Looking back at Pokémon spinoffs

[Glen-i]

Please Note: This is the second part of my Mystery Dungeon write-up, the first part is on the previous page and I recommend you read that first.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Keep Going! Blazing Adventure Squad / Let's Go! Stormy Adventure Squad / Go For It! Light Adventure Squad are a set of Japan exclusive, digital-only games (Sorry, that image above is a fan translation mockup) released for the Wii in 2009. Each game features 15 dungeons and 9 Pokémon to start off with, as well as a whole bunch of version exclusive Pokémon.

Compared to the other games, these ones are incredibly story lite. In fact the plot is pretty much non-existent. It also marks the first time models were used in this series. Unfortunately, it's a WiiWare title, which means there wasn't a lot of memory available, so Chunsoft had to resort to... *sigh*... the Pokémon toy models...

The ugliest Kecleon...

Aw! Gross! It didn't even have portrait art!

That aspect is not for now, but I will talk about it in a future entry.

I can't find out how much this game sold, what with it being a WiiWare title, but it's pretty forgettable in all honesty. I don't think I missed much, in retrospect. So let's just move on!

2023 EDIT: When replacing all the broken images, I discovered that one at the top of the post. Some people made a fan translation of these games. Pokémon fans be crazy! Might have to find a way to play that...

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity released for the 3DS in 2012. Using proper Pokémon models established from Pokédex 3D, this is the game that most people think of when it comes to the jump to 3D for the series.

OK, guys. Say it with me. You play as a human who has been transported to the world of Pokémon and has turned into one of 5 possible Pokémon. You soon meet up with... wait, only 5? Yeeeahhh... More on that in a bit. Before you actually arrive there, you hear a voice asking for your help before quickly seeing some kind of vision of a Munna being chased by a Hydreigon. When you get to the Pokémon world, you meet another Pokémon that is surprisingly chill with the claim that you're a human in Pokémon form and quickly asks for your help in developing what they call a Pokémon Paradise.
But something's off, the residents of nearby Post Town all share a trait in that they're intensely distrustful of everyone they meet. The Pokémon you met is trying to get to the bottom of this and hopefully, by building a Paradise everyone can enjoy, can get the Pokémon of the world to stop being such jerks. So it's up to you to help with this goal as well as finding this Munna that brought you here in the first place.

While this plot was not as involved as the two previous ones, it certainly has it's moments. Out of all the PMD games, this is the one that is the darkest. There's no question. Honestly, I'm astonished this is rated PEGI 3.

This game did have a really rocky development cycle though, and it kind of shows. This game features the lowest amount of Pokémon in a PMD title, this is probably due to the fact that most of the Pokémon models that Game Freak were making were just not done yet. The Gen 5 Pokémon were ready along with a handful of others and they're the ones that show up in this game. There's also all sorts of weird oversights that don't help the game really, lower difficulty, basic animations and some pretty budget cutscenes. This game uses the fade to black while dialogue goes on a bit too much. The text speed is also ungodly slow! It even got rid of the personality quiz at the beginning of the game! It probably also didn't help that there was a rush to get this game out before Pokémon X/Y was out. All this stuff adds together to place this game on the lower end of people's list of PMD games. I mean, I still liked it, but oof, it's rough.

And to be honest, I thought that was it for the series. It sold 1.37 million copies, which is actually lower than Explorers of Sky somehow. It tried to get some cheeky purchasable DLC there as well and The Pokémon Company was killing off a lot of spin-off series in favour of chasing the mobile game dosh.

For a while, I was really worried that the best I could hope for was a cheap mobile entry, but at E3 3 years ago...

Spoiler

Has a Pokémon spin-off game ever got an E3 reveal? I really don't think it has.

Screams of joy from me as soon as I heard that main theme remix. I'm such a little girl sometimes. That trailer has literally one message and it's "We know what we did wrong with Gates to Infinity, we're fixing everything. Illustrated box art, personality quiz, difficulty, hunger, every Pokémon to date, everything"

Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon released for the 3DS in 2015 for Japan. The latest release for the series, it really did set out to provide the biggest game to date.

