Best Pokémon-Likes On Nintendo Switch - Games To Play After You've Finished Pokémon

"Finish Pokemon"?.....what is that?

"Games To Play After You've Finished Pokémon"

Considering they release a new one every 10 minutes or so is that even possible?

Can't believe you'd still recommend Digimon Survive.

I'm at chapter 11 and despite me really wanting to know how it ends. I can't bring myself to play more in fear that I might fall asleep.

we never finish playing pokemon

@Arckadius Tem Tem is an okay game, but Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition is just the best of the bunch by far.

Excellent story and good gameplay. The Digimon are also quite good looking with fun and diverse evolution paths.

@Jeronan Oh yeah, I have played it. Its a great game.

No Siralim on this list? They are great monster catching games! And hopefully Siralim Ultimate comes to Switch soon.

SMT V and Monster Hunter Stories 2 are definitely the best games on this list. And, honestly, probably my favorite monster-collecting JRPGs on the system.

I can't recommend SMT V and MHST 2 enough, they're easily the best monster collecting games on the switch by far and blow all the pokemon games out of the water.

If you're burnt out from pokemon or even hesitant to try out the new games play these games instead.

Persona 5: It's Pokémon, and so much more!

@wuntyme8 It's Pokémon, but with polish and a personality!

Monster Sanctuary rules.

This is like giving me a list of games to avoid... so thank you
😜

There was another one, Yokai Watch 4.

Finish? No that's not how it works, the campaign is just an obstacle to the actual meat of the game.

@KayFiOS Persona 5 is Pokemon with the heart

@thecricket Came here to say the exact same thing! No better place to continue my 350+ hour save file of Siralim Ultimate than on handheld.

There are definitely a couple of good "Pokemon clones" available right now which is good. And while none of them managed to give me as much enjoyment as the mainline Pokemon games the increasing competition in the genre is much appreciated.

Surprised there's no Monster Rancher!

Some of these are a stretch to call pokemon, but tbf there's so few out there makes sense why you would.

TemTem not making this list is kinda surprising, but at the same time it isn't, those devs really two-faced their community when it came to the online aspects.. I've seen quite a few cases of mod abuse from watching others. they didn't change the game much since its playtest either, it was basically the same as the full game now except the full game now has a reddit and discord link in the loading screens and nearly doubled its price.

I remember when I first played Ni No Kuni a few years back. I finished the game and had the grand realization that I would never be able to play a Pokémon game again because I had just played a game that scratched the same itch but was better in virtually every single way. Ni No Kuni is incredible and I genuinely believe it what the Pokémon series could have become in terms of storytelling, art direction, and gameplay if GameFreak hadn't decided to make the same game over and over for the past 25 years.

If that's the best, no wonder Pokemon is still on top

@RubyCarbuncle I've played plenty of visual novels, which is all the more reason why Digimon Survivor is so bad at it. The game convinced me that it is disguised as a visual novel when it isn't.

The game tries to be both a visual novel and tactics game and excells at neither.

And don't get me started on character and event continuity, which is extremely important in a visual novel.

I'm surprised Monster Hunter Stories 2 isn't on here. It's one of the best RPGs I've played and pulled me back into the genre. It's made with so much heart and passion along with having fantastic gameplay. I just love it so much.

@Dr_Lugae Pokemon is at the top still because it's the most popular. I would easily put Cyber Sleuth above 90% of Pokemon titles due to its gameplay and story

@Arckadius TemTem was released on September 6. I’m surprised it wasn’t included in this list considering it has been featured on the site multiple times.

Shin Megami Tensei isn't on the list because...?

The list SHOULD have read

"It's like SMT, but: It's pokémon!"

@FishyS
Hm, I didn't see the second page. Thanks for letting me know! Also the game goes on sale fairly often, so if you see it for a good price, give it a buy!

@RubyCarbuncle as a V-Pet fan and a proud owner of the Vital Hero I can say that Next Order is fantastic.

If you are not a V-Pet fan however...get ready for a lot of poop.

@RubyCarbuncle this is absolutely already a thing actually. No snark, lol legit look up the camping portable toilets. Some of them look comfy XD

@Ralizah I'm the opposite. SMT V actually lost me... Namely due to the difficulty spikes later on, and the massive time lapses between story beats due to the massive areas made it hard for me to stay interested. Not even SMT IV/Apocalypse was this bad about it...

@Sora181 Cyber Sleuth boring monochromatic "cyberspace" dungeons, unbalanced grindy gameplay with blatantly superior techs like piercing ones that could never be competitive, and either a poorly translated or poorly written story.

It's the same DQ clone it was on Nintendo DS with a new coat of paint. Survive shows how they struggle with gameplay.

Pokemon is at the top because it has an unique compelling gameplay structure, coherent world to explore. Its gameplay systems work both as single player and multi-player. The monster designs are universally appealing.

If it was the other way round and Digimon had the better gameplay the other games in the list would be copying Cyber Slueth, Digimon Story DS or Digimon Dusk/Dawn mechanics. Even if they were pitching themselves as a Pokemon game

@Dr_Lugae
Poor story? Were you just mashing A through all the cutscenes? Cyber Sleuth/Hackers Memory have better stories then any Pokémon game.

Pokémon is at the top because it’s popular and it was the first. It’s world design has been garbage since Gen 6 and it’s gameplay is brain dead easy.

Also I’m confused by your points. You bring up what I assume is Dragon Quest Monsters for the DS, which is different than both Digimon and Pokémon, then talk about Survive, which is a completely different genre done by a different team. Neither had anything to do with my points about Cyber Sleuths being better from a gameplay and story perspective.

I would consider Cyber Sleuths combat more ‘pokemon-like’ than Digimon Survive. But that said, Survive has a very good story and I actually prefer that side of it even over Cyber Sleuth. Combat-wise I prefer CS though.

No mention of World of Final Fantasy?

Great article for us folks who are mad at TPC and have even gone as far as to just outright sell/trade in the most recent Pokémon game. Not mentioning any specifics but the game is titled Pokémon Scarlet/Violet.

I apparently need to check out Monster Hunter Stories 2! I would love the give Digimon Cyber Sleuth a try... At the time that came out is seemed like "Budget Pokémon" but somehow it seems more cool now.

As a fan of both MH and Pkmn, Monster Hunter Stories 2 gets my vote for sure. The story gets a little exhausting but the battle system and art style are fantastic. If only they bothered to port the first game to Switch!
@DeQuimet Seriously, how did Chocobo Mystery Dungeon get a spot over WoFF?

Don't buy Cassette beasts on Switch yet, it crashes constantly and the lag is unbearable! The game is awesome and deserves so much better I've benched it waiting for a patch.

@Broosh is Maxima a monster collector? I have it backlogged and I didn't even know that xD

Definitely recommend "Nexomon" and "Nexomon Extinction" i enjoyed every moment of both games. Nexomon Extinction had a free title update that added additional Nexomon and evolutions.

@Nanami_Ataraxia It is! It's seriously the closest thing they could make to a "Final Fantasy Pokemon" 😆 With captures, evolutions, and turn based combat!

@Erigen I agrée. Just because someone doesn’t like a visual novel, doesn’t mean they’ve never read a book.

I didn’t like Digimon Survive at all and I’m a big fan. It was slow and boring, I couldn’t care about the ending enough to try and get the true ending.

@Broosh
My god why did I not know this and worst of all not played it yet? xD I got I cause it was on sale and had FF in the name and I was collecting them all to play them eventually (you know how the backlog is) and that went really well cause it took till this year for me to start playing them (up to ff III so far)

Anyway, thanks for your comment, I'm more hyped about that one now

I love how deftly you dance around the fact that Megami Tensei predates Pokemon by almost a decade and was very much likely one of its core inspirations.
(Shin Megami Tensei III has been available on Switch for a while as well, maybe you should mention that somewhere)

sad Yokai Watch 4 noises

The length of the battles makes MG Stories 2 quite tedious for me. I put close to 50 hours in - got to lava world - and just lost interest.

SMTV is incredible - but you can't become attached to your demons. Like the world surrounding it - everything is fodder for strength.

