Less Side Games

[Greninjaman]

One thing I have noticed, is that there has been less and less side and spin-off games each Gen. Why is that?

 

[Aulos]

The focus has shifted to mobile. All of the "side games" that are being made now are mobile titles. If you'll notice there have been quite a few of those since Pokemon GO has been released.

 

[Greninjaman]

Wanting to cash in on Go's success?

 

[Silktree]

I prefer Masters to PMD, which is what people mean by "spin-off" these days.

 

[Pyrax]

Wanting to cash in on Go's success?

Most likely. The Pokémon Company probably saw the success of apps like Go, Fate/Grand Order, Candy Crush, etc and decided to cash in on the mobile market at the expense of "traditional" spinoffs like PMD/Ranger.

 

[prog rocker]

Which is pretty sad, since that means I can't play them without resorting to piracy because for some reason they like to pretend my country doesn't exist. You recognize Nicaragua and Panama, but not the country in the middle of them?

Doesn't help that the time I tried installing Masters my phone had a seizure. It's like it would rather kill itself than play that game...

 

[Greninjaman]

Most likely. The Pokémon Company probably saw the success of apps like Go, Fate/Grand Order, Candy Crush, etc and decided to cash in on the mobile market at the expense of "traditional" spinoffs like PMD/Ranger.

Bummer. Mystery Dungeon was a classic.

 

[BackSet]

It's like it would rather kill itself than play that game...

Tells you something about the game, then.

On my phone, whenever I try to give Phoenix the sweater outfit in Dual Destinies, the game crashes. Apparently it hates Dahlia Hawethorn as much as I do. Therefor, phones have minds of their own.

 

[Aulos]

I never really played any Pokemon spin-offs post Pokemon Stadium 2, but I do feel bad for those who have enjoyed all of the Pokemon spin-offs since. Not only are those franchises no more (hopefully not forever), but they've been replaced by gacha games. These mobile "games" are nothing more than shallow, hollow shells of real video games and are very predatory with outrageously priced "micro"transactions.

Note: I don't mean to say "real video games" in some kind of elitist sense - I'm pretty casual myself. I'm serious that these gacha games are bad news. It's not because they're "casualized"... It's because they're predatory and can become very addictive even though they aren't actually good games.

 

[prog rocker]

Note: I don't mean to say "real video games" in some kind of elitist sense - I'm pretty casual myself. I'm serious that these gacha games are bad news. It's not because they're "casualized"... It's because they're predatory and can become very addictive even though they aren't actually good games.

As someone that has played games that can be summed up as "phone games, but without micro-transactions", I do see how bad and addictive they can get.

 

[Zorchic]

You recognize Nicaragua and Panama, but not the country in the middle of them?

Umm...Costa Rica, right? (I swear, I didn’t look at a map.)

Anyway, don’t forget about Pokémon Quest. It’s very much a side/spin-off game, because it can be played on the Nintendo Switch. I don’t like how they removed Poké Balls’ catching function in that game...

Besides, the mobile versions aren’t gacha, because they’re actually official.

 

[prog rocker]

Umm...Costa Rica, right? (I swear, I didn’t look at a map.)

Anyway, don’t forget about Pokémon Quest. It’s very much a side/spin-off game, because it can be played on the Nintendo Switch. I don’t like how they removed Poké Balls’ catching function in that game...

Besides, the mobile versions aren’t gacha, because they’re actually official.

Yes, it's Costa Rica. I still don't know why we don't get the mobile games except Go, and from other Nintendo franchises, only Super Mario Run and Mario Kart Tour came here. I still wonder why don't they come here.

EDIT: Dr. Mario World is also available here now that I see it in the store.

 

[Shib]

I never really played any Pokemon spin-offs post Pokemon Stadium 2, but I do feel bad for those who have enjoyed all of the Pokemon spin-offs since. Not only are those franchises no more (hopefully not forever), but they've been replaced by gacha games. These mobile "games" are nothing more than shallow, hollow shells of real video games and are very predatory with outrageously priced "micro"transactions.

Note: I don't mean to say "real video games" in some kind of elitist sense - I'm pretty casual myself. I'm serious that these gacha games are bad news. It's not because they're "casualized"... It's because they're predatory and can become very addictive even though they aren't actually good games.

I'm also something of a casual gamer, and while enjoyed Pokémon Go, I also thoroughly dislike most mobile games. I gave Masters a try and honestly just deleted it after 5 minutes.

I can live with freemium and micro transaction if they aren't critical to playing the game - I purchased some coins in Go after playing it for a couple of months because I felt it was fair - I'd got at least £5 value from the game so I spent that much. For me, I feel like mobile games are worse for being poor/broken games released quickly and patched to try to fix than a lot of console games, yet they tend to get a pass on it because they are "free" while console games get ripped to shreds.

To be fair I'd not really noticed the reduction in side games probably because I've never been into them as much as the main games since the game boy era - I definitely played Pokémon Pinball, Pokémon TCG Video Game and Pokémon Snap to death. Also, regardless of what anyone else says I personally can't view the Let's Go games as mainline games, to be the change in the core catching mechanic of the gameplay is a step too far to consider them mainline games. So to my mind we had some big spinoff games (Let's Go) just a year ago along with Pokken and Quest on Switch on top of the mobile games. I'm not saying that to start an argument with anyone, just my opinion.

I suspect that the eshop will be the only place for most spin off games on the Switch in the future - most of the spin offs seemed to get reduced fairly quickly in the UK and I'm pretty sure that while the mainline games have mostly held their value I could probably pop down to my local CEX and pick up a dozen DS/3DS spin off games and have change from a £20.

 

[Deleted member 116266]

Maybe the lack of a new Pokémon different idea.

 

[Esserise]

So to my mind we had some big spinoff games (Let's Go) just a year ago along with Pokken and Quest on Switch on top of the mobile games.

As well as Detective Pikachu, which has a sequel game for the Switch in development.

 

[Aulos]

Also, regardless of what anyone else says I personally can't view the Let's Go games as mainline games, to be the change in the core catching mechanic of the gameplay is a step too far to consider them mainline games. So to my mind we had some big spinoff games (Let's Go) just a year ago along with Pokken and Quest on Switch on top of the mobile games.

I mean, they were acknowledged by GF as a form of mainline games. It is kind of confusing, as they separate them from the "core" ones, but they do call them mainline instead of spin-offs. At best we might be able to grant them as a hybrid of mainline and mobile spin-off, and that doesn't really make things anymore hopeful.

As for the other two, they shouldn't give us too much hope. Pokken is a port of a Wii U game from 2015, before the mobile success steered the series in a new direction. You could make the argument that porting it was significant, but I wouldn't put too much into that, myself. Pokemon Quest? Pokemon Quest is essentially a mobile title that also released on the Switch.

 

[Shib]

Like I said, I don't want to cause any arguments but regardless of what is said, to me personally Let's Go will always be a spin off. I really feel like it was developed as a spin off and when it looked like it was going to do well Game Freak retroactively decided to call it a mainline game.

I seem to remember a Nintendo Live before Let's Go was released and before Sword and Shield was announced where they said something along the lines of the next true Pokémon game is in developement and will be announced soon. I might be remembering wrong and I don't really care enough to dig through all past videos to check it, even if I'm remembering wrong frankly nothing will convince me that Lets Go is anything more than a spin off.

 

[Silktree]

Well, if nothing is going to convince you, then I might as well not try. But LGPE were called "core games" to begin with, except "for everyone" rather than just traditional players. Granted, that statement was misleading as SwSh are very much for anyone who isn't afraid of new Pokemon.

Also, Masters isn't predatory at all. I have about 94% of the sync pairs without having paid a cent, and everything else in the game isn't monetary. The name of the game is patience.

 

[Esserise]

Let's Go are what they are. You can argue that they're spin-offs in the form of main series titles, or experimental main series titles that take significant departures from the traditional formula in order to synergize with a mobile spin-off. It's mostly just a matter of perspective... but I feel like trying to definitively lump them into one category or the other overlooks a lot of the nuances and ignores part of what makes them unique.

 

[Shib]

That's a fair point, and don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Let's Go a lot (once I switched to handheld mode) but it just never felt like a core game to me, and it's absolutely fine if other people disagree. Let's Go will always be the greyest area of what makes a Pokémon game "core" or "spin-off"