So yadda, yadda, yadda, human turns into Pokémon. There's 26 possibilities this time. You meet up with a Nuzleaf and then are quickly attacked by a group of Beheeyem. Legging it through a Mystery Dungeon, you arrive in a peaceful little place called Serene Village. You decide to go into hiding by attending the local school where you become friends with a Pokémon that struggles to get along with anyone, probably because they're a bit annoying. This Pokémon has lofty ambitions, it wants to join the famous Expedition Society and explore the entire world. Inevitably, you get dragged along for the ride.
However, there's been a number of incidents with Legendary Pokémon getting petrified, so it's up to you to figure out who's doing this and find out why you're in the world of Pokémon to begin with.
The plot is just as wonderfully complex with more than a few dark undertones as you'd come to expect from the series. Doesn't quite reach the lofty heights of Explorers of Sky, but it gets really close.

A key difference is how you recruit Pokémon, in previous games, you had a chance of recruiting a Pokémon to your team whenever you beat it. In Super Mystery Dungeon, every Pokémon is recruited via some sort of side quest. You might have to rescue a Pokémon from a Mystery Dungeon or beat one up in a challenge battle, some will just be friends for taking the time to speak with them. Some will join you when they realise a friend of theirs has joined you. It's a welcome change to the admittedly random nature of collecting Pokémon in this series and it's satisfying watching that humongous screen of Pokémon get larger and larger as you progress. Don't worry though, Kecleon still takes an insane amount of time to get.

While it doesn't explicity state it, this game is essentially a celebration of the 10th anniversary of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. Eagle eye fans will spot the areas from previous PMD games on the world map, not to mention plenty of characters from the previous games making cameo appearences.

This game is also by far, the hardest Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. It is not, in any way, for beginners. If Pokémon Mystery Dungeon is a series that curb stomps your face for making a mistake, than Super Mystery Dungeon is the one that shoots you from point-blank range for looking at it funny.

It sold 1.6 million copies which is more than the previous entry, which is completely unheard of as far as Pokémon Spin-off's go. It's astonishing! And it makes me so happy that's the case. Then again, it does have a blatantly alcoholic Krookodile. (He says it's milk, he's clearly lying)

Anyway, this is where I normally wonder whether this series can make a comeback, but that's the thing. It's not dead! Going for 12 years now, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon is more than half the age of the actual mainline series at this point. In a world where all the console Pokémon spin-off's have been killed off, PMD soldiers on, alone. Stoic in an almost hopeless situation, perhaps this is the game series that can bring all the other spin-off's back from the brink.
Wait, why does that all seem so familiar?

So yes, I love this series. It's mature, challenging and has made me fall in love with all sorts of Pokémon I would have normally dismissed in the mainline series (Come on, Bidoof!). If you jump into it, start with Explorers of Sky. It's available on the WiiU, just skip the intro for that, it spoils so much because they assume you finished one of the earlier Explorers games for some reason!

I'll leave you with one more surprising thing about the PMD series. I won't say what particular entry this is referring to, but it's the only time in a Pokémon game that a Pokémon gets murdered, on-screen, by another Pokémon. And I still can't believe it happened. If you have to see that, I suppose I could send you the video via PM.

Edited August 4, 2023 by Glen-i

[Glen-i]

1 hour ago, Julius Caesar said:

I still remember picking up Blue Rescue Team from Cex for having done well at primary school, and pre-ordering Explorers of Time with the Explorer’s Guide from GAME...

...I’ve actually yet to play Super Mystery Dungeon, despite it being on my shelf, so I’m curious as to what people think about it compared to the previous games. Oh, and I completely skipped the earlier 3DS entry (Gates to Infinity, I think?) because that released during my break from the series - in which I missed both it and White 2 - and those Wiiware titles which I read about in Pokémon World and on Serebii, though I guess those probably end up being Japan exclusive..? 

I got that guide too! Mostly for the artwork, but it was legit useful for finding some of the harder to recruit Pokémon.

When it comes to gameplay, I like Super Mystery Dungeon best. Although Explorers of Sky has it beat on story.

Oh, and credit goes to @Dcubed for that last image. It cracks me up how well-integrated it is.

Edited November 4, 2018 by Glen-i

[Jonnas]

It's always a pleasure to read about your love for this series. Wonderful retrospection.

Me, I tried to give PMD Red a spin, but I couldn't get into the gameplay at all. I remember being excited to play in that setting, too (the Anime episode where the Pokémon talk to each other in subtitles was always my favourite), but actually playing it annoyed and bored me in equal parts. Good to hear they have good writing, though, as that's what I wanted out of the series.

