Who hasn’t heard of Pokémon? It was a unique take on RPGs, especially in the ’90s, one that focused on collecting lovable creatures instead of leveling up human party members. Those creatures allowed the franchise to take hold of its fans and never let go. The kids who first learned of Pikachu and friends are still walking around catching Pokémon on their phones today. It’s a testament to how solid game design and imaginative character design can create a lasting brand.
There is, however, another side to Pokémon’s fame. While the characters and core gameplay have turned the series into a juggernaut, that status isn’t always a great thing. Some have inevitably come to see Pokémon as a surefire money-maker and nothing more. When that happens, we the fans tend to get products that throw quality out faster than a Trainer with a bad IV Ditto. Games that were made not to be fun or challenge series conventions, but just to sell us something with Pikachu on it.
The history of Pokémon games is riddled with such cash-grabs. But it’s also filled with games that creatively used to franchise to deliver something unique. Here are the highest highs and lowest lows of Pokémon games.
30 Insulting Use Of The Franchise: Pokkén Tournament DX
Let’s get it out of the way: Pokkén Tournament was actually a great game at its core. Fans were finally able to see more detailed, fierce models of their favorite Pokémon that stood in contrast to the usual cartoony appearances. The fighting mechanics were also well done. The thing that made Pokkén Tournament DX offensive was that it was a Switch port of a Wii U game that sold for $60. Despite not really adding anything other than a few new fighters–no new modes, no updated graphics–Nintendo still decided this version needed to be full price.
29 Why Did Game Freak Forget This? Pokémon Black And White 2
The fifth generation is probably the most heavily criticized despite having some of the most solid games in series history. While X and Y are getting more hate recently, there’s still a general ambivalence towards Black, White, Black 2, and White 2. It’s too bad, because it seemed like the Black and White series had everything longtime Pokémon fans could want: a very different region, a whole new Pokédex that got rid of the frequent Zubat encounters, a story that posed challenging questions, more mature characters, and actual sequels. So why does Game Freak ignore them?
28 Couldn’t Live Up To The Hype: Pokémon Battle Revolution
The Pokémon Stadium games were a cherished part of many childhoods. They let us bring our Pokémon to the big screen in full 3D, take on entirely new battles, and even play minigames. Their successor, Coliseum, added a wholly original story mode. Pokémon Battle Revolution for the Wii aimed to bring things back to the Stadium tradition using the fourth generation of Pokémon. Trainers could transfer their teams from the DS games to battle in 3D against new foes. They could even customize an avatar and fight online. However, the game fell flat mostly because there was nothing to do but battle. No story, no minigames…nothing.
27 An Old Gem: Pokémon Trading Card Game
During the heyday of Pokémon, Wizards of the Coast put out a Pokémon trading card game. New cards are still being released today, but the fervor around them was biggest in the ’90s. Most kids just collected them in binders, but some took part in national tournaments that offered some big cash prizes. A Game Boy game was eventually made based on the trading card game, and it was actually great. It featured smart AI (at least to ten-year-old me), interesting character designs, and a banging soundtrack.
26 Forgotten If Not For One Thing: Pokémon Ranger
If there’s one thing Pokémon fans always want, it’s a deeper lore for the series. Just…not like this. Pokémon Ranger sought to show a side of the Pokémon world that had nothing to do with trainers and battles. Instead, players were conservationists that rescued Pokémon in the wild. Despite the interesting premise, the story quickly devolved into bad Saturday morning cartoon fare, and the gameplay wasn’t exactly thrilling. Even so, it sold 2.7 million copies worldwide. The reason (aside from just being a Pokémon game) was that it contained the ability to get the legendary Manaphy and put it into your actual Pokémon game. It was the only way to get Manaphy, so sales were miraculously high.
25 A More Tactical Battle: Pokémon Conquest
Out of the many attempts to make Pokémon succeed in some other genre, Pokémon Conquest has to be one of the best. The game takes the critters and inserts them in a historical setting. Feudal Japan, to be exact. Well, a weird Pokémon version of feudal Japan where children are samurai warlords and ninjas use Mewtwo. Yet despite the ridiculous premise, the game manages to be a solid strategy RPG along the lines of Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics.
