Pokemon is one of the world’s most popular gaming franchises. It’s technically a JRPG but has spun off into match-three, augmented reality, and several other genres. Thus, there are a ton of games like Pokemon out there. We’ll focus on the two main types for this list. The animal collecting RPG like you see on handheld consoles and the card game like you see in real life. Of course, there are actual Pokemon games on mobile now along with some Pokemon apps as well. Click the links for those lists. Here are the best games like Pokemon (but aren’t Pokemon games) for Android.
The best games like Pokemon for Android
Beastie Bay
Price: Free to play
Beastie Bay is by Kairosoft and it’s one of the more underrated games like Pokemon. This game is a mixture of a monster-catching and a sim so you’ll have quite a bit to do. The simulation side of it has you building a city, planting crops, and managing all of its resources. You then go out into the wilderness, catch beasts, trade them, and battle them. There is a ton of game here and it should keep you busy for a long time. It’s a free-to-play game so there are some undesirable elements. By and large, Kairosoft does well with this one.
Bulu Monster is something a little closer to an actual Pokemon experience. You set out to capture a variety of creatures and then pit them against other players. The game boasts over 150 monsters in total along with 50 NPC monster trainers, 14 different maps to explore, and a storyline for players to follow. It has online PvP as per the norm but it may be a little iffy of an experience. It’s a free-to-play game but it’s enjoyable for a decent amount of time.
Clash Royale
Price: Free to play
Clash Royale is a dueling game and it fits more in line with the card game variant of Pokemon. Players build up a collection of monsters from the Clash of Clans universe and battle them in online PvP against another player. You can earn various cards by completing games and ranking up. There are also multiple arenas, a clan mechanic for you social people out there, and more. The game is also insanely popular so there is a ton of Twitch and YouTube content as well. Hearthstone is another excellent, super popular dueling game as well. You can choose either one.
Digimon is one of Pokemon’s biggest competitors and Digimon ReArise is the latest mobile game in the Digimon universe. This one features a story line, plenty of Digimon to collect, and plenty of online players to duel. It takes place outside of the typical Digimon universe and focuses more on the Digimon-trainer relationship. The game had a rough go when it first launched due to optimization issues. Most of those issues are gone and the game is actually quite good.
There are a bunch of older Pokemon games on handheld consoles you can’t buy anymore. Thus, it makes sense to try them on an emulator. There are some decent ones, such as John GBAC for Game Boy Color and DraStic DS Emulator for the Nintendo DS. Recently, Citra (still in beta) launched for the Nintendo 3DS as well. Simply get these emulators, find the games, and play. Most emulators have the basics like fast forward modes, save and load states, cheat code support, and more. This was the only way to actually play Pokemon on mobile for a long time and it’s still a great way to play the classics.
EvoCreo is about as close to a Pokemon clone as you can get. In this JRPG title, players start with collecting monsters, battling other evokers (trainers), and making their way through the story. The developers boast a 40-hour campaign and around 130 monsters to capture and evolve. It also features cross-platform multiplayer and the ability to customize your monsters to suit whatever strategy you cook up. It’s a paid game with in-app purchases, but the in-app purchases are entirely optional.
Legends of Runeterra
Price: Free to play
Legends of Runeterra is a dueling game by Riot Games, the developers of League of Legends. This game is similar to Clash Royale and Hearthstone. Players collect cards and build decks around their favorite champion. From there, you can battle people online, improve your strategies, collect more cards, and even duel friends. There are 24 total champions and the game puts less of a risk of RNG than most games in the genre. It’s newer, but it’s pretty good.
MonsterCrafter is one of the more unique games like Pokemon. This game lets you create your own monsters instead of giving you a set number to collect. It uses the same graphical style as Minecraft and it gives players a lot of options for modular designs when it comes to their monsters. You simply build a creature and then battle it against other players. It’s a free-to-play game, but it’s definitely a neat premise with a lot of potential customization options.
Monster Hunter Stories
Price: Free demo / $19.99
Monster Hunter Stories is kind of like Pokemon for adults. It’s a full JRPG title with a narrative storyline, excellent mechanics, and a ton of stuff to do. It’s a fairly faithful port of the 3DS version and it’s not missing any important parts of the game. The free demo is actually a prequel to the main game and you can port your save to the main version if you decide to buy it. It’s quite expensive at $19.99 but there are no extra in-app purchases to gum up the works. Most of the complaints are minor, especially with recent updates to fix a lot of the issues. We have the demo linked at the button below.
Neo Monsters is another Pokemon clone. The game boasts six different worlds and a bunch of stuff to do. The developers say there is almost 60 hours of gameplay here. Combat features up to four versus four battles with up to 16 total monsters. That’s quite a bit more than your standard Pokemon game. There are also over 1,000 monsters to collect, various evolutions to obtain, and six leagues to conquer. This one is a premium game with some extra, optional in-app purchases.
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