{"id":941949,"date":"2025-12-30T20:20:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T20:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=441691"},"modified":"2025-12-30T20:20:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T20:20:18","slug":"this-pokemon-made-a-historic-return-at-the-2024-world-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/this-pokemon-made-a-historic-return-at-the-2024-world-championships\/","title":{"rendered":"This Pok\u00e9mon made a historic return at the 2024 World Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pikachu might be the main mascot of Pok\u00e9mon, but it just got one-upped at the 2024 Pok\u00e9mon<\/a> World Championships. And it\u2019s all because a very special Pachirisu captured the hearts of spectators both near and far when it emerged from its Pok\u00e9 Ball.<\/p>\n

Players and fans alike gathered for the 2024 Pok\u00e9mon World Championships<\/a> in Honolulu, Hawaii, over the weekend. The tournament hosted competitions for several games, including the Pok\u00e9mon Trading Card Game<\/em> and the most recent generation of video games, Pok\u00e9mon Scarlet<\/em> and Violet<\/em><\/a>. While this meant spectators got to see newer additions to the Pok\u00e9dex, like some of the powerful Paradox Pok\u00e9mon<\/a>, the real showstopper was a Pachirisu that belonged to Sejun Park, the 2014 world champion in the video game Masters Division.<\/p>\n

To understand the hype around Park and his Pachirisu, it\u2019s helpful to run down a brief history of their roles in the competitive Pok\u00e9mon scene. Prior to his win in 2014, Park regularly placed at the top of the global player rankings, but never won. Then, in 2014, he ran a creative team centered around Mega Gyarados and Pachirisu. Because of the success of his team, and the fact that his Pachirisu stood out in a sea of similar but more competitive options, his Pachirisu took on a legendary status within the Pok\u00e9mon community. Today, a video from the Official Pok\u00e9mon YouTube channel<\/a> describes his win as \u201carguably the most iconic moment in competitive history.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday, 10 years after his big win, Park decided to bring Pachirisu back again, and onlookers could not have been more thrilled. A recording from the Worlds stream<\/a> shows the moment when Park sent out Pachirisu and you can hear the crowd roar<\/a>. Pachirisu had the title \u201cthe Chosen One,\u201d and fans watched as the little guy tanked an attack with a critical hit from Aaron Zheng\u2019s Chien-Pao.<\/p>\n

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I really don't wanna start this conversation right now but people that are like "win with my favourites?? my favourites are calyrex and landorus \ud83e\udd2a\ud83e\udd2a" looking a bit silly after the crowd ROARED when Pachirisu showed on screen. pic.twitter.com\/4161cBkNTb<\/a><\/p>\n

— cecilily (@cecililytweets) August 17, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Online, people on X hailed the return of \u201cKing Pachirisu<\/a>\u201d and shared clips and art featuring the adorable Pok\u00e9mon. One tweet, with almost 16,000 likes, showed an image of Park\u2019s lineup and said, \u201cHE BROUGHT BACK PACHIRISU NOOOO WAY?!?!\u201d<\/p>\n

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HE BROUGHT BACK PACHIRISU NOOOO WAY?!?! \ud83d\ude2f pic.twitter.com\/vqV7cPdgFF<\/a><\/p>\n

— PulseEffects \u2615\ufe0f (@PulseEffects) August 16, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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return of the king pachirisu pic.twitter.com\/hSGqcnh1nF<\/a><\/p>\n

— orphe (commissions open) (@orphetoon) August 16, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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\u30b4\u30c4\u30e1\u30d1\u30c1\u30ea\u30b9\u3055\u3093\u301c\uff01\uff01#WCS2024<\/a> #Pachirisu<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/z2WklM7X05<\/a><\/p>\n

— \u9ce5\u8336 \ud80c\udd6b\ud81a\udd23\ud81a\udd67\ud81a\udd63 (@tori_tya3) August 18, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Unfortunately, Park\u2019s strategy didn\u2019t work as well this time. Park went up against Zheng and lost two games in a row \u2014 and, later that day, his spot in the tournament. Still, I have to give him respect for being loyal to Pachirisu. At the end of it all, he shared a celebratory tweet<\/a> with side-by-side images from his win in 2014 and the 2024 competition. While it\u2019s been 10 years since Park\u2019s Worlds win, it warmed my heart to see his plushie pal Pachirisu is still by his side.<\/p>\n

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Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pikachu might be the main mascot of Pok\u00e9mon, but it just got one-upped at the 2024 Pok\u00e9mon World Championships. And it\u2019s all because a very special Pachirisu captured the hearts of spectators both near and far when it emerged from its Pok\u00e9 Ball. Players and fans alike gathered for the 2024 Pok\u00e9mon World Championships in Honolulu, Hawaii, over the weekend. The tournament hosted competitions for several games, including the Pok\u00e9mon Trading Card Game and the most recent generation of video games, Pok\u00e9mon Scarlet and Violet. While this meant spectators got to see newer additions to the Pok\u00e9dex, like some of the powerful Paradox Pok\u00e9mon, the real showstopper was a Pachirisu that belonged to Sejun Park, the 2014 world champion in the video game Masters Division.…<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":941950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-941949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polygon"],"yoast_head":"\nThis Pok\u00e9mon made a historic return at the 2024 World Championships | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pikachu might be the main mascot of Pok\u00e9mon, but it just got one-upped at the 2024 Pok\u00e9mon World Championships. 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