🔗 Share this article

Following a glimpse of world peace thanks to Pokemon Go, it's beyond doubt that the monster collecting franchise is about as ubiquitous video games around. The iconic Pikachu is just as identifiable as Mickey Mouse, perhaps even more. The persistent excitement around card prices ensures almost daily Pokémon news stories. You'd be difficult to find a pocket monster game that didn't sell at least a few million copies. Remarkably, fan-made Pokémon games go viral annually.

However despite that ubiquity and popularity, some Pokémon games that are totally overlooked. These represent titles that failed to receive their proper due, or were buried by the hype of the core series. They're Pokémon games released on doomed consoles or online offerings, or were early forays onto different formats. Frequently, they are Pokémon games that probably would have blossomed if they had received follow-ups or modern remakes. With these criteria in mind, we won't be offering yet another recommendation for Pokémon Conquest or the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series. We're pulling an Excadrill.

Nevertheless, these might be these Pokémon games. So, before rearranging your glasses and typing 'Actually,' let us just agree that these are Pokémon games for people with refined tastes, shall we?

Pokémon Ranch: The Cozy Precursor

Too many Pokémon games focus on the battling element of the series, and not nearly enough of them highlight the ordinary aspects that would come with owning a companion. Sure, modern titles include minor mechanics like these in recent entries—you can play with your monsters in camps. But I am dying for a Pokémon game more in the vein of Nintendogs or The Sims.

My Pokemon Ranch (2008) for the Wii isn't it. The digital-only title is most accurately viewed as the antecedent to Pokémon Home; that is, as a storage system to store monsters from various titles. Critical reception from its launch noted 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 slice-of-life Pokémon game.

True to its title, the game takes place on a farm where your personal Miis—imagine this—just relax with your 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 start of a beautiful franchise built on the daily joys of living your life with a tiny companion. But since The Pokémon Company can collect a fee for Pokémon Home now, I'm guessing we will not get a Pokémon Ranch game developed to its fullest potential. One might cry 'help us, Pokémon Pokopia!' but I also know that the Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive is just as much a puzzler as it is a life simulation.

Ranch came out well before Stardew Valley sparked the lasting craze of cozy games. It was before the rise of idle games, and the Let's Play popularization of watching games you aren't actively controlling. Many never realized that Ranch's concept to watch your critters as much as you interact with them didn't mask a lack of substance. In actuality, Ranch's meticulous design was so remarkable, there's a Twitch stream dedicated to broadcasting the game 24/7. The streamer who runs the channel maintains that, after almost twenty years of playing the game, he still has not seen everything that is in it. Justice for Pokémon Ranch: no one knew what to do with you in 2008.

Pokemon Duel: The Strategic Tabletop Game Gone

Are you aware that Pokemon once had an official tabletop game with miniatures? Pokemon Duel was the 2016 effort to digitize the tabletop experience in a more accessible format. Duel was also, unfortunately, one of Pokémon's earliest forays into the world of free-to-play phone games. Duel had the trappings of a gacha title where players could pay to win—and there was incentive to do so, given the slow progression for new pieces.

These questionable mechanics masked a tragic reality: Pokémon Duel was an superb strategy game with Duel today. "Words cannot describe how much I loved and miss this game," one YouTube comment states, years after Duel's servers were pulled. "Honestly I think this game was superior to TCG Pocket in terms of depth, approachability, game design, and content in general," another commenter declared. "I truly believe if it launched now people would be engaging with it more than GO and Pocket together."

Regrettably, Duel's early release was marred by connectivity problems. Technical problems, alongside Duel's predatory monetization model, gave people few incentives to come back. Should a revival occur, The Pokémon Company decided to revive this franchise, it's unclear things would play out differently. The unique board structure made for a great tactical experience 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 relax a little and have some fun? Magikarp Jump (2017) was a uncommon case of The Pokémon Company approving a game with a concept so absurd, it was verging on shitpost. Considering we're dealing with a franchise where trainers venture forth with a team of useless monsters who simply cannot do anything, it's surprising we don't have more Pokémon games that laugh at themselves.

In Magikarp Jump, the player is charged 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 jump the highest. I'm not a fan 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 Select Button loved and understood the community love around Magikarp.

This was most apparent 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. Apart from the great writing, Magikarp Jump also experimented with other things I 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 compendium of over a thousand creatures, as Magikarp Jump does... but we can hope.

Magikarp Jump was not a particularly sophisticated or deep game, but the kernels of genius were there. Sharply written events with unpredictable results that forever alter how you can train a companion also describe the excellent Mewgenics. It's worth noting: Mewgenics will almost certainly be in the conversation when 2026 GOTY season arrives.

---

With numerous core games and derivative titles, chances are that I omitted that particular Pokémon game you absolutely adore but contend that too few people played. It's acknowledged that some people remember games like Pokémon Ranger or Pokémon Pinball with affection despite argu