[Glen-i]

Just now, Jonnas said:

It's always a pleasure to read about your love for this series. Wonderful retrospection.

Me, I tried to give PMD Red a spin, but I couldn't get into the gameplay at all. I remember being excited to play in that setting, too (the Anime episode where the Pokémon talk to each other in subtitles was always my favourite), but actually playing it annoyed and bored me in equal parts. Good to hear they have good writing, though, as that's what I wanted out of the series.

I will always maintain that the Roguelike genre is not for everyone. It's an unforgiving, slow paced game and it's never going to appeal to everyone. I wish I could say whether a person will enjoy it or not, but the only way to find out is to give it a good whack and just try one out. And that's all I can ask.

[Glen-i]

Pokémon Dash was released for the DS in 2004 and developed by Ambrella. A racing game of sorts that was one of the launch titles for the DS in Japan and Europe.

Playing as Pikachu, you take part in a variety of races that involve passing through a number of checkpoints in the correct order by sliding the stylus across the screen really fast for a long, protracted amount of time. So you can imagine the kind of impact that would have on a touch screen.

With 25 courses available in the base game, this game didn't really have much going for it. Although, it had an interesting feature that utilised the GBA slot. Inserting one of the Gen 3 games would give you access to courses designed around the Pokémon you had caught in it, effectively giving you an extra 417 courses, which sounds neat enough. It also has support for 6 players, but because this doesn't support DS Download Play, good luck finding friends who would actually play this game with you.

You see, the problem with Dash is that it just wasn't very fun. It was very repetitive and the actual gameplay is ropey at best. Also, this is one of those spin-off games that decided that Pikachu screaming at the top of it's voice wouldn't get incredibly grating after a while.

That would probably explain why Dash sold 0.77 million copies. That's atrocious for a Pokémon spin-off and a DS launch title.

Yeah, I was one of those sad saps. I got this with my DS because innocent younger me expected better from a Pokémon Spin-off. If there's one thing I learned from this game, is that I shouldn't judge a game based on the franchise it uses. A hard lesson. Luckily I also had best poker game Mario 64 DS, so it wasn't all bad.
I guess this game also taught me to stay away from Ambrella. So two things.

This isn't coming back, not after that performance. And no-one will miss it.

Did anyone else have this? Well, apart from @Serebii, who once claimed this was a better game than any of the Mystery Dungeons. That got me riled up, for sure.

Edited November 10, 2018 by Glen-i

[Ashley]

I played it a bit while I was working at Game and it was fucking awful.

[Glen-i]

Pokémon Trozei! (Pokémon Link in Europe) is a puzzle game released on the DS in 2005. It's developed by Genius Sonority.

The game plays like a variation of Yoshi's Cookie. The goal is to manipulate the board to line up 4 of the same Pokémon to get them to disappear. Doing so activates a Trozei Chance, which allows you to make Pokémon disappear by lining up 3 for a short amount of time, pulling that off will then lower the requirement to 2 for an even shorter amount of time. Dittos act as wild cards.

Like most puzzle games, the gameplay is relatively simple to grasp. And as expected, there's a variety of modes to provide some longevity. Including a Story Mode (Yes, this game has a plot), a 2 player competitive mode, as well as an endless mode. The game also kept track of which Pokémon you've managed to line up, adding a light "Catch 'em all" spin to it.

Pokémon Trozei sold 0.59 million. It was a pretty meager puzzle game, to be fair, so I'm not too surprised. I never owned it, mind.

And that was it for this game. Well, until it made a sudden appearance 9 years later!

Pokémon Battle Trozei (Pokémon Link: Battle! in Europe) was released as a digital-only 3DS title in 2014. Once again developed by Genius Sonority.

It's pretty much what you'd expect. Similar gameplay to the original game with a few tweaks to the formula. The main change being that you effectively battle wild Pokémon while playing, so you had to keep an eye on your health while playing as well.

Not much else to say, really. Being a digital title, there's not much chance of finding any sales figures. I can safely say it didn't light the world on fire.

And that's Trozei, a pretty low-key puzzle game that most people probably ignored. I know I did. It's hard to say whether this will come back... Tell you what, come back to me in 2023, then I'll tell you.

There's one more game series that debuted in Gen 3. I guess some of you have probably heard of it. But that's for another day.

Edited August 4, 2023 by Glen-i

[Glen-i]

Prepare yourself for a lesson in how not to handle a Pokémon spin-off series.

Pokémon Ranger released on the DS in 2006. An Action RPG by HAL Laboratory and Creatures. Inc, it marked the first in a series.

The player takes the titular role of a Pokémon Ranger, people who use special devices that totally aren't Beyblades to temporarily tame Pokémon and use their abilities to perform general good deeds. The basic gameplay consists of exploring the region of Fiore and getting through various obstacles using the Pokémon that inhabit the local area. Coming into contact with a Pokémon initiates a... Battle, I guess? By using the DS's Touch Screen, you draw circles to guide your spinny top around a Pokémon multiple times while it makes a kinda "woo" noise.

Effectively, you annoy the Pokémon into obedience.

However, if a Pokémon comes into contact with the trail your children's toy makes, then your loop gets broken and you have to start the circle again. If a Pokémon's attack hits your trail, then that's very bad and the styler's durability decreases. If that reaches 0, then it breaks and I have to guess that those things are really expensive because the music is really sad about the loss of your piece of plastic. Pokémon that you have tamed can be used to bypass obstacles, but once used, they are released. They're not yours, stop complaining!

It's a pretty silly game, but it's strangely fun. Not the most spectacular, but it's decent and the sales for it show.
2.93 million sales puts this in a respectable position on the Pokémon Spin-off spectrum. Some people would say that people bought this for the exclusive Manaphy that you could transfer to the Gen 4 game. It's probably partly true.

Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia came out a mere 2 years later. This one was only developed by Creatures. Inc.

You play as a student of the Pokémon Ranger School who gets mixed up in a dastardly scheme by an evil organisation called Team Dim Sun.
I wish I could say more, but this game doesn't really change anything about the previous game. It's more refined, sure, but it offers nothing new to anybody who played the first game.

It sold 2.35 million, which is very respectable for a sequel. Thankfully, Gen 5 wouldn't be out for another 2 years, so there was plenty of time to think of a way to freshen the idea up and think of ways to evolve the gameplay.

Or they could jump the gun and get another game out before Gen 5 even started...

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs came out just under 2 years after the second game in 2010. Once again developed by Creatures. Inc.

Unlike the game before it, this has something new, a co-op multiplayer mode for multiple circle drawing action. You could even co-ordinate your drawing to make different shapes for more effective Pokémon irritation.

As far as Single Player goes, it's mostly the same, unfortunately. There is a mechanic called "Ranger Signs" that lets you summon legendary Pokémon to help overcome bigger obstacles.

This sold 1.53 million copies. And that's it for Pokémon Ranger. No more after that, not even for the 3DS. What happened? Why did this series just cease to exist? Well, I have a hypothesis. And mind you, I have no evidence to back this up, it's just a gut feeling.

This series fell into the trap that I like to call "Level-5 Syndrome" Simply put, releasing 3 games in only 2 generations of Pokémon was a mistake. There wasn't enough time to develop the gameplay and so they all feel incredibly similar. If you play one Pokémon Ranger game, then you've played them all.
Personally, I blame Shadows of Almia. If that game didn't exist, I think this series might have survived the transition to the 3DS. Guardian Signs should have been the second game.

And for that reason, I don't think this has a chance of coming back. Even ignoring the fact that Touch screens aren't a key feature of the Switch, I can imagine that the fanbase is burned out on the series by this point.

I do recommend playing one of these games though. They're pretty fun. I suggest Guardian Signs.

And that ends Gen 3 spin-offs. Gen 4 isn't as long as this one. They'll probably be done before this week is through.

Edited August 4, 2023 by Glen-i

[Hero-of-Time]

The Pokemon Ranger series remain the best spin-off games by a mile for me. I absolutely love the characters, music and gameplay in each of them. The way you have to capture Pokemon is genius and I would have loved to have seen similar mechanics being brought over to the mainline games.

[drahkon]

22 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Effectively, you annoy the Pokémon into obedience.

Pretty much what I do with women.

Anyway, I keep reading that Pokémon Ranger games are great. Sadly I have no way of playing them...

