In the wake of a vision of world peace courtesy of Pokémon Go, it's undeniable that the monster collecting series stands as one of the most mainstream video games in existence. Pikachu is just as recognizable as Mickey Mouse, perhaps even more. The continued frenzy surrounding card prices guarantees almost daily Pokemon headlines. You'd be hard-pressed to find a Pokémon game that failed to move at least a couple million copies. Remarkably, fan-made Pokémon games achieve popularity annually.
Yet despite that pervasiveness and popularity, there are still Pokémon games that are totally overlooked. These are titles that failed to receive their proper due, or were buried by the excitement of the core series. They're Pokémon games stuck on doomed consoles or services, or were early forays onto new mediums. They're often also Pokémon games that might have flourished if they ever got sequels or modern remakes. With these criteria in mind, we won't be offering just one more reminder for Pokemon Conquest or the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series. We're pulling an Excadrill.
Still, you may already know about these Pokémon games. Therefore, prior to rearranging your glasses and typing 'Actually,' we can all acknowledge that these are Pokémon games for those possessing refined tastes, agreed?
Pokémon Ranch: The Chill Precursor
Too many Pokémon games focus on the combat element of the series, and far too few of them highlight the everyday realities that would come with owning a pet. Sure, modern titles include small features like these in recent entries—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 Pokemon Ranch (2008) for the Nintendo Wii is not that game. The downloadable-only title is best seen as the antecedent to Pokémon Home; that is, as a repository to store monsters from various titles. Critical reception from its launch said Ranch was a poor if not outright hideous game. It's not my goal to argue against these notions, but it behooves me to say Ranch might be the nearest we've ever gotten to a slice-of-life Pokémon game.
True to its title, the game takes place on a ranch where your personal Miis—get this—just relax with your Pokémon pals. The activities with Pokémon were simple, and a lot of the appeal was observing what your monsters might do when they're not being forced into cockfighting. Ideally, Pokémon Ranch would have been the beginning of a wonderful 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 not get a Pokémon Ranch game realized to its complete potential. I'd say 'help us, Pokémon Pokopia!' but it's also known that the upcoming Switch exclusive is just as much a puzzler as it is a life sim.
Ranch was released well before Stardew Valley sparked the lasting craze of cozy games. It was before the proliferation of passive games, and the video playthrough popularization of watching games you aren't playing. Many never realized that Ranch's proposal to observe your creatures as much as you interact with them wasn't to hide a shallow core. In actuality, Ranch's meticulous design was so extraordinary, there's a Twitch stream dedicated to running the game continuously. The individual who runs the channel states that, after almost twenty years of experiencing the game, he even now has not encountered everything that is in it. Recognition for Pokémon Ranch: nobody understood you in 2008.
Pokemon Duel: The Tactical Board Game Lost
Are you aware that Pokémon once had an official tabletop game with miniatures? Pokemon Duel was the 2016 effort to digitize the physical experience in a more accessible format. Duel was also, unfortunately, one of Pokémon's earliest ventures into the world of free-to-play phone games. Duel had the hallmarks of a gacha title where players could pay to win—and there was motivation to do so, given the slow progression for new pieces.
All of these questionable mechanics obfuscated a tragic reality: Pokémon Duel was an superb tactical game with Duel today. "Words cannot describe how much I adored and miss this game," one YouTube comment reads, seven years after Duel's servers were pulled. "Honestly I think this game was superior to TCG Pocket in terms of depth, approachability, design, and features in general," a user wrote. "I truly believe if it came out now people would be engaging with it more than GO and Pocket combined."
Unfortunately, Duel's initial launch was marred by server issues. Technical problems, alongside Duel's scummy business model, gave people little reason 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 great strategic challenge for the handful of players who played Duel, but that board is also a intimidating visual mess.
Pokémon: Magikarp Jump: The Whimsical Gem
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 approving a game with a premise so silly, it was bordering on shitpost. Considering we're dealing with a franchise where trainers go out with a team 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 ultimate version of the notorious fish. This isn't about a Magikarp that can kick your butt. These are 'Magikarp raised to enter competitions to see who can jump the highest. One drawback 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 loved and understood the fan culture around Magikarp.
Nowhere was this more evident than in Jump's merciless random occurrences, where your Magikarp was as likely to raise its stats 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 core series would do, like offering a wide variety of the same type of monster. It's understood it's not practical for any Pokémon game to have dozens of 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 raise a pet also describe the excellent Mewgenics. And I'm just saying: Mewgenics will likely be in the running when 2026 GOTY season rolls around.
Given dozens of mainline entries and spin-offs, chances are that I omitted that particular Pokémon game you absolutely adore but argue that too few people played. I know that some people remember games like Pokemon Ranger or Pokémon Pinball with affection notwithstanding argu
