4 Pokémon Spin-Off Games Worth Playing (And 4 To AVOID)

Chances are that if you got sucked into the Pokemon games and anime during the series’ peak, you also became engrossed in the Trading Card game, simply collecting the cards or putting together competitive decks to take part in tournaments.

Any child in possession of a shiny Charizard instantly became the most popular person in the school playground, whilst market stalls did a roaring trade selling the latest cards from huge plastic folders.

It is still going strongly today (albeit confined mostly to specialist gaming cafés and store) exemplified by the fact that it is still the top-selling strategic card game with sales of over 25 billion cards since its inception. 75 different sets are now available in the English language, with 9184 individual cards to collect.

The Pokemon Trading Card Game on the Game Boy Colour capitalised on the game at the peak of its popularity, offering a massively enjoyable virtual representation with 226 cards from the original Base, Jungle and Fossil sets to collect. The format of the RPG games was also copied, with 8 gym leaders and an Elite Four to conquer.

Hugely engrossing, the game offered all the fun of the tabletop game, including the ability to play against friends, without the expense or the need for a sizable play area. It’s quite surprising that Nintendo have never released a follow-up (a Japan exclusive sequel that added the Team Rocket set nothwithstanding).

Stay away from Imakuni though. That guy is weird...