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Following a glimpse of global harmony courtesy of Pokemon Go, it's undeniable that the creature-catching series is about as popular video games around. The iconic Pikachu is every bit as identifiable as Disney's mascot, if not more so. The ongoing frenzy surrounding trading card values guarantees almost daily Pokémon news stories. You'd be difficult to find a pocket monster game that failed to move at least a couple million copies. Remarkably, fan-made Pokémon games go viral every year.

However despite that ubiquity and fame, there are still Pokémon games that are totally underappreciated. These represent games that failed to receive their fair shake, or were buried by the excitement of the mainline series. They're Pokémon games released on doomed consoles or services, or were early forays onto different formats. They're often also Pokémon games that probably would have flourished if they had received sequels or contemporary re-releases. Considering these factors, we won't be offering yet another recommendation for Pokémon Conquest or the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series. We're pulling an Excadrill.

Still, these might be these Pokémon games. Therefore, prior to rearranging your glasses and typing 'Well,' we can all acknowledge that these are Pokémon games for people with refined tastes, agreed?

Pokemon Ranch: The Cozy Forerunner

An excessive number of Pokémon games focus on the battling aspect of the series, and far too few of them focus on the everyday aspects that would come with living with a companion. Admittedly, there are minor mechanics like these in modern games—you can play with your monsters in bases. However, I'm longing for a Pokémon game more in the style of Nintendogs or The Sims.

My Pokémon Ranch (2008) for the Wii isn't it. The digital-only title is best seen as the antecedent to Pokemon Home; that is, as a repository to hold monsters from different games. Reviews from its launch said Ranch was a bad if not outright hideous game. I'm not here to dispute these claims, but it behooves me to say Ranch might be the nearest we've ever gotten to a slice-of-life Pokémon game.

True to its title, the game is set on a ranch where your personal Miis—get this—simply hang out with your Pokémon pals. The activities with Pokémon were simple, and a significant part of the appeal was observing what your monsters might do when not forced into battle. In a just world, Pokémon Ranch would have been the beginning of a wonderful franchise built on the daily joys of coexisting with a small creature. But since The Pokémon Company can charge a subscription for Pokémon Home now, I'm guessing we will not get a Pokémon Ranch game developed to its complete potential. One might cry 'save us, Pokémon Pokopia!' but it's also known that the upcoming Switch exclusive is just as much a puzzle game as it is a life sim.

Ranch came out long before Stardew Valley kicked off the lasting craze of comfort gaming. It was prior to the proliferation of passive games, and the Let's Play normalization of viewing games you aren't playing. Many never realized that Ranch's concept to watch your creatures as much as you play with them wasn't to hide a shallow core. In actuality, Ranch's attention to detail was so remarkable, there's a Twitch stream focused on broadcasting the game continuously. The individual who operates the channel maintains that, after nearly two decades of playing the game, he even now has not encountered everything that is in it. Justice for Pokémon Ranch: nobody understood you in 2008.

Pokémon Duel: The Strategic Tabletop Game Gone

Are you aware that Pokémon once had an official tabletop game with miniatures? Pokemon Duel was the 2016 effort to adapt the tabletop experience in a more accessible format. Duel was also, unfortunately, one of Pokémon's earliest ventures into the world of free-to-play phone games. Duel had the trappings of a gacha game where players could spend for advantage—and there was incentive to do so, given the lengthy grind for new figures.

All of these questionable mechanics obfuscated a tragic reality: Pokémon Duel was an excellent tactical game with Duel today. "Words cannot describe how much I adored and miss this game," one YouTube comment reads, seven years after Duel's servers were pulled. "Truly I think this game was better than TCG Pocket in terms of complexity, approachability, design, and features in general," another commenter wrote. "I am convinced if it came out now people would be playing it more than GO and Pocket combined."

Regrettably, Duel's early release was plagued with server issues. Bugs, alongside Duel's predatory business model, gave people few incentives to return. If, by some miracle, The Pokémon Company chose to resurrect this franchise, I'm still not certain things would end better. The unusual board structure made for a great strategic challenge for the handful of players who played Duel, but that playing field is also a intimidating visual mess.

Pokémon: Magikarp Jump: The Silly Gem

Wow, why don't more Pokémon games loosen up a little and have some enjoyment? Magikarp Jump (2017) was a uncommon case of The Pokémon Company giving its blessing a game with a concept so absurd, it was verging on shitpost. And when we're dealing with a franchise where trainers go out with a full belt of useless monsters who simply cannot do anything, it's surprising we don't have more Pokémon games that poke fun at themselves.

In Magikarp Jump, the player is charged with raising the ultimate version of the notorious fish. I'm not talking about a Magikarp that can win battles. These are 'karp raised to enter contests to see who can flop the highest. I'm not a fan is how Magikarp Jump, like many mobile games, requires the player to pause before they can improve their Magikarp further. But it is evident throughout the experience that Select Button appreciated and got the community love around Magikarp.

This was most apparent than in Jump's brutal random events, where your Magikarp was as likely to improve as it was to get snatched by a Pidgeotto. Apart from the great writing, Magikarp Jump also experimented with other things one might wish the core series 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 dozens of colorings and patterns for a compendium of over a thousand creatures, as Magikarp Jump does... but we can hope.

Magikarp Jump was not a especially sophisticated or profound game, but the seeds of brilliance were there. Witty events with unpredictable results that forever alter 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.

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Given dozens of mainline entries and spin-offs, it's probable that I didn't mention that one Pokémon game you totally love but argue that too few people played. It's acknowledged that some people look back on games like Pokemon Ranger or Pokemon Pinball fondly notwithstanding argu