If there was ever a game to represent this most cruel, brilliant, and baffling of years, Pocket Card Jockey is it. Game Freak's most recent non-Pokémon venture makes little sense: You're a horseracing jockey, but really you're a Solitaire player... but really you're an animal husbandry novice. That this strange brew of strategy, quick action and breeding comes together at all is impressive; that the result is a finely-tuned time-melter with undertones both comic and melancholic is darn near miraculous.
I just played a quick round to refresh myself before writing this. (I had buried the 3DS icon in the deepest recesses of my Home Screen folders, so deleterious was its effect on my ability to get anything done but one more race.) I had forgotten how smart and polished the game was: The muffled audio when your horse is mad; the crisp 'zing!' of each successive card played after you reach a certain number in a row; the last mad dash to the finish line that introduces an entire different mechanic. Even with a bit of rust on my spurs, my horse came through at the end, blasting past Yadda Yadda, edging out Hot Snow by a nose, and kicking Straight Coffee off the podium. Angry Horse, predictably, brought up the rear.
Each race is a tiny drama. Each horse is a goofy companion to whom you feel bonded. Each round of cards is a split-second brainteaser that pumps the blood. The game's framing device, a kind-of episodic cartoon where you race people's horses to help solve their problems (after coming back to life after a tragic accident, of course), makes just enough sense and elicits just enough chuckles to not get in the way. But little else matters when that core loop - pick a horse, start a race, play some cards, finish fast, race again - is so perversely efficient.
If you've played it, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't? 2017 is a new year. Make amends. Do what is right. Play this game. But be forewarned: The final turn is treacherous and the finish line never arrives. Now that I've unleashed PCJ again into my life I worry for the immediate future. If my wife finds me unconscious, 3DS in hand, the oven smoking, and the cat mewling in emaciated hunger, know this Game Freak: It was all your fault.
Comments 32
Can Pocket Card Jockey even be considered a "Nindie" game?
Nindie? 🤔🤔🤔
Fantastic game. One of my most played of 2016!
Makers of Pokémon, Nindie? This doesn't seem like fair competition great game either way
Nindie ?
The one game from when I was playing the demo I got too hooked on the races to the point of me not buying from fear of taking my hours away!
@Manjushri
Whether the developer is independent or not, I think the term indie has evolved to encompass all games which fall into the smaller budget release category, characteristic of games by independent developers.
I know I use the term to describe smaller games by (surprisingly) larger or more popular developers all the time.
What a coincidence. I was just playing it last night.
Wonderful game! Not a nindie. Xo
@JaxonH As an "indie" developer I have to disagree. Nindie, specifically is a independent developed game aka indie game on a Nintendo system.
For a term that's existed for maybe a calendar year, there sure are some zealous defenders of the term...
Relax, people. Card Jockey was a low budget game with low budget marketing! It's Christmas!
The best way to play Solitaire ever! Definately not your Dads or grandfathers solitaire game. So much excitement is going on in the background while your trying to place the right cards. The game is a true gem and should be a perfect 10 rating for its genre. SOLITAIRE JUST DOESNT GET ANY BETTER. Oops caps lock. All i can say is get it. Even if you dislike solitaire this has much more to it than just playing cards.
@leuvsion
I get that. I know what Nindie is. and you can apply that to any indie on Nintendo.
But that's not what's in question here at all.
What's in question is a game being referred to as indie coming from a larger developer.
Nindie or not, I bet that only a small fraction of those who worked on Pokemon Sun/Moon actually worked on Pocket Card Jockey. Also, this reminds me of the dog races in Majora's Mask 3D.
@JaxonH I get that, but with a name so clumsy and specialised as nindie (Nintendo x indie). I think trying to apply additional meanings to it is madness. What benefits is there to call this a nindie game instead of a small, digital only or even just game?
Is the Japanese port of the same game on iOS also nindie? This gets very messy very fast
And indie itself I think should be reserved to as the name suggests independent developers. Why use it for anything else?
@Captain_Toad That's exactly what happened to me
@leuvsion
"Why use it for anything else"
I think because we lack a term which adequately describes categorically smaller budget games. And indie conveys the exact idea of what to expect from a game, so naturally people use the term more loosely than its strict origin of definition would normally allow
@Manjushri
"therefore Boxboy (HAL/Nintendo) is also an indie"
I wouldn't think twice if someone referred to it as such
@JaxonH but surely the main problem with giving the term indie this additional meaning (smaller budget games) is that it removes its original meaning. Not very useful at all. So may as well use different words to describe what you mean.
If indie means smaller budget titles and not independent developed. We loose the term indie developer(s) and the known terms for the indie scene.
@leuvsion
Well it's useful inasmuch that people talk about smaller budget games far more than the actual independence of a given studio. The words been hijacked, so to speak, because it has alot more usefulness with a looser meaning.
We should probably have two separate words, but until that day comes... people are probably gonna continue to use it in the looser sense
@JaxonH agree! cheers for the civilised discussion has been fun, hope you have a great Christmas
This and BOXBOY! are two of my favorite eShop games! I hope that Nintendo's developers continue to put out these kind of small, experimental games every now and then.
Great recommendation/review. It's now moved to the top of my download list.
Loved it! More than 20 hours wasted, but finally managed to see the ending credits.
I love this game! Don't want to know how many hours that I've put into it...
This is an addictive game. And I haven't gotten so angry at a game since Mario Kart. Just when things seem to be going great, you mess up (or dealt a bad hand) and you want to cry. It's such a fun game and easy to put in a game or two...Or 15
I LOVE this game! Handsdown one of my favorite eshop games this year!
i would have bought boxboy on the wii u. hopefully the switch means the end of not having the right nintendo hardware.
I was hooked by the demo...which very rarely happens and it's simply awesome...you try saying to yourself "ah go on then I'll have a 15 minute session" next you know over an hour had gone. Mad as it may seem to anyone who hasnt played but this is one of my games of the year.
This is not your grandma's solitaire, it's so fast paced you can get anxiety attack from playing it. It's addictive as well, those 'one more go before I quit' type of game. Definitely the best shop game of 2016.
I like this one quite a bit, and after a few hours I still find some things confusing.... like the comfort zones, specifically the drawing the line portion and positioning. It does have a slow start and a learning curve -and that mixed with the luck factor makes it a game that I could see being disappointing and frustrating for some folks.
I dig it though.
I recently checked my play history, and I've logged over 100 hrs on this bewitching little budget title. It is, for me, the ideal handheld game and utilizes the systems capabilities perfectly.
The randomness has been an isuue for some but I feel it embodies the spirit of a day at the track. You can analyze the racing forms, research a horse's history, calculate statistics, but at the end of the day it's just an educated guess. It still comes down to the luck of the draw.
may a dumb questions but...
is it much 'time pressuring' ? ... 'cuz it looks like it :/
(i can't handle time pressure :/ )
Tap here to load 32 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...