Following a glimpse of global harmony courtesy of Pokemon Go, it's undeniable that the monster collecting franchise stands as one of the most popular gaming titles around. Pikachu is just as recognizable as Mickey Mouse, if not more so. The continued pandemonium around card prices ensures near-daily Pokémon news stories. It would be difficult to find a pocket monster game that failed to move at least a few million units. Remarkably, fan-made Pokémon games achieve popularity annually.
However despite that pervasiveness and fame, some Pokémon games that are totally underappreciated. These are titles that failed to receive their fair shake, or were overshadowed by the hype of the mainline series. These are Pokémon games stuck on ill-fated platforms or online offerings, or were pioneering attempts onto new mediums. Frequently, they are Pokémon games that might have blossomed if they had received follow-ups or modern remakes. With these criteria in mind, this list will not be just one more reminder for Pokémon Conquest or the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series. We're going beneath the surface.
Still, you may already know about these Pokémon games. Therefore, prior to rearranging your glasses and writing 'Well,' let us just agree that these are Pokémon games for people with discerning palates, agreed?
Pokemon Ranch: The Cozy Precursor
An excessive number of Pokémon games focus on the combat aspect of the series, and far too few of them focus on the ordinary aspects that would come with living with a pet. Sure, modern titles include small features like these in recent entries—players may pet, and feed your monsters in bases. However, I'm longing for a Pokémon game more in the vein of Nintendogs or The Sims.
My Pokémon Ranch (2008) for the Nintendo Wii isn't it. The digital-only title is most accurately viewed as the precursor to Pokémon Home; that is, as a storage system to store monsters from different games. Reviews from its launch said Ranch was a bad if not truly ugly game. I'm not here to dispute these claims, but it behooves me to say Ranch might be the closest we've come to a slice-of-life Pokémon game.
As the name suggests, the game is set on a farm where your personal Miis—imagine this—just relax with your pals. The interactions with Pokémon were simple, and a significant part of the appeal was observing what your monsters might do when not forced into cockfighting. Ideally, Pokémon Ranch would have been the beginning of a beautiful franchise built on the daily joys of coexisting with a small creature. However, because The Pokémon Company can charge a subscription for Pokémon Home now, I'm guessing we will not get a Pokémon Ranch game developed to its complete potential. One might cry 'help us, Pokémon Pokopia!' but I also know that the Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive is as much a puzzler as it is a life sim.
Ranch came out well before Stardew Valley sparked the lasting craze of comfort gaming. It was before the proliferation of passive games, and the video playthrough popularization of watching games you aren't playing. Many never realized that Ranch's concept to watch your critters as much as you interact with them didn't mask a shallow core. In truth, Ranch's attention to detail was so extraordinary, there's a live stream dedicated to running the game 24/7. The individual who operates the channel maintains that, after almost twenty years of playing the game, he even now has not encountered everything that is in it. Recognition for Pokémon Ranch: no one understood you in 2008.
Pokémon Duel: The Strategic Board Game Gone
Are you aware that Pokemon once had an official tabletop game with miniatures? Pokémon Duel was the 2016 attempt to digitize the tabletop experience in a more approachable format. Duel was also, sadly, one of Pokémon's first ventures into the world of free-to-play mobile gaming. Duel had the trappings of a gacha title where players could pay to win—and there was incentive to do so, given the lengthy grind for new pieces.
All of these questionable mechanics masked a sad truth: Pokémon Duel was an superb tactical game with Duel anymore. "I can’t express how much I adored and miss this game," one YouTube comment reads, years after Duel's servers were pulled. "Honestly I think this game was better than TCG Pocket in terms of complexity, accessibility, game 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."
Unfortunately, Duel's early release was marred by connectivity problems. Bugs, alongside Duel's predatory business model, gave people little reason to return. Should a revival occur, The Pokémon Company decided to revive this franchise, I'm still not certain things would play out differently. The unique board structure made for a fantastic strategic challenge for the handful of players who played Duel, but that playing field is also a daunting visual mess.
Pokémon: Magikarp Jump: The Absurd Gem
Man, why don't more Pokémon games loosen up a little and have some enjoyment? Magikarp Jump (2017) was a rare instance of The Pokémon Company approving a game with a concept so absurd, it was bordering on shitpost. And when we're dealing with a franchise where trainers go out with a team of ineffective 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 charged with breeding 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 contests to see who can flop 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 Select Button appreciated and got the community love around Magikarp.
Nowhere was this more evident than in Jump's brutal random occurrences, where your Magikarp was as likely to raise its stats as it was to get snatched by a Pidgeotto. Apart from the clever dialogue, 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 feasible for any Pokémon game to have 30 different colorings and patterns for a roster of over a thousand creatures, as Magikarp Jump does... but one can dream.
Magikarp Jump was not a particularly complex or deep game, but the kernels of genius were there. Witty events with outrageous outcomes that forever alter how you can raise a pet also describe the excellent Mewgenics. It's worth noting: Mewgenics will likely be in the running when Game of the Year season arrives.
With dozens of core games and derivative titles, chances are that I omitted that one Pokémon game you absolutely adore but contend that not nearly enough people played. It's acknowledged that some people look back on games like Pokémon Ranger or Pokémon Pinball fondly notwithstanding argu