[Glen-i]

11 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

The Pokemon Ranger series remain the best spin-off games by a mile for me. I absolutely love the characters, music and gameplay in each of them. The way you have to capture Pokemon is genius and I would have loved to have seen similar mechanics being brought over to the mainline games.

That kinda makes it more tragic. There was potential. The games on their own are solid spin-off's with neat ideas.

But my god, they all just blend into one another! It's a massive waste.

4 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Pretty much what I do with women.

Anyway, I keep reading that Pokémon Ranger games are great. Sadly I have no way of playing them...

The WiiU has the original Pokémon Ranger available on Virtual Console if that helps.

[drahkon]

2 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

The WiiU has the original Pokémon Ranger available on Virtual Console if that helps.

It doesn't but thanks for rubbing it in  

[EEVILMURRAY]

4 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Effectively, you annoy the Pokémon into obedience.

As opposed to beating the shit out of them in the mainstream games, this is a blessing.

 

I loved the Ranger games, never understood why Mystery Dungeon got more traction. Tried one and I felt nothing. NOTHING I TELL YOU.

[Glen-i]

5 minutes ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

I loved the Ranger games, never understood why Mystery Dungeon got more traction. Tried one and I felt nothing. NOTHING I TELL YOU.

For me it's the challenge and the more serious plotlines.

Not that Pokémon Ranger should have a darker story. It plays to a more tongue-in-cheek plot and it does it well. It hams up the silliness and that's fine.

But while PMD built on it's gameplay as it went along, Ranger never really went anywhere with it after the first game. Guardian Signs has a really great co-op mode, but it just wasn't enough.

I stand by what I said, if they didn't churn these games out every two years, this series could have gone places.

[Dufniall]

20 hours ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

As opposed to beating the shit out of them in the mainstream games, this is a blessing.

I'm glad they removed that part in Pokémon Go and Let's Go as well, what's with the senseless violence if you want to catch a Pokémon? I can only hope they remove it from the main series as well, otherwise I am going to hint PETA again.

()

Edited November 16, 2018 by Vileplume2000

[EEVILMURRAY]

11 hours ago, Vileplume2000 said:

I'm glad they removed that part in Pokémon Go and Let's Go as well, what's with the senseless violence if you want to catch a Pokémon? I can only hope they remove it from the main series as well, otherwise I am going to hint PETA again.

()

Well the violence isn't that senseless, as it saves you money on buying mini prisons. They've just made everyone tamer in the Go games so the whole world is just the Safari Zone.

[Glen-i]

Gen 4 now. And like the previous gen, I want to start by bunching all the smaller titles together. Well, I say all, but there's only a couple.

My Pokémon Ranch was a Wiiware title released in 2008 and developed by Ambrella. To be fair, it's more of an accessory than a game. Effectively, it's a kind of storage application for Pokémon Pearl and Diamond. Yes, that should sound familiar. Because it's similar to Pokémon Box. Unlike Box though, you could actually look at the Pokémon you deposited interact with each other and any of the Mii's you use.

This also helped players to complete their Pokédex on the DS games, by giving you information on Pokémon they might be missing and opportunities to trade with the Ranch owner, Hayley.

It's a nice take on the Pokémon storage app, and there was a bit of thought behind it, as certain Pokémon react to other Pokémon being nearby (Zangoose and Seviper hate each other)

Anyway, that's all well and good, but this game(?) did something that in hindsight, I can't forgive.

That Torchic has the right idea

These simplistic WiiWare-friendly Pokémon models are referred to by the fanbase as "Pokémon toys" The name is based on an upcoming spin-off series, but that's not for now. I touched upon them in the PMD write-up at the top of this page, but this is the first time they showed up. To reiterate, Wiiware titles didn't have a lot of space available, they weren't made like that. So these models had basic animations, stuff like that.
Which is fine. I totally get why Ambrella went with this at the time. It made sense. But if you actually think these look good, I have to question your artistic taste. Problem is, Ambrella decided "Yeah, this will do" and haven't used anything else since.

BTW, this game was given a patch to be compatible with Pokémon Platinum. Only in Japan, mind.
With this being a WiiWare title, there's no way I can tell how this did. So, you know...

Anyway, enough about that.

Pokémon Battrio is an arcade title that only released in Japan in 2007 and was developed by... Tomy!? The toy company?

