Following a taste of global harmony courtesy of Pokemon Go, there's no question that the creature-catching series stands as one of the most mainstream video games in existence. Pikachu is just as famous as Mickey Mouse, perhaps even more. The ongoing pandemonium surrounding card prices ensures almost daily Pokemon news stories. You'd be difficult to find a Pokémon game that failed to move at least a few million units. Even, fan-made Pokémon games go viral every year.
Yet despite that pervasiveness and fame, there are still Pokémon games that remain overlooked. These represent games that didn't get their fair shake, or were buried by the hype of the mainline series. These are Pokémon games released on doomed consoles or services, or were early forays onto new mediums. They're often also Pokémon games that probably would have flourished if they ever got sequels or contemporary re-releases. With these criteria in mind, we won't be offering just one more recommendation for Pokémon Conquest or the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series. We're pulling an Excadrill.
Still, these might be these Pokémon games. So, before rearranging your glasses and writing 'Actually,' let us just agree that these are Pokémon games for people with refined tastes, agreed?
Pokemon Ranch: The Cozy Precursor
Too many Pokémon games emphasize the combat aspect of the series, and far too few of them highlight the ordinary realities that would come with living with a pet. Admittedly, modern titles include small features like these in recent entries—you can play with your monsters in bases. But I am longing for a Pokémon game more in the style of Nintendogs or The Sims.
My Pokémon Ranch (2008) for the Wii is not that game. The digital-only title is best seen as the precursor to Pokémon Home; that is, as a storage system to store monsters from various titles. Reviews from its launch noted Ranch was a poor if not outright hideous game. I'm not here to argue against these notions, but it behooves me to say Ranch might be the closest we've come to a slice-of-life Pokémon game.
As the name suggests, the game is set on a farm where your Mii avatars—get this—simply hang out with your Pokémon pals. The activities with Pokémon were basic, and a significant part of the appeal was watching what your monsters might do when they're not being forced into battle. In a just world, Pokémon Ranch would have been the start of a beautiful franchise built on the simple pleasures of coexisting with a small creature. But since The Pokémon Company can charge a subscription for Pokémon Home now, I'm guessing we will not get a Pokémon Ranch game developed to its complete potential. I'd say 'help us, Pokémon Pokopia!' but it's also known that the Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive is just as much a puzzle game as it is a life sim.
Ranch was released long before Stardew Valley sparked the enduring trend of comfort gaming. It was prior to the rise of passive games, and the video playthrough normalization of watching games you aren't playing. Most people never realized that Ranch's proposal to watch your critters as much as you interact with them didn't mask a shallow core. In truth, Ranch's meticulous design was so remarkable, a Twitch stream dedicated to running the game continuously. The streamer 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. Justice for Pokémon Ranch: no one understood you in 2008.
Pokémon Duel: The Strategic Tabletop Game Lost
Are you aware that Pokemon once had an official board game with action figures? Pokemon Duel was the 2016 attempt to digitize the tabletop experience in a more approachable form. Duel was also, sadly, one of Pokémon's earliest forays into the world of freemium phone games. Duel had the trappings of a gacha title where players could spend for advantage—and there was motivation to do so, given the lengthy grind for new pieces.
All of these poor design choices masked a tragic reality: Pokémon Duel was an superb strategy game with Duel anymore. "I can’t express how much I loved and miss this game," a YouTube comment reads, years after Duel's servers were pulled. "Truly I think this game was better than TCG Pocket in terms of depth, approachability, game design, and content in general," a user wrote. "I truly believe if it launched now people would be engaging with it more than GO and Pocket together."
Unfortunately, Duel's initial launch was plagued with server issues. Bugs, alongside Duel's scummy business model, gave people little reason to return. If, by some miracle, The Pokémon Company chose to resurrect this franchise, I'm still not certain things would play out differently. The unusual board structure made for a great strategic challenge for the few folks who played Duel, but that playing field is also a intimidating visual mess.
Pokemon: Magikarp Jump: The Absurd Experiment
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 absurd, it was bordering on shitpost. And when we're dealing with a franchise where trainers venture forth with a team of useless 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 raising the ultimate version of the infamous fish. This isn't about a Magikarp that can kick your butt. These are 'karp raised to enter contests to see who can jump the highest. I'm not a fan is how Magikarp Jump, like many phone games, forces the player to pause before they can improve their Magikarp further. But it is clear throughout the experience that the developers loved and understood the fan culture around Magikarp.
Nowhere was this more evident 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 one might wish the core series would do, like offering a wide variety of the same type of monster. I know it's not practical for any Pokémon game to have 30 different variations 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 seeds of brilliance were there. Sharply written events with outrageous outcomes that permanently influence how you can raise a pet also describe the excellent Mewgenics. And I'm just saying: Mewgenics will likely be in the conversation when 2026 GOTY season arrives.
With dozens of mainline entries and spin-offs, it's probable that I didn't mention that one Pokémon game you totally love but contend that too few people played. I know that some people remember games like Pokemon Ranger or Pokémon Pinball fondly notwithstanding argu
