Eleven Pokémon games you can play on mobile for free

POKÉMON games have gone far beyond the mainline series, with over 70 games available to play.

While many of its games were made for Nintendo’s handheld consoles, there are also some built just for mobile.

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If you want to play Pokémon on the go, we’ve ranked all the Pokémon from worst to best so you can find out what to try out.

Here’s all 11 Pokémon mobile games ranked.

11. Pokémon Duel

Pokémon Duel is gone now thankfully, though it has likely only been replaced by Masters EX.

Duel was a gacha game where players collected little Pokémon figures and battled them with NPCs.

This would be fine if it wasn’t for the microtransactions sucking all the life out of it. 

10. Pokémon Magikarp Jump

There is nothing particularly wrong with Magikarp Jump, but there is also nothing right about it.

It’s an idle clicker game where you feed your Magikarp, train it and then put it into tournaments.

However, you rarely perform any of these activities. You hit train, and the Magikarp does all the work.

A lot of effort went into the cute art style and story, but it doesn’t have any substance.

9. Pokémon Café Mix

Café Mix has a gorgeous art style with the cutesy theme of running a café as a Pokémon.

Different ‘mons will come visit your café, and if you do a good job, you can recruit them to work with you.

However, the gameplay is a little dull as cooking each dish is more like Tsum Tsum than Cooking Mama.

And of course the whole thing is jam-packed with those lovely microtransactions.

8. Pokémon Rumble Rush

When it comes to predatory microtransactions, Rumble Rush is a name that constantly comes up.

The Rumble series used to be a fun dungeon crawler filled with cute wind-up Pokémon characters.

Then Rush came along and tarnished the reputation by encouraging people to pay out for the experience that used to be a regular game.

It’s no longer around now, probably because it was succeeded by…

7. Pokémon Quest

Using a similar style of cute cubic characters, Quest takes a similar approach of exploring areas while fighting off wild ‘mons.

You can set up camp with friends and cook food based on what you found on your journey.

However, just because the microtransactions have been toned down, they are definitely not gone.

6. Pokémon Masters EX

Pokémon Masters EX follows the classic Pokémon model of collecting ‘mons and battling others.

There are loads of in-game battles where you can face off against famous trainers and gym leaders from the series.

However, it’s impossible to ignore that this is a gacha game, and therefore has all the predatory microtransactions that come with the genre.

As an adult, you can probably play and enjoy yourself, but children should probably be kept away.

5. Pokémon Shuffle

Most Pokémon mobile games are filled with predatory microtransactions, and while Pokémon Shuffle is no different, it is fun.

It’s a simple match-three puzzle game, where the number of moves you make is more important than the timer.

Match up Pokémon to clear the board in increasingly difficult levels of challenge.

The later levels become too difficult to complete without items, and that’s where microtransactions come in, but it’s enjoyable until this point.

4. Pokémon Smile

Not really a game, but an app that encourages your children to brush their teeth.

The app will show your child brushing with their Pokémon friend, while a map of your teeth shows you where to brush and for how long.

When your child brushes consistently, they will gain a streak and can catch other Pokémon to brush with.

A clever way of gamifying a simple task and giving your children more independence.

3. Pokémon Unite

This was Pokémon’s attempt at a MOBA, and it was largely successful.

Team up with three other players as different types of Pokémon to knock out your opponents and score points for your team.

There have been balancing issues with this one, and the various Pokémon receive buffs and nerfs constantly.

However, if you’re new to the genre, it’s a gentle entry into a very difficult type of game.

2. Pokémon TCG Live

The Pokémon TCG isn’t a game you can just pick up and play, but if you take the time to understand it, you’ll be rewarded.

Collect a deck of cards with your favourite ‘mons, and battle with others to decide who’s the very best.

Matching is skill-based, so you won’t be put up against a pro on your first go giving you a gentle transition.

If you collect the real TCG, you can use those cards in the mobile version too.

1. Pokémon Go

No game quite captured people’s imagination and became a global sensation like Pokémon Go, and it is still getting people out of the house to this day.

It’s the closest people will ever get to catching Pokémon in the wild, as Go encourages you to walk around in order to play.

Train your Pokémon and take on gyms in order to catch rare ‘mons and legendaries.

Go made us connect with people in a way that Pokémon games rarely do, and for this it has to come top of this list.

Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.

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