Pokemon Champions has already made some pretty fundamental changes to the Pokemon games. It has removed the dreaded IVs, added some brand-new, meta-breaking abilities, and got rid of the ability to stall a match to pick up a win. It’s all very much welcome, even if the early performance is, unsurprisingly, not great.
One change that wasn’t expected, however, was, for the first time ever, the Pokemon series has a female Gallade.
Gallade Can Now Be Female, According To Pokemon Champions
Gallade is one of two final evolutions in the Ralts line. Gardevoir, its Psychic- and Fairy-type counterpart, stems from a female Ralts and Kirlia, while Gallade, a Psychic- and Fighting-type Pokemon, evolves from male Ralts and Kirlia. They’re one of the few cases, like Vespiquen, Nidoking and Nidoqueen, and Froslass, in which Pokemon can only be a specific gender.
The Pokemon Company may have just thrown a huge spanner in the works, though, as in the early version of Pokemon Champions, a trainer has a female Gallade—something that is seemingly impossible.
First reported by Game Spark over in Japan, in Pokemon Champions’ tutorial missions, specifically the one designed to teach you about status conditions, you’ll encounter a female Gallade. It is the first time ever that a Pokemon previously considered gender-exclusive has appeared with the opposite gender tag.
Naturally, the discussion has made its way over to Reddit and other social media platforms like Twitter, with players unsure whether this new female Gallade is a feature or a bug.
The general consensus is that, given the issues that Pokemon Champions is laden with early on, this was an oversight by the game’s development team. If it’s not, though, it’s one of the most lore-shattering inclusions the Pokemon series has had for a long, long time.
If it is the former, you have to imagine that The Pokemon Company will silently patch Champions and pretend it never happened. But if, and it’s a big if, it’s the latter, I’m fascinated to see what it means for the world of Pokemon.
- Released
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April 8, 2026
- ESRB
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Everyone / Mild Fantasy Violence
- Publisher(s)
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Nintendo
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer
