Poll: What's The Best Pokémon Spin-Off Game? Rate Your Favourites For Our Upcoming Ranking

Wow, there are way more Pokemon spin-offs than I thought!

My favorites are handily Snap and Conquest. Puzzle League / Challenge and Trading Card Game are also up there.

My favorite was Pokken. I am still bummed that didn’t become a series. But after that, Snap. Coliseum is great but as game graphics improved it lost a lot of its power beyond the mini games. Conquest was great too.

Pokémon TCG/TCG2 are the best by far. By freaking far. I hate that TPCi has never made a successor, instead giving us apps where we have to grind for a mere pittance.

I also really enjoyed the Typing game. Art Academy was great (why was that never ported?!). Enjoyed Picross, New Snap, and Battle Revolution (wish there was a local multiplayer focused Stadium-style Pokémon game again).

But for the most part, I'm not too crazy about the various spin-offs, and I don't care for any of the F2P stuff. I've also procured a new phone recently, so I'll probably start playing Go again as well (and by "play", I mean periodically pressing the Go Plus button while on the road).

I've sadly reignited my Shuffle addiction after a 5-6 year hiatus. The events keep cycling so long as I never change the system clock on my 3DS (or let the battery die). I was a free man and I was complicit in my own enslavement once more...

EDIT: I also loved Puzzle Challenge on GBC. Those adorable graphics coupled with the even more adorable Johto Pokémon. How is that not on the GB app yet?!

Conquest needs a sequel.

New Pokemon Snap is gorgeous, the original not quite as good as I remembered.

Colosseum, Conquest, and the original Mystery Dungeon are my favorites, though there are plenty I've never tried. Some of the Rumble games and the original Pokepark were good fun too.

Pokémon Colosseum will always have a special place in my heart.

Pokepark was an ok basic JRPG type game for Pokemon fan kids that I gave a 7 out of 10 but Pokepark 2 was actually a nice JRPG w/ some decent post game - I kind of miss the days of post game not sold as DLC - that I gave a 10 b/c it was that much better than the first. I mean sure it's not FF, DQ or XC, but it was a good game and I've been waiting for like a decade now for the 3rd.

I've played a bunch of the Rumble games - the one on Wii U that had little toys sold at Gamestop was total garbage, I'm pretty sure the $10 one on Wii was the best, though I never played the paid 3DS version. The free 3DS game was ok. Not sure I can tell which si which by the titles. The free one on Switch was really bad, and short, needed like 5 more rounds of dlc.

@Munchlax Crazy that that's only their second best Magikarp-themed video. The Poketoons one just hits right where it hurts. Since it's a time waster, I don't think I could call Magikarp Jump one of the best spin-offs, but it is a lot better than it has any right to be.

Top 3 in order for me!
Pokemon Trading Card Game (GBC)
Pokemon Stadium N64
Pokemon Snap N64

Weirdly, I just cannot get into Pokemon Stadium 2. Maybe because I never had Silver/Gold I do not really resonate with the new Pokemon the same way, but also because I just find it really really hard playing on NSO with the Rental pokemon! It seems so unbalanced.

Man, only Mario spinoffs can compare to what Pokemon has on offer. The pinballs, the first two Mystery Dungeons, Coliseum and XD, Stadium 1&2, Pokemon Trozei and Battle Trozei (a surprisingly fun co-cop puzzler), Rangers and TCG, etc. and etc. I even liked the first Rumble.

Pokemon Channel gets a special shout because, I don't know, I loved it as a kid. I can't recollect precisely what the game was, aside from shopping on the TV and watching a new Pichu Brothers short. Was there coloring? Goofy videos? It's all a haze, but one I enjoyed very much.

Hey You Pikachu was one of the few I played that I didn't like. And a couple minutes with Pokemon Dash, I guess. And I think the rock/paper/scissors mechanics of Pokken held back what could have been a really fun fighting game.

I happily eviscerated Colosseum and XD with a 4 and 5 respectively. I didn’t play these games as a kid, and when I finally got around to playing them as an adult, I hated them. Lackluster graphics even by GameCube standards, stiff animations on everything but the Pokémon, mediocre music that loops way too quickly, tedious backtracking, infuriating Shadow Pokémon mechanics, and the SLOOOOOOW battles. Yeah, I don’t get the hype behind these games. They can stay stranded on the GameCube.

I liked the Poképark games. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX was also nice, as was Detective Pikachu Returns.

