Unlike Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei, Dragon Quest V didn’t receive an international release until 2008 with its Nintendo DS remake, and Shin Megami Tensei never saw a release outside of Japan (although the Super Famicom version did receive an English fan translation in 2002). In 1992, four years before the first Pokémon games were released, both Dragon Quest V and Shin Megami Tensei released for the Super Famicom in Japan. While Pokémon had been in development since at least 1990, three years earlier, Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei released for the Famicom in Japan and may have even technically been the very first mongame, but unfortunately never received an international release.
As I’ve mentioned in a previous article, Pokémon was not the first RPG to feature monster recruitment as a mechanic, just the first to achieve international popularity. To start, we have to go back to the beginning, to an era before the Red and Green versions of Pokémon were released in Japan. So why does this seem to happen with mongames more often? I’m here to argue why it shouldn’t and, as you might be able to tell from the title of this article, suggest why we need to stop using those terms.Įven Pokemon Wasn’t the First and Has Its Own Inspirations This continues to happen every so often despite the fact it doesn’t seem to occur as frequently with other genres such as roguelites, soulslikes, metroidvanias, and so on. Over the years, some have even suggested certain mongames could be potential “ Pokémon Killers” due to their quality and relative popularity when revealed and first released. Unfortunately, many have written off these types of games as “ Pokémon ripoffs” or “ Pokémon clones,” an issue that for some reason is still somewhat prevalent today. In most mongames, even modern Pokémon, collecting all of the monsters is an additional option rather than the goal, and Pokémon hasn’t used its “Gotta Catch’em All” slogan in years. This subgenre has commonly been known to fans as monster collecting games, monster taming games, monster-catching games, or simply, the more all-encompassing term, mongames, due to the fact that while you are usually raising monsters in some capacity, you aren’t always collecting or even necessarily taming them. While there have been plenty of shameless imitators, there have also been a hefty amount of games that put their own spin on a Pokémon-like formula.
From video games, to anime, to trading cards, and plenty of other various merchandise, Pokémon’s popularity has gone through ups and downs for over two decades - its heyday being back in the late 90s and early aughts. 2021 marks the 25th anniversary of Pokémon, one of the most recognizable brands in the entire world.
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