In the wake of a glimpse of global harmony courtesy of Pokemon Go, it's beyond doubt that the creature-catching series stands as one of the most ubiquitous gaming titles around. Pikachu is every bit as recognizable as Disney's mascot, perhaps even more. The persistent excitement around trading card values ensures almost daily Pokémon headlines. You'd be difficult to find a Pokémon game that failed to move at least a couple million units. Remarkably, unofficial Pokémon games achieve popularity annually.
Yet in spite of that pervasiveness and popularity, some Pokémon games that remain overlooked. These are games that failed to receive their fair shake, or were overshadowed under the hype of the core series. These are Pokémon games stuck on ill-fated platforms or services, or were early forays onto new mediums. Frequently, they are Pokémon games that probably would have flourished if they ever got follow-ups or contemporary re-releases. Considering these factors, we won't be offering just one more recommendation for Pokémon Conquest or the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series. We're going beneath the surface.
Nevertheless, these might be these Pokémon games. Therefore, prior to rearranging your glasses and writing 'Actually,' we can all acknowledge that these are Pokémon games for those possessing refined tastes, agreed?
Pokemon Ranch: The Cozy Forerunner
An excessive number of Pokémon games focus on the battling element of the series, and far too few of them focus on the everyday realities that would come with living with a companion. Admittedly, there are 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 Pokemon Ranch (2008) for the Wii is not that game. The digital-only title is most accurately viewed as the precursor to Pokémon Home; that is, as a storage system to store monsters from various titles. Reviews from its launch said Ranch was a bad if not outright hideous game. I'm not here to dispute these notions, but it behooves me to say Ranch might be the nearest we've ever gotten to a slice-of-life Pokémon game.
As the name suggests, the game takes place on a ranch where your personal Miis—get this—just relax with your Pokémon pals. The activities with Pokémon were basic, and a significant part of the draw was watching what your monsters might do when not forced into cockfighting. In a just world, Pokémon Ranch would have been the start of a wonderful franchise built on the daily joys of coexisting with a tiny companion. But since 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. One might cry 'save us, Pokémon Pokopia!' but I also know that the Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive is as much a puzzler as it is a life simulation.
Ranch came out well before Stardew Valley kicked off the lasting craze of comfort gaming. It was prior to the rise of passive games, and the Let's Play normalization of viewing games you aren't playing. Many never realized that Ranch's proposal to observe your creatures as much as you interact with them didn't mask a shallow core. In truth, Ranch's attention to detail was so remarkable, a Twitch stream focused on running the game 24/7. The individual who runs the channel states that, after nearly two decades of experiencing the game, he still has not encountered all that is in it. Justice for Pokémon Ranch: nobody understood you in 2008.
Pokemon Duel: The Strategic Tabletop Game Gone
Did you know that Pokémon once had an licensed board game with action figures? Pokémon Duel was the 2016 attempt to adapt the physical experience in a more accessible form. Duel was also, unfortunately, one of Pokémon's earliest ventures into the world of freemium phone games. Duel had the hallmarks of a gacha game where players could spend for advantage—and there was motivation to do so, given the slow progression for new figures.
These questionable mechanics obfuscated a tragic reality: Pokémon Duel was an superb tactical game with Duel today. "Words cannot describe how much I loved and miss this game," a YouTube comment states, seven years after Duel's servers were shut down. "Honestly I think this game was better than TCG Pocket in terms of depth, approachability, game design, and features in general," another commenter wrote. "I am convinced if it launched now people would be engaging with it more than GO and Pocket combined."
Regrettably, Duel's early release was plagued with server issues. Bugs, alongside Duel's scummy business model, gave people few incentives to come back. If, by some miracle, The Pokémon Company decided to revive this franchise, it's unclear 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 daunting eyesore.
Pokémon: Magikarp Jump: The Silly Gem
Man, 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 shitpost. And when we're dealing with a franchise where trainers go out with a full belt 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 charged with raising the best possible version of the notorious fish. I'm not talking about a Magikarp that can win battles. These are 'Magikarp 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 pause before they can train their Magikarp further. But it is clear throughout the experience that the developers appreciated and got the fan culture around Magikarp.
Nowhere was this more evident than in Jump's brutal random occurrences, where your Magikarp was just 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 30 different colorings and patterns for a roster 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 train a companion also describe the excellent Mewgenics. And I'm just saying: Mewgenics will almost certainly be in the running when Game of the Year season arrives.
With dozens of mainline entries and spin-offs, chances are that I omitted that one Pokémon game you totally love but contend that too few people played. I know that some people remember games like Pokémon Ranger or Pokémon Pinball fondly despite argu
