5 Things Pokémon Go Does Better Than the Mainline Games

Pokémon Go is a mobile game, which means it’s inherently viewed as less than an actual, full console or PC video game. There are very few mobile games that reach any sort of true popularity, at least in comparison to video games that sell millions of units. Mobile games aren’t really attempting to do that, but there is a distinct difference. That said, Pokémon Go is one of those few that reached an insane level of popularity. When it launched in 2016, it had a peak of 232 million monthly users. For reference, Fortnite, one of the most popular video games of all time, hit a peak of 126 million in November 2024.

Pokémon Go has the power of a video game, which makes it a little more fair to compare it to its console counterparts, the mainline Pokémon titles. While the gameplay is very different in a lot of ways, there are plenty of things the mobile app from Niantic does significantly better than the video games.

1. Catching Pokémon

Sure, there are some unique difficulties in Pokémon Go when it comes to catching, and there is a cap on how easy it can be to catch certain difficult creatures (like a Legendary or a high CP wild Pokémon). However, it’s so much easier and more fun to drop a berry and spin a Pokéball at the creature. In the mainline games, for the most part, you have to battle a Pokémon, attempt to weaken it or give it a status effect like Sleeping, then try to catch it. It can be tedious, and there’s no such problem with catching a Pokémon in Pokémon Go, even if you may end up having to try multiple berries and balls to get it.

2. Battling

Battling is also streamlined and better. It does remove a little bit of the strategy, but the app is designed to be faster-paced than the mainline games, and battling is where that idea truly shines. You do have to strategize when to use your shields and charged attacks, which keeps it tactical, but the constant tapping keeps players engaged in the battle at all times. You have to be quick and smart, adding a wrinkle that is better than the simple turn-based battle of the mainline series. It’s different, so not everyone will love it, but it really adds a wrinkle to the strategy that is lacking in mainline games. There’s plenty of time to think during those, but Pokémon Go forces you to think on your feet.

3. Playing with Friends

It’s often not very convenient to play Pokémon games with friends. There’s not much of a multiplayer aspect other than battling it out. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet attempted to add some multiplayer, but it wasn’t all that useful or popular. Pokémon Go, on the other hand, has really mastered playing with friends. If nothing else, you can walk around with your friends and hunt the same Pokémon, but you can also team up in the game for raids, which are more prominent and a little better than raids in regular games. There’s also constant gift sending, easy trading, and more with buddies.

4. Exploration

Pokémon games are inherently about exploration. They encourage you, as a young Pokémon trainer, to go out and discover the world you inhabit and learn all about the creatures there. That’s how you progress, but it’s also a key part of the overall game’s design, with emphasis on completing the Pokédex. But there’s something so fun and special about literally exploring instead of only virtually. With Pokémon Go, you have to do both. Your in-game exploration is tied to your exploration of the real world, and it is often how you find unique, rare Pokémon.

5. Shinies

The best thing in almost any Pokémon title is the shiny aspect. There is nothing quite like catching a shiny in any video game. It’s a rush of dopamine, and it instantly makes that Pokémon one of your favorites every time. And while it shouldn’t be easy to find such rare, exciting Pokémon, it should be a little more common than it is in the mainline games, where you often have just a 1/4096 chance most of the time. In Pokémon Go, that rate increases to 1/450 on average. You can’t endlessly hunt things like you can in mainline games, but you do end up with many more shinies in total. That includes amazing events like Community Day, Spotlight Hour, and Go Fest, where shinies are pretty prominent.

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