...OK, sure. Why not?

I guess the best way to describe this as the Pokémon Trading Card Game meets Pokémon Stadium. Although that's not a totally accurate statement.
The game utilises real-life collectible disks that you used to insert Pokémon into 3-on-3 battles (Even before Gen 5 incorporated it) While it didn't work quite like the mainline titles, battling is the focus of the game. It focuses on positioning to determine how effective attacks will be as well as the usual type advantages and such.

I can't really say much else about it, because obviously, I've not played it. But it must have done decently enough, because it got a sequel at the end of Gen 5.

Sorry, can't find an image that would let me post it here. Just pretend it's here.

Pokémon Tretta released in 2012. Once again developed by Tomy and once again being a Japan only Arcade title, it's quite similar to Battrio, except that this game allowed players to catch Pokémon in the arcade game which would result in the associated disc (Known as Tretta) getting dispensed to the player. Gotta admit, that is kinda cool.

Once again, not much to actually say because I have little experience with it. But this and Battrio do utilise a cel-shading artstyle that was quite popular at the time.

Anyway, that's enough games you probably never played for now. More well-known games tomorrow.

Edited August 4, 2023 by Glen-i

[Jonnas]

*Translator's Note: Treta means "rubbish", "nonsense" or "bullshit" in Portuguese

Anyway, since this is the thread for celebrating the less known parts of the franchise, this might be a good place to post this video.

 

[Glen-i]

6 minutes ago, Jonnas said:

Anyway, since this is the thread for celebrating the less known parts of the franchise, this might be a good place to post this video.

 

Not a bad list. Although...

Spoiler

Zangoose? That's not even close to underappreciated. Not super popular. But it is pretty popular.

Now Seviper? That's a decent contender for underappreciated.

 

[Jonnas]

12 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Not a bad list. Although...

  Reveal hidden contents

Zangoose? That's not even close to underappreciated. Not super popular. But it is pretty popular.

Now Seviper? That's a decent contender for underappreciated.

 

True, I did found that one entry weird, but I guess that's a case of "not as well known", rather than "unloved" (Gen 3 is the only generation where they get any attention, right?)

[Glen-i]

3 hours ago, Jonnas said:

True, I did found that one entry weird, but I guess that's a case of "not as well known", rather than "unloved" (Gen 3 is the only generation where they get any attention, right?)

In the mainline series, sure. Spin-off's liked Zangoose quite a bit. It's a quintessential "badass" Pokémon, so not too surprising.

[Glen-i]

Oh god, I have to talk about Pokémon Rumble now, don't I?

Pokémon Rumble is an action RPG developed by Ambrella that released on WiiWare in 2009. It's an Action RPG.
The game starts with a Toy Rattata sneaking into some kind of Battle Royale, where it is very quickly destroyed, because it's a Rattata. It's not even in the top percentage of Rattata. The player is then tasked with collecting a whole variety of better toys like a whiny child on Christmas Morning in order to win at the forementioned Battle Royale.

Pokémon Rumble is a pretty simple game, really. You manuever your Pokémon toy through a variety of levels and beat the living snot out of other Pokémon toys along the way, each level ends with a Boss and beating it lets you progress to the next level. Whenever you beat a Pokémon though, there's a chance that you can take it for yourself to use. The game has a cycle of slowly collecting better and better Pokémon while you progress. Once you get a strong enough Pokémon, a Battle Royale will open up, which is basically a large number of Pokémon beating each other up at once to be the last one standing.

All the Pokémon from Gens 1 and 4 (Except Arceus) is available in this game, giving you 257 Pokémon to get. There's also a 2 player co-op mode as well as a 4 player competitive mode that takes place in a Battle Royale. Utilising the not very often used Wii Remote storage capabilities, people could put a Pokémon Toy in their Wii Remote and take them to a friend's Wii console to compete in this mode.

Weirdly enough, as far as I'm aware, Pokémon Rumble is the only WiiWare title to have an advert.
That advert only just reminded me that the Trading Card Game tried to make a sort of spin-off version based around Rumble. Yeah, it kinda flopped, so no-one even acknowledges it.
But the real thing you need to see is the Japanese advert, which is the most ridiculously overhype thing I've ever seen in Pokémon history. That commentator is really excited to tell you about Pokémon Scramble (Japanese title for Rumble), not to mention that hilarious, over-the-top music. It's still funny these days.

