For years, Pokémon resisted making the jump to mobile. Their games were strictly made for Nintendo home consoles and handhelds but, eventually, the allure of being in the pocket of every smartphone owner became too tempting to ignore.
Since diving into this new world, the catalog of Pokémon mobile games has become extensive. Along with main-series games and console spin-offs, there has been a healthy diet of newly released phone games coming out over the past decade or so. Some of these adapt existing formulas, while others have brought Pokémon in experimental new directions.
Pokémon Duel Turned Pokémon Into a Board Game
A lesser known arm of the Pokémon universe is the Trading Figure Game, a strategy board game that had a very short run in the 2000s. Though it was designed by Pokémon Trading Card Game creators Tsunekazu Ishihara and Kouichi Ooyama along with Masayuki Miura, it was ultimately a failure and discontinued not long after launch.
However, the concept lived on in Pokémon Duel, which was heavily based on its underperforming predecessor. The idea is simple: land on the opponent’s goal space on the playmat, with players achieving this by moving figures around, fighting enemies, and so forth. Though the premise was unique for Pokémon, it too was discontinued, only three years after its initial release.
Pokémon Rumble Rush Left Us Too Soon
The Pokémon Rumble series isn’t the most celebrated of the Pokémon spin-offs, but it’s nonetheless good for some lighthearted, relatively mindless fun. There’s apparently ample internal love for the series, too, as new installments have been released relatively consistently since the original WiiWare version in 2009. Rumble Rush currently stands as the final game in the series.
As expected, it plays much like the games that came before it, albeit with some mobile-friendly changes. The player’s Pokémon moves towards the nearest wild beast automatically, for example. The whole experience was short-lived, though. The game was released in 2019 and, a little over a year after that, the game’s online services ended, rendering Rumble Rush unplayable.
Pokémon Quest Is Full of Simplified Charm
Pokémon Quest has immediate charm right off the bat, as Pokémon are rendered in an endearing, blocky, voxel art style, and the world in which they live is similarly Minecraft-ian. The premise is simple: find loot on the recently discovered Tumblecube Island and befriend Pokémon along the way, while also training them, so expeditions in areas filled with strong Pokémon are more navigable.
Battles are greatly simplified; Pokémon have only an HP and Attack stat and know just one or two moves. The gameplay is more about managing the team composition and game progression. Quest is ideal for pick-up-and-play sessions, which can easily become longer thanks to the addictive gameplay loop.
Magikarp Jump Is Fun Despite How Shallow It Can Be
The player gets a Magikarp and increases its jumping ability by feeding it, training it, and unlocking different types of upgrades. Then, the fish competes against others, eventually reaching its maximum potential before retiring, at which point the player selects another Magikarp and starts the cycle over again. That’s Magikarp Jump.
The visual presentation is cute and polished, and it’s nice to see the generally lame Magikarp star in its own adventure. There’s no world in which this could be a console game or anything like that, but as a time-killer on the phone, it can be pretty entertaining.
Pokémon Trading Card Game Live Is a Simple but Effective Adaptation
Though the video games are the foundation of the Pokémon franchise, it’s hard to argue against the cards being the main driver of it, at least in an economic sense. It has also long intersected with the video games, dating back to the Game Boy Color release of Pokémon Trading Card Game.
That experience has since been modernized, first via Pokémon Trading Card Game Online and then its 2023 successor, Pokémon Trading Card Game Live. The game is what it says on the tin: It’s the Pokémon TCG but on the phone. Using cards in a touchscreen interface is intuitive, and as far as ways to get a TCG game in, there are none more convenient than this.
Pokémon Unite Is the Franchise’s Introduction to MOBAs
Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games like League of Legends and Dota are massive, so in 2021, Pokémon entered the MOBA market with Unite. The idea is that players face off in 5-on-5 battles that take place on a large playing field, competing against each other for the highest score.
Points are earned by defeating wild Pokémon or those in the opponent’s party. That’s a reductive explanation, as there’s a lot more strategy when it comes to putting a team together and then executing a game plan on the field. While battles in the main-series RPG are turn-based Unite offers a more fast-paced experience without giving up the strategic element.
Pokémon Masters Ex Pays Tribute to Pokémon’s Past
More than any other spin-off, Masters EX is a love letter to the franchise’s history. The thrust of the game is that it’s an environment where players can battle against some of the most memorable trainers from the history of the main-series games. These aren’t quite classic Pokémon battles, though, as these are primarily three-on-three fights that take place in real time.
Using an attack prompts a cooldown period, so part of the challenge is time management. There’s a big focus on storytelling, with trainers getting to show off more of their personality and journey in the game’s chapters. In terms of Pokémon mobile games, Masters EX is about as content-rich as they come.
Competitive Battles Are the Sole Focus of Pokémon Champions
This one is still days away from its mobile release, but Pokémon Champions has already built momentum with its console release on Nintendo Switch. For years, competitive battling has been a side mode in the main-series RPGs, but now, the experience has its own dedicated game, akin to a sort of modern revival of Pokémon Stadium.
There’s no plot here, as the focus is all on the battles. The core experience should be familiar to Pokémon fans, as it’s just the same battle system, but isolated into its own experience. The free-to-start mobile release also makes competitive battling more accessible to those who might not have a Switch, making it even easier than it already is to get into Pokémon.
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket Delightfully Streamlines Card Battles
The base Pokémon TCG is great, but as the game has developed in the decades since its introduction, it has become increasingly complex. It can be an intimidating experience for first-time players, or even seasoned fans who are attempting a TCG comeback after years away.
Pocket, though, strips the TCG gameplay down to its core components, resulting in a more mobile-friendly, and beginner-friendly, experience that’s fun for even more experienced players. The streamlined format lends itself to quicker, easier-to-understand battles, but that doesn’t mean the game is boring and requires no strategy. Pocket is Pokémon card battling in its most approachable form, and it’s a heck of a lot of fun.
WeaknessFx2
Retreat Cost1
HP60
StageBasic
[1L] Thunder Jolt (30)
Flip a coin. If tails, this Pokémon also does 10 damage to itself.
Pokémon Go Revived Pokémon For a New Era
Pokémon Go was dream fulfillment for generations of Pokémon fans. On their phones, they could go out and catch Pokémon in the real world. The augmented reality game was groundbreaking, and for the first time in years, it put Pokémon back at the forefront of pop culture as a renewed phenomenon.
While the initial version of the game focused mostly on the novelty of catching Pokémon, it has since expanded greatly to include raids, deeper battling, seasonal events, and much more. The game is now approaching a decade since it first released, and it’s still as popular as ever: Pokémon Go Fest just took over Chicago’s Grant Park, and over 100,000 tickets were sold for the three-day event.
- Released
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July 6, 2016
- ESRB
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e
- Developer(s)
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Niantic
- Publisher(s)
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Niantic
- Engine
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Unity
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
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Yes