Monsters Outside Of Your Pocket

Pokemon in no way invented the video game genre we would now call a “Monster Collector/Tamer”. Games like Shin Magami Tensei and the Dragon Quest series both used monster taming mechanics before Pokemon even came to be. But Pokemon very much popularized and streamlined the system, turning monster collecting into a household genre. Specifically Monster Collecting/Taming games have the player build a team of enemy creatures that can be used in battle by the player. This includes both using the creatures to fight directly on their own, or fighting alongside the creatures. But some have even explored using these creatures to do things besides fighting enemies. Something we will get into soon.

Unfortunately, as time has gone on, Pokemon has dominated the genre so thoroughly that it’s hard for other games to find a place, as the general public mark all monster collecting games as some form of a “Pokemon ripoff” instead of just games trying to play into the same genre. 

But much like quick growing oak trees strangle out a forest only to be burned away during a forest fire, leaving pines to reclaim the empty space, an opening has appeared in Pokemon’s failures, mainly following the debate of the quality of the game justifying the high price tag of recent games. Along with the strain and franchise fatigue that has come from the series’ yearly release schedule. Following the release of the new Pokemon Legends ZA and its paid DLC, Mega Dimensions, the debate on the quality of modern Pokemon games is only getting more contentious.

Now seems the best time to look at some other options to scratch that itch until Game Freak and Nintendo clean up their act. So, here I am to offer some other monster collecting games for you to dig into outside of the Pokemon series. Who knows, you might find a new favorite.

Cassette Beasts

To start off strong, the first one on offer is Cassette Beasts, a very fun pixel art monster collecting game for my fellow pre-generation 6 Pokemon fans, before 3D graphics entered the series. Nostalgia is key to part of this game’s identity. Beyond the fact cassettes and cassette players are used for the battle system, this is full of references for cultural elements many people will now find nostalgic, both in the world itself and in the monsters you will encounter. Its interesting style of pixel art characters moving through a low polygon 3D world instantly feels like something from the mid-2000s with the polish of modern games, not to mention a very unique limitless fusion mechanic to go with its companion system and 2 on 2 battle only game. All of these are huge parts of Cassette Beast’s identity. I also can’t forget that, unlike Pokemon, the player character actually transforms into the monsters you use, saving them on cassette tapes to use in this magical world, which just feels so unique. 

Digimon Story

Next is the Digimon Story series. There is a new release in the series, Time Stranger, but Cyber Sleuth and Hacker’s Memory are both very strong as well. If you crave story in your monster collecting games, this is a perfect option, with a very in depth story as well as almost verging on being a visual novel game at times. If you know anything about Digimon, you’ll know these games come with an even more in depth evolution system, with up to 7 evolution stages for Digimon lines and massive branches forming a web of evolution, beating Pokemon’s 3 (sometimes 4) with rare splits. The one big downside being that it is the priciest on the list, hitting the same prices as the Nintendo Switch 2 Pokemon Games at $50 – $70 as of writing this. But still, if you’re open to spending more, you’d certainly get your money’s worth with the Digimon series.

Monster Hunter Stories

Next is a bit of a personal pick, Monster Hunter Stories. The third game will be released in mid March of 2026, so now is a good time to pick up the first two games. A spinoff of the popular action series, Monster Hunter, the Stories series has you, rather than hunting the monsters in a real time action game, hatching them from eggs to become your friends and fight alongside you in a turn-based RPG. This is a bit of a simple one, but it rides on the charm of fighting alongside your favorite monsters from the series and the pretty amazingly animated Kinship Attacks, which are unique super moves each monster has. Not to mention the typical Monster Hunter appeal of defeating towering monsters and creating new weapons and armors from their remains.

Beastieball

The next is probably the most unique of all picks, Beastieball. This game breaks the convention of a turn-based RPG monster collector. Here, you don’t collect monsters to fight other monsters and trainers. Instead, in something akin to if Pokemon was a sports anime, your Beasties will work in pairs to score goals in a game of volleyball. And as a coach, you can build the relationships between your beasties, which gives them access to new moves, special effects, and plenty more. Along with each beastie species having their own unique recruitment requirements, such as using certain moves in a match with them or scoring a no-touch game. The game has beautiful hand drawn 2D animation that makes it so charming to go through the world. The big drawback of the game is it is still in early access. The main story and plenty of other content, including sidequests; rare colormorphs; and optional tournaments, are complete, giving you over 15 hours of content. But the game is still being balanced, streamlined, and some beasties don’t have their full animations done yet. But beyond that, this is a breath of fresh air and real shake up for the genre that hopefully inspires more games to approach it from a new angle. 

Coromon

The last one I’ll cover approaches being a monster collector in a different way from others I covered. Coromon wears its inspiration on its sleeves even in its name alone. Throwing away any illusions that Pokemon wasn’t a huge inspiration, Coromon instead chooses to mimic the best of what Pokemon has done, while trimming the fat and adding their own unique elements. Heavily inspired by the Nintendo DS era of Pokemon games, Coromon builds off that now nostalgic era with a richer story, a huge cast of 114 monsters, a stamina system, difficulty setting, customizable replay modes, and a unique potential and rare color system where rarer and more powerful Coromon will have unique color schemes compared to more common examples of their species. Plus, plenty of postgame content for you to toy with after you beat the main story. 

These five games are only scratching the surface of what Monster Collectors have to offer as a genre. These are great examples but as more people are inspired by games like Pokemon, both in its successes and failures, hopefully we can get even more games to add to the genre. And hopefully it will be more diverse instead of the monoculture that Pokemon has created, especially as people experiment more and more with the genre as time goes on, breaking out of the Pokemon mold. If we can get even half a dozen experimental monster collectors like Beastieball, I could die happy. But before any of us keel over, let’s try out a few of these monster collectors.