One of the main issues players encounter when trying to get more involved in the official competitive scene for the Pokémon videogames is a lack of in-depth and cohesive resources available to help them get started. That is no longer the case, however: several of the biggest names in Pokémon Video Game Championship (VGC) launched a new database today to help new players get started.
Helmed by VGC veterans like Wolfe “Wolfey” Glick, Aaron “Cybertron” Zheng, and Aaron “Unreality” Traylor, VGCguide will act as a hub where players can go and learn more about competitive Pokémon—regardless of their experience level.
“Competitive Pokemon is such a beautiful game, and I want people to be able to experience it if they’re interested,” Wolfey said on Twitter. “I hope that with this resource, anybody anywhere should have all the tools they need to improve at Pokemon no matter their prior experience.”
The VGCguide team want to provide a way for new players to learn about VGC fundamentals and advice on common topics such as team building and resource management. It will also be a hub where accomplished players can share their accumulated knowledge or come to try and get a fresh perspective.
This project has been in the work since October 2020, as noted by VGCguide developer Marissa “NYXIIE” L, with a specific focus on creating a general resource that players can use at any point. This also means the content has been created through the lens of being “timeless” in a sense.
“Our goal is for this content to be useful and relevant for years, so we’ve tried to make it as context-free as we can,” the VGCguide description reads. “Some of the examples of concepts that we cite might be of years-old metagames that we have done our best to make as clear as possible. By doing this, we hope that our principles can guide players as they figure out the current moment in their own terms–that this guide can be like a teambuilding partner or battling coach frozen in time.”
With this approach, VGCguide won’t be used as a platform to talk about metagame-relevant topics, tournament results, or views based on the current state of competitive Pokémon.
At launch, VGCguide is likely already the biggest resource for the official competitive Pokémon format, with detailed articles about the specifics of battling, team building, and even guides to explain the current Play! Pokémon circuit. There is also an in-depth introduction for prospective VGC players coming from a casual background or other areas of the Pokémon community like Shiny hunting or single battles.
You can view all of these detailed articles and other resources on the official VGCguide website, and you can expect more content from the team behind it to be announced in the future.