24 Better Left In The Dust: Pokémon Dash
Next stop on our tour of ill-advised Pokémon spin-offs is Pokémon Dash. The thing is, a racing game where the Pokémon are the racers actually sounds like a pretty neat concept. The problem was more in Pokémon Dash’s execution of the concept. Only Pikachu was actually playable, and it was controlled by swiping a stylus on the DS touch screen. With its one character and overly-simplistic controls, it felt more like a cheap mobile game than a fullfledged DS title.
23 Good, Clean Fun: Pokémon Art Academy
Sometimes, all a game needs is charm to get by. Pokémon Art Academy certainly lacked the depth of the main series, but it was still a fun romp through the more creative side of the fandom. Have you ever seen an amazing piece of fan art that made you look at Pokémon in a different way? Well here’s a whole game dedicated to helping you learn how to draw that kind of art yourself! Or you can just mess around and create ridiculous things like this Chespin. Whatever your skill, Pokémon Art Academy provided a forgiving outlet for creating your own masterpieces or monstrosities.
22 Why, Just Why? Learn With Pokémon: Typing Adventure
While Pokémon Art Academy tried to teach players the techniques behind drawing, Learn With Pokémon: Typing Adventure tried to teach…typing? Yes, there was actually a real DS game that used the Pokémon license, included a Bluetooth keyboard, and taught you how to type certain words. Pokémon would pop up on the screen, and players would be tasked with quickly typing their names. Speed was the objective, and truly masterful players would become so fast on the keys that they wouldn’t have time to wonder why they wasted money on this game.
21 The Mon For The Job: Detective Pikachu
The character of Detective Pikachu is already a joke simply because there’s a movie about it coming out. Yes, Hollywood has Ryan Reynolds starring alongside what is supposed to be a very convincing CGI Pikachu.
See: Detective Pikachu’s Pokémon Will Be ‘Realistic’ Like GotG’s Rocket Raccoon Or The Jungle Book
But the game that spawned the intelligent ‘Chu is actually a satisfying romp, one that shows a Pokémon-human partnership that isn’t based around one of parties constantly getting beat up. If you ever wanted to see everyday life in the Pokémon world, then Detective Pikachu is for you.
20 No One Asked For This: Pokémon Rumble
At some point someone decided to make a Pokémon game in the style of an old-school arcade brawler. Which could work…except the first Pokémon Rumble was way to lazily done. Rather than capturing the frantic fun of arcade gaming, it just felt like a slog through waves of mindless enemies. Undeterred by its poor reception, Nintendo ordered sequels. There was even a line of figures created to scan into the game, probably to copy Skylanders’ success. Unfortunately, both Pokémon Rumble sequels suffered the same fate of being way too simplistic, and the figures never caught on the way Amiibo have.
19 Some Fun For Phones: Pokémon Shuffle Mobile
Pokémon Shuffle did some time on consoles before it eventually made its way to phones. The move was a great idea. Shuffle is a fun puzzler that makes great use of Pokémon. The goal is to match Pokémon faces, but the simple puzzle mechanics are enhanced by things like type matchups and Mega Evolution. That’s right, there’s an official product in the post XY world that remembers Mega Evolution is a thing. It does work on an energy system that refills via micro-transactions, which is unfortunate, but it also provides several challenge levels to keep you coming back for more.
18 It Was Fun for Like, a Second: Magikarp Jump
When this mobile game launched, it was a surprise to fans. Like many spin-off games, it shied away from traditional Pokémon battles and introduced a new way to compete. As the name implies, Magikarp was the star of this new brand of battles. In fact, only Magikarp could take part. The game even makes a joke of how useless a Magikarp becomes when it evolves into Gyarados, a scenario that would be a blessing in any other Pokémon game. The joking tone of the game charmed fans and media, until about a week later when we all just sort of forgot the game existed. Surprise, jokes get old.