Not gonna lie, that advert kinda sold me on the game. In reality, it's not that exciting. (Then again, what is?) But it's a decent enough Wiiware title, the 2 player co-op does help it, but it can get repetitive.

WiiWare title means that I can't be sure on any sales figures. But for once, Ambrella had made an OK Pokémon game. In hindsight, I can't be sure it's a good thing...

Super Pokémon Rumble was released for the 3DS in 2011 and was developed by Ambrella. Being a full retail game, this game featured Pokémon from all 5 generations at the time. (Except for 3 unreleased Pokémon) It plays pretty much exactly the same as the original game. It's literally a bigger version with a plot.
That would be fine, but this game annoys me. Oh no, I never played it. The WiiWare one was enough for me, but this game still featured those bloody Pokemon Toys.

Yes, I'm talking about them again, you can't stop me!

Pokémon toys were understandable as a way of working around the memory limitations that WiiWare games were faced with, but this was a full retail title and those models are some of the most ugly abominations I've ever laid my eyes on. (Well, until recently, after all, "Realistic Pokémon: The Movie" is now a thing) Ambrella started coasting after making something not completely baffling and awful and it shows with this.

It sold 1.15 million copies, which is pretty good. Wait, oh no! That means Ambrella's going to...!

*sigh*

Pokémon Rumble U is a WiiU digital only game developed by Ambrella and released in 2013.

Ummm... I'm sorry, but there's basically nothing to say about the actual game, it's still a gen 5 game so there were only 3 Pokémon that the 3DS game didn't have. But don't panic, there is actually something else to say about this.

This game was the first WiiU title to utilise the NFC reader that the Gamepad had built in. You probably know about that thanks to the prominent amiibos that it's most well known for. But this game didn't use amiibos.

I can't imagine many people proudly displaying that next to their amiibo collection. Scanning those would give you the associated Pokémon and also make your WiiU secretly judge you for having such poor taste.

Saleswise, dunno. Digital title, hard to find those sales. Do you care though? I don't believe it did that well.

Pokémon Rumble World, another 3DS title, another action RPG made by Ambrella. It released in 2015.

It's Pokémon Rumble, again. The Gen 6 Pokémon are in this one now and Mega evolution features, but it's the same kind of gameplay we've seen 3 times before. I mean, it's awfully brazen to have another full retail title that barely does anything new with the formula and expect people to...

Wait, hold up. I'm just getting told something...

THEY DID WHAT!?

OK, so in what I can only assume is a fit of madness, this is actually a free-to-play title digital title... which then got a retail release 6 months later. Which means that we've finally reached that point in this thread where I have to remain incredibly optimistic otherwise I'm liable to punch a wall. And I'm pretty weak, so I'd probably just hurt myself if I did that. It's time to talk about...

Microtransactions in Pokémon Spin-off's

I'm sure you already know how this works, but just in case you don't (Lucky you), here's the gist.

Free-to-play titles are absolutely notorious for being seemingly free games that then offer you the option of buying some form of in-game currency with real-life cash. The mobile market is absolutely flooded with these kind of things and they can range from relatively harmless to completely exploitative. Unfortuantely, the latter is becoming more and more prominent these days. And with it showing up in full price retail games more and more often these days, it's probably not going away anytime soon.
There's also the well-known Lootbox system, which is probably even worse, but Pokémon thankfully hasn't ventured into that territory yet, so I won't be covering that particular aspect in this thread.

Now, some people tend to counter-argue that Microtranscations can be largely ignored. Good for you, you can show restraint. But that means you're not the kind of person that a game that uses this is targeting really.

The majority of Free-to-play titles aim to get someone who is more prone to becoming addicted to buckle and spend lots of money on this to make reasonable progress. Titles that use microtransactions tend to be incredibly grindy affairs that are difficult to progress in, unless you pay up. This has coined the term as "Pay-to-win" and some companies love this idea. EA Games comes to mind and games like FIFA practically live on the kind of revenue it brings.

I don't care how microtransactions affect you, but it is absolutely not a pleasant destination for gaming to go and can cause some serious real-life ramifications for some poor bugger who could get a bit carried away. Referred to rather meanly as "Whales", It only takes a few people dropping well over hundreds of pounds to make this kind of thing profitable and it's nothing short of despicable.

