In the wake of a vision of world peace thanks to Pokémon Go, there's no question that the creature-catching series is about as mainstream video games around. Pikachu is just as famous as Mickey Mouse, if not more so. The ongoing excitement around card prices guarantees near-daily Pokemon news stories. You'd be difficult to find a Pokémon game that failed to move at least a couple million units. Even, unofficial Pokémon games go viral annually.
However despite that ubiquity and fame, there are still Pokémon games that are totally underappreciated. These are titles that failed to receive their fair shake, or were buried by the hype of the core series. They're Pokémon games released on ill-fated consoles or services, or were early forays onto different formats. They're often also Pokémon games that might have blossomed if they ever got 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 pulling an Excadrill.
Nevertheless, you may already know about these Pokémon games. Therefore, prior to adjusting your spectacles and typing 'Well,' we can all acknowledge that these are Pokémon games for people with refined tastes, shall we?
Pokemon Ranch: The Cozy Precursor
Too many Pokémon games emphasize the combat aspect of the series, and not nearly enough of them highlight the everyday aspects that would come with owning a companion. Sure, there are minor mechanics like these in modern games—players may play with your monsters in bases. But I am longing for a Pokémon game more in the vein of Nintendogs or The Sims.
My Pokémon Ranch (2008) for the Wii is not that game. The downloadable-only title is best seen as the antecedent to Pokemon Home; that is, as a repository to store monsters from various titles. Reviews from its launch noted Ranch was a bad if not truly ugly game. I'm not here to argue against these claims, 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 is set on a farm where your personal Miis—imagine this—just relax with your Pokémon pals. The interactions with Pokémon were simple, and a lot of the draw 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 wonderful franchise built on the simple pleasures of coexisting with a small creature. But since The Pokémon Company can collect a fee for Pokémon Home now, it's likely we will never see a Pokémon Ranch game realized to its fullest potential. One might cry '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 kicked off the lasting craze of cozy games. It was prior to the rise of idle games, and the video playthrough popularization of watching games you aren't actively controlling. Most people never understood that Ranch's concept 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, there's a Twitch stream focused on broadcasting the game 24/7. The streamer who operates the channel states that, after nearly two decades of playing the game, he even now has not encountered everything that is in it. Justice for Pokémon Ranch: nobody knew what to do with you in 2008.
Pokemon Duel: The Strategic Board Game Lost
Did you know that Pokemon once had an licensed tabletop game with miniatures? Pokemon Duel was the 2016 effort to adapt the physical experience in a more accessible format. Duel was also, sadly, one of Pokémon's earliest ventures into the world of free-to-play mobile gaming. Duel had the trappings of a gacha title where players could pay to win—and there was incentive to do so, given the lengthy grind for new pieces.
These poor design choices masked a tragic reality: Pokémon Duel was an excellent strategy game with Duel today. "Words cannot describe how much I loved and miss this game," one YouTube comment states, seven years after Duel's servers were pulled. "Truly I think this game was superior to TCG Pocket in terms of depth, approachability, design, and features in general," a user wrote. "I am convinced if it launched now people would be engaging with it more than GO and Pocket together."
Unfortunately, Duel's initial launch was plagued with connectivity problems. Bugs, alongside Duel's predatory monetization model, gave people few incentives to return. Should a revival occur, The Pokémon Company decided to revive this franchise, it's unclear things would play out differently. The unusual game board made for a fantastic tactical experience for the handful of players who played Duel, but that board is also a intimidating eyesore.
Pokémon: Magikarp Jump: The Silly Gem
Man, 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 internet meme. And when we're dealing with a franchise where trainers venture forth with a team of ineffective monsters who simply cannot do anything, I'm shocked we don't have more Pokémon games that poke fun at themselves.
Within Magikarp Jump, the player is charged with raising the ultimate 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. I'm not a fan is how Magikarp Jump, like many phone games, forces the player to wait before they can improve their Magikarp further. But it is evident throughout the experience that the developers appreciated and got the fan culture around Magikarp.
Nowhere was this more evident than in Jump's merciless random events, where your Magikarp was as likely to raise its stats as it was to get snatched by a Pidgeotto. Beyond the clever dialogue, Magikarp Jump also experimented with other things one might wish the mainline games would do, like offering a diverse range of the same species of monster. I know it's not practical for any Pokémon game to have dozens of colorings and patterns for a compendium of over a thousand creatures, as Magikarp Jump does... but one can dream.
Magikarp Jump was not a particularly complex or deep game, but the kernels of genius were there. Witty events with unpredictable results 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 rolls around.
With dozens of mainline entries and spin-offs, chances are that I omitted that particular Pokémon game you totally love 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
