Following a vision of world peace courtesy of Pokémon Go, there's no question that the monster collecting franchise is about as popular video games in existence. Pikachu is every bit as famous as Mickey Mouse, if not more so. The ongoing frenzy surrounding trading card values guarantees near-daily Pokémon news stories. It would be hard-pressed to find a Pokémon game that failed to move at least a couple million copies. Even, fan-made Pokémon games go viral every year.
Yet despite that pervasiveness and fame, some Pokémon games that remain underappreciated. These are titles that failed to receive their fair shake, 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. Frequently, they are Pokémon games that probably would have flourished if they had received follow-ups or contemporary re-releases. With these criteria in mind, we won't be offering just one more recommendation for Pokémon Conquest or the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series. We're digging deep.
Still, you may already know about these Pokémon games. Therefore, prior to rearranging your glasses and writing 'Well,' we can all acknowledge that these are Pokémon games for people with refined tastes, shall we?
Pokémon Ranch: The Relaxed Forerunner
Too many Pokémon games focus on the combat aspect of the series, and far too few of them highlight the everyday realities that would come with living with a companion. Admittedly, modern titles include minor mechanics like these in modern games—you can play with your monsters in camps. But I am 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 downloadable-only title is most accurately viewed as the antecedent to Pokemon Home; that is, as a storage system to store monsters from various titles. Critical reception from its launch said Ranch was a bad if not truly ugly game. It's not my goal to argue against these claims, but it behooves me to say Ranch might be the closest we've ever gotten to a everyday life Pokémon game.
As the name suggests, the game takes place on a farm where your Mii avatars—imagine this—just relax with your pals. The activities with Pokémon were basic, 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 simple pleasures of living your life with a tiny companion. However, because The Pokémon Company can collect a fee for Pokémon Home now, it's likely we will not get a Pokémon Ranch game realized to its fullest potential. One might cry 'save us, Pokémon Pokopia!' but I also know that the upcoming Switch exclusive is as much a puzzle game as it is a life sim.
Ranch came out long before Stardew Valley kicked off the lasting craze of cozy games. It was prior to the proliferation of idle games, and the Let's Play normalization of viewing games you aren't actively controlling. Most people never realized that Ranch's proposal to watch your creatures as much as you play with them didn't mask a lack of substance. In actuality, Ranch's meticulous design was so extraordinary, a Twitch stream focused on running the game 24/7. The streamer who runs the channel maintains that, after almost twenty years of experiencing the game, he still has not seen everything that is in it. Recognition for Pokémon Ranch: no one understood you in 2008.
Pokemon Duel: The Strategic Board Game Gone
Did you know that Pokémon once had an official tabletop game with action figures? Pokémon Duel was the 2016 attempt to digitize the tabletop experience in a more approachable format. Duel was also, unfortunately, one of Pokémon's earliest forays into the world of free-to-play mobile gaming. 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 pieces.
All of these poor design choices obfuscated a sad truth: Pokémon Duel was an excellent tactical game with Duel today. "I can’t express how much I adored and miss this game," a YouTube comment states, years after Duel's servers were pulled. "Honestly I think this game was superior to TCG Pocket in terms of complexity, accessibility, game design, and features in general," a user wrote. "I truly believe if it launched now people would be engaging with it more than GO and Pocket together."
Regrettably, Duel's initial launch was marred by server issues. Technical problems, alongside Duel's scummy business model, gave people little reason to come back. Should a revival occur, The Pokémon Company chose to resurrect this franchise, it's unclear things would play out differently. The unique game board made for a fantastic tactical experience for the few folks who played Duel, but that board is also a intimidating visual mess.
Pokemon: Magikarp Jump: The Whimsical Experiment
Wow, 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 concept so silly, it was bordering on shitpost. Considering we're dealing with a franchise where trainers go out with a team of useless monsters who literally can't do anything, I'm shocked we don't have more Pokémon games that laugh at themselves.
Within Magikarp Jump, the player is tasked with raising the ultimate version of the notorious 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 mobile games, requires the player to wait before they can improve their Magikarp further. But it is clear throughout the experience that the developers appreciated and got the fan culture around Magikarp.
This was most apparent than in Jump's merciless 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 clever dialogue, Magikarp Jump also experimented with other things I wish the core series would do, like offering a diverse range of the same type of monster. I know it's not practical for any Pokémon game to have dozens of variations for a compendium of over a thousand creatures, as Magikarp Jump does... but one can dream.
Magikarp Jump was not a especially sophisticated or profound game, but the kernels of genius 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 conversation when Game of the Year season arrives.
Given dozens of core games and spin-offs, chances are that I omitted that particular Pokémon game you absolutely adore but contend that not nearly enough people played. It's acknowledged that some people remember games like Pokemon Ranger or Pokemon Pinball with affection notwithstanding argu
