The 20 best Pokémon games of all time

Although the Pokémon series has been around for 25 years now, it has seldom been more current, with the Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl remakes just released, and the hotly anticipated brand new game, Pokémon Legends Arceus, due very soon in early 2022. And Pokémon is more than just a series of core RPGs. Those are a major part of it, of course, but then so is the trading card game, and the anime, the movies, the cafés… Although the series has been around for 25 years now, it has seldom been more current, with the Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl remakes just out and the hotly anticipated brand new game, Pokémon Legends Arceus, due very soon in early 2022.

Even just within video games there’s a huge range of weird and wonderful things to be played, from those legendary role-playing adventures, of course, to handheld recreations of arcade pinball, virtual photography expeditions, or edutainment CD-ROMs.

With that in mind, we’ve assembled our list below of the best Pokémon games based on Pokémon video game that’s released so far. Expect plenty of classics, of course, but also some proper hidden gems – it’s often overlooked, but part of Pokémon’s brilliance is its ability to surprise. So, in no particular order, here they are:

Clearly, Pokémon Yellow is the best game of the original Pokémon generation. Red might have Charizard on the cover, but this anime-inspired follow-up lets you actually have a Charizard and all the other Starter Pokémon too.

Yellow started the trend for a more complete edition of a Pokémon game generation to arrive with extra features. Here, it was the first game in the series to offer a buddy Pokémon, Pikachu, whose mood can change based on your actions. It also features cameos from Jessie and James, plus the fun Surfing Pikachu mini-game. If you’re still planning to revisit the series’ Game Boy origins, Yellow is the most interesting way to begin.

Pokémon Colosseum is the series’ ‘dark and edgy’ phase and it’s brilliant.

You play as a former criminal who decided the best way to cut ties with his former associates was to blow up their base and ‘borrow’ the device they use to steal other trainer’s Pokémon. His attempt to lie low afterwards is ruined when he saves Rui, a woman who can see a Pokémon aura (roll with it), and learn about the Shadow Pokémon appearing across the Orre region.

The Shadow Pokémon are the crux of the game because, in Pokémon Colosseum, there are no wild Pokémon. Instead, your team can only grow when you successfully steal – sorry, save – a Shadow Pokémon from another trainer. Thanks to this, catching a Shadow Pokémon can become a tense experience because, if it faints, you may have to wait a while before you encounter its trainer again. Shadow Pokémon also only level up or evolve once their hearts have been purified through the power of friendship and massage (let’s not go there).

While these factors may sound restrictive, they actually encourage you to be creative when it comes to team building rather than simply sticking to the same set of Pokémon. You have to decide which Pokémn are worth purifying and, since you only have a small selection of Pokémon to choose from, you can’t rely on finding an old favourite, like Lapras.

It’s just a shame you can only save Shadow Pokémon…

Ask anyone who played the Pokémon Trading Card Game (the Game Boy one, that is) as a kid, and their lasting memory may well be of Imakuni, the strange, eccentric real-world musician who wrote songs for the original anime – and appears as an opponent in-game.