Ni No Kuni, with it's constant sales, is probably the best value there is on the eshop. I do not feel it is like Pokemon. Just a regular action JRPG.

~~~even with Pokemon's problems most, or all, of the games on this list just don't have the same charm. They are mostly all trying to be Pokemon. Each one I've played falls short. The early days of game freak - the egg system, the EVs, the competitive scene for young and old, the brutal rarity of the OG shinies. Even the cartoons were a step above the others before Pokemon was a global force. By step above I mean Pokemon was funny and well animated while the others were absolutely horrible to even look at (like YuGiOh) and even worse to watch. Closest I've played is Yo Kai Watch 3 - but that game doesn't have it either.

@NatiaAdamo I wish they would port all those games over, I really want to play them all! A yokai watch collection! Please!

Monster Hunter Stories 2 was pretty good and Ooblets is adorable, but none of these quite have the same feeling of Pokémon. Nexomon has some glaring flaws that made it feel too much like an imitation rather than a game that can stand on its own. Temtem I will never play unless it has an offline mode, which is a shame because I do like the way it looks. Also, both Nexomon and Temtem have some blatant Pokémon "inspired" designs as well, which I don't really like.

I avoid the games that look like Gen 1-3 Pokémon games entirely because that art style doesn't appeal to me nor do the creature designs. The beta Gen 1 Pokémon designs look better than those games.

If only Temtem was not an online only game...

I gotta give a shout out to Siralim Ultimate. Not sure how the Switch performance is now (since it was pretty laggy on launch back in December), but I've lost at least 550+ hours to this wonderful gem (on Steam) last year.

1,200+ creatures (with fusion mechanic), great writing, and a surprisingly great soundtrack.

There's about a thousand Pokemon games on Switch, so no idea who the market is for those that have finished them!!

Some of these look neat.

I played cassette beasts some months ago and LOVED it. It's one of the best "pokeclones" out there I'd say, and as stated, thinking it's just a clone is a mistake.

How is World of Final Fantasy still not on this list?

May as well put both Nexomon games on here too. The 1st is easier with a more basic progression.

no world of final fantasy?

Have you ever perhaps considered NOT labelling every mongame a Pokemon-like? Maybe I should start calling this site an IGN-like, see how you like it.

I haven’t played most of the ones listed here but Cassette Beasts is one that really freshens things up.
The battle system (fire melts plastic and makes poison, wind attacks blow fire out, wind attacks uproot grass types, etc.), and it being so open (multiple quest lines to work on at one time), ability to reassign and have more than 4 moves, fusions, to name a few key points, have really made this my number one Pokémon-replacer.
I don’t hate Pokémon but it’s grown sooo stale and it’s always two steps forward, one step back or two steps forward three steps back. Cassette Beasts feels familiar but is also fresh at the same time and has carved out its own space. I sunk a ton of hours in already and I hope they make more games in the series! The foundation is too good not to continue or build upon it.

@ChibiNinja yeah but when someone says it, you know exactly what RPG sub-genre they’re referring to. It’s the perfect term.

“RPG with monster collecting and battling mechanics” isn’t… quite as easy on the eyes and ink and toner cartridges.

@ChromaticDracula Hence the phrase 'mongame' common amongst fans of the genre. Pokemon-like doesn't sound great and gives the connotation of games actually being structurally/mechanically similar to Pokemon, which many slapped with the label are not. It's really only adequate when a game is actually a near-clone.

If you wanna get more specific than mongame but it's not a Pokemon clone with similar structure and mechanics, Pokemon-like isn't actually helpful anyways, so might as well at least use the one that doesn't imply a specific style that the game is question doesn't actually have. It's not like Pokemon actually started it anyways, and I've never really agreed with naming a whole genre based on one or two specific games. (Metroidvania also isn't very good, though it's a least a little more broad and less dismissive of a label, as a result of combining two instead of just one. The most similar of those two series are still pretty different in play and exploration styles.)

@ChibiNinja I have literally never seen the term “mongame” before this thread, and I’ve played the vast majority of the titles on this list.

Digimon Survive, Shin Megami Tensei, Casette Beasts and Ni No Kuni are the only ones for me. I hugely disagree with Ni No Kuni being a Pokémon-like in any way though.

Also maybe missing World of Final Fantasy.

And while I have a huge love for the whole Shin Megami Tensei franchise, SMT or any game on this list doesn't come close to the charm and mon designs to Pokémon as a franchise.

Cyber Sleuth is pretty much Pokémon and SMT mashed into one and to me, is what makes it the best monster collector of the bunch.

Pokémon and Digimon are quite enough, thank you.

Though the best "Pokémon-likes" would be re-releases of the classics. While I have the Gen 1-2 games on 3DS, I would love a physical compilation on Switch.

With Ooblets onboard, you'd think Rune Factory games would have qualified by now as well. And to list the more generally photography-themed Toem but not something like Beasts of Maravilla Island?

...hol' up, no World of Final Fantasy either?

Digimon Story Cybersleuth / Complete edition is the best alternative by far.

In my eyes, I don’t call them Pokémon likes, they’re ripoffs. Games like Shin Megami Tensei and Monster Hunter Stores have their own identity, but TemTem is genuinely a ripoff. Being inspired by something is good, but the great thing about inspiration is you can still be original.

Some of them are way different and some are just clones (and not in a good way).

No idea BTW why this article is made because noone is ever finished with Pokemon

Didn't Shin Megami Tensei series start way before Pokemon? The article should be Shin Megami Tensei - like games

@dojmin yes, was about to say it as well

@ChibiNinja

Have you Googled "mongame"? It takes quite a while before a hit related to monster collecting games, and even then it's a guys YouTube list or a deviant art list. Nobody calls them that

Where is Monster Rancher???

I own or have at least played the majority of this list, and none of the games scratch that Pokémon itch effectively. The closest I would say is I felt that connection was Monster Hunter Stories, but that's because of my love of Monster Hunter. I played SMT since the 3DS entries, but you miss out on forming a bond with your monsters because you are expected to fuse them so much. I also enjoyed Ooblets and Ni No Kuni, but I hesitate to compare them to Pokémon past a certain point, the same with Slime Rancher. I haven't played Digimon yet, but I don't see why Survive is included. I also haven't played DQ Treasures or Monsters yet, but I am hopeful that the two are good.
Also, @imadeanaccount is correct that a lot of these games stray closer to ripoff/knockoff. Coromon, Nexomon, Temtem, and Monster Crown being the standouts.

@hypercoyote Damn, that comment is over a year old, yet I came here to say exactly this!