Pokémon Reviews
Review Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket (Mobile) - A Breezy, Beautiful Take On TCG, Gacha Aside
Ironically, no trading allowed
Digital card games like Marvel Snap have seen a lot of success in recent years with short, satisfying matches that you can finish in a few minutes. The mobile release of Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket almost seems like a direct answer to this trend. From uncomplicated card text to simplified rules, it axes much of...
Review Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team (GBA) - Robust Roguelike Rescuing
Pokécrawler: Red
This review was originally published in February 2016. We're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival in the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack GBA library. It's also worth noting that a 2020 Switch remake of Red/Blue Rescue Team exists: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX. As well as the regular series...
That's why they call it the blues
What is The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero? That was probably the question on most players’ lips after the Expansion Pass for Pokémon Scarlet & Violet was revealed. Part one, The Teal Mask, was just an appetizer, taking players to a new land in Kitakami and introducing new characters who might just end up being...
Review Detective Pikachu Returns (Switch) - Drab-Looking But Fun Forensics For The Fam
Sherlock Ho-Oholmes
It's been over seven years since we got our first helping of the wise-cracking, coffee-addicted Detective Pikachu on 3DS and, in the time since, the gruff private investigator has gone on to star in his very own big-screen adaptation voiced by the one and only Ryan Reynolds. Well, excuse us, Mr Hollywood! The first Detective...
Review Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - The Teal Mask (Switch) - DLC That Offers More, But Not Enough
Matcha the mood
As a series, Pokémon is one that has held onto tradition pretty firmly. In the 25+ years since Red & Blue’s release, the fundamentals of the game haven’t really changed – you explore a world, you fight Pokémon, you catch Pokémon. Last year’s Pokémon Scarlet & Violet was the mainline series’ first big attempt to...
Review Pokémon Stadium 2 - A Sequel Of Gold (& Silver) Standard
Second gen magic
This review originally went live in 2016, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival in the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack N64 library. After all the groundbreaking success that Pokémon's first generation had, it would've only been wise for the powers that be to capitalise on the franchise. How was...
Review Pokémon Trading Card Game - A Cracking Adaptation That Still Holds Up
A rare source of fun or just an uncommon?
This review originally went live in 2014, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival in the Nintendo Switch Online Game Boy / Game Boy Color library. It’s almost surreal nowadays to think that there was ever a time when portable gaming didn’t have Pokémon. When Red and Blue...
Review Pokémon Sleep - A Snore-Fest In Mostly The Right Ways
Is this a game to sleep on?
Pokémon Sleep has been a bit of an enigma ever since its reveal in 2019 and nobody quite knew what to make of it or even how it could possibly work. After years of silence, finally, in 2023, we have the game so we’ve fully got to grips with what's on offer, and it is definitely an interesting one. We’ve spent over a...
Review Pokémon Stadium - The Original 151 Brought To Life With Style
Your stadium tour awaits
This review originally went live in 2016, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival in Switch's N64 library via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. With the Pokémon franchise being as super effective as it was during the late '90s due to its handheld games, trading cards, television anime...
The world is your Cloyster
If there’s one thing we always hope for with a brand-new Pokémon generation, it’s a sense of childlike wonder. Of course, it’s not always a guarantee, especially with a formula that has been followed consistently for the last 26 years, but we always start a new generation with our fingers crossed that we'll be...
Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube810k Watch on YouTube Review Pokémon Puzzle League - A Thrilling Puzzler And A Heavy Nostalgia Hit
Panel de Pokémon
This review originally went live in 2008, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival on Switch as part of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. For those who have dabbled with Puzzle League, this is obvious information, but please bear with us. Tetris Attack, the SNES game, was a westernized version of...
Review Pokémon Snap - Photo Fun That's Over Too Soon
Candid Camera + Pocket Monster
This review originally went live in 2016, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival on Switch as part of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. There are moments during Pokémon Snap where — upon finding a hidden path — the game ditches the first-person perspective to show your...
Review Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Switch) - One Of The Greatest Pokémon Games Ever Made
We all live in a Pokémon world
A century before it became the land of Sinnoh, the Hisui region was a dangerous place where humans and Pokémon didn’t share the close bond they have today. In fact, Pokémon were treated like dangerous creatures to be avoided, and in Pokémon Legends: Arceus it’s up to you and the Galaxy Expedition Team to...
Review Pokemon Unite (Switch) - Pokémon Divides In Free-To-Start MOBA
Fun, in the right circumstances
Since the original release of Pokémon Red and Blue on the Game Boy, The Pokémon Company has consistently tried to take its successful monster-collecting RPG through many different iterations, genres, and applications. Pokémon has taken forays into genres such as digital/physical card games, the Mystery Dungeon...
Review New Pokémon Snap (Switch) - The Best-Looking Pokémon Game Yet, And A Joyous Revival
Lental clarity
It's been 22 years since the original Pokémon Snap and with each passing console generation fans had never given up hope for a possible sequel. Why is that? It wasn't a long game, it didn't have that many levels, only had a small pool of Pokémon and the base gameplay was simply about taking pictures. On paper, Pokémon Snap sounds...
Review Pokémon Café Mix (Switch) - Perfectly Pleasant Free-To-Play Puzzle Action
Make the perfect Pikabrew
If you thought the only thing The Pokémon Company had in store for you this month was a new way to get frustrated while brushing your teeth, you’re sorely mistaken. Pokémon Café Mix is another free (well, free-to-play) title for Pokéfans to wet their whistle with, and this one’s an actual game rather than an app...
Mini Review Pokémon Smile (Switch) - You've Gotta Brush 'Em All
"Mee-outh, that's white"
Brushing your teeth is boring. It’s dull when you’re an adult and it’s even worse when you’re a kid, because you’d really rather be playing with your Thunderbirds toys or Cabbage Patch Dolls, or whatever cross-media property young people are into these days (look, we don’t know, we haven’t been kids for a...
Review Pokémon Sword & Shield - The Isle of Armor (Switch) - A New Wild Area Worthy Of Your Interest
Fits the base game to a TT
Whenever a series attempts DLC for the first time, you’re sure to find a select few individuals pining for the olden days when you got a whole game in a single package – conveniently forgetting the fact that Street Fighter II had no less than seven different iterations – but if a game sells well and there’s enough...
Review Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX (Switch) - Fun, But Only In Short Doses
Titled Zangoose Game
When it comes to Pokémon spin-offs, the Mystery Dungeon series is probably the lengthiest. For every short-lived game like Pokémon Dash or Pokkén Tournament, there’s a Mystery Dungeon title offering potentially hundreds of hours of gameplay. Of course, whether you’d actually want to play one of them for hundreds of hours...
Review Pokémon Sword And Shield (Switch) - A Solid Start To Gen 8, Despite The Hate
Dynamaxing expectations
If there’s one thing everyone knows about Pokémon Sword and Shield is that they have been talked about. They have been talked about a lot. Whether it’s the controversy surrounding the omission of individual Pokémon or a tree that looks a bit too low-res for people’s tastes, chatter about these games has been incessant...
Review Pokémon Rumble Rush (Switch) - A Simple Free-To-Play Outing That Only Hardcore Fans Will Love
Get ready to rumble
Pokémon Rumble Rush is the fifth in the Pokémon Rumble series and the first to enter the mobile fray. This game takes the mechanics of the series to new levels by providing another Pokémon “Game as a Service” Experience, and unlike the previous Pokémon Rumble games, there’s not much of a story to this game. You get sent...
Revisiting Kanto 20 years on
With the Switch gearing up for its second holiday season on the market, the time has finally come for the hybrid machine to get its first taste of core series Pokémon action. Acting as a reimagining of Pokémon Yellow – an already enhanced version of the series’ first titles Pokémon Red and Blue – Pokémon: Let's...
Review Pokémon Quest (Switch eShop)
Gotta (pay to) catch 'em all
Pokémon Quest is a traditional mobile collect 'em up that's launched early on Nintendo Switch ahead of its mobile release in about a month's time. It doesn't quite offer enough to fill the Pokémon-shaped void on your Switch, but it's more than good enough to plug the gap between now and November, when Pokémon: Let's...
Review Detective Pikachu (3DS)
A bolt of brilliance
We’re now just over a year into the Switch’s life and, despite knowing that the core Pokémon franchise will make the leap from 3DS to the new hybrid console at some point in the future, we know absolutely nothing about how the series might evolve with the huge system differences. Keeping the Poké-dream alive on the...
Review Pokémon Crystal (3DS eShop / GBC)
Crystal clear
Akin to Pokémon Yellow's existence to Pokémon Red and Blue, Pokémon Crystal is the next critter-catching adventure to round-off a generation of main series, handheld Pokémon games – that being Pokémon Gold and Silver. But what could Crysta
Review Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon (3DS)
Ultra fantastic
Just like games such as Pokémon Emerald was to Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, or Pokémon Crystal was to Pokémon Gold and Silver, Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are intended to be the definitive v
Review Pokémon Gold And Silver (3DS eShop / GBC)
Golden oldies
Pokémon Gold and Silver are the second generation instalments in the Pokémon series; released at the turn of the millennium, the games arrived just a few short years after their predecessors, Pokémon Red and Blue. Boasting a whole new world to explore, 100 new monsters (bringing the total to 251), and an entirely new cast of...
Review Pokkén Tournament DX (Switch)
Nintendo used Double-Dip!
The unholy lovechild of Tekken and Pokémon, Pokkén Tournament caused quite a stir when it was first announced, yet Bandai Namco's one-on-one fighter exceeded expectations when it eventually arrived on the Wii U last year following a successful run in arcades. Given that almost all Pokémon games focus on...
Review Pokémon: Magikarp Jump (Mobile)
Super weak or beloved Pokémon?
In one of the more unusual turns for Pokémon, the new mobile game Pokémon: Magikarp Jump has been released on mobile devices in a gradual international rollout. This game is developed by Select Button and is a Pokémon-themed spin on its game Survive! Mola Mola. The task? Raise a Magikarp to be as strong as it can...
Has the Pokemon Co. mastered it?
Following on from the amazing success of Pokémon GO comes the next mobile Pokémon game release, with Pokémon Duel - technically, though, this game came out before Pokémon GO due to its release in Japan in April of last year as Pokémon Co-master. We've actually been playing it ever since that original release and...
