Games Like Pokémon for Android and the Official Spin-Offs

EvoCreo, Coromon and Nexomon come closest to catching, training and battling monsters through a story, which is what most people mean by a Pokémon game. EvoCreo is free and says it plays offline. Coromon lets you play the opening free and unlocks the rest for $4.99, with no adverts. Nexomon does the same for $0.99, the least money for a full game here.

The Pokémon Company’s own Android games are real and free to start, but each takes one part of Pokémon and leaves the rest: walking, cards, team battles. The main series, such as Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, is sold for Nintendo Switch consoles, and none of it is on Google Play.

Monster-catching games from other makers

The monster counts are each developer’s own. “Tagged offline” means Google Play attaches that label and the developer does not say it.

Free, or free to start

EvoCreo is free with adverts and in-app purchases. The listing promises more than 170 monsters, over 30 hours of play, an arena for battling other players and the option to play with no connection. EvoCreo 2 is the sequel and the paid one, at $4.99, with more than 300 monsters. Its listing says there are no adverts and no need to stay online.

Coromon’s listing is upfront about how it is sold: part of the early game is free, and one $4.99 purchase unlocks the whole story. That makes it the one fair purchase here, because you play the opening before paying. You are a researcher in the region of Velua with more than 120 creatures to collect across six zones, and there are built-in Randomizer and Nuzlocke modes, which the listing calls fan-favourite twists on creature catching. Google Play shows no adverts on it.

The first Nexomon is free to begin, then $0.99, for more than 300 monsters across ten regions. Extinction is a console game brought to Android, with 381 monsters and a free first chapter. Google Play shows adverts on both.

Cassette Beasts is the least like Pokémon and the most its own game. On the island of New Wirral you record monsters on cassette tapes and then turn into them to fight, and any two forms can be fused into a new one. The listing calls it an open-world RPG, a phrase EvoCreo and Dynamons World use too. The beginning is free and one purchase unlocks the rest. Google Play shows in-app prices up to $6.99 and attaches a “Contains ads” label, though the listing itself says there are no ads.

Dynamons World is a simpler, cartoon-styled game from Azerion with a story to follow and one-on-one online battles. Google Play rates it Everyone.

Monster games with a price up front

Neo Monsters costs $0.99 with in-app purchases on top. The listing counts more than 1,000 animated monsters, four-against-four battles with teams of up to 16, and six leagues to win over more than 60 hours. Online play against other people is a large part of it.

Siralim Ultimate is the deep end, and at $9.99 there is nothing more to buy, ever. It sends you through randomly generated dungeons with six creatures a side and more than 1,200 to collect and fuse. Its listing says there are no adverts, no in-app purchases and no need for a connection, and Google Play’s labels agree.

Monster Hunter Stories and DQM: The Dark Prince are console games from big publishers, priced like it. In Capcom’s game you hatch monsters from eggs found in dens and fight beside them. A free version, MHST The Adventure Begins, lets you start the story and carry the save into the paid game. Square Enix’s Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince has more than 500 monsters to recruit and combine into new ones, with the console version’s extra content included and its online battles left out.

Prices outside the US vary widely. Monster Hunter Stories is ₹1,300 in India and ₦7,210 in Nigeria. The Dark Prince is ₹3,400 and ₦43,000. Neo Monsters is ₹10 and ₦40. The same kind of long adventure turns up among offline RPG games for Android, and crafting in place of catching among games like Minecraft for Android.

The official Pokémon games on Android

All seven are free to start, and Google Play shows no “Contains ads” label on any of them. Only TCG Live shows no in-app purchases either.

Pokémon GO, from Scopely Explore on Google Play, is still the official game that is most about catching. You find Pokémon by moving around outdoors, fill a Pokédex, and join Gym and Raid battles with other players. The listing warns that it may not work on a device without GPS or one that only has Wi-Fi. The Nigerian store page showed no Install button for it, so it may not be offered there. Monster Hunter Now, from the same maker, has you hunt monsters that appear around you in the real world.

For cards, there is Pokémon TCG Pocket, the lighter of the two card games. Its listing leads with two free booster packs to open each day, and adds trading with friends and short battles. Pokémon TCG Live, from The Pokémon Company International, is the full trading card game, with eight starter decks, a ranked ladder and one collection shared across phone, PC and Mac. It needs a connection for online play. The Pokémon Company removed Pokémon TCG Online from Google Play in June 2023 and replaced it with TCG Live.

Pokémon Champions keeps the turn-based battles of the main games and drops the adventure: ranked, casual and private matches against other players, with Pokémon recruited in the game or brought over from Pokémon HOME. Its official site says phone players can battle people on Nintendo Switch.

Pokémon UNITE is a team game, five against five with points to score before the clock runs out, and its listing says an internet connection is required. Pokémon Masters EX, from DeNA, is three-on-three battles in which you team up with well-known trainers and their Pokémon.

Pokémon Quest is the one official game that Google Play tags as offline. The Pokémon of Red and Blue appear as cubes, you send a team on expeditions and tap to fight, and you befriend more Pokémon with what you bring back. Save data stays on the phone unless you use the game’s backup.

The rest of the official catalogue is further from the main games: Pokémon Sleep tracks your sleep, Café ReMix, Friends and Shuffle Mobile are puzzle games, and Magikarp Jump is about raising a Magikarp.

Other monster and card games you may come across

Bulu Monster is on Google Play, free with adverts and in-app purchases, and its listing no longer mentions offline play. Kairosoft’s island-building game Beastie Bay, with beasts to capture, is there too, free with adverts, beside a paid Beastie Bay DX at $7.99. MonsterCrafter is still about crafting your own monster.

Digimon Heroes is no longer on Google Play. Bandai Namco’s Digimon game there now is DIGIMON UP, a monster-raising RPG with random-item purchases. Other series’ official games, most of them sold on the same random draws, are among the anime games for Android. Clash Royale and Hearthstone, both still on Google Play, are card battlers with nothing to catch.