10 Pokémon Games You've (Probably) Never Played
2. Pokémate
If you’ve never played Pokémate, it’s very likely because you didn’t own the only platform it was available on or live in the only country it was released in.
Pokémate was a free app released for the NTT DoCoMo FOMA 900i series mobile phones in Japan as a game/messaging system in the summer of 2006 (later discontinued in January 2008). Serving almost as a precursor of sorts to the globally popular Pokémon GO, rather than battle with other trainers, the player is tasked with catching Pokémon and then caring for them à la virtual pet style games.
Upon starting the game, the player is given three random Pokémon and 10 Poké Balls. While the initial download was free, the player must sign up for a monthly subscription of 210 yen for the “formal service edition” in order to catch any more Pokémon past the initial 10. They would receive 5 more Poké Balls every month and can purchase additional balls through in-game transactions.
The game also featured a chat room that could house up to 16 participants and people could send “Pokétoku” voice messages. Again this was only available for the first month before the subscription fee pay-walled people out.