Summary

  • Pokemon titles like Pokemon Quest and Detective Pikachu Returns provide unique and charming experiences for players to enjoy.
  • Pokemon Legends: Arceus shakes up the traditional Pokemon formula with innovative gameplay and open-world exploration.

The Pokemon series has made its mark across almost every Nintendo co🃏nsole from the Game Boy to the 3DS, and the Nintendo Switch is no different. The system has a range of main series titles and spin-off g🥀ames for you to sink your teeth into, so when it comes to the Switch, you’re never really left wanting when it comes to Pokemon content.

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However, with such choice available to you, there also comes the question of which games are worth your time. Whether you’re a seasoned trainer or entering theꩵ fray of battles for the very first time, deci💦ding which game to dive into next can be difficult, and it also depends on whether you’re searching for the classic Pokemon adventure, or something a little different in the wide and wonderful world of Pokemon.

While there are more Pokemon titles available on Nintendo Switch Online, we're sticking to ♍official launches for this article.

Updated on December 28, 2024 by Rebecca Phillips:

12 Pokemon🍸 Quest

Pokemon, But Cube-Shaped

Released
𓂃 May 30, 2018
Publisher(s)
Nintendo
OpenCritic Rating
Fair

Pros

Cons

Free to play.

Gamep🔜lay iꦬs mostly automated and passive, which might not be your thing.

Cute Minecraft-like graphics.

You might have to grind ♒a lot to avoid spending money on 🎀microtransations.

Move over pixel sprites and 3D m💯odels — Pokemon are cubed now. In Pokemon Quest, you can explore Tumblecube Island, where your main goal is to search for loot. Go back to your base camp to use your loot 🤡and cook up dishes to attract new Pokemon for your expedition team.

Plus, you can even decorate your base camp if you want to, and who doesn’♒t love a bit of personalization? Cute, fun and rewarding, Pokemon Quest is a laid-back game that you can return to whenever you want a little Pokemon in your life.

11 Pokemon Cafe♌ ReMix ♔

A Simple Pokemon-Themed Puzzle Game

Pokemon Cafe ReMix
Puzzle

Released
June 23, 2020 🔥
Publisher(s)
Nintendo
Developer
🥂 Genius Sonority
OpenCritic Rating
Fair

Pros

Cons

Very cute concept.

Lots of new Pokemon are locked behind a paywall.

Free to play.

Lots of players have bad luck with the gacha delivery syste♕m.

Originally called Pokemon Cafe Mix, this game allows you to run a cafe where you can 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:serve treats to Pokemon. You can even hire Pokemon 𒁏to work alongside you in the cafe after you’ve served them enough 💧times. Sounds cute, right?

If you’re lucky enough, a Shiny Pokemon might even wander into your cafe, giving you even more incentive to keep serving up those treats. Even if the thought of customer service gives you nightmares in real life, Pokemon Cafe ReMix is ♑sweet puzzle game that’s worth a try.

10 Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl 𝔉 🌄

Not The Remake Everyone Hoped For

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl

Released
November 19, 2021 ꦚ
Developer(s)
ILCA
Publisher(s)
Nintendo
OpenCritic Rating
Fair

Pros

Cons

Set in the Sinnoh region.

Quality-of-life featಌures f🔯rom Pokemon Platinum weren't used.

New areas in the Grand Underground.

Poor graphical performance.

Remakes of the 2006 games Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, this pair of games was long-awaited for fans of the Sinnoh region. Like many remakes, 1♈68澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shin🅷ing Pearl swapped out the original’s traditional 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:pixel art style for 3D graphics, shrinking Dawn, Lucas, and many other Sinnoh🀅 favorites into chibi size.

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While much o🀅f the original adventure remained the same, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl also introduced some new features, such as the areas in the Grand Underground where you can meet various Pokemon. However, with some of the questionable choices made in the original games sticking around for the remakes, it makes you wonder why the Pokemon Company didn’t decide to include the improvements made inꦦ Pokemon Platinum.

9 🅺 Detective Pikachu Returns ﷺ

Pikachu's On The Case (Again)

Released
🧸 October 6, 2023
Publisher(s)
Nintendo, The Pokemon Company 🌞
OpenCritic Rating
Fair

Pros

Cons

Fun for young kids.

The story and gameplay are very simple.

Detective Pikachu is the star of the show.

The graphics are just okay.

Detective Pikachu was popular on the 3DS, bu⭕t it was made even more popular with the 2019 movie. Everyone's favorite𓆏 detective made his way to the Nintendo Switch in 2023 with a new case to solve and mysteries to uncover in Detective Pikachu Returns.

While Pikachu as a character is as charming and funny as ever, the lacklustre graphics and easy gameplay don't quite match up to the original. De𓆉spite this, Detective Pikachu Returns is still a fun time, especially if you're looking for a laidback, chill adventure in the Pokemon world that's not the same as your usual mainline game.

8 ꩲ Pokken Tournament DX

Tekken-Style Pokemon Battles

Pokkén Tournament DX

Released
🔥 September 22, 2017
Developer(s)
ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ 𝐆Bandai Namco Studios
Publisher(s)
Nintendo
OpenCritic Rating
Strong

Pros

Cons

Great for fighting game fans who also love 𓂃Pokemon.

The s🍌ame as the Wii U version, just with updated graphics.

The first-ever Pokemon title on the switch, Pokken Tournament DX takes inspiration from the Tekken series (if you couldn’t already gues൲s by the name) and is an arcade-style fiജghting game. Though it was a port of a Wii U title, the Switch version added a few more Pokemon that you could fight as, including Darkrai and Scizor.

