What's Played, What's Not, and What's Next

Up to this point, I've played many Pokémon games. Conversely, up to this point, I also haven't played some of the other Pokémon games. But some of that's hardly my fault; after all, Pokémon has expanded far beyond just a single series of games, and every game appeals to different fans as much as they themselves are also different. Even so, it's worthwhile to keep track of which ones I've played and which ones I haven't, and to see what direction to take this in.

I've played at least one of the main series games in each generation up to now, and this is something that I will continue to do for as long as these games continue to exist and have a place in the hearts of fans, which will likely be so. Something I probably won't do is to pursue achievements in the games I haven't played (in particular the oldest ones), and there are a few reasons for this. One is that the old games are old, and unless I obtain the Virtual Console versions, it's just hard to make the ones I have work. Another is that my time is dwindling, and these games take a long time to be played to perfection. So I'm happy with the way I've played the games and to keep this going later on.

A good number of the games I haven't played are the spinoff games, with the exception of some recent ones like Shuffle and Picross. This is an area where I'd like to play some of the games I haven't played, especially if they're radically different from the ways of the main series games In fact, for some of these games, I already have a precedent: I've played Mystery Dungeon but haven't gotten around to the most recent one, as an example, and courtesy of a friend, I've started but not finished the second PokéPark game. There are still many potential directions here and I want to try to take them up for new experiences.

Related to the spinoff games are the mobile games, another area in which Pokémon games have taken hold of. As evidenced by many previous posts, I've had a rousing time (re)playing Go, and this is something I'll continue as it works for me and provides a lot of fun. I'm also interested in playing the likes of Duel and Magikarp Jump as they seem attractive as well, though I'm not interested in replaying Shuffle on mobile as I already have a good thing going on the 3DS. Meanwhile, it's not hard to expect that there may be other Pokémon mobile games in the future, so I'm looking out for this as well.

In the end, I'm now mostly interested in new directions in Pokémon games, and those are present in the spinoff and mobile games, though I'll still play the main series games. Regardless, these remain viable directions for any major fan of Pokémon for playing the games. I know I can't play everything, at least not at once, but as a fan, I'm appreciative of many of the games and expectant of playing them.

One year ago: Pokémon X Food Network ...?