3 Pokémon games that were ahead of their time

After Pokémon Go gave us a glimpse of world peace, there’s no question that the monster collecting franchise is about as mainstream as video games get. Pikachu is just as recognizable as Mickey Mouse, if not more so. The continued pandemonium around card prices has ensured near-daily Pokémon headlines. You’d be hard-pressed to find any pocket monster game that didn’t sell at least a couple million copies. Even Pokémon fan games go viral every year.

Yet despite that ubiquity and popularity, there are still Pokémon games that are totally underappreciated. These are games that didn’t get their fair shake, or games that were buried under the hype of the mainline series. They’re Pokémon games that were stuck on doomed platforms or services, or were early forays onto new mediums. They’re often also Pokémon games that probably would have blossomed if they ever got sequels or modern remakes. With these criteria in mind, this list will not be yet another reminder that Pokémon Conquest or any of the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games slap. We’re pulling an Excadrill and digging deeper.

Still, these might be Pokémon games you already know about or played back in the day. So, before you rearrange your glasses and start typing ‘Actually,’ let us just agree that these are Pokémon games for people with refined tastes, shall we?

Pokémon Ranch

Too many Pokémon games focus on the battling aspect of the series, and not nearly enough of them focus on the ordinary aspects that would come with living with a pet. Sure, there are minor mechanics like these in modern games — you can play with, pet, and feed your monsters in camps, for example. But I am dying for a Pokémon game that is more in the vein of Nintendogs or The Sims.

My Pokémon Ranch (2008) for the Nintendo Wii is not that game. The downloadable-only title is best seen as the precursor to Pokémon Home; that is, as a repository to hold monsters from different games. Reviews from its release say Ranch was a bad if not outright hideous game, too. I’m not here to argue against these notions, but it behooves me to say Ranch might be the closest we’ve ever gotten to a slice-of-life Pokémon game.

As the name suggests, the game takes place on a farm where your Mii avatars — get this — simply hang out with your pals. The interactions with Pokémon were simple, and a lot of the draw was watching what your monsters might do when they’re not being forced into cockfighting. In a just world, Pokémon Ranch would have been the start of a beautiful franchise built on the daily joys of living your life with a small creature. But since The Pokémon Company can charge a subscription to Pokémon Home now, I’m guessing we will never see a Pokémon Ranch game developed to its fullest potential. I’d say save us, ‘Pokémon Pokopia!’ but I also know that the Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive is just as much a puzzle game as it is a life sim.

Ranch came out well before Stardew Valley kicked off the enduring trend of cozy games. It was before the proliferation of idle games, and the Let’s Play normalization of watching video games you aren’t actively controlling. Most people never realized that Ranch’s proposal to watch your critters as much as you play with them wasn’t to hide a lack of substance. In actuality, Ranch‘s attention to detail was so extraordinary, there’s a Twitch stream in 2026 dedicated to running the game 24/7. The guy who runs the Twitch channel maintains that, after nearly two decades of playing the game, he still has not seen everything that is in it. Justice for Pokémon Ranch: nobody knew what to do with you in 2008.

Pokémon Duel

Did you know that Pokémon once had an official board game with action figures? Pokémon Duel was the 2016 attempt to digitize the tabletop experience in a more approachable format. Duel was also, unfortunately, one of Pokémon’s earliest forays into the world of free-to-play mobile gaming. Duel had the trappings of a gacha game where players could pay to win — and there was incentive to do so, given how long it took to grind new figures.

All of these poor design choices obfuscated a tragic reality: Pokémon Duel was an excellent strategy game with a soundtrack that went way harder than it needed to. Don’t believe me? To this day, people are still mourning that you can’t play Duel anymore. “I can’t express how much I loved and miss this game,” one YouTube comment on the video above reads, seven years after Duel‘s servers were pulled. “Honestly I think this game was better than TCG Pocket in terms of complexity, [approachability], design, and content in general,” another commenter declared. “I truly believe if it came out now people would be playing it more than GO and Pocket combined.”

Unfortunately, Duel‘s early release was plagued with server issues. Technical problems, alongside Duel‘s scummy monetization model, gave people little reason to come back. If, by some miracle, The Pokémon Company decided to revive this franchise, I’m still not certain things would play out differently. The unusual board structure made for a great tactical experience for the few folks who played Duel, but that playing field is also a daunting eyesore.

Pokémon: Magikarp Jump

Man, why don’t more Pokémon games loosen up a little and have some fun? Magikarp Jump (2017) was a rare instance of The Pokémon Company giving its blessing to a game with a premise so silly, it was bordering on shitpost. And when we’re dealing with a franchise where trainers go out into the world with a full belt of useless monsters who literally can’t do anything, I’m shocked we don’t have more Pokémon games that poke fun at themselves.

In Magikarp Jump, the player is tasked with breeding the best possible version of the notorious fish. I’m not talking about a Magikarp that can kick your butt in battle. These are ‘karp raised to enter competitions to see who can flop the highest. I’m not a fan of how Magikarp Jump, like many mobile games, forces the player to wait before they can train their Magikarp further. But it is evident throughout the experience that Select Button loved and understood the fan culture around Magikarp.

Nowhere was this more evident than Jump‘s merciless random events, where your Magikarp was just as likely to raise its stats as it was to get eaten by a Pidgeotto. Beyond the great writing, Magikarp Jump also experimented with other things I wish the mainline games 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 colorings and patterns for a compendium of over a thousand creatures, as Magikarp Jump does … but one can dream.

Magikarp Jump was not a particularly sophisticated or deep game, but the kernels of genius 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 almost certainly be in the running when 2026 GOTY season rolls around.

With dozens of mainline entries and spin-offs, chances are that I didn’t mention that one Pokémon game you totally love but contend that not nearly enough people played. I know that some people look back on games like Pokémon Ranger or Pokémon Pinball fondly despite arguable shortcomings. But if you’re a true sicko who believes that games like Pokémon Sleep or Pokémon Smile aren’t getting their due, I’d love to hear more about it in the comments!