Pokémon Unite launched earlier tonight on Nintendo Switch, and you may be wondering how you can unlock all of the Pokémon in the game? And just how much would they all cost you, because as Nintendo put it, this is a “free to start” game.

Let’s start with the Pokémon themselves, which you have to have a ‘license’ to use in the game. Some of these can be earned; otherwise, you have to buy them with the currency you can earn in-game (Aeos Coins) or buy real-world money (Aeos Gems). 

Starter Pokémon

  • Pikachu – Unlocked by picking at the beginning of the game or by spending 6000 Aeos Coins/345 Aeos Gems

  • Snorlax – Unlocked by picking at the beginning of the game or by spending 6000 Aeos Coins/345 Aeos Gems

  • Charizard – Unlocked by picking at the beginning of the game or by spending 6000 Aeos Coins/345 Aeos Gems

  • Eldegoss – Unlocked by picking at the beginning of the game or by spending 6000 Aeos Coins/345 Aeos Gems

  • Talonflame – Unlocked by choosing at the beginning of the game or by spending 6000 Aeos Coins/345 Aeos Gems

Free Pokémon

  • Slowbro – Unlocked by increasing Trainer to level 2.

  • Venusaur – Unlocked by increasing Trainer to level five.

  • Zeraora – Free login gift (until August 31st) Find out how to unlock here.

Pokémon you need to buy

  • Alolan Ninetales – 8000 Aeos Coins/460 Aeos Gems

  • Cinderace – 8000 Aeos Coins/460 Aeos Gems

  • Cramorant – 8000 Aeos Coins/460 Aeos Gems

  • Crustle – The day seven reward in the ‘beginner challenge’ or spending 8000 Aeos Coins/460 Aeos Gems

  • Machamp – 8000 Aeos Coins/460 Aeos Gems

  • Mr. Mime – 8000 Aeos Coins/460 Aeos Gems

  • Wigglytuff – 8000 Aeos Coins/460 Aeos Gems

  • Absol – 10000 Aeos Coins/575 Aeos Gems

  • Garchomp – 10000 Aeos Coins/575 Aeos Gems

  • Gengar – 10000 Aeos Coins/575 Aeos Gems

  • Greninja – 10000 Aeos Coins/575 Aeos Gems

  • Lucario – 10000 Aeos Coins/575 Aeos Gems

So how much do you have to spend to unlock all of the launch Pokémon in Pokémon Unite? 

Well, if you want to earn them without spending any real-world money, I’m going to say it’ll take a decent chunk of time. I’d earned 10k coins after a couple of hours of play, but of course, a lot of that was for levelling up and early game rewards. To judge how long it’d take you to earn 100,000+ Aoes Coins needed is challenging. 

We can use maths to solve how much real-world money it’d cost you to unlock all of the Pokémon, so let’s look at how much the Aeos Gems cost in the game. 

Taking all of the Pokémon that you can unlock in the game for free at the moment out of the equation, you’d need a total of 7360 Aeon Gems to unlock the ones left over. 

Here are the Aeon Gems bundles you can purchase right now in the store. 

As you can see, the game is, at least for now, offering you double on your purchase of any of the top bundles. I purchased the $30.99 bundle, and it still has the lower dollar amount bags left for sale to earn double for each of those; after buying the $30.99 pack once, it now offers a minor incentive of 130 bonus Aeon Gems for future purchases.

To reach the 7360 Aeon Gems, we’re after you’d need to buy the $30.99 bundle five times for a total of $154.95. This comes in the cheapest option and best way to reach the Aeon Gems needed at the moment. It may change if they take away the ‘first time’ double Aeon Gems purchase, which helps a lot.

If you’ve got the money to spare, more power to you — I will not be dropping $155 on Pokémon Unite today. But I’ll see you all on the battlefield.