The Switch version didn’🌳t add much else though, other than the slightly crisper graphics, and t🍰he fact that you could play the game anywhere without having to lug the heavy Wii U gamepad around.

7 💎 🐬 Pokemon Unite

Pokemon's First MOBA

4.0/5

Released
🧸 July 21, 2021
Developer(s)
🎉 TiMi Studios
Publisher(s)
🍒 The Pokemon Company ﷽
OpenCritic Rating
Fair

Pros

Cons

It's free to play.

As it's free to play, there are microtransations.

You can choose from a lot of Pokemon to play as.

Games and matchmaking are often unbalanced.

Looking for a different way to battle Pokemon? Pokemon Unite has you covered. I🦩n this free-to-play game, you play in a team of five against another five-player team, aiming to score the most points by defeating wild Pokemon, leveling up your own Pokemon, and defeating Pokemon on the opposing team.

Teamwork is key in this game, as you’ll have to work in synergy with the other four players on your team, which is pretty muc💖h a first for th🐓e Pokemon series as a whole. You can even style up your Pokemon in holographic outfits known as Holowear, adding an element of customization to your play, too.

6 New Pokemon Snap ♊

A Long-Awaited Sequel

Released
⛦ 🥃 April 30, 2021
Publisher(s)
Nintendo
Engine
NU Library 💫
OpenCritic Rating
Strong

Pros

Cons

Beautiful graphics.

The price is more than its worth.

A 𓃲great way to see Pokemon in thei🐻r natural habitat.

The whole game is quite short.

A sequel to the beloved 1999 game Pokemon Snap, New Pokemon Snap follows much of the same tone as the original. Explore Pokemon in their natural habitats (rather than just in the tall grass) and snap photos of them. Any old photo won’t do, though — to progress, you’ll neꦅed to🍷 photograph different Pokemon behaviors.

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The nature of New Pokemon Snap lets you see Pokemon in a way you’ve never seen them before. That itself makes the game charming enough to play, but the possibility of snapping photos of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:mythical Pokemon, like Mew, makes it all the more intriguing.

5 Pokemon Mystery🎃 Dungeon Rescu♏e Team DX

A Childhood Classic Reimagined

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX
4.5/5

Released
🙈 March 6, 2020 ☂
Developer(s)
ꦜ ꦰ Spike Chunsoft
Publisher
꧋ Nintendo, The Pokémon Company, Nintendo of America Inc. 𒀰

Pros

Cons

A beautiful remake of an already great game.

It m📖ight n♈ot be for you if you like catching and collecting Pokemon the most.

A different way to experience the Pokemon world.

If you missed out on the gems that are Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team on the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS back in the early 2000s, you can experience the adventur🅺e with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX. As a remake, it’s a combination of the two games, all revamped with a high-definition, watercolour-like art style that’s just as charming as the original.

The game itself sees you turned into a Pokemon (after completing a quiz to find out which Pokemon your personality matches, of course) and building your own rescue team. As the name suggests, you explore mysterious dungeons that can change every time you enter them. If you’re itching for a bit of Pokemon, but want something a little different to the usual song and dance, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Mystery Dungeon is the way to go.

4 Pok🍎emon Scarlet & Violet

A Big Open World - With Not Too Much In It

2.0/5

Released
꧟ ꦛNovember 18, 2022
Publisher(s)
Nintendo, The Pokemon Company 🃏

Pros

Cons

The first fully open-world game.

The open world is unfortunately pretty empty.

Good Pokemon designs.

Graphical bugs galore.

Pokemon Scarlet &♚; Violet are the series’ first true foray into the open-world genre. You can choose where to go, whenever you want, following three different storyli𝔍nes in the region of Paldea. There are plenty of new and returning Pokemon to catch, giving you all the more reason to explore the region to its fullest.

Despite this, the games suffer from graphical limitations, leading to bugs and glitches that hinder the overall experience. Perhaps Pokemon’s ambitions were too high, and the development time too short. With more polish, Scarlet & Violet certainly could have been the greatest Pokemon games to date, but that sadl🌸y isn’t quite the case.

Scarlet & Violet's DLC add more areas and Pokemon to the base game, but it's unfortunately still plagued by the same graphical✤ limitations and bugs.

3 Po🐬kemon Let’s Go Eevee & Let’s Go P💛ikachu

A Familiar Yet New Experience

Pokemon Let's Go Eevee & Let's Go Pikachu
4.0/5

Released
💯 💝 November 16, 2018
Publisher(s)
𝓰 𝔉 Nintendo, The Pokemon Company

Pros

Cons

Kanto is a ꩲfan-favorite region, and it's lovingly reimagined.

You might not want to go back to Kanto again...

Th💯e series' most ꦚcreative use of Pokemon in the overworld.

Catching mechanics are similar to Pokem𝔍on Go, so wild Pokemon (even Shinies) can easily flee.

You can dress up your partner Pikachu or Eevee!

Your partner Pikachu and Eevee become very overpowered, so there's no challenge at all.

Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee & Let’s Go Pikachu were the first mainline Pokemon games to arrive on the Nintendo Switch, and as remakes of the iconic Kanto region that take elements from the ever-popular Pokem🉐on Go, it only makes sense that they were.

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Depending on whether you p🌠ick Let’s Go Eevee or Let’s Go Pikachu, you can have a special Eevee or Pikachu as 🧸your partner in this adventure, and you can even dress them up in adorable accessories. Pokemon also appear in the overworld in these games — a series first when the games were released. Whether it’s your first time in Kanto or you’ve visited it plenty of times before, the Let’s Go games are a great way to experience the region.