As any actor will tell you, typecasting can be a real pain. When you play a particular role super, super well, you don’t only become famous for it: you’re often defined by it. This is the kind of thing that can stall or even outright end a career. In the gaming world, developers can fall victim to the same thing.
The folks at Game Freak are best known, of course, for the Pokémon series. As we speak, they’re making news again with the Pokémon Sword and Shield launch. However, the team have created a diverse range of very interesting games with nary a Pikachu to be seen, from other RPGs to puzzle titles and some of the quirkiest software ever designed. Let’s take a look at some of their best, often most-underappreciated, work.
10 Little Town Hero
Nintendo Switch fans who have been following the comings and goings of the console will be familiar with Little Town Hero, which was known by the working title of simply ‘Town’ for some time. Game Freak’s most recent non-Pokémon outing, it released on October 16 this year.
Little Town Hero was designed as a bite-sized RPG for those who don’t have the time to venture into a more traditional genre entry. It takes place, unsurprisingly, in a small town, with precious little traditional exploration on offer. Instead, the action centers around the intriguingly strategic battle system. It’s surprisingly deep, impossibly charming and available at a budget price.
9 Mario & Wario
For our next entry, we’re going to take a step back to 1993. In this year, Game Freak’s Mario & Wario hit the Super Famicom, an odd little puzzler/side-scroller than sadly never saw a Western release.
The action is like that of the Mario vs. Donkey Kong or Lemmings series. Mario (who cannot see as Wario has put a bucket or similar object over his head) walks of his own accord and must be led to the exit of each level. To do so, the player controls a little sprite named Wanda, who must remove obstacles from his path as he goes.
8 Pulseman
Pulseman is a 1994 Sega Genesis platformer that revolves around the titular character, a half-human half-robot (robots here are deemed ‘C-Life’) who bears more than a passing resemblance to Capcom’s beloved (and super tough) Mega Man series.
The general set-up of the game is similar too: Pulseman must traverse a series of stages, with a boss to defeat at the end of each. Along the way, he pursues Doc Waruyama, who is (you guessed it) cooking up a scheme to take over the galaxy. It’s a stylish action platformer that any Genesis fan should try and hunt down.
7 HarmoKnight
Next up, we have another title that showcases Game Freak’s talents with blending genres and twisting things into unusual shapes. HarmoKnight is a rhythm game and platformer that released on the 3DS in 2012 (early 2013 outside of Japan).
The player controls a young boy named Tempo, who wields a magical (and musical) staff. He and his companions must fight against the Noizoids, an invading force who seeks to disrupt the peace of the music-loving realm of Melodia. It’s a little brutal in places in terms of difficulty, but HarmoKnight has that familiar Game Freak charm in spades.
6 Giga Wrecker
Yet another truly unique platformer from the studio, Giga Wrecker is a game that takes its title seriously. If you’re looking to… wreck things, you’ve certainly come to the right place.
The central mechanic here is destroying and altering the world around you. Our protagonist is Reika Rekkeiji, a cybernetically-enhanced girl powerful enough to rend the world around her, creating useful items and weapons from the ruins. Giga Wrecker’s creativity, intense combat and brilliant physics set it apart.
5 Drill Dozer
For our next entry, we’re taking a look at a title from the Game Boy Advance’s brilliant library. Drill Dozer isn’t one of Game Freak’s best-known releases on the system (Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were Game Boy Advance games, after all), but it’s held in very high regard by those in the know.
In this action platformer, players take the role of Jill and her titular Drill Dozer. Jill’s Red Dozers were attacked by a rival bandit band, the Skullkers, and she sets off on a journey to retrieve her gang’s stolen property. The Game Boy Advance was never exactly lacking in games of the genre, but the Drill Dozer itself is an interesting concept (having both offensive and defensive uses) that makes the game stand apart.
4 Yoshi
Perhaps better known as Yoshi’s Egg, this 1991 NES title marked another of Game Freak’s early forays into puzzler territory. It’s an interesting blend of two of the most basic puzzle game concepts: managing the slowly-filling screen and matching colors. Now, that’s nothing we haven’t already seen umpteen times, but Yoshi also threw a unique stacking mechanic into the mix.
Yoshi may be the star of the show, but it’s Mario who must manipulate stacks of falling Mushroom Kingdom beasties (Goombas and Bloopers among them) so they match up and are removed from play. Yoshi eggs can also be matched up and hatched, so there’s a lot to master here if you’re a highscore chaser.
3 Tembo The Badass Elephant
Now, you don’t have to know anything at all about Tembo The Badass Elephant to recognize that this is one fantastic title for a video game right here. First impressions count, and Tembo is leaving a great one just for that.
There’s so much more here to enjoy besides that, though. As the possible Rambo reference in the title suggests, this is an action-heavy title, centering around Tembo’s sheer strength. He can power through enemies, obstacles and just about anything else he encounters as he rampages his way through the levels of this 2015 scrolling action platformer.
2 Giga Wrecker Alt.
So, yes. Game Freak are often considered to be the Pokémon company (not to be confused with… The Pokémon Company), which is a bit of a shame. As we’ve seen, they’re more than capable of producing the kinds of creative and straight-up enjoyable titles that the industry always needs more of.
For this reason, we’re revisiting Giga Wrecker in this entry, this time in the form of Giga Wrecker Alt.. This version of the game is an expanded and improved port of the original, offering new console-exclusive features including a mode dubbed Iron Man. Alt., perhaps more than the original, was a huge step forward for the company’s message that they aren’t just about Pokémon.
1 Game Boy Camera
Of all the quirky non-Pokémon software Game Freak has developed, the Game Boy Camera surely takes the cake. This fascinating 1998 peripheral allowed users to take photographs and edit them on their Game Boy’s screen, even playing a set of simple included games along the way. If you had the clunky Game Boy Printer alongside it, you could print them out on tiny slips of paper.
If you’re a nostalgic Nintendo fan, you might still have one of these somewhere at home. It’s one of the strangest yet most brilliant things the Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance bought us in their lifetimes (it was compatible with all three). Thanks for the ridiculous memories, Game Freak.