My favourite is New Pokémon Snap. They really went all in, on the Snap fun from the N64, which was also a great game.

I should replay it sometime.

Pokken Tournament has to be my favorite among these. The quality of the animations and how the Pokémon play feel so very good. Really a shame it didn't take off because I would have loved to have more Pokken.

My favorites, in no particular order:

• Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky
• Pokémon Trading Card Game
• Pokémon Snap
• Pokémon Pinball
• Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia

Pokémon Ranger series was probably my favorite. The art style and the touch screen controls were super fun. Hoping Switch 2 is a clamshell so it can make a comeback! Pokémon Battle Revolution was fun especially considering it was the first foray in being able to customize characters, and the fun battle mechanics for each stadium was fun. It would be nice to have a fun game like this that would let us use all our Pokémon stuck in Home to use in battle.

Why isn't Arceus here?

Pokemon Legends Arceus doesn't count as a spin off?

I really love the Pokemon Ranger games
Such a shame that there never has been a new entry on the 3DS

I'm surprised that people think Legends Arceus is a spin-off
It's made by Game Freak and it introduced new Pokemon + forms

Sure, the gameplay is a bit different but that's pretty common for other series/franchises, just look at 3D Mario games, Final Fantasy etc. By that logic BotW would be a spin-off since it plays differently to other Zelda games

The original TCG on the Gameboy is my favourite. Completed it many times on various systems and have fun every time.

Pokémon Conquest is otherwise my favourite.

Pokémon Duel was the best mobile game for sure and I was sad when it ended

thats a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot 🤯

crazy theres that many

Surprised that Pokemon Duel isn’t here. Considering the fact that pretty much all of the other mobile games are here, I’s assume this one would’ve made the cut.

Confused as to why "Legends: Arceus" isn't here. Can someone explain?

I guess my rating for Pokemon Trading Card Game (GBC) will also roll in my thoughts on Pokemon Card GB2 (GBC), the direct sequel that expanded on it in many ways. I guess I understand why it's not on the poll since it never left Japan, but fan translations are easily available and it should always be recommended.

@Taya No its mainline.

Pokémon Legends Arceus.. what it's not a spin off??

Okay.. Pokémon Puzzle League (GBC) then.

Pokemon Conquest is incredible. There might not be a lot of fans, but there are DOZENS OF US!!!! DOZENS!!!

@Croctopus Pokken likely has yet to receive a sequel because a lot of key staff members on the project were carried over to New Pokemon Snap (though I do recall seeing someone note that a lot of the developer team wasn't carried over, instead being pulled from Ace Combat's team). Whether the team does Snap 3, Pokken 2, or something else next is going to be pretty interesting

All the pomemon mystery dungeons, loved those games!!

God, I wanted HEY YOU PIKACHU back in the day. The idea of talking to him as an 11 year old was super exciting to me.

@swoose I didn't even know there was a sequel. Aw. I really doubt it, but that would be amazing to have on NSO if they translated it.

New Snap, Mystery Dungeon 2, and TCG2 are the holy trinity for me. They are incredibly good.

I was addicted to Shuffle for quite a while, and while it's really a well thought out, great game, its free-to-play nature makes it pretty predatory.

The original Snap and TCG, as well as Stadium 2 and the Panel de Pon reskins are also up there. And I really like the first Pinball game as well. The second one is pretty good as well, but there are some things that made the first one more enjoyable for me.

@Mana_Knight I just beat Hey You Pikachu last year for the first time (in Japanese). And man... Ambrella really is the maker of the worst Pokémon games. It has its charms, but it's mostly annoying, and... how to put it kindly... it's a game for really small children. Even more so than its sequel, Channel.

Vast majority of the ones I have played (which are most up there) are 7s. My fav is Pokken Tournament DX. I also loved Pokemon Puzzle League and Pokemon Link.

PokePark forever. More PokePark pls

Pokemon Legends: Arceus!
This is a spin off as much as Gale of Darkness is.

@Krisi Haha! How much does he understand? Is it literally a few words that he will just about respond to (in Japanese)? Despite it not being viewed all that well now, I still wish we got it in Europe back then.

@Mana_Knight There are certain phrases he understands, often context sensitive commands. And he just sometimes won't listen to what you're saying. And I know for a fact my pronunciation or voice pitch aren't the problem, as there is a mini-game where you have to guess names of Pokémon based on their silhouettes, and I tried that one quite a few times (being the thing that mostly resembles an actual game on the cart), and I got a perfect score almost every time.