In the wake of a taste of global harmony thanks to Pokémon Go, there's no question that the creature-catching series is about as popular gaming titles around. The iconic Pikachu is just as recognizable as Mickey Mouse, perhaps even more. The ongoing excitement surrounding card prices ensures almost daily Pokémon headlines. You'd be hard-pressed to find a Pokémon game that didn't sell at least a couple million units. Remarkably, fan-made Pokémon games achieve popularity every year.
However in spite of that ubiquity and popularity, some Pokémon games that remain underappreciated. These represent titles that didn't get their fair shake, or were buried under the excitement of the core series. These are Pokémon games stuck on doomed platforms or online offerings, or were pioneering attempts onto new mediums. Frequently, they are Pokémon games that might have blossomed if they had received sequels or contemporary re-releases. With these criteria in mind, we won't be offering yet another recommendation for Pokemon Conquest or the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series. We're pulling an Excadrill.
Nevertheless, these might be these Pokémon games. Therefore, prior to rearranging your glasses and typing 'Actually,' let us just agree that these are Pokémon games for those possessing discerning palates, shall we?
Pokemon Ranch: The Chill Forerunner
Too many Pokémon games emphasize the battling aspect of the series, and not nearly enough of them highlight the everyday realities that would come with living with a companion. Admittedly, there are minor mechanics like these in modern games—players may pet, and feed your monsters in bases. But I am longing for a Pokémon game more in the style of Nintendogs or The Sims.
My Pokemon Ranch (2008) for the Nintendo Wii is not that game. The downloadable-only title is most accurately viewed as the precursor to Pokémon Home; that is, as a repository to hold monsters from various titles. Reviews from its launch said Ranch was a bad if not outright hideous game. It's not my goal to dispute these claims, but it compels me to say Ranch might be the nearest we've ever gotten to a everyday life Pokémon game.
As the name suggests, the game takes place on a ranch 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 start of a wonderful franchise built on the simple pleasures of living your life with a tiny companion. 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 fullest potential. One might cry 'save 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 comfort gaming. It was before the rise of passive games, and the Let's Play normalization of viewing games you aren't playing. Most people never realized that Ranch's concept to watch your creatures as much as you play with them wasn't to hide a lack of substance. In actuality, Ranch's attention to detail was so extraordinary, a Twitch stream focused on broadcasting the game continuously. The streamer who operates the channel maintains 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 knew what to do with you in 2008.
Pokémon Duel: The Strategic Tabletop Game Lost
Are you aware that Pokemon once had an licensed tabletop game with miniatures? Pokemon Duel was the 2016 effort to adapt the physical experience in a more approachable format. Duel was also, unfortunately, one of Pokémon's earliest forays into the world of freemium phone games. Duel had the trappings of a gacha game where players could pay to win—and there was incentive to do so, given the slow progression for new figures.
These poor design choices masked a tragic reality: Pokémon Duel was an superb tactical game with Duel anymore. "I can’t express how much I loved and miss this game," a YouTube comment reads, years after Duel's servers were shut down. "Truly I think this game was superior to TCG Pocket in terms of complexity, accessibility, design, and features in general," another commenter declared. "I am convinced if it launched now people would be playing it more than GO and Pocket combined."
Unfortunately, Duel's early release was plagued with server issues. Bugs, alongside Duel's scummy business model, gave people little reason 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 unique board structure made for a great strategic challenge for the handful of players who played Duel, but that playing field is also a intimidating visual mess.
Pokemon: Magikarp Jump: The Absurd Experiment
Man, 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 absurd, it was verging on internet meme. Considering we're dealing with a franchise where trainers go out with a team of ineffective monsters who literally can't do anything, I'm shocked 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 infamous fish. I'm not talking about a Magikarp that can win battles. These are 'Magikarp raised to enter competitions to see who can flop the highest. I'm not a fan is how Magikarp Jump, like many mobile games, forces the player to pause before they can train their Magikarp further. But it is evident throughout the experience that Select Button loved and understood the fan culture around Magikarp.
This was most apparent than in Jump's merciless random events, 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 one might wish the core series would do, like offering a diverse range of the same species of monster. It's understood it's not practical for any Pokémon game to have 30 different variations for a compendium of over a thousand creatures, as Magikarp Jump does... but one can dream.
Magikarp Jump was not a particularly sophisticated or deep game, but the kernels of genius were there. Witty events with unpredictable results that forever alter how you can raise a pet also describe the excellent Mewgenics. And I'm just saying: Mewgenics will almost certainly be in the conversation when Game of the Year season rolls around.
With numerous mainline entries and spin-offs, chances are that I omitted that one Pokémon game you absolutely adore but contend that too few people played. It's acknowledged that some people remember games like Pokemon Ranger or Pokemon Pinball fondly despite argu
