Following a glimpse of global harmony courtesy of Pokemon Go, it's beyond doubt that the monster collecting series stands as one of the most mainstream video games in existence. The iconic Pikachu is every bit as famous as Disney's mascot, if not more so. The continued pandemonium surrounding trading card values ensures almost daily Pokemon news stories. You'd be hard-pressed to find a pocket monster game that didn't sell at least a few million copies. Remarkably, fan-made Pokémon games go viral annually.
However despite that ubiquity and popularity, there are still Pokémon games that are totally overlooked. These represent titles that failed to receive their fair shake, or were buried by the hype of the mainline series. These are Pokémon games stuck on ill-fated platforms or online offerings, or were early forays onto different formats. They're often also Pokémon games that probably would have flourished if they ever got sequels or contemporary re-releases. With these criteria in mind, we won't be offering just one more reminder for Pokemon Conquest or the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series. We're digging deep.
Still, you may already know about these Pokémon games. So, before adjusting your spectacles and writing 'Well,' we can all acknowledge that these are Pokémon games for people with refined tastes, agreed?
Pokémon Ranch: The Chill Precursor
An excessive number of Pokémon games focus on the battling element of the series, and far too few of them focus on the ordinary realities that would come with living with a pet. Admittedly, modern titles include small features like these in recent entries—players may play with your monsters in bases. But I am dying for a Pokémon game more in the vein of Nintendogs or The Sims.
My Pokémon Ranch (2008) for the Wii is not that game. The digital-only title is most accurately viewed as the antecedent to Pokemon Home; that is, as a storage system to store monsters from various titles. Critical reception from its launch said Ranch was a bad if not truly ugly game. It's not my goal to argue against these claims, but it compels me to say Ranch might be the nearest we've come to a slice-of-life Pokémon game.
As the name suggests, the game takes place on a farm where your Mii avatars—imagine this—simply hang out with your Pokémon pals. The activities with Pokémon were basic, and a lot of the appeal was observing what your monsters might do when they're not being forced into cockfighting. In a just world, Pokémon Ranch would have been the start of a beautiful franchise built on the daily joys of coexisting with a tiny companion. However, because The Pokémon Company can charge a subscription for Pokémon Home now, it's likely we will never see a Pokémon Ranch game realized to its complete potential. I'd say 'help us, Pokémon Pokopia!' but it's also known that the upcoming Switch exclusive is just as much a puzzle game as it is a life sim.
Ranch was released long before Stardew Valley kicked off the lasting craze of cozy games. It was before the rise of idle games, and the Let's Play normalization of watching games you aren't playing. Many never understood that Ranch's concept to watch your critters as much as you interact with them wasn't to hide a shallow core. In actuality, Ranch's attention to detail was so extraordinary, a live stream focused on running the game continuously. The streamer who runs the channel maintains that, after almost twenty years of playing the game, he still has not encountered all that is in it. Justice for Pokémon Ranch: no one knew what to do with you in 2008.
Pokémon Duel: The Tactical Board Game Gone
Are you aware that Pokemon once had an licensed tabletop game with action figures? Pokemon Duel was the 2016 effort to digitize the physical experience in a more accessible form. Duel was also, sadly, one of Pokémon's earliest ventures into the world of free-to-play phone games. Duel had the hallmarks of a gacha title where players could spend for advantage—and there was motivation to do so, given the lengthy grind for new pieces.
These poor design choices masked a tragic reality: Pokémon Duel was an superb tactical game with Duel anymore. "Words cannot describe how much I adored and miss this game," a YouTube comment reads, seven years after Duel's servers were shut down. "Honestly I think this game was superior to TCG Pocket in terms of complexity, accessibility, game design, and content in general," a user wrote. "I am convinced if it came out now people would be engaging with it more than GO and Pocket combined."
Unfortunately, Duel's early release was marred by server issues. Technical problems, alongside Duel's scummy business model, gave people little reason to come back. If, by some miracle, The Pokémon Company chose to resurrect this franchise, I'm still not certain things would end better. The unusual board structure made for a great tactical experience for the handful of players who played Duel, but that board is also a intimidating eyesore.
Pokémon: Magikarp Jump: The Silly Experiment
Wow, why don't more Pokémon games relax a little and have some enjoyment? Magikarp Jump (2017) was a uncommon case of The Pokémon Company approving 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 full belt of useless monsters who literally can't do anything, it's surprising we don't have more Pokémon games that laugh at themselves.
Within Magikarp Jump, the player is charged with raising the ultimate version of the notorious fish. I'm not talking about a Magikarp that can kick your butt. These are 'Magikarp raised to enter competitions to see who can jump the highest. I'm not a fan is how Magikarp Jump, like many phone games, requires the player to wait before they can train their Magikarp further. But it is evident throughout the experience that the developers appreciated and got the community love around Magikarp.
This was most apparent than in Jump's merciless random occurrences, where your Magikarp was as likely to raise its stats as it was to get eaten by a Pidgeotto. Apart from the great writing, Magikarp Jump also experimented with other things I wish the mainline games would do, like offering a wide variety of the same species of monster. It's understood it's not practical 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 sophisticated or deep game, but the seeds of brilliance were there. Witty events with outrageous outcomes that permanently influence how you can train a companion also describe the excellent Mewgenics. And I'm just saying: Mewgenics will likely be in the running when 2026 GOTY season arrives.
With dozens of core games and derivative titles, it's probable that I omitted that particular Pokémon game you totally love but contend that too few people played. I know that some people remember games like Pokémon Ranger or Pokemon Pinball fondly notwithstanding argu
