Topic: Pokemon TCGO for Switch.

I played the Pokemon TCG (that's Trading Card Game for those unfamiliar) quite heavily as a kid, and then got back into in 2008 and played through about 2013 when college left me too poor to keep buying cards. But suffice to say I really like the game. I also played a lot of the game on the online app that began as a god-awful browser based game and has slowly evolved into a digital card game that functionally rivals Hearthstone and Magic the Gathering's online apps.

With Pokemon TCG Online already on mobile devices, I have to wonder why we haven't gotten it on Switch. (I also find it odd that I haven't seen any mention of the game on NintendoLife)

The only thing I can think of is that, for some reason, Pokemon TCG online doesn't appear to be supported in Japan. (which is why I haven't gotten back into playing the game, since I live in Japan now) And I cannot find good information about why that is. I am well aware that the Pokemon TCG release cycle in Japan is different than the rest of the world, with Japan usually a couple sets ahead, but I feel like there are plenty of ways they could address that. The simplest being having a separate Japanese server.

Anyway, I digress, my point is, I wish Pokemon TCG Online would come to Switch and don't understand why it doesn't get much support or notice outside of the TCGO community itself.

I tried playing that, I constantly ran into people with multiple sets of 3 EX cards and I barely get anywhere. I kinda want to collect the real cards, too...but...eh.

@Joeynator3000 Yeah, that is how competitive card games work... People play to win.

....I'm saying the game could use balancing, and not decks be be filled with tons of overpowered cards.

I would personally really like a sequel to the GBC games but PTCGO would be a good addition as well. I could see myself playing it once in a while even though I have only briefly dabbled in the game when it came out.

I wouldn't mind if Pokémon Duel got on the Switch as well. I really enjoyed that game but stopped after a while since the matches started to feel a bit samey. I'm sure I'd have more fun now that there have been bunch of updates since I last played.

I couldn't enjoy PTCGO because it required too much of a grind and real-world money in order to accumulate enough cards to be in the least bit competant.

The appeal of the GBC game was to be able to play and collect all of the cards without the expense and real-world clutter that that entails. PTCGO throws that all out the window.

I would love a sequel to the GBC games (they can make it an annual franchise with each successive instalment adding all of the new cards released over the last 12 months), but PTCGO? Nah.

The PTCG is really fun and I'd love to get into it properly but it's pretty expensive to put together a good deck. I haven't played the GBC game but it would be great if they made a new version of that as long as it didn't have any microtransactions etc.

Yeah, that's more "PAY to win", not "play".

@JasmineDragon While I will not deny the cost factor, that is ALL card games. Magic, Pokemon, Yugioh, Hearthstone, Gwent, Shadowverse, and so on. It can be an expensive hobby no doubt. A lot of people, like myself, do rather enjoy it. The cost is what offsets the endless new sets, tournament support, balancing, etc. If the games were static and played forever with the same cards. One or two decks would be refined to a point that that is all there would be and no one would play anything else... and the game would die.

@Heavyarms55 I understand why they keep producing new sets, it's an intrinsic part of the CCG genre. I get why they have to keep doing it. But you must know that it's a pretty significant barrier to the vast majority of casual players. Most people just don't have the money to devote to chasing Magic rares or buying Pokemon EX sets at the expense of all the other games we could be playing. You asked why PCGO isn't that popular around here, I guarantee you this is the #1 reason.

Personally, I like to buy and play card games but hate the blind bag CCG model. Pokemon TCG is a nice game to play with my daughter, so I've bought a few theme decks and other basic sets, and I pick up a couple of boosters here and there because the cards are neat. Same thing goes for Magic. The total that I've spent on those two games together is maybe $200 over the course of the last five years.

But the majority of my card and board gaming is with games that eschew the collectable aspect and have closed sets instead. There are actually a ton of alternatives to the CCG model. There's everything from Living Card Games like Android: Netrunner and Lord of the Rings LCG to non-collectable Magic-inspired games like Star Realms and Mage Wars Academy. You get a whole game including a few high-powered cards at a fraction of what it would cost to build a competitive Magic deck. All these games do release expansion sets (there are a LOT of expansions for LOTR:LCG) to keep the metagame alive, but the expansions are balanced and fixed. You're not buying booster after booster in the hopes that you'll find that one shiny Pokemon to complete your deck.

Yugioh at least had some rules to balance things out, but Pokemon, ugh...3 Mewtwo EX cards all at once? Really? Maybe limit the EX cards to 1, or something?...That way the entire deck isn't filled with them....

@Joeynator3000 : I believe some cards are restricted to one per deck, but in the case of EX cards, you can draw two prize cards upon knocking one out (however some are so overpowered that even two prize cards may not make up for all of the Pokémon that the EX Pokémon had knocked out).

It's not so unbalanced though if the EX or Mega Pokémon is an evolved Pokémon as it would take a lot longer to prep them for battle. I believe Mega Pokémon are also prohibited from attacking during the turn in which they have been evolved.

I'd like another TCG insular game like on the gameboy color. That was a great game, and I even bought a chinese repro of the sequel that has an english fan patch.

I don't think much will happen to bring any of this card games to consoles. It would likely be too much of a bother to figure out good ways to work it with controllers in mind. Still, I could see it as a good idea, I feel like there has to be a reason this hasn't happened yet. Best I could say would be something with just having too many updates needed to keep it up on more than PC as a platform and porting issues, crossplay etc.

I would however love a new game like the gameboy games.