Following a taste of global harmony courtesy of Pokemon Go, it's beyond doubt that the monster collecting franchise stands as one of the most popular gaming titles in existence. Pikachu is every bit as identifiable as Mickey Mouse, perhaps even more. The ongoing excitement around card prices ensures near-daily Pokemon headlines. You'd be difficult to find a Pokémon game that failed to move at least a few million copies. Even, fan-made Pokémon games achieve popularity every year.
However in spite of that ubiquity and popularity, some Pokémon games that are totally underappreciated. These represent titles that didn't get their proper due, or were buried under the excitement of the mainline series. They're Pokémon games released on ill-fated consoles 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, we won't be offering just one more recommendation for Pokemon Conquest or the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series. We're going beneath the surface.
Still, these might be these Pokémon games. So, before adjusting your spectacles and writing 'Actually,' we can all acknowledge that these are Pokémon games for people with refined tastes, agreed?
Pokemon Ranch: The Chill Precursor
Too many Pokémon games focus on the combat aspect of the series, and not nearly enough of them focus on the everyday aspects that would come with owning a pet. Sure, modern titles include minor mechanics like these in modern games—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 Wii isn't it. The downloadable-only title is best seen 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 poor 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 everyday life Pokémon game.
True to its title, the game is set on a ranch where your Mii avatars—imagine this—simply hang out with your pals. The activities with Pokémon were simple, and a significant part of the appeal was watching what your monsters might do when they're not being forced into cockfighting. In a just world, Pokémon Ranch would have been the beginning of a beautiful franchise built on the daily joys of coexisting with a tiny companion. However, because The Pokémon Company can collect a fee for Pokémon Home now, it's likely we will never see a Pokémon Ranch game developed 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 came out long before Stardew Valley sparked the lasting craze of comfort gaming. It was before the proliferation of idle games, and the video playthrough normalization of viewing games you aren't actively controlling. Most people never understood that Ranch's proposal to watch your critters as much as you interact with them didn't mask a lack of substance. In actuality, Ranch's attention to detail was so remarkable, there's a Twitch stream focused on running the game 24/7. The streamer who operates the channel maintains that, after nearly two decades of playing the game, he still has not encountered all that is in it. Recognition for Pokémon Ranch: nobody understood you in 2008.
Pokémon Duel: The Strategic Tabletop Game Lost
Are you aware that Pokémon once had an licensed tabletop game with action figures? Pokemon Duel was the 2016 effort to adapt the physical experience in a more accessible format. Duel was also, sadly, one of Pokémon's first ventures into the world of freemium phone games. Duel had the trappings of a gacha title where players could spend for advantage—and there was incentive to do so, given the lengthy grind for new figures.
All of these questionable mechanics masked a tragic reality: Pokémon Duel was an superb strategy game with Duel today. "I can’t express how much I adored and miss this game," a YouTube comment reads, years after Duel's servers were pulled. "Truly I think this game was superior to TCG Pocket in terms of complexity, approachability, game design, and features in general," another commenter wrote. "I truly believe if it came out now people would be playing it more than GO and Pocket together."
Unfortunately, Duel's initial launch was plagued with server issues. Bugs, alongside Duel's predatory business model, gave people few incentives to come back. Should a revival occur, The Pokémon Company chose to resurrect this franchise, I'm still not certain things would play out differently. The unique game board made for a great strategic challenge for the handful of players who played Duel, but that playing field is also a intimidating eyesore.
Pokemon: Magikarp Jump: The Whimsical Experiment
Wow, why don't more Pokémon games loosen up a little and have some fun? Magikarp Jump (2017) was a uncommon case of The Pokémon Company giving its blessing a game with a premise so absurd, it was verging on internet meme. And when we're dealing with a franchise where trainers venture forth with a full belt of ineffective monsters who literally can't do anything, I'm shocked we don't have more Pokémon games that laugh at themselves.
In 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 'Magikarp raised to enter contests to see who can flop the highest. I'm not a fan is how Magikarp Jump, like many phone games, forces the player to pause before they can improve their Magikarp further. But it is clear throughout the experience that the developers appreciated and got the community love 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. Beyond the clever dialogue, Magikarp Jump also experimented with other things one might wish the core series 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 compendium of over a thousand creatures, as Magikarp Jump does... but we can hope.
Magikarp Jump was not a especially complex or profound game, but the kernels of genius 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 almost certainly be in the conversation when 2026 GOTY season arrives.
Given numerous mainline entries and derivative titles, it's probable that I omitted that one Pokémon game you absolutely adore but argue that not nearly enough people played. I know that some people remember games like Pokémon Ranger or Pokemon Pinball fondly notwithstanding argu
