The spinoff series of Pokémon are at their most adventurous

Pokémon There is one event, one that has lasted a steady 25 years that built on the foundations of anticipated role playing games. On DS, Nintendo’s bestselling piece of hardware, three of the top 10 bestselling titles are mainline Pokémon sport. It is a franchise that actually acts as a system vendor (or perhaps because) despite the fact that it develops at a glacial pace. But this is only true of the core Pokémon experience. While they have been resistant to discredit RPG, many, many Pokémon The spinoff is a different story. In fact, many PokémonBiggest success stories from blockbuster movie Detective Pikachu Staggering success Pokémon Go, Were the result of this experimental attitude.

Without these criminals, Pokémon It is not today – and they are still helping to move the series into the future.

It didn’t take long for Nintendo to start testing the waters. A few years after the breakout success Red And Blue On Game Boy in 1996, the company released Pokémon Stadium On Nintendo 64. It retained the same original idea of ​​lovable monsters battling against each other, but simplified the action by adding 3D graphics, a major step up from the original’s monochrome 8-bit visuals. It was a change, but is still a very familiar area for fans, whether they came from Game Boy games or animated series.

Soon, however, the spinoffs will explore new territory. One of the most loved Pokémon The game is Snap, Essentially a wildlife photography simulator, where players go on a safari to capture images of their favorite monsters. It tapped into some core games, with a less competitive kind of experience that was welcoming to new players. The spinoffs later moved in a similar direction.

Like games Pokémon Pinball, Puzzle challenge, And Hey you, Pikachu! All took familiar worlds and characters but moved them to completely new genres (and in the latter case, adding then-rare voice controls). Still a lot going on Pokémon

An animated series, these games created new entry points for potential fans, easing them into the fictional universe. This is a strategy that is now commonplace, used by everyone from Disney to Riot Games. But in the late 90s, it was a novel approach.

This strategy continued over the coming decades. Fighting games were (Pokén Tournament), Narrative adventure games (Detective Pikachu), strategy games (Pokémon Victory), And crossword crossover (Pokémon Picos), to name a few. At times, this game can seem almost bizarre – try to play Tekken-Style fighter with Pikachu dressed up in a wrestling costume, or one where electric rats can’t stop drinking coffee – but he pushed the boundaries of what Pokémon Sports can occur. ()Detective Pikachu To pursue the highest grossing video game movie of all time.) He allowed the series to hit a lot of different platforms. Initially, it was limited to the Nintendo console and handheld, but it changed dramatically as the franchise debuted on mobile.

Things started ominously with the introduction of Pokémon Shuffle In 2015, essentially a Pikachu-themed candy Crush clone. But it helped form the basis for the franchise on smartphones. And just one year later, things will explode. Niantic Labs, then a relatively small studio known for its sci-fi location-based games Access, Started on a take Pokémon It was perhaps the most successful marriage of the game type and fantasy universe. This allowed players to go into the real world to find and catch pocket monsters on their phones.

We all know what happened next: Pokémon Go Became a global phenomenon, setting an App Store record and becoming a rare game allowing millions of players to leave home and exercise, all to catch virtual creatures. This will be the year before any of the true competitors launch, and no one has been around being successful anywhere. today, Pokémon Go Still one of the world’s largest mobile games. In many ways it reinvigorated the franchise, boosting sales of older titles and influencing the design of later ones.

Since then, the release has arguably become even more amazing, with everything from cafe management games to mobile apps helping players brush their teeth. And soon the franchise will again target new territory Pokémon Unite, A competitive multiplayer game that looks like League of LegendsExcept Charmander and Squirtle. It gives Pokémon The opportunity to tap into the growing world of competitive gaming and, once again, potentially reach a whole new audience that has never touched the mainline Pokémon Earlier RPG.

And then? Well, Pokémon To sleep yet will attempt to dissolve a space game: sleep.