We need more fun Pokémon Games like Pokopia

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We need more fun Pokémon Games like Pokopia

It’s hard to explain, but I’ve never been able to get into Pokémon RPG titles personally. I know, it sounds crazy to some of you, I’m sure. But, I’ve never been interested in capturing wild animals, putting them in a small container, and forcing them to fight to become the ultimate champion. No, I’m too sleepy on that.

10 Best Pokémon in Pokopia

You have to catch them all looking precious!

I love how cute most Pokémon are, and I’ve spent a lot of money collecting my favorite trading cards. But, the only time I’ve ever really enjoyed any Pokémon video games, in particular, was when there were cute or unusual titles that just let me kick it with Pikachu and friends. And there just aren’t enough games out there that let you do that.

Happily, though, we don’t have another example now, thanks to the release of the totally adorable Pokémon Pokopia.

No Coaches, No Teachers

The latest in a very short line of cute Pokémon games, Pokopia is making waves right now. You can think of this as an Animal Crossing style game. You take on the role of Ditto trying to find Pokémon whose masters have been gone for a long time, returning to the community of the species. The whole game is about exploring, building, and creating friendships with other Pokémon. No fighting, nothing to capture, no badges to collect. It’s just Pokémon thriving and being cool guys.

You can spend time getting to know some of the unique Pokémon on the island, such as the creative SmearGuru, the five-star chef Greedent Dente, or the sleepiest Snorlax, Mosslax. And since you’re Ditto, you can even learn to switch to certain types of Poke to learn new skills and abilities, like using Squirtle’s water gun ability to plant flowers or Scyther’s slashing ability to cut down vines. If you get out there and learn, you can make your new world better for you and your friends.

Many people are finally getting a chance to experience a fun Pokémon game for the first time thanks to Pokopia. And it’s already proven to be another strong regular game. People are building crazy things like Waffle Houses and someone even made a working subway system for the game. All the fun of AC: New Horizons without the evil landlord/carnivorous loan shark raccoons. And it’s already established itself as “one of the best Pokémon games of all time” according to our review.

No fighting, nothing to capture, no badges to collect. It’s just Pokémon thriving and being cool guys.

Pokopia is such a comfortable and cute little title that it’s hard to argue that we shouldn’t have more titles in the Pokémon universe emulating it. And it’s not like this is the first game in a cool genre to gain instant popularity upon release. There have been a number of other games that help make the case that we should have been playing games like Pokopia.

Why Can’t We Be Friends?

I think my first time playing a regular Pokémon game was back in 1999 when Pokémon Snap came out. You can think of it like a train shooter, instead of killing anything, you should try to take the best pictures of Pokémon doing cute things like Jigglypuff moving or Blastoise enjoying a day at the beach. You can even take your game to your local Blockbuster Video (RIP) and print out sticker sheets with your best shots.

Pokémon Snap spread like wildfire, selling over a million copies and was a rental hit thanks to Nintendo’s partnership with Blockbuster. But for some reason, we didn’t get a sequel until New Pokémon Snap came out in 2021. That’s about a 22 year gap in release and I don’t know why it took so long for the original to be sold as pirated.

5 Animal Crossing Things You Need to Learn in Pokémon Pokopia

Animal Crossing has long been Nintendo’s flagship adventure game, but it needs to learn from the recent success of Pokémon Pokopia.

Thankfully, since the original Pokémon Snap was released, there have been a number of other casual games for fans to check out, like Pokémon Cafe, and I myself used Pokémon Sleep to track my sleep habits for a few years before I burned out on it. It was fun for a while though.

I would wake up in the morning, have a few Pokémon to capture for research and I could befriend some of them if I wanted to by giving them candy. Other than that, all you did was feed the handsome giant Snorlax three meals a day and whatever fruits and berries your party picked for you. The easy way and desire to catalog all the available Pokémon kept me using the App longer than I expected.

And then there was the global thing that was Pokémon GO. Pokémon GO traditionally felt like a moment of enlightenment as strangers became friends as they roamed the parks trying to catch rare or elusive Monsters. Communities came together to enjoy a mobile geocaching ARG, everyone’s favorite cafes became gyms and offered discounts to players. I don’t think I’ve ever had more hope for humanity at a time when Pokémon GO seemed to bring us all together with a shared love of all things beautiful and small. It was truly a magical moment for casual gamers everywhere.

It all goes to show that when we get any kind of Pokémon video games, it’s usually a complete revelation for fans of the franchise and gamers in general. And we need more of them in larger quantities! The rate at which we get exotic titles like Pokémon Snap, GO, and Pokopia makes them feel very few and far between. Especially for those who are not into violence in their games of any kind or want something to share with a younger member of their family.

I’m not saying we need annual releases like we get with RPG series, stable and consistent titles for those of us who would rather cozy up to Psyduck than put it in a Pokéball. Until then, at least we have Pokopia fighting the good fight for all of us.