17 A Neat Take On Strategic Battles: Pokémon Duel
Pokémon spin-offs are at their best when they offer something besides a gimmicky premise. Pokémon Duel is one of the few that understands that. Besides just being a game where you collect cool figures, it’s also a decently strategic board game of sorts. Positioning matters just as much as power in this game, meaning that you’re free to use your favorites, even the tiny cute ones that would usually be Gyarados food. It could certainly be deeper, but at least it’s not as reliant on its gimmick as other Pokémon mobile games.
16 Every Year, A New Disappointment: Pokémon GO
I actually play Pokémon Go regularly myself, so I can’t rightly say it’s the devil in mobile game form as so many articles have done before. But playing it rarely ever feels like pure joy. It feels more like “oh hey Niantic finally did something right.” If this game wasn’t Pokémon-themed, I would have given it up long ago. Because while it has improved since release, it’s still a buggy game that constantly withholds the best content, seemingly contrived to keep you playing rather than to actually be fun. If you still play, be honest with yourself: Would you have put up with Niantic’s antics for two years if this wasn’t a Pokémon game?
15 Be The Pokémon: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon
One type of game fans have asked for is one that lets you actually control the Pokémon. After all, hundreds of creatures that sport amazing abilities seem like prime fodder for playable characters. The Mystery Dungeon series fulfills that wish, while also delivering some surprisingly affecting character-based plots. Being the Pokémon means you can talk to the Pokémon, and that comes with friendship, loyalty, and even tragedy as the games’ stories unfold. Who could have imagined that magical animals had such dramatic lives?
14 Apparently, We’re All Playing It, But We Don’t Speak Of It: Pokémon Quest
This surprise game was announced at a Nintendo Direct and then immediately released. Not only that, it was released to massive sales. It made $3 million during its first week. And all of that was in micro-transactions. That’s an amazing number.
Even more amazing is that it surpassed 7.5 million downloads.
With these figures, it seems like everyone is playing this game and loving it enough to pour tons of cash into it. So why aren’t Pokémon fans posting on social media about it, or recommending it to their friends, or…just talking about it in general? For a game that’s so widely downloaded, it hasn’t gotten much positive word-of-mouth.
13 Great Use Of The Anime Voices: Pokémon Puzzle League
Whenever the old Pokémon theme song comes on, people bust out singing like it’s the greatest power ballad of all time. The way people value the song, and the anime attached to it, you’d think it was the pinnacle of everything Pokémon. And to many ’90s kids, that might be the case. That’s sad, because the franchise has so much more to offer than one cartoon. Pokémon Puzzle League might be the one time where that wasn’t true. This game already had the solid mechanics of Tetris, but combining it with the music and voice work of the Pokémon anime made it more charming than it had any right to be.
12 Ambitious In The Worst Way: Hey You, Pikachu
Nintendo loves their crazy peripherals, and people love Pikachu, so why not combine the two? That must have been the thought behind Hey You, Pikachu! This N64 came game with a special microphone that was supposed to recognize the player’s voice, allowing you to “talk” to Pikachu. It worked about as well as you’d imagine voice recognition software on the N64 would.
The reason it was so bad is because it was calibrated to only recognize high-pitched voices, like a child’s.
Which makes sense in theory except there’s more than just small children in the Pokémon fandom. The result was a game that made few happy, as talking to Pikachu became more of a chore than a charm.
11 It Had Its Flaws, But It Paved The Way: Pokémon X And Y
There’s a weird pattern of sorts in the Pokémon fandom. Whenever a new game comes out, people begin to see the flaws in the game before it, while also becoming nostalgic for the game before that. As we are now firmly in a Sun and Moon world, X and Y are now on the chopping block. The game’s general lack of challenge and misuse of certain areas have earned it some harsh criticism. Which is too bad, because the sixth generation did a lot to push the series forward. It established a 3D Pokémon world, gave us the Fairy-type, and brought the awesome Mega Evolutions.
