After Pokémon Go gave us a glimpse of world peace, there isn’t any query that the monster amassing franchise is about as mainstream as video video games get. Pikachu is simply as recognizable as Mickey Mouse, if no more so. The continued pandemonium round card costs has ensured near-daily Pokémon headlines. You would be hard-pressed to seek out any pocket monster sport that did not promote at the least a pair million copies. Even Pokémon fan video games go viral yearly.
But regardless of that ubiquity and recognition, there are nonetheless Pokémon video games which are completely underappreciated. These are video games that did not get their honest shake, or video games that had been buried beneath the hype of the mainline collection. They’re Pokémon video games that had been caught on doomed platforms or companies, or had been early forays onto new mediums. They’re typically additionally Pokémon video games that most likely would have blossomed in the event that they ever obtained sequels or fashionable remakes. With these standards in thoughts, this listing won’t be one more reminder that Pokémon Conquest or any of the Pokémon Thriller Dungeon video games slap. We’re pulling an Excadrill and digging deeper.
Nonetheless, these could be Pokémon video games you already find out about or performed again within the day. So, earlier than you rearrange your glasses and begin typing ‘Really,’ allow us to simply agree that these are Pokémon video games for individuals with refined tastes, lets?
Pokémon Ranch
Too many Pokémon video games give attention to the battling side of the collection, and never practically sufficient of them give attention to the atypical features that will include dwelling with a pet. Certain, there are minor mechanics like these in fashionable video games — you’ll be able to play with, pet, and feed your monsters in camps, for instance. However I’m dying for a Pokémon sport that’s extra within the vein of Nintendogs or The Sims.
My Pokémon Ranch (2008) for the Nintendo Wii shouldn’t be that sport. The downloadable-only title is greatest seen because the precursor to Pokémon Residence; that’s, as a repository to carry monsters from totally different video games. Critiques from its launch say Ranch was a foul if not outright hideous sport, too. I am not right here to argue in opposition to these notions, however it behooves me to say Ranch could be the closest we have ever gotten to a slice-of-life Pokémon sport.
Because the title suggests, the sport takes place on a farm the place your Mii avatars — get this — merely hang around along with your friends. The interactions with Pokémon had been easy, and plenty of the draw was watching what your monsters would possibly do after they’re not being compelled into cockfighting. In a simply world, Pokémon Ranch would have been the beginning of an exquisite franchise constructed on the each day joys of dwelling your life with a small creature. However since The Pokémon Firm can cost a subscription to Pokémon Residence now, I am guessing we are going to by no means see a Pokémon Ranch sport developed to its fullest potential. I might say save us, ‘Pokémon Pokopia!’ however I additionally know that the Nintendo Swap 2 unique is simply as a lot a puzzle sport as it’s a life sim.
Ranch got here out properly earlier than Stardew Valley kicked off the enduring development of cozy video games. It was earlier than the proliferation of idle video games, and the Let’s Play normalization of watching video video games you are not actively controlling. Most individuals by no means realized that Ranch’s proposal to look at your critters as a lot as you play with them wasn’t to cover a scarcity of substance. Really, Ranch’s consideration to element was so extraordinary, there is a Twitch stream in 2026 devoted to operating the sport 24/7. The man who runs the Twitch channel maintains that, after practically 20 years of enjoying the sport, he nonetheless has not seen the whole lot that’s in it. Justice for Pokémon Ranch: no one knew what to do with you in 2008.
Pokémon Duel
Do you know that Pokémon as soon as had an official board sport with motion figures? Pokémon Duel was the 2016 try to digitize the tabletop expertise in a extra approachable format. Duel was additionally, sadly, one in every of Pokémon’s earliest forays into the world of free-to-play cellular gaming. Duel had the trimmings of a gacha sport the place gamers may pay to win — and there was incentive to take action, given how lengthy it took to grind new figures.
All of those poor design selections obfuscated a tragic actuality: Pokémon Duel was a wonderful technique sport with a soundtrack that went approach more durable than it wanted to. Do not consider me? To this present day, persons are nonetheless mourning you could’t play Duel anymore. “I can’t categorical how a lot I cherished and miss this sport,” one YouTube touch upon the video above reads, seven years after Duel’s servers had been pulled. “Actually I feel this sport was higher than TCG Pocket by way of complexity, [approachability], design, and content material on the whole,” one other commenter declared. “I really consider if it got here out now individuals can be enjoying it greater than GO and Pocket mixed.”
Sadly, Duel’s early launch was plagued with server points. Technical issues, alongside Duel’s scummy monetization mannequin, gave individuals little cause to come back again. If, by some miracle, The Pokémon Firm determined to revive this franchise, I am nonetheless not sure issues would play out in a different way. The bizarre board construction made for an awesome tactical expertise for the few people who performed Duel, however that enjoying subject can also be a frightening eyesore.
Pokémon: Magikarp Soar
Man, why do not extra Pokémon video games loosen up slightly and have some enjoyable? Magikarp Soar (2017) was a uncommon occasion of The Pokémon Firm giving its blessing to a sport with a premise so foolish, it was bordering on shitpost. And after we’re coping with a franchise the place trainers exit into the world with a full belt of ineffective monsters who actually cannot do something, I am shocked we do not have extra Pokémon video games that poke enjoyable at themselves.
In Magikarp Soar, the participant is tasked with breeding the very best model of the infamous fish. I am not speaking a couple of Magikarp that may kick your butt in battle. These are ‘karp raised to enter competitions to see who can flop the best. I am not a fan of how Magikarp Soar, like many cellular video games, forces the participant to attend earlier than they will practice their Magikarp additional. However it’s evident all through the expertise that Choose Button cherished and understood the fan tradition round Magikarp.
Nowhere was this extra evident than Soar’s cruel random occasions, the place your Magikarp was simply as prone to elevate its stats because it was to get eaten by a Pidgeotto. Past the nice writing, Magikarp Soar additionally experimented with different issues I want the mainline video games would do, like providing all kinds of the identical sort of monster. I do know it is not sensible for any Pokémon sport to have 30 totally different colorings and patterns for a compendium of over a thousand creatures, as Magikarp Soar does … however one can dream.
Magikarp Soar was not a very refined or deep sport, however the kernels of genius had been there. Sharply written occasions with outrageous outcomes that completely affect how one can elevate a pet additionally describe the superb Mewgenics. And I am simply saying: Mewgenics will nearly definitely be within the operating when 2026 GOTY season rolls round.
With dozens of mainline entries and spin-offs, chances are high that I did not point out that one Pokémon sport you completely love however contend that not practically sufficient individuals performed. I do know that some individuals look again on video games like Pokémon Ranger or Pokémon Pinball fondly regardless of debatable shortcomings. However in the event you’re a real sicko who believes that video games like Pokémon Sleep or Pokémon Smile don’t get their due, I might love to listen to extra about it within the feedback!
