From the Game Boy to the 3DS, the Pokemon series has been a big part of almost every Nintendo device, and the Nintendo Switch is no different. You can play both main series games and spin-off games on the Switch, so you’ll never run out of Pokemon material.
But with so many games to choose from, you might be wondering which ones are worth your time. Choosing your next Pokemon game can be hard, whether you’re a seasoned trainer or just starting out. It also depends on whether you’re looking for a classic Pokemon adventure or something a little different in the big, wonderful world of Pokemon.
Pokemon Quest
Pokemon are now cubes instead of pixels or 3D models. In Pokemon Quest, you can visit Tumblecube Island, where your main goal is to look for loot. Go back to your base camp to use what you’ve found and make food that will draw new Pokemon for your team.
Also, if you want to, you can decorate your base camp, and who doesn’t like a little personalization? Pokemon Quest is a casual game that is cute, fun, and satisfying. You can play it whenever you want a little Pokemon in your life.
Pokemon Cafe ReMix
This game used to be called Pokemon Cafe Mix. It lets you run a cafe where Pokemon can get treats. After you’ve served them enough times, you can even hire them to work in the cafe with you. Doesn’t that sound cute?
If you’re lucky, a Shiny Pokemon might even stop by your cafe, which would give you even more reason to keep offering those treats. Even if the idea of customer service gives you nightmares in real life, Pokemon Cafe ReMix is a fun puzzle game that you should try.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl
These two games are remakes of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl from 2006. Fans of the Sinnoh area have been waiting a long time for them. Like many remakes, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl changed the standard pixel art style of the first game to 3D graphics and shrunk Dawn, Lucas, and many other Sinnoh favorites into chibi size.
Even though most of the original adventure stayed the same, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl added some new parts, like the places in the Grand Underground where you can meet different Pokemon. But some of the questionable decisions made in the original games are still in the remakes, which makes you wonder why the Pokemon Company didn’t use the changes made in Pokemon Platinum.
Pokken Tournament DX
Pokken Tournament DX is the first Pokemon game for the Switch. It is a fighting game in the style of the Tekken series, which you might have guessed from the name. Even though it was a copy of a Wii U game, the Switch version added Darkrai and Scizor as Pokemon you could fight as.
The Switch version of the game didn’t add much else, though the graphics were a bit sharper and you could play it anywhere without having to carry the heavy Wii U gamepad.
New Pokemon Snap
New Pokemon Snap is a follow-up to the popular Pokemon Snap game from 1999. It has a lot of the same themes as the first game. You can take pictures of Pokemon in their natural environments, not just in the tall grass. To move forward, you won’t be able to use just any picture. Instead, you’ll need to take pictures of Pokemon doing different things.
Because of how New Pokemon Snap works, you can see Pokemon in a way you’ve never seen them before. That makes the game fun to play on its own, but the fact that you can take pictures of fictional Pokemon like Mew makes it even more interesting.
Pokemon Unite
Want to fight Pokemon in a different way? Pokemon Unite will take care of you. This Switch and mobile game is free to play, and you play on a team of five against another team of five. You try to get the most points by beating wild Pokemon, building up your own Pokemon, and beating Pokemon on the other team.
In this game, it’s important to work together with the other four people on your team, which is pretty much a first for the entire Pokemon series. You can even dress your Pokemon up in holographic clothes called “Holowear,” which adds a customizability element to the game.
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team were both great games for the Nintendo DS in 2005. With Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX, you can play the adventure if you lost out on those games. As an update, it’s a mix of the two games, with a high-definition art style that looks like watercolors and is just as charming as the original.
In Funny Shooter 2, you become a Pokemon (after taking a quiz to find out which Pokemon best fits your personality, of course) and put together your own rescue team. As the name suggests, you explore mysterious tunnels that can change every time you go into them. Mystery Dungeon is the way to go if you want to play Pokemon but don’t want to do the same song and dance over and over again.
Pokemon Scarlet & Violet
Pokemon Scarlet & Violet is the first game in the series to really be an open-world game. In the Paldea region, you can choose where to go at any time by following one of three different stories. There are a lot of new and old Pokemon to catch, which gives you even more reason to get to know the area well.
Even so, the games have limited graphics, which leads to bugs and other problems that hurt the overall experience. Maybe Pokemon’s goals were too big, and the time it took to make it was too short. Scarlet and Violet could have been the best Pokemon games ever if they had been more polished, but that’s not quite the case.
Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee & Let’s Go Pikachu
Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee and Let’s Go Pikachu were the first mainline Pokemon games to come out for the Nintendo Switch. This makes sense, since they are remakes of the famous Kanto region and use parts from the hugely popular Pokemon Go.
Depending on whether you choose Let’s Go Eevee or Let’s Go Pikachu, you can go on this trip with a special Eevee or Pikachu, and you can even dress them up in cute clothes. In these games, Pokemon also show up in the overworld, which was a first when the games came out. The Let’s Go games are a great way to see Kanto, whether it’s your first time there or you’ve been there many times before.
Pokemon Sword & Shield
Pokemon Sword & Shield brought us to Generation 8 and the area of Galar, which was based on Great Britain. There were more than 80 new Pokemon to meet, like the pseudo-legendary Dragapult and the Polteageist, who is so cute it’s scary.
Max Raid battles, where you can work with other players (or NPCs) to beat and catch Dynamaxed Pokemon in the Wild Area, were also introduced in these games. Even though the images weren’t as good as in other first-party Switch games, Sword and Shield was still a fun way to explore a new area and had fun multiplayer features.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus
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By the time Pokemon Legends: Arceus came out, it had been a while since the Pokemon formula had been changed. Legends: Arceus did a good job in this area, and it seems to have been a turning point for the series as a whole. It lets you go on long journeys and see Pokemon in their natural environments. It also lets you avoid their attacks if they see you.
In this game, the legendary Pokemon Arceus sends you back in time to the Hisui area, before it became known as Sinnoh. When you get there, you only have your pajamas on your back. What else can you do besides catch every Pokemon? Legends: Arceus is different from all of the other Pokemon games, and for all the right reasons.
