The Pokémon World Championships are all about community

Never before have critical hits proven more dramatic than at the Pokémon World Championships.

While the commentators quickly break down the obvious metagame-specific strategies and moves the competitors might make in a given turn, it’s these moments of pure variance – critical hits, status effects taking hold – that capture the real excitement of watching competitive Pokémon battles. You could tell because that’s when the crowd erupted into short burst of cheers and gasps, marking a turning point in the fight or an opening for someone to exploit. Often attracting a crowd of over 200 people at a time, the video game portion of the event clearly made for the biggest spectacle for spectators. Even when the trading card game was featured on the big screen, large crowds gathered around the smaller screens in the back watching replays of video game battles from the day before.