Genres Pokémon Should Explore in New Spin-Off Games

Pokémon has been no stranger at all to spin-offs over the decades. Sure, the core games are monster collecting, entry-level RPGs, but we've still seen so many other ventures for the company, from pinball to fighting and everywhere in between. But there seems to be room for more.

Pokémon Pokopia is the latest successful example of this, a charmingly cozy life sim that, by many accounts, is already noticeably better than competing Nintendo mega-franchise Animal Crossing. With that in mind, and with the idea that Pokémon/Nintendo don't necessarily seem scared to double-dip into certain genres, it makes sense to bring Pokémon even more places.

That's the basis of this list; ten more genres that we've never seen the pocket monsters step foot in, but that would have the potential to do some very fun things if they ever decided to do so.

10 Sports

Olympic-Sized Potential

"Sports" is a very broad genre, and to be honest, Pokémon could go a variety of different directions with it. Things like soccer, golf, or tennis with Pokémon as your playable characters all make a lot of sense, with perhaps a representative from each typing to fill out the roster, each with a special, type-related power to switch the gameplay up.

Things like Olympic sports, however, also make a ton of sense. Call it the Pokélympics, and the game already starts to kind of take shape in your imagination: Speedy Pokémon, like Pikachu and Jolteon, competing in sprints. Strong Pokémon, like Snorlax and Groudon, doing the shot put. Heck, we can even get into the Winter Games and have graceful ice types like Froslass and Glaceon figure skating.

It's all kind of right there, and since Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games seems to be dormant for the time being, there's a market for it.

9 Isometric Roguelike Action

Hades for Kids

An Isometric Roguelike Action title similar to Hades might seem a little hardcore for Pokémon, but that's also kind of why I think it should work. This is a genre that's steadily growing in popularity, but it's also not incredibly approachable yet for the masses. Games like Lost in Random: The Eternal Die have come close, but still haven't had the mainstream success, either.

Pokémon could make this work. From a small cast of say three "starters," players could choose their 'mon, each with different typing and movesets, to clear out procedurally generated combat rooms with creative Mega Battles at the end of each stage. What could be even cooler is if you start with either Charmander, Squirtle, or Bulbasaur. Each new floor you make it to in the game could result in a new evolution, complete with new moves.

There's even the possibility of adding in cards to a run that you can find to switch movesets, or items to power up certain stats as well. It seems weird when you first think about Pokémon in this genre, but I think it genuinely has a ton of potential.

8 Battle Royale

Plenty of Options

Battle Royale is a vague term these days, as tons of IP and developers have adapted their games to fit the definition of the genre in some way, shape, or form. So no, we aren't really talking about a Fortnite clone here, but something a little more creative, such as a Tetris or F-Zero 99 where classic games are brought to a competitive, winner-take-all format.

Pokémon has some different ways it could go here. Maybe it's just straight up battles with 99 trainers, each one picking one Pokémon, battling up a ladder till there's only one player remaining. This could move quickly if everyone just gets one monster, then hopes for the best in each matchup they get thrown into.

There are are many ways to make Pokémon go full Battle Royale, and if I trust anyone to come up with a way to make it work, it's Nintendo.

7 Kart Racing

Can Never Have Too Many

Yes, Nintendo already has Mario Kart, but they also have Kirby Air Riders, and historically have had other kart racers come to their systems as well (see Diddy Kong Racing on the N64). While Mario Kart continues to try to innovate and switch things up, Pokémon could come onto the scene with a more traditional-style offering for the purists.

It could be standard karts only, with different sizes of Pokémon affecting their stats and weights. Items could just be PP for moves, allowing racers to leverage their Poké-drivers' skills in all kinds of different ways, both offensive and defensive. There are also tons of options for tracks and different location vibes throughout all of Pokémon, so every type of biome and track design can be hit.

This one is surely a pipe dream, but it also would be absolutely huge. Your move, Nintendo.

6 Platformer

Either Dimension

It's actually kind of wild that we've never gotten a straight-up platformer Pokémon game. For a franchise as old and established as this one, you'd think it just would've happened at some point.

It could be 2D or 3D, but I think a side-scrolling game with a single, dedicated Pokémon with a refined set of traversal moves and attacks would make so much sense. And why not have it just be Pikachu?

