Pocket Pokémon TCG launched this week on iPhone and Android, and it’s a surprisingly crisp and streamlined version of the card game after years of really bad alternatives. Pokémon it’s actually a license to print money, but TCG Pocket does a great job of highlighting what people love about the game – the cards themselves – and getting most of the other stuff out of the way. Still, as a huge fan of Marvel Snap, I’d love for the mobile game to steal a few things from the 2022 comic book phenomenon Second Dinner.
For the last two days, I spent most of my idle moments on my smartphone playing Pocket Pokémon TCG instead of doom scrolling Twitter or consuming AI-slop on Instagramwhich is exactly what I expect from a good, everyday mobile game. All the currencies and sub-economies designed to get you to spend money on a game that would otherwise be free are a bit convoluted and challenging to parse, but the battles are fun and opening virtual booster packs by slicing through packs with the flick of a finger is a surprisingly effective simulation the pure joy of doing it in real life.
I’m not that obsessed yet Pocket Pokémon TCG however, it’s the same with Marvel Snap and I think there are three reasons for this. The first is the match length. Marvel Snap battles fly by, making it relatively uncomplicated to start another game regardless of what’s going on around you. TCG Pocket he’s a little more involved. Players have a total timer of 20 minutes, with the countdown starting at over 60 seconds on individual turns. The clock is rarely milked, but matches can still feel a bit drawn out as players stack benches and escalate the power of their Pokémon. More than once, after finishing a match, I thought: “It was fun, but do I really have time for another one?”
The second thing that holds Pocket Pokémon TCG Match rewards are a bit of a concern for me. In addition to bite-sized matches, MarvelSnap has a brilliant progression built around acquiring additional cards to level them up and gain points that can be spent on acquiring fresh ones. This is a clever twist on the conventional RNG booster pack formula. TCG Pocketas an adaptation of an existing card game, it doesn’t offer the same luxury. Unfortunately, as things currently stand, the only reward for winning matches are tiny amounts of XP that contribute to your overall level. Picking it up gives you additional rewards, but none of them are very clear. As a result, ending matches feels a bit anticlimactic rather than giving you that dose of dopamine that makes you immediately want to play another match.
Finally, the cards themselves. Beyond building your collection, Marvel Snap has a secondary goal: acquiring, sometimes through outright purchase, frosty alternative card art for your favorite decks. It provides something different to strive for, as well as a way to express your particular taste for a popular deck type. Again, TCG Pocket gets into trouble because it relies on existing card art, and while there are multiple versions of some unlockable cards, there aren’t many of them and there’s no real way to directly pursue them. If you open the package and receive the full graphic version, great! If not, well, wait for the next random pull.
It’s still early and TCG Pocket otherwise it does very well, certainly better than any other digital version Pokémon a card game I’ve played in the past. There’s only one set of cards to collect at the moment, and there’s not much eye candy in the paid in-game store. I’m sure this will all change soon, but for now the game hasn’t fully brought back the magic of my early gaming days MarvelSnap. Maybe that’s for the best. I finally had to delete this game from my phone because it was taking up too much of my free time.
