What are the best Pokemon spin offs?

Last Updated on: 21st March 2021, 05:26 pm

Pokemon is one of the biggest franchises in the entire world, so of course The Pokemon Company couldn’t remain satisfied with merely ONE video game franchise. As such, since Pokemon’s inception there’s been a number of spin off titles and series. I figured I’d take a look at some of the best Pokemon spin offs!

Once again as a small disclaimer, I haven’t played every single Pokemon game in existence, so I may be missing out on some gems. Perhaps PokePark 2 is the best spin off of all time but… I’ll limit it mostly to what I’ve played.

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1. Mystery Dungeon

I’m sure many people expected this to be the number one slot. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon is one of the most long running and well received spin offs in the series’ history.

For those unaware, Mystery Dungeon stars a person turned to a Pokemon and their partner as they join an adventurer’s guild and go on adventures all around the Pokemon world. All the NPCs are talking Pokemon and the worlds of these games are just comfy.

The gameplay is generally simple but well done. A grid based dungeon crawler as you and your adventure team explore all the dungeons around the world and go through the (surprisingly good) stories these games tell.

I’ve only managed to play Sky and a little of Blue Rescue Team, but even those are a league above the rest of the Pokemon spin offs.

2. Orre

Probably another common-ish pick, but I’d have to say among the best Pokemon spin offs are the shadow Pokemon games in the Orre Region: Colosseum and XD: Gale of Darkness.

This duology on the GameCube was one of the first real forays of Pokemon into 3D, and they mostly hit it out of the park. The dialogue was as charming as the main series, characters were memorable, and the areas were fun to explore with a banger soundtrack.

These two also went more into the story side of things, offering little side content but trying to hold together a cohesive narrative. Whether you think it is very good or not, eh, but there was an attempt, and I know many who love the slightly darker atmosphere of these two.

The only real problem for me is the series reliance on double battles, which I’ve never been a huge fan of. Despite that, the Orre games are an extremely memorable and loved set of the Pokemon franchise, and I hope we get another shadow Pokemon game.

3. Pokemon Ranger

So like how many people actually know about Pokemon Ranger? It was a sub series of three games both starting and concluding on the Nintendo DS. Pokemon Ranger, Shadows of Almia, and Guardian Signs.

As the title implies, you take the role of, well, a Pokemon Ranger. Think of it as a sort of civil servant kind of role, as you belong to a guild that basically just helps out around various towns in the regions they inhabit. Even in the more grounded approach, they manage to tell decently interesting stories and have some of the best writing I’ve seen in all of Pokemon.

The gameplay has you drawing circles around Pokemon to catch or calm them down with the Stylus, and then use said Pokemon to either help reign in other Pokemon or use their skills on the field.

I may personally prefer Ranger over the Orre games, to be honest, as Shadows of Almia was fantastic, but I can’t in good faith put this series above it. Admittedly the gameplay can get a bit dull after three games and the writing can only carry it so far.

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Regardless, I’d say its well worth your time to check out these three sub series, some of what I’d call the best Pokemon spin offs. They offer hundreds of hours of fun and I can’t say I’ve seen many Pokemon fans be down on these spin off series.