Why Now is Perfect Time for Pokemon to Resurrect a Forgotten Mobile Game

It’s a great time to be a Pokemon fan right now, but maybe not for the reasons some fans might think. Despite how there are plenty of things to be excited about on their own, like Pokemon Legends: Z-A and the upcoming Switch 2 upgrades to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, the way the franchise has made a name for itself on the mobile market is hard to ignore.

As of this writing, there are 11 Pokemon mobile games that fans can enjoy. Between Pokemon Cafe ReMix and Pokemon GO, there is a diverse set of options that embrace something different about the franchise. Fans who adore the many characters in Pokemon will find themselves at home with Pokemon Masters EX, competitive players looking for something new with the same iconic creatures would likely enjoy Unite, and Pokemon Smile is still helping kids brush their teeth. Pokemon TCG Pocket has managed to go beyond the expectations for itself and apps about collecting as a whole, though, and this may be a sign that the retired Pokemon Duel could make a comeback.

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Pokemon Duel May Thrive in Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Wake

What is Pokemon Duel?

Pokemon Duel was a free-to-play mobile board game that launched in 2017 and shut down in 2019. Fans would use figures obtained through a gacha system to move across the board, aiming to get to the other player’s side before they do. One of its draws was the artful designs of the digital figures players could get as they could break limitations that its inspiration, the physical Pokemon Trading Figure Game, could not.

Duel was most certainly ambitious in its endeavors, but that may have been its downfall. The game was met with an incredibly mixed reception, being criticized for how its pull rates of powerful (and power-crept) figures made the game feel very pay-to-win. The fact that moves were chosen by a roulette wheel during battles was a great idea on paper, but panned by players in practice, making entire rounds of Duel feel dictated by luck rather than strategy. On top of that, the way it wore its association with the Pokemon Trading Figure Game on its sleeve may have confused potential players into thinking they needed to purchase the physical toys to play. These flaws could be worked out in a more modern game, especially if a newer title learns from Pokemon TCG Pocket‘s success.

A Focus on Collecting May Be What Pokemon Duel Was Missing

Collecting is Pokemon TCG Pocket‘s main focus, and that simple switch in perspective ended up being a game-changer. Yes, deckbuilding and battling solo or against other players is still part of the experience, but it’s secondary to opening packs, getting rare cards, and showing them off. Pokemon TCG Pocket encourages this by allowing players to open at least two packs per day for free. If players were allowed to gather the figures they like casually, just like TCG Pocket does with its cards, the old flaws with the system may not bother players as much as they used to. Of course, the issues should still be reanalyzed and reworked, but that’d come naturally by flipping the script from battling to collecting anyway.

Having an easy-going game where players gather gorgeous figures of their favorite Pokemon and only have to play the board game if they want to might be welcome after Pokemon TCG Pocket showed that a mobile game like that can be possible. Changing the game itself to embrace the luck aspect as part of the fun, rather than a battle against the app’s power creep, would work well with this new direction. As previously mentioned, though, there are quite a lot of Pokemon mobile games to choose from and manage right now, so maybe a figure-collecting title like Duel will need to wait for a less cramped window of opportunity to make its return.