It comes as no surprise that Pokemon tops the charts of the highest grossing media franchises out there, with a massive $12 billion lead on the runner-up, Hello Kitty. As a result of this success, fans have seen the franchise everywhere, from reoccurring anime series and movies to Build-a-Bear workshops and major video games consoles. Some of these games were core titles, like the forthcoming Pokemon Sword and Shield, whereas others were mobile games like Pokemon GO and Pokemon Masters. There were also quite a number of spin-offs too, with Pokemon: Mystery Dungeon and Pokemon Ranger having a special place in a number of fans' hearts.
Those Pokemon spin-offs haven't been seen in quite a few years, with a Mystery Dungeon last receiving a title in 2015 and Pokemon Ranger's last entry launching in 2010. But with the growing popularity of the Nintendo Switch, it seems like a good time to bring these titles back from their respective hiatuses and either port them or make a sequel to land on the new hybrid console.
For those who are somehow unfamiliar with these titles, Mystery Dungeon saw players take on the role of Pokemon to explore various dungeons. While the gameplay was often repetitive, the story and the very fact of playing a Pokemon was enticing. Pokemon Ranger saw players 'capture' a Pokemon temporarily and use its special abilities to navigate various puzzles or capturing other Pokemon.
It's worth mentioning that the critical reception of most entries in these franchises were deemed "mixed or average," so that may be a point against this ever happening. On the other hand, Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon — the last entry in the subfranchise — was the highest selling video game in Japan during its debut week, going on to sell nearly 300,000 copies in the region alone. Worldwide, it would sell 1.22 million copies. In a similar vein, the last entry in the Ranger franchise, Pokemon Ranger: Guardian Signs, topped Japan's charts during its debut week as well, managing to sell over 360,000 copies within the first month in Japan and marking the tried and true popularity of the Nintendo DS.
Even though the games had their honest-to-goodness criticisms, they were still well-received by fans and would likely do well on the Nintendo Switch. This, of course, begs the question as to whether a Remastered port, a remake, a reboot, or a sequel would likely do best, which is itself dependent upon the gameplay functionality.
Moving something from the DS to the Nintendo Switch would likely require significant work, especially given the former's use of a second screen and stylus. This would probably be especially true in the case of Pokemon Ranger, as it primary gameplay mechanic loop was drawing circles around Pokemon to capture them. It seems plausible that there would be a way to do something similar with the Joy-Con and motion controls of the Switch, which would be interesting to see done. It would also make sense to be new mechanics if a serious reboot done, especially if either game were to include Galar region Pokemon.
Considering this, the age of the spin-offs, and the graphical difference, perhaps a full reboot of Pokemon Ranger and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon for a new generation of Pokemon fans (and the diehards, of course) to experience would be the best bet. Given that the anime itself is being rebooted, this remains a possibility, but of course, this seems less likely the longer it takes. Neither of these are currently known to be in development, and only time will tell what Nintendo has up its sleeves.