Pokemon: Magikarp Jump

I wouldn't reach for Magikarp Jump if I had my Nintendo Switch in tow. But catch me somewhere a smartphone's simpler and quicker to hand? For the foreseeable future, you'll probably spot me pouring precious time I might otherwise expend finishing up Daniel Dennett's luminous From Bacteria to Bach: The Evolution of Minds, or teaching myself how to read Japanese, into this.

The whole thing is complete nonsense. But it's the sort of thing you'll want to pop in to every now and then. It's no Pokemon GO, not by a long shot, but it is a fun diversion from an otherwise awful world.

The application it's not a big thing and it does not have a very deep history, but what we can wait?, it is carried out by Magikarp. In addition it is a free game.

Promising concept that becomes in a disappointing game. Repetitive and frustrating at high levels, but has a beautiful and charming design. Magikarp deserves a game, but this jump is not up to its height.

Magikarp Jump isn't a great game so much as it is a curious, clicker-esque thing. It is laudable insofar as it takes a totally uninteresting gameplay loop and actually gives some life to it. This doesn't make Magikarp Jump feel any more like a satisfying game, but it does make it one of the more interesting Pokémon titles out there.

This is not really what Pokémon fans would like to see from Nintendo on mobile platform, but it can still be appreciated by young kids.

Magikarp Jump doles experience out at a steady pace, so it took a long time before I considered looking at the available microtransactions. This bodes well for the game, but even if there is nearly always activity to do without having to wait too long, it doesn’t mean I enjoyed doing them. Training is boring; the jumping competitions are boring; and having to click through the dialogue of the guy who can’t tell if I am a boy or a girl who gives me a handful of coins is incredibly boring. The lack of interactivity sometimes makes it feel like a visual novel, but without any real story. The bits of enjoyment I did draw from the game were based mostly on the goofiness of the silly premise, but repeating jokes only makes them less funny.

Overall, Pokémon: Magikarp is a fascinating package. It has great style, but it severely lacks in gameplay. It feels like the epitome of a generic mobile title with a Pokémon twist, which is somewhat unfortunate. With no gameplay other than feeding the fish and playing "whose stat is bigger?", there's just unfortunately so little to the game. It's definitely something fun to play on the bus or the train to kill time, in a style similar to other mobile games that have you looking after animals or buildings, but it just lacks the depth that we've come to expect from the other Pokémon mobile titles such as Pokémon GO, Pokémon Duel and Pokémon Shuffle. While it's easy to recommend having it on your mobile device, it's hard to recommend paying for microtransactions.

Magikarp Jump is a flop. A game asks something of its player — solve the puzzle, shoot the bad guys, be creative, etc. But Magikarp Jump’s brilliant atmosphere doesn’t compensate for its lack of meaningful work. However, if the point was to create a game that mirrored the mindlessness and tedium of Magikarp, Magikarp Jump is an incredible success.