Platformers don't typically need crazy stories. It could be as simple as a lost Pikachu trying to get back to Ash, using moves like Quick Attack to reach ledges and Thunder to take care of hostile Pokémon along the path. The more I think about it, the more I want it. Anyone have a phone number I can call?

5 Metroidvania

Cubone Already Looks Like a Hollow Knight Character

Though similar in some ways to a platformer, the Metroidvania is an entirely different beast. They're also the games in the 2D space that often times are able to portray a deeper story full of tight combat and crazy boss fights to boot. Enter, Hollow Cubone.

Okay, the name is a joke, but think about this one. The game is set up as an emotional journey for Cubone to find his mother, and he'll stop at nothing to learn what's happened to her. This includes brutal platforming, as well as boss fights with enemy Pokémon along the way that are much bigger and stronger than he is. But he will overcome.

Plus, Cubone already has his melee weapon ready to go with his bone, so that's already sorted as well. And get ready for the final act of the game where he evolves into Marowak to finally be able to challenge the final boss, some messed-up portrayal of grief or some other deep metaphor.

4 Twin-Stick "Shooter"

Poké Survivors

Similar in some ways to the Isometric Roguelike Action genre we already talked about before, for a Twin-Stick "Shooter" in the Pokéverse, leaning into something that functions like Vampire Survivors would be amazing. Heck, it can even stay in retro-style art design and use sprites from the earliest Pokémon games.

Really, just make it Poké Survivors, with waves of enemies to take down as you get continual move upgrades and perhaps evolutions along the way, and this one starts to write itself too. The only issue I can see is Nintendo deciding which rival Pokémon they're okay with you mowing down by the hundreds, but I dunno... Just make it Bidoofs or something. No one will care.

There could be several "classes" of playable Pokémon, each loaded out with projectiles, AOEs, and melee attacks to take down the swarms. Give me Greninja as an option here, throwing Water Shuriken from a distance or whipping everything around him with his tongue on a cooldown timer.

3 Hero "Shooter"

The IP to Succeed

The Hero Shooter is an incredibly fickle beast. In fact, it's the one genre I'd caution anyone to develop a new game for right now with how things have gone recently. It seems like a place where talented developers get sent by a somehow still naive publisher that thinks there's space in the genre, only for layoffs to come soon after. Unless, of course, you have an IP that immediately gives you an advantage.

Take a look at the wild success Marvel Rivals was able to have in the genre, and it soon makes sense that Pokémon could make this happen too. Of course, it wouldn't be a "shooter" with guns, but still a roster of perhaps a dozen different Pokémon with unique classes/subclasses, each of which can be appropriately teamed together for maximum squad synergy.

It can be kid-ified like a Splatoon if Nintendo is worried about the violence, maybe with teams of competing Pokémon fighting in a Capture the Flag-type setting or something of the sort.

2 MMORPG

Everyone Wants it Anyway

The world of Pokémon is a place we've all wanted to exist within since we were kids. There's something so inviting and cozy about the idea of paling around with your Pokébuddies and just kind of vibing. This is honestly the absolute perfect setting for an MMORPG that players could spend literal months inside of, and I can't really believe it's never happened.

Make a trainer, catch Pokémon in the wild, build a house, buddy up with your friends, battle for fun or to propel some kind of overarching story, participate in events. Like, what are we doing here? Why isn't someone already making this happen over at Game Freak?

Sure, the market is still cornered by games like WoW and its never-ending supply of expansions, but you're telling me Pokémon wouldn't absolutely crush in this space? It's such an easy win. I mean, except for all the years of development time and perpetual support. But still!

1 Roguelike Deckbuilder

Surely in the Cards

Sure, I'm currently swept up in all the Slay the Spire 2 hype, and it's already one of my favorite games ever. But holy cow, it's absolutely outrageous how big of a slam dunk a Roguelike Deckbuilding Pokémon game could be. To me, it makes the most sense here to play as a trainer instead of a Pokémon, collecting cards along the way to battle other trainers.

And of course, your cards would all be Pokémon, complete with different energy costs and special moves, the more rare and useful ones showing up as holographic variants. If Nintendo really wanted to lean into it, they could just use the same iconic card art we all already love and have tons of nostalgia for.

With how popular Deckbuilders have gotten over the last decade, and with Pokémon having its roots in trading cards, how has this not already been pitched, greenlit, and shoved onto all of our devices? This is the surest move Pokémon could make if they want to explore other genres, and I'm frankly going to be upset until it happens now that I've thought of it.