Red and Blue may maintain a warm place in our hearts all these years later, but by far the best way to re-experience the excellent region of Kanto is through FireRed and LeafGreen. But Game Freak proved with FireRed and LeafGreen that nostalgia isn't everything, and even the most rose-colored originals can be improved upon.įireRed and LeafGreen are fantastic remakes, introducing numerous new features such as a recap of previous activities, a first attempt at wireless trading and battling, a brand new area in the Sevii Islands, and all the massive improvements to typing, battling, and Pokémon moves that had been added in generations since. Sure, Pokémon Red and Blue (or Green) are the games that started it all, and deserve to be lauded for establishing the worldwide monster-catching phenomenon in the first place. As a strategy RPG, Pokemon Conquest has its own unique flare drawn from both of its sources, making the combo twice as sweet. On the battlefield, the environmental obstacles and positioning added an extra strategic layer to Pokemon’s familiar, element-focused battle system. Pokemon Conquest exists in its own fantastic world with its own rules, in which warriors link with Pokemon instead of catch them, and grow and “evolve” right alongside them.Ĭollecting sets of both the vibrant characters (occasionally drawn from history), and cool Pokemon put a new spin on catching them all. Yes, this pairing of Pokemon with strategy game Nobunaga’s Ambition came entirely out of left field, but it works so astonishingly well that it finds itself among the best Pokemon spin-off titles out there. Pokémon Conquest is a unique and unmissable Pokemon game. It’s a testament to its enduring quality that even two decades after release, Pokémon Emerald stands as one of the best Pokémon games ever made. With seven different “Frontier Brain” trainers to challenge across the seven distinct facilities, it offered a serious challenge to Trainers that arguably hasn’t been met since. Perhaps the most fleshed out “third” version in the history of the franchise, it brought forth several worthwhile changes–and top among them was the Battle Frontier, which made for the most complete and rewarding post-game content in the series. Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were worthy successors to Gold and Silver, introducing double battles, abilities, and natures, but it was Pokémon Emerald that took everything that was good about those games and truly polished it into something legendary. And it shows no sign of slowing down thanks to numerous updates adding new Pokémon, special spawn events, and even Pokémon Go Fest where Trainers from all over the world meet up to play together, making Pokémon Go a one-of-a-kind, endlessly entertaining experience. What began with the simple premise of seeking out Pokémon to catch in real-world spaces has gone on to become an expansive mobile game packed with more than just Pocket Monsters.Įverything from PVP battling to Team Rocket has been added, making Pokémon Go an impressively robust game. We all remember that magical Summer when it seemed like virtually everyone was outdoors on their own personal Pokémon adventure. In 2016, The Pokémon Company joined forces with augmented reality game developer Niantic to create Pokémon Go, the mobile game that took the world by storm. Much loved among Pokémon fans and puzzle enthusiasts alike, it deserves to be remembered as an excellent Pokémon game in its own right. Combined with the familiar look of the anime, it makes for an immensely entertaining competitive puzzle game that can drain away entire afternoons. It takes an otherwise unassuming puzzle game and positively drenches it in Pokémon, recreating the gym battles from the original games while also featuring duels with Team Rocket.Īt its core, Pokémon Puzzle League is effectively a reskin of Panel de Pon - an outstanding Super NES puzzle game in which blocks are cleared by arranging colors in horizontal or vertical lines. Borrowing heavily from the look of the anime circa the ‘90s, it includes clips, voice-acting, and other flourishes more commonly found on the disc-based systems of the era. Pokémon Puzzle League is quietly one of the best-looking games on the Nintendo 64.

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