Quite frankly, if anyone actually has the gall to defend this kind of practice, then you're part of the problem and I will just lose respect in you.

*ahem* Sorry about that, but I feel it needed to be said. As far as Pokémon Rumble World is concerned, it's not too bad. You could probably get through it without coughing up, but you might as well just a play different title in the series.

The retail version sold 0.11 million, the fact that it was on the eShop for free is probably the main reason for that low number.

There is one more thing for Rumble though.

Pokéland is a mobile game for iOS and android. It's not actually out yet, but there was an alpha version released last year. It seems to play like Pokémon Rumble, albeit, much more simple. Not much more information on that, we'll just have to see.

And that's it. Pokémon Rumble, like PMD, is still kicking these days, but unlike PMD, it is seemingly banished to the Mobile Phone format. It might do well there, who knows? But chances are it will be more of a shell of it's former self. It's awfully derivative though, not really taking any chances, just going through the motions. Kinda like Pokémon Ranger did.

Edited August 4, 2023 by Glen-i

[bob]

I can't believe you played all this dross, but Pikachu Let's Go is where you draw the line...

[S.C.G]

Thank you for continuing with these genuinely fascinating retrospectives on all of the Pokémon spin-offs Glen, I genuinely look forward to reading each one and I've learned stuff!  

Also though...

48 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Free-to-play titles are absolutely notorious for being seemingly free games that then offer you the option of buying some form of in-game currency with real-life cash. The mobile market is absolutely flooded with these kind of things and they can range from relatively harmless to completely exploitative. Unfortuantely, the latter is becoming more and more prominent these days. And with it showing up in full price retail games more and more often these days, it's probably not going away anytime soon.
There's also the well-known Lootbox system, which is probably even worse, but Pokémon thankfully hasn't ventured into that territory yet, so I won't be covering that particular aspect in this thread.

Now, some people tend to counter-argue that Microtranscations can be largely ignored. Good for you, you can show restraint. But that means you're not the kind of person that a game that uses this is targeting really.

The majority of Free-to-play titles aim to get someone who is more prone to becoming addicted to buckle and spend lots of money on this to make reasonable progress. Titles that use microtransactions tend to be incredibly grindy affairs that are difficult to progress in, unless you pay up. This has coined the term as "Pay-to-win" and some companies love this idea. EA Games comes to mind and games like FIFA practically live on the kind of revenue it brings.

I don't care how microtransactions affect you, but it is absolutely not a pleasant destination for gaming to go and can cause some serious real-life ramifications for some poor bugger who could get a bit carried away. Referred to rather meanly as "Whales", It only takes a few people dropping well over hundreds of pounds to make this kind of thing profitable and it's nothing short of despicable.

Quite frankly, if anyone actually has the gall to defend this kind of practice, then you're part of the problem and I will just lose respect in you.

Thank you for outlining your stance on this, while I don't want to turn this into a thread about free-to-play games (we can make another thread if needs be) I must say that I agree with you completely on this one and it's why I've purposefully not downloaded anything which falls into this category...

...except for Nintendo Badge Arcade... my one downfall... and even then I can't defend it, I just really wanted those badges.

Anyway, what I really wanted to know is... what category does Pokémon Let's Go! fall into for you? Again I don't want to derail the thread (we already have two threads for the games) but I was just curious, as I think we all are because in your defence, you have actually played the game... as co-op player two but you've still played it.

In any case, if you were to write something for it later on down the line then I'd definitely be interested to read it.

Are there many more spin-offs to go now?

[Jonnas]

My stance on free-to-play games is mixed, but it's only because FE Heroes was the first one I bothered with. That game is well designed so that you never quite need to spend money (indeed, the game remains quite winnable if you spend nothing. Spending money is only for those really into the game), but I can easily see such a system being abused to require cash to advance (or at least to make us feel like we should). And I absolutely would never defend such a system in a game targeted towards children, fuck that noise.

I won't delve much more into the subject, but I'll say that I'm totally for putting regulations on microtransactions, to prevent excesses. It would need to be written by someone who's familiar with games, though.

Just now, S.C.G said:

Are there many more spin-offs to go now?

Off the top of my head, there's still Pokémon Conquest, Pokkén and Pokémon Go, at least.