Pokémon is a most curious saga. Although Game Freak and The Pokémon Company insist on keeping the target audience of primary school children, the truth is that the saga of pocket monsters continues to be a great attraction for many millennials who grew up with the first generations on the Game Boy. The Pokémon player has evolved over the years, but the franchise is without a doubt one of the most static in the video game landscape. Is there an alternative to Pikachu and company? In this post we will investigate the world of inspirations, plagiarisms and decent alternatives to Pokémon games.
Has the Pokémon formula been exhausted for the most veteran fans?
Every self-respecting Pokémon fan wants to sit down at a table with Game Freak and unleash his ideas. However, the creators of the saga have not shown the slightest interest in altering their "Torchic of the golden eggs" for years.
The Pokémon games have hardly changed their structure since their birth in 1996, and the difficulty of titles has plummeted since then. Current titles can disappoint adult audiences, because they they are not challenging. For this reason, the Internet is filling up with ROMs made by fans who, bypassing the company's intellectual property, are looking for some players to regain their enthusiasm for the franchise. Today we will try to go a little further and investigate if there is a world beyond Pokémon. Is there any game that can overshadow it?
pokemon clone games
There are companies that are aware of the discontent among Pokémon players and have made attempts to replicate the successful Game Freak formula. In general, these two titles stand out:
Nexomon: Extinction
Graphically, this game is how the games in the main Pokémon saga would have looked if the jump to 3D had not been made. keep the hairsalon that we saw until nintendo ds games with a zenithal perspective and very stubborn characters.
Nexomon: Extinction It's a great game if you're looking for an alternative to Pokemon and don't want to complicate your life with new mechanics. At a playable level, the title offers a identical experience to that of pocket monsters. However, the game has greater difficulty. There are a total of 9 elemental types with its own table that works with a system similar to that of Pokémon.
As you will have been able to appreciate, Nexomon does not hide in the least that it is a pokemon clone. If you're interested in checking it out, it's available on a ton of platforms: iOS, Android, PC, Xbox, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.
Temtem
This title is even more controversial than the previous one. The approach of Temtem is clear and concise: to be the game that Game Freak has never dared to make. Within its genre, Temtem is a MMORPG, that is, an RPG combined with a massive online multiplayer system. on paper, Temtem it's great but its greatest virtue is also its greatest ballast.
If what you like about Pokémon is exploration and fighting, Temtem it will give you that and more. His battle system is identical to pokemon. In fact, they are better than those of Pokémon, because they are always double —Genius Sonority already reached this same conclusion with Pokémon Colosseum y Pokémon XD for the GameCube—and allow for a lot of variability and strategy. So, where is the problem? Well, precisely in settle for being a pokemon clone. Temtem it's a game Graphically he is very nice and has a lot of potential. However, he can only aspire to be 'the clone of Pokémon', so he totally renounces his identity in order to be an alternative for the most coffee-loving.
If you want to try it, you've had it on PC in Early Access for a long time. Its final version will arrive in 2022 September for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and Xbox.
Games inspired by Pokémon or similar
We have already talked about blatant plagiarism. Let's go now with some games that are different, but have some mechanic or element shared with Pokémon:
Ooblets
Ooblets are very adorable little creatures and kawaii that will help us explore the world of Oob. And like good fake Pokémon, they will also lend themselves to fight with other Ooblets to defend his master. Unlike Pokémon, Ooblets are mostly Facilities and they are born from the earth. Even so, and despite having combat mechanics similar to Pokémon, the game works by objectives and we could say that it is even more similar to Stardew Valley than pokemon
Seen in this way, it seems that Ooblets It is the definitive game, especially due to its visual section, which is very beautiful. However, Ooblets is one of those titles that covers a lot and squeezes little. By trying to include so many mechanics, it is not a monster game, nor is it a life or farm simulator.
At the moment, the game is available for PC and Xbox systems.
Monster sanctuary
We get out of the RPG and go to a Metroidvania. This title developed by Team17 shows us a world like that of Pokémon, in which monsters and humans live in harmony. However, the balance is broken overnight and our mission will be to return to establish order and peace.
En Monster sanctuary we will not be coaches, but monster breeders. The fun part of the game is that we will have to investigate what has happened by exploring its various 2D settings and fighting with the monsters that we are raising. The fighting are too by turns and with a very Pokémon style, but they are not done on a stage, but on the very terrain that we are exploring. The title has its own personality, which sets it apart from those that are clones. If you are interested and want to play it, it is available for PlayStation 4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC.
Other alternatives if you are looking for more challenges
Pokemon is a JRPG. Very watered down, but a JRPG after all. AND knowing this is important in order to look for alternatives. If what you like about Pokémon is combat, any JRPG that it has turn-based combat you should like it. You may have never given a Square Enix game a chance —for example— because you didn't play it in your childhood. But we encourage you to explore the market and give games of this genre a chance, regardless of whether or not they have monsters. If what interests you in Pokémon is the strategy, the challenge and the mechanics, there are a lot of games out there waiting for you.
We will close the post with some curious alternatives that you could explore in order to give Junichi Masuda's franchise a breather. They are the following:
Dragon Quest Monsters
La dragon quest franchise It was born a decade before Pokémon. He did it for the NES. Years later Monsters would come out, a spin off which would quickly be compared to Pokémon.
On a mechanical level, these games they share many elements with pokemon, although it cannot be said that they copied anything —after all, they only applied JRPG systems that had been invented for years. The latest title in this line came out for Nintendo 3DS.
Shin Megami Tensei
We will end with this atlus franchise, which some define as 'the shady Pokémon'. This saga was born long before Pokémon, but in the West, the game is not as well known as Persona, which is its spin off. explain the lore of these games is complicated, but we will stay with the idea that it is like pokemon, but with demons instead of monsters. However, for practical purposes, the Yōkai and other creatures that appear in this title are like Pokémon.
Regardless of whether this idea appeals to you or not, you should give this franchise a chance, because we assure you that it hooks with incredible ease. Our recommendation is to start with Shin Megami Tensei V for Nintendo Switch or Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster, which is available on various platforms.
Shin Megami Tensei has everything good about Pokémon, but combined with combat mechanics that will make you think and make strategies to continue in one piece. Demons are collected and classified in the Compendium, which is nothing more than a Pokédex. Our goal is to recruit them, win them over to our side, and strengthen them. In order for them to join us, we have to convince them in a negotiation —it's not as simple as throwing a Pokéball—. The very conversations with the demons are absolutely great, because some of them will rip us off and even make jokes that will break the fourth wall. Once you have demons on your team, you can merge them to create other, more powerful creatures.
In general, this franchise offers a gameplay worthy of an adult, with the famous press-turn system from Atlus, which rewards discovering the enemy's vulnerabilities with an extra turn and works against us if we don't cover our weaknesses. Unlike Persona, the Shin Megami Tensei are more focused on combat, and we will have to do a lot of maneuvering and merge a lot of essences to have competitive teams and be able to get away with some final bosses.
For the rest, they also offer an interesting plot, with serious scripts and moments that you don't expect. It is a niche saga, but being a fan of Pokémon and not giving any of the two games that we have mentioned a chance to you is practically a sacrilege.