In the wake of a vision of global harmony courtesy of Pokemon Go, it's undeniable that the creature-catching franchise stands as one of the most mainstream gaming titles around. Pikachu is just as famous as Disney's mascot, if not more so. The continued excitement around card prices ensures almost daily Pokemon headlines. You'd be difficult to find a pocket monster game that failed to move at least a few million units. Remarkably, unofficial Pokémon games achieve popularity annually.
Yet despite that pervasiveness and popularity, some Pokémon games that are totally underappreciated. These represent games that didn't get their fair shake, or were buried under the excitement of the core series. They're Pokémon games stuck on doomed consoles or online offerings, or were early forays onto new mediums. They're often also Pokémon games that probably would have blossomed if they had received sequels or contemporary re-releases. Considering these factors, we won't be offering just one more reminder for Pokemon Conquest or the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series. We're pulling an Excadrill.
Still, these might be these Pokémon games. So, before adjusting your spectacles and typing 'Well,' we can all acknowledge that these are Pokémon games for those possessing refined tastes, agreed?
Pokémon Ranch: The Chill Forerunner
An excessive number of Pokémon games focus on the battling aspect of the series, and not nearly enough of them focus on the ordinary aspects that would come with owning a companion. Admittedly, there are small features like these in modern games—you can play with your monsters in bases. But I am longing for a Pokémon game more in the style of Nintendogs or The Sims.
My Pokémon Ranch (2008) for the Wii is not that game. The downloadable-only title is most accurately viewed as the antecedent to Pokemon Home; that is, as a storage system to hold monsters from various titles. Reviews from its release said Ranch was a poor if not truly ugly game. I'm not here to argue against these notions, but it behooves me to say Ranch might be the closest we've come to a everyday life Pokémon game.
As the name suggests, the game takes place on a ranch where your personal Miis—imagine this—simply hang out with your pals. The interactions with Pokémon were basic, and a lot of the draw was observing what your monsters might do when not forced into cockfighting. In a just world, Pokémon Ranch would have been the beginning of a beautiful franchise built on the simple pleasures of coexisting with a tiny companion. But since The Pokémon Company can collect a fee for Pokémon Home now, it's likely we will not get a Pokémon Ranch game realized to its complete potential. One might cry 'help us, Pokémon Pokopia!' but it's also known that the Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive is as much a puzzler as it is a life simulation.
Ranch was released long before Stardew Valley kicked off the enduring trend of cozy games. It was before the proliferation of passive games, and the video playthrough normalization of watching games you aren't playing. Most people never understood that Ranch's concept to watch your critters as much as you play with them didn't mask a shallow core. In truth, Ranch's meticulous design was so remarkable, there's a Twitch stream dedicated to broadcasting the game continuously. The individual who operates the channel states that, after almost twenty years of playing the game, he even now has not encountered all that is in it. Recognition for Pokémon Ranch: no one understood you in 2008.
Pokémon Duel: The Strategic Tabletop Game Gone
Did you know that Pokémon once had an official board game with action figures? Pokemon Duel was the 2016 attempt to digitize the tabletop experience in a more accessible format. Duel was also, sadly, one of Pokémon's earliest forays into the world of freemium mobile gaming. Duel had the trappings of a gacha game where players could spend for advantage—and there was motivation to do so, given the lengthy grind for new figures.
All of these questionable mechanics obfuscated a tragic reality: Pokémon Duel was an excellent tactical game with Duel anymore. "I can’t express how much I loved and miss this game," one YouTube comment reads, years after Duel's servers were shut down. "Honestly I think this game was superior to TCG Pocket in terms of complexity, approachability, design, and content in general," a user wrote. "I truly believe if it came out now people would be playing it more than GO and Pocket combined."
Regrettably, Duel's early release was marred by server issues. Technical problems, alongside Duel's scummy monetization model, gave people few incentives to come back. Should a revival occur, The Pokémon Company decided to revive this franchise, I'm still not certain things would end better. The unusual game board made for a fantastic strategic challenge for the handful of players who played Duel, but that board is also a daunting visual mess.
Pokemon: Magikarp Jump: The Whimsical Experiment
Wow, why don't more Pokémon games loosen up a little and have some fun? Magikarp Jump (2017) was a rare instance of The Pokémon Company giving its blessing a game with a premise so silly, it was verging on internet meme. Considering we're dealing with a franchise where trainers go out with a team of useless monsters who simply cannot do anything, it's surprising we don't have more Pokémon games that poke fun at themselves.
In Magikarp Jump, the player is tasked with breeding the ultimate version of the notorious fish. This isn't about a Magikarp that can kick your butt. These are 'karp raised to enter competitions to see who can jump the highest. One drawback is how Magikarp Jump, like many phone games, requires the player to wait before they can improve their Magikarp further. But it is clear throughout the experience that the developers loved and understood the community love around Magikarp.
This was most apparent than in Jump's brutal random events, where your Magikarp was just as likely to raise its stats as it was to get snatched by a Pidgeotto. Apart from the great writing, Magikarp Jump also tried out other things one might wish the core series would do, like offering a diverse range of the same species of monster. I know it's not feasible for any Pokémon game to have dozens of colorings and patterns for a compendium of over a thousand creatures, as Magikarp Jump does... but we can hope.
Magikarp Jump was not a particularly complex or deep game, but the seeds of brilliance were there. Sharply written events with outrageous outcomes that forever alter how you can raise a pet also describe the excellent Mewgenics. And I'm just saying: Mewgenics will likely be in the running when Game of the Year season arrives.
Given numerous mainline entries and derivative titles, chances are that I omitted that one Pokémon game you totally love but argue that not nearly enough people played. I know that some people remember games like Pokemon Ranger or Pokémon Pinball with affection despite argu
