Every genre needs a catalyst to be considered separate. There may be some that fit the genre released beforehand but the genre itself will become defined by the catalyst that popularised it. This very much applies to the monster-taming video game genre but I think there’s a problem for the genre currently. More than 27 years after its debut, Pokémon has near complete domination of this subgenre. This is a terrible situation to be in and so I thought I’d explain why I believe the monster-taming video game genre needs more competition.
Let’s start with a brief history of the monster-taming genre. Contrary to what some might think, Pokémon was not the establisher of the genre instead merely serving to popularise monster-taming. Prior to Pokémon, a franchise called “Megami Tensei” established monster-taming as the player would have to negotiate with demons and mythological characters to have them join the team where they could be improved by fusing them. The fifth Dragon Quest game “Hand of the Heavenly Bride” also features the ability to have monsters join your team but also included the ability to level them up by earning experience in battle. However, it was Pokémon, released in 1996, that ended up becoming a gigantic success to the point where Pokémon has become the highest-grossing media franchise in history!
You would expect a wide variety of competitors to spring up to try to take advantage of the newfound popularity of monster-taming games and we did see a bit of this in the early days with franchises like Digimon, Monster Rancher and Fighting Foodons but none were able to make a dent in Pokémon and they have, for the most part, receded into obscurity with the exception being Digimon which, despite being a successful franchise, has struggled against Pokémon but continues to persevere.
There are some other monster-taming games that have come out and seen some success such as Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, World of Final Fantasy, Monster Hunter Stories etc., but the only one that got anywhere close to posing a threat to Pokémon was Yo-kai Watch, a series of video games developed by Level-5 that initially started out strongly but has waned in popularity over time.
We’ve seen some indie monster-taming games see success such as Temtem, Coromon, Nexomon and even some very original takes such as the metroidvania monster-taming game Monster Sanctuary but even many of these successful developers still regularly see their works referred to as Poké-clones or Pokémon rip-offs. The danger in all this, and the reason why I believe that the monster-taming video game genre needs more competition, is that Pokémon has a near-monopoly of the genre and has grown lax in recent years. I’ll confess that I haven’t played a Pokémon game since the original releases of Diamond and Pearl so a lot of this information is second-hand. However, it does seem that some of the more dedicated Pokémon fans are growing more dissatisfied with the Pokémon series as they innovate at a glacial pace. Incompetent AI results in many battles feeling too easy, basic storytelling and other criticisms go ignored and the recent release of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet proved to be horrific as technical performance and glitches marred the experience. However, despite these problems, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet ended up being a massive commercial success as they sold 20 million copies within six weeks! This is why the genre needs more competition, so that the Pokémon series will have to work to improve itself in order to remain successful.
If you’re a fan of Pokémon then I would strongly encourage you to take a look at some other monster-taming games as well and see if any of them catch your fancy. Even if you end up not enjoying any of them as much as Pokémon, you’ll still learn about various features and improvements they make that should be asked of the Pokémon franchise. Let me know your thoughts on whether the monster-taming video game genre needs more competition, which monster-taming games you’ve played, what you liked and disliked about each of them, whether you agree that Pokémon is too dominant within the genre and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Thanks for reading and if you wish to seek any of the titles I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs! Also feel free to follow my curator page on Steam “JRPG Reviews” for thoughts and opinions on any JRPGs that I play and my YouTube channel “Victory Achieved Gaming” where I guide my friend through challenging games.