Center special that is set up to sell all kinds of goodies inspired by Pikachu and company.

This year, the beach was the main theme, both for the decoration and setting of the store, as well as for the design of the products sold inside. One of the questions that those present had was why the very rich Hawaiian culture was not used instead for all this. Despite not having an official answer as such, we imagine that there are two main reasons. On the one hand, there is the fact that the tournament has already been held in this part of the world on a couple of occasions, where of course, everything was dressed accordingly, and on the other hand, surely no one wanted to get into trouble by hurting sensibilities of any kind in the midst of the current situation in which we live.

Regarding prices, you could find very affordable things like pins or magnets that didn’t exceed $10 dollars, up to much more premium products like a special collaboration Hawaiian shirt for $120 dollars or of course, figures that exceeded $200. Resale is always another of the big issues of the Pokémon World Championships, For a few years now, access to Pokémon Center It is done by special reservation, meaning that the right to enter and buy is not for everyone, or at least not in an easy way. Of course, the so-called hoarders made it totally impossible to get something commemorative of the competition on the second or third day.

Something that really caught our attention this year was that right in front of one of the main entrances to the Hawaii Convention Center, there was a large group of people on the street selling all kinds of products at prices three or even four times higher than the original. We even caught some competitors selling their complete kits at prices that exceeded $1,500. In case you didn’t know, competitors receive things like backpacks and special pins that are not sold at the convention center. Pokémon Center to the public. It is important to mention that many of them have to pay for the super expensive trip to Honolulu or any other venue out of their own means, so they are surely looking to recover some of their investment through this means, which is totally understandable, I think. As far as we know, The Pokémon Company has never taken nor does it plan to take action against anyone who does so.

See you in Anaheim 2025

Everything must come to an end and on the afternoon of August 18 after the last competition at the Hawaii Convention Center, the also traditional closing ceremony took place, where in addition to some of the announcements we already mentioned, The Pokémon Company confirmed the venue of the Pokémon World Championships 2025which will once again be hosted in Anaheim, California from August 15-17. In addition, it was confirmed that San Francisco will be home to the competitions in 2026 from August 28-30, where a truly special event full of great moments is expected, as it is the year in which the 30th anniversary of the event will be celebrated. Pokémon.

I can only thank you for following the coverage of the Pokémon World Championships another year with us. We hope that in 2025 we will have another event where we can bring you the best information and, above all, bring you a little closer to what it is like to be present at such an important, colorful and intense event. For even more information and details about everything we present to you in this special, visit our social networks.