Pokémon Quest

Pokémon Quest is a free-to-start spin-off of the Pokémon series, developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo/The Pokémon Company for the Nintendo Switch and smartphone devices. The Nintendo Switch version was released in North America on May 29, 2018, with the rest of the world getting it a day after. The mobile version was released for the iOS and Android devices on June 27, 2018.

The game takes place at the Tumblecube Island, where the environment is cube-shaped and even the Pokémon living there are made out of cubes (called Pokéxels). The player decided to explore the island in order to discover the island's loot. In order to make exploring easier, the player can befriend the Pokémon living there, starting with either Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Pikachu, or Eevee as their chosen starter. The gameplay involves taking a team of up to three Pokémon into stages where they can explore, fight wild Pokémon, and find treasure. The player's Pokémon move on their own, though the player can manipulate when and what move they can use (otherwise they perform regular attacks on their own as well). Moves have cooldown, however, so it is important to know what move is best used in what situation. A stage consists of a few waves of wild Pokémon to be fought, ending with boss Pokémon that are tougher compared to the rest. Defeated wild Pokémon drop loot, mostly ingredients that are used for cooking food at the Base Camp to lure more Pokémon to befriend. The player's Pokémon can grow stronger by clearing stages (rewards EXP required for level-up and thus expanding their Power Charm slots) and equipping them with Power Stones (the game's main treasure) which have various effects depending on what kind of Power Stone it is.

As the game is made for smartphones in mind, the game uses primarily touch controls (Joy-Con controls are still usable, provided the player knows what button does what). Also, the game features Microtransactions due to its free-to-start nature, with PM Tickets being the currency that can be bought with real money and useful for various things, like speeding up the cooking process or buying things from Poké Mart. In addition to that, the game has its own DLC shop that allows buying expansion packs which come with special decorations not available at the normal Decorations section of the Mart as well as gift Pokémon with unusual moveset (like a Nidoran♀ with Sing). The player can also purchase Move Stones from the same shop directly using real money.


