In the wake of a vision of global harmony thanks to Pokemon Go, it's beyond doubt that the creature-catching franchise stands as one of the most mainstream gaming titles in existence. The iconic Pikachu is just as famous as Mickey Mouse, if not more so. The persistent frenzy surrounding card prices ensures near-daily Pokemon headlines. You'd be hard-pressed to find a pocket monster game that failed to move at least a few million units. Even, fan-made Pokémon games achieve popularity annually.
Yet in spite of that ubiquity and popularity, there are still Pokémon games that are totally underappreciated. These are titles that failed to receive their proper due, or were buried under the hype of the mainline series. These are Pokémon games stuck on ill-fated consoles or online offerings, or were pioneering attempts onto different formats. They're often also Pokémon games that probably would have flourished if they had received sequels or modern remakes. With these criteria in mind, we won't be offering yet another recommendation for Pokemon Conquest or the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series. We're going beneath the surface.
Nevertheless, these might be these Pokémon games. So, before rearranging your glasses and typing 'Well,' let us just agree that these are Pokémon games for those possessing discerning palates, shall we?
Pokemon Ranch: The Relaxed Precursor
An excessive number of Pokémon games emphasize the battling element of the series, and not nearly enough of them highlight the everyday aspects that would come with owning a companion. Sure, there are small features like these in recent entries—players may play with your monsters in bases. However, I'm dying for a Pokémon game more in the vein of Nintendogs or The Sims.
My Pokemon Ranch (2008) for the Wii isn't it. The downloadable-only title is most accurately viewed as the antecedent to Pokemon Home; that is, as a storage system to hold monsters from different games. Reviews from its release noted Ranch was a bad if not outright hideous game. I'm not here to dispute these notions, but it compels me to say Ranch might be the nearest we've come to a slice-of-life Pokémon game.
True to its title, the game takes place on a ranch where your Mii avatars—get this—just relax with your pals. The interactions with Pokémon were basic, and a significant part 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 living your life with a small creature. But since The Pokémon Company can charge a subscription for Pokémon Home now, I'm guessing we will never see a Pokémon Ranch game realized to its complete potential. I'd say 'save us, Pokémon Pokopia!' but it's also known that the upcoming Switch exclusive is as much a puzzler as it is a life sim.
Ranch was released well before Stardew Valley sparked the enduring trend of comfort gaming. It was before the rise of idle games, and the Let's Play normalization of viewing games you aren't actively controlling. Many never understood that Ranch's proposal to observe your creatures as much as you interact with them didn't mask a shallow core. In actuality, Ranch's meticulous design was so remarkable, a Twitch stream focused on running the game continuously. The streamer who operates the channel states that, after almost twenty years of playing the game, he still has not seen everything that is in it. Justice for Pokémon Ranch: nobody understood you in 2008.
Pokemon Duel: The Tactical Tabletop Game Gone
Did you know that Pokémon once had an official tabletop game with action figures? Pokemon Duel was the 2016 effort to adapt the tabletop experience in a more accessible form. Duel was also, sadly, one of Pokémon's earliest forays into the world of free-to-play phone games. Duel had the hallmarks of a gacha game where players could spend for advantage—and there was incentive to do so, given the lengthy grind for new pieces.
All of these questionable mechanics obfuscated a tragic reality: Pokémon Duel was an excellent strategy game with Duel anymore. "Words cannot describe how much I loved and miss this game," one YouTube comment states, years after Duel's servers were pulled. "Truly I think this game was better than TCG Pocket in terms of complexity, accessibility, game design, and features in general," another commenter declared. "I truly believe if it came out now people would be playing it more than GO and Pocket combined."
Unfortunately, Duel's initial launch was plagued with connectivity problems. Bugs, alongside Duel's predatory business model, gave people few incentives to return. Should a revival occur, The Pokémon Company chose to resurrect this franchise, it's unclear things would end better. The unique board structure made for a fantastic strategic challenge for the few folks who played Duel, but that playing field is also a daunting visual mess.
Pokemon: Magikarp Jump: The Whimsical Experiment
Wow, why don't more Pokémon games relax a little and have some fun? Magikarp Jump (2017) was a uncommon case of The Pokémon Company approving a game with a premise so absurd, it was bordering on shitpost. Considering we're dealing with a franchise where trainers venture forth with a full belt of ineffective monsters who simply cannot do anything, it's surprising we don't have more Pokémon games that laugh at themselves.
Within Magikarp Jump, the player is tasked with raising the best possible version of the infamous fish. I'm not talking about a Magikarp that can kick your butt. These are 'karp raised to enter competitions to see who can flop the highest. One drawback is how Magikarp Jump, like many phone games, forces the player to pause before they can improve their Magikarp further. But it is evident throughout the experience that Select Button appreciated and got the fan culture around Magikarp.
Nowhere was this more evident than in Jump's brutal random events, where your Magikarp was just as likely to improve 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 mainline games would do, like offering a wide variety of the same type 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 we can hope.
Magikarp Jump was not a especially sophisticated 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 likely be in the running when 2026 GOTY season arrives.
With numerous core games and derivative titles, chances are that I omitted that particular Pokémon game you totally love but argue that not nearly enough people played. I know that some people remember games like Pokémon Ranger or Pokémon Pinball fondly despite argu
