Pokémon is one of the longest-running and most storied franchises in history. What started as a simple role-playing game for the Game Boy has evolved into a global multimedia empire spanning animated series, feature films, the Pokémon Trading Card Game, and more than 100 video games. With such a massive catalog, it’s no surprise that a few oddballs slipped through the cracks. And unless you’re a diehard enthusiast, chances are there are some titles you’ve never heard of.

With that, here’s a list of ten of the wackiest Pokémon games ever released—ones the average fan likely never knew existed.

1

Pokémon Smile

Pokémon Smile gamifies brushing your teeth. You can’t tell me that’s not weird. But wait, it gets even better. While brushing, Pokémon appear on-screen covered in plaque. As you continue brushing, the plaque gradually disappears. Once they’re clean, you have a chance to catch the freshly rescued Pokémon.

While it’s a clever tool to encourage young kids to brush their teeth regularly, Pokémon Smile is about as niche as Pokémon spin-offs get.

2

Pokémon Café ReMix

Probably the most well-known entry on this list, Pokémon Café ReMix still earns a spot for how atypical the concept is. You play as the owner of a café that caters to Pokémon, and you can hire them as employees, too. Pokémon visit as customers, and to fulfill their orders, you must complete puzzles by linking together matching Pokémon icons.

It’s the most modern game on this list (alongside Pokémon Smile), originally released in 2020, and it still receives regular updates today. You might’ve heard of this one, but it’s worth highlighting for just how far it strays from traditional Pokémon gameplay.

3

Learn with Pokémon: Typing Adventure

Learn with Pokémon: Typing Adventure is, as the name suggests, an educational typing game that gamifies the act of typing. The faster and more accurately you type, the more Pokémon you’ll encounter and have the chance to catch. Released for the Nintendo DS, the game comes bundled with an exclusive Nintendo Wireless Keyboard.

The game was released in Japan, Europe, and Australia, but despite being available in English, it never launched in North America. Add to that the fact that it’s a DS title designed to work with a special keyboard, and you’ve got a Pokémon spin-off that’s both strange in concept and not especially accessible.

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4

Pokémon Trozei!

Pokémon Trozei! is Pokémon’s take on a Tetris-style puzzle game. It even introduced a brand-new side story to the Pokémon universe, putting you in the role of an agent from the Secret Operations League on a mission to recover kidnapped Pokémon.

Pokémon Trozei! actually received pretty positive reviews—enough to lead to a sequel, Pokémon Battle Trozei, and a spiritual successor in Pokémon Shuffle. Still, it remains one of the more overlooked entries in the franchise.

5

Pokémon Art Academy

It’s clear that the minds at The Pokémon Company and Nintendo believe you can make just about any activity more fun by adding Pokémon—whether it’s brushing your teeth, typing, sleeping, or in this case, drawing. Pokémon Art Academy is an educational drawing game for the Nintendo 3DS, designed to teach players how to draw and paint through guided lessons and tutorials. Naturally, your primary subjects are Pokémon.

Pokémon Art Academy was well-received, but it’s yet another quirky spin-off that feels worlds away from the mainline titles.

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6

Pokémon Channel

Believe it or not, Pokémon Channel was the first official Pokémon title on the GameCube. This oddball of a game—if you can even call it a game—puts the player in the role of a human working alongside Professor Oak as you help him refine his new TV network by serving as a beta tester with Pikachu.

There’s hardly any real gameplay here. The bulk of your time is spent watching broadcasts that range from Pokémon-themed news and weather to exercise programs, quiz shows, shopping channels, and even anime episodes.

I can’t imagine what spawned this idea, but Pokémon Channel is definitely one of the weirder and lesser-known Pokémon spin-offs.

7

Pokémon Duel

Pokémon Duel is—or should I say, was—a free-to-play digital board game where players built teams of Pokémon, each with unique abilities and movement ranges. The goal was to strategically maneuver your figures from one side of the board to the other while blocking your opponent from doing the same. When opposing Pokémon met, battles played out via a spin-style roulette wheel, blending strategy with a surprising amount of luck.

It was a genuinely interesting take on a Pokémon-themed board game, but it came and went in a flash. The mobile-exclusive title was shut down less than three years after it launched in English in North America, Europe, and Australia. In the end, Pokémon Duel became just a blip in the franchise’s long history.

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8

PokéPark Fishing Contest DS

PokéPark Fishing Contest DS, also known as PokéPark: Fishing Rally DS, is easily one of the most obscure Pokémon games ever released. This fishing mini-game was only available via DS Download Play, meaning you had to be at a specific place, at a specific time, to even try it. It was distributed exclusively in Japan (later in Taiwan) at locations like PokéPark, Pokémon Centers, and Pokémon Festa events.

Even then, the game was temporary. It had a strict 12-hour time limit, and once you shut off your Nintendo DS, all progress was lost. Given how limited and short-lived it was, it’s no surprise that most of the world has never even heard of PokéPark Fishing Contest DS.

9

The Thieves and the 1000 Pokémon

It doesn’t get much more obscure than The Thieves and the 1000 Pokémon. The 3DS title was only ever released in Japan and it was available exclusively through the Nintendo eShop. It was only on sale for a few months, too, from June 5 to September 30, 2014.

The Thieves and the 1000 Pokémon was created as a promotional tie-in for Pokémon the Movie: Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction. One of its most notable features was its use of the 3DS’s StreetPass functionality. On passing other players in real life, you could add more Pokémon to your growing army.

As for gameplay, it was a light resource management game. You employed hordes of Pokémon to overcome challenges, defeat enemy Pokémon, and stop a band of thieves from stealing valuable treasure. A peculiar little title with a short lifespan, The Thieves and the 1000 Pokémon came and went in the blink of an eye—never to be heard from again.

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10

Pokémon: Catch the Numbers!

Another educational game (you really can teach anything with the help of Pokémon, huh?), Pokémon: Catch the Numbers! taught basic math skills through a series of mini-games. It might just be the rarest and least-remembered Pokémon game out there.

It was released exclusively in Japan for the Sega Pico (a console you’ve probably never heard of either). There’s barely any information about Pokémon: Catch the Numbers! online. It’s not even 25 years old, yet it’s already teetering on the edge of being lost to history.

Spin-offs are a fun way to take a beloved franchise and explore creative ideas that wouldn’t quite fit in a mainline entry. Not all of these weird Pokémon games were hits, but each offers a unique glimpse into how far the series has been willing to stretch.

Whether they were educational experiments, promotional tie-ins with limited availability, or just plain bizarre, they’re all part of what makes Pokémon such a fascinating (and occasionally zany) franchise to look back on.

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