 * Action Bomb: Some wild Pokémon like Exeggcute, Voltorb, and Koffing are set to use Selfdestruct/Explosion a few seconds after they appear. These can inflict massive damage if not outright One-Hit Kill the player's Pokémon, but they usually have lower HP than the non-exploding equivalent, so it is recommended to take them out quickly or hit the Scatter button when they are about to explode.
 * Adaptation Distillation: Compared to the main games, only the first 150 Pokémon are available (thus, no Dark-type Pokémon exist in this game), Pokémon can only have up to two moves (like in the Pokémon Rumble series), Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors is absent (type-based Geo Effects is implemented instead), and all evolution uses the level-up requirement.
 * Alliterative Name: Most area names: Gloomy Grove, Backforth Brook, Perched Peak, Pincushion Plain, Miasma Moor, Hushed Highlands, Nightlight Nook, and Farside Fjord.
 * Anti-Poopsocking: The game uses a "battery" system (basically the "stamina" system used in most free-to-play mobile games) that is consumed every time the player goes out to explore. It can only be refilled by either waiting for it to recharge, finishing certain quests, or using PM Tickets. The battery has a fixed max amount that can be extended, but only by buying the expansion pack(s).
 * Arbitrary Headcount Limit: Up to three Pokémon can be deployed for explorations.
 * Boss Battle: At the end of stages, the player will get to fight boss Pokémon that are tougher than the other wild Pokémon found in the same stage.
 * Cap: Both the player's Pokémon Box and Stone Box are initially capped at 20 each. The player can expand either of them by using PM Tickets, up to 300 max.
 * Character Name Limits: The naming system limits up to 12 characters.
 * Color-Coded Elements: Moves' buttons are colored based on their type.
 * Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The ingredients are color-coded, as seen on their icons (Rainbow Matter and Mystic Shells can fill in any color). Cooking a color-based food (and thus recruiting Pokémon of that color) relies on this.
 * Com Mons: In general, the player can tell that their cooking will more likely attract a Com Mon if the number of expeditions needed is 2, the least number required.
 * Consolation Prize: Even if the player failed/gave up on an expedition, the party can still gain EXP and said expedition is counted towards the cooking progress (if the player has any). Loot from this instance can be kept as well, though this requires paying some PM Tickets.
 * Cooldown:
 * If a move is used, the Pokémon using it will go through this for a few seconds before they can use a move again.
 * A defeated ally Pokémon gains a cooldown timer until it revives itself with half health (health recovered upon KO decreases after every subsequent revival in a stage, though).
 * Damage Over Time: Poisoned/Burned Pokémon will take damage every few seconds until said status wears off.
 * Damn You, Muscle Memory!: As mentioned in Adaptation Distillation above, Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors is absent, yet players still prefer to use moves that are "super effective" against the wild Pokémon. Related to that, status immunity is absent as well (outside of Bingo bonuses), yet players often forget this until they successfully poisoned a wild Venomoth.
 * Dual Boss:
 * Two Weezing in Miasma Moor's Stage 7-2.
 * Nidoqueen and Nidoking are fought at the same time as the final bosses in Hushed Highlands.
 * Dub Name Change: Tumblecube Island's names in different languages, at least in Japanese, English, Spanish, and Korean, involve the words "cube" and any variation of "tumble"/"roll", but the French, German , Italian , Chinese (which roughly translates into "Happycube Island"), and Russian names simply follow the "cube" naming theme without the latter word involved.
 * "Everything Is Smashable" Area: Certain scenery objects in stages can be destroyed by Pokémon moves. Doing this can be crucial, as these objects can block Pokémon movement if nothing is done to them.
 * Experience Booster: Every statue collected from clearing areas functions as this up to certain levels when placed as camp decoration.
 * Experience Meter: Each befriended Pokémon has one to measure their progress until the next level-up.
 * Featureless Protagonist: The player character's only presence is their in-game dialogue. They never physically appear in-game.
 * Flunky Boss: If the boss Pokémon is accompanied by other weaker Mons.
 * Friendly Fireproof: Pokémon on the same side cannot damage each other.
 * Gameplay Automation: The player can choose to let the game fully control their deployed Pokémon via the Auto button so that they can unleash moves automatically in combat.
 * Geo Effects: As the game does away with Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors, every area (except for Chamber of Legends ) is given a "Bonus type" designation to boost the power of Pokémon belonging to that type.
 * Giant Mook: Boss/Strong Pokémon are a larger version of their species.
 * Glass Cannon: Pokémon with high Attack but low HP.
 * Green Hill Zone: First Steppe is a green area that, as its name suggests, is the first accessible dungeon (and thus an easy dungeon) in the game.
 * Guide Dang It: Cooking recipes (which contain hints on what kind of Pokémon will be attracted to them), until players know the hints from the ingredients' descriptions (or experiment by themselves), are this. After that, there is the recipe for the better quality food of that type (especially Special) that makes the player more likely to attract rarer Pokémon.
 * Herd-Hitting Attack: Moves that hit in an area of effect. Broadburst Stones can be attached to certain moves to increase their attack radius further.
 * Hit Points: One of the two main Pokémon stats in this game.
 * An Interior Designer Is You: The player's Base Camp (more like Exterior) can be decorated with decorative items obtained from explorations and Poké Mart.
 * Life Meter: Shown during explorations, both player's Pokémon and wild Pokémon.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: As expected for a monster-collecting game. This game features the entire Kanto roster sans Mew.
 * Metal Slime: Chansey, as expected. She rarely appears in certain stages, but once encountered, the player only has a few seconds to defeat her (unsurprisingly, she has high HP) before she starts fleeing and then disappears.
 * Microtransactions: The player can buy PM Tickets and special downloadable content with real money.
 * Mythology Gag:
 * Most of the ingredients are based on items found in the main games.
 * The Premier Ball Model decor is awarded for buying 10 decoration items at the Poké Mart, a reference to the main games rewarding a Premier Ball from buying 10 Poké Balls.
 * Due to the 3D pixel art aesthetic, the Pokémon cries used are taken from the fifth generation games.
 * Not Allowed to Grow Up: The player can set the Everstone button to "on" if they want their particular Pokémon to not evolve.
 * Olympus Mons: Yes, Legendaries appear in this game too.
 * Palette Swap: Shiny Pokémon can be found and befriended in this game.
 * Play Every Day: While not exactly every day (it is actually every 22 hours), the game will reward the player with 50 PM Tickets from the Poké Mart daily. A random Pokémon can also show up in the Base Camp every 22 hours as well.
 * Player Mooks: The befriended Pokémon are basically these for the player.
 * Post-Endgame Content: Beating the game.
 * Punny Name: First Steppe is the first step to the many dungeons of Tumblecube Island.
 * Random Drop: Defeated wild Pokémon may drop random loot.
 * Random Number God: The basis of what Pokémon species will be lured by the player's cooking, its Power Charm slots, its moves (which is then divided into whether the Pokémon has one move or two), its starting level, and its stats.
 * Rare Random Drop: Stuff like Power Stones (from non-bosses) and Rainbow Matter are rarer drops from enemies. Move Stones, a kind of Power Stone that powers up moves, are dropped even more rarely.
 * Regenerating Health: The player's Pokémon regenerate a small amount of health every few seconds during explorations.
 * Scratch Damage: The least damage a Pokémon can take if they are durable enough is 1.
 * Spam Attack: The purpose of Whack-Whack Stones, which give additional move execution on move usage at the cost of increasing said move's Cooldown.
 * Spread Shot: Moves powered up with the Scattershot Stone turn into these.
 * Standard Status Effects: The typical Pokémon status effects are present in this game (Poison, Burn, Freeze, Paralysis, Sleep, Confusion, Disable).
 * Stone Wall: Pokémon with high HP but low Attack.
 * Support Party Member: If an ally's Pokémon's purpose is to buff its allies' stats, debuff enemies, or inflict status effects.
 * Tastes Like Friendship: Befriending new Pokémon requires cooking dishes at the Base Camp.
 * Upgrade Artifact: The Power Stones, which power up a Pokémon equipping them.
 * When All You Have Is a Hammer: It is possible for a recruited Pokémon to only possess one move slot, though this is offset with it being able to be powered up with up to three Move Stones, allowing multiple advantageous effects to be applied to a single move at once more so than moves that can equip less.
 * You Have Researched Breathing: Some of the Bingo bonuses allow for seemingly obvious effects associated with the Pokémon that should have been there in the first place, like making Poison-types immune to the Poison status effect.