Following a glimpse of world peace thanks to Pokémon Go, there's no question that the creature-catching series is about as mainstream gaming titles around. The iconic Pikachu is every bit as famous as Mickey Mouse, perhaps even more. The ongoing excitement around trading card values ensures near-daily Pokemon headlines. You'd be hard-pressed to find a Pokémon game that failed to move at least a few million units. Remarkably, unofficial Pokémon games achieve popularity annually.
However despite that pervasiveness and fame, there are still Pokémon games that are totally overlooked. These represent games that didn't get their proper due, or were overshadowed by the excitement of the core series. They're Pokémon games released on ill-fated consoles or online offerings, or were early forays onto different formats. They're often also Pokémon games that might have flourished if they ever got follow-ups or modern remakes. With these criteria in mind, we won't be offering just one more reminder for Pokémon Conquest or the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series. We're going beneath the surface.
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 people with refined tastes, shall we?
Pokemon Ranch: The Chill Precursor
An excessive number of Pokémon games emphasize the battling element of the series, and not nearly enough of them highlight the ordinary aspects that would come with living with a companion. Sure, there are minor mechanics like these in recent entries—you can pet, and feed your monsters in bases. But I am longing for a Pokémon game more in the vein of Nintendogs or The Sims.
My Pokemon Ranch (2008) for the Wii is not that game. The downloadable-only title is best seen as the precursor to Pokémon Home; that is, as a storage system to store monsters from various titles. Critical reception from its release said Ranch was a bad if not truly ugly game. I'm not here to dispute these claims, 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 farm where your Mii avatars—imagine this—simply hang out with your pals. The activities with Pokémon were simple, and a significant part of the appeal was observing what your monsters might do when not forced into cockfighting. In a just world, 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 never see a Pokémon Ranch game realized to its complete potential. I'd say 'help us, Pokémon Pokopia!' but it's also known that the Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive is as much a puzzle game as it is a life sim.
Ranch was released well before Stardew Valley sparked the enduring trend of cozy games. It was before the rise of passive games, and the video playthrough normalization of watching games you aren't playing. Most people never understood that Ranch's proposal to watch your creatures as much as you play with them didn't mask a lack of substance. In truth, Ranch's attention to detail was so remarkable, there's a Twitch stream focused on running the game continuously. The streamer who runs the channel maintains that, after almost twenty years of playing the game, he still has not seen all that is in it. Recognition for Pokémon Ranch: no one understood you in 2008.
Pokemon Duel: The Tactical Board Game Lost
Did you know that Pokémon once had an official board game with action figures? Pokémon Duel was the 2016 effort to digitize the physical experience in a more approachable form. Duel was also, unfortunately, one of Pokémon's first ventures into the world of freemium 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 lengthy grind for new figures.
All of these questionable mechanics obfuscated a sad truth: Pokémon Duel was an superb tactical game with Duel today. "I can’t express how much I loved and miss this game," a YouTube comment reads, years after Duel's servers were shut down. "Honestly I think this game was superior to TCG Pocket in terms of depth, approachability, game design, and content in general," another commenter 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 plagued with connectivity problems. Bugs, alongside Duel's predatory monetization model, gave people little reason to return. If, by some miracle, The Pokémon Company chose to resurrect this franchise, it's unclear things would play out differently. The unique board structure made for a great strategic challenge for the few folks who played Duel, but that board is also a daunting visual mess.
Pokémon: Magikarp Jump: The Absurd 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 giving its blessing a game with a concept so absurd, it was bordering on shitpost. And when we're dealing with a franchise where trainers venture forth with a full belt 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 tasked with breeding the best possible version of the notorious fish. This isn't 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 pause before they can improve their Magikarp further. But it is evident throughout the experience that Select Button 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 eaten by a Pidgeotto. Beyond the clever dialogue, Magikarp Jump also tried out other things one might wish the core series would do, like offering a wide variety of the same species of monster. I know it's not feasible for any Pokémon game to have 30 different colorings and patterns for a compendium of over a thousand creatures, as Magikarp Jump does... but one can dream.
Magikarp Jump was not a especially complex or deep game, but the seeds of brilliance were there. Sharply written events with outrageous outcomes that permanently influence how you can train a companion also describe the excellent Mewgenics. It's worth noting: Mewgenics will almost certainly be in the conversation when Game of the Year season arrives.
Given dozens of mainline entries and derivative titles, chances are that I didn't mention that one Pokémon game you totally love but argue that not nearly enough people played. It's acknowledged that some people remember games like Pokémon Ranger or Pokémon Pinball with affection despite argu
