19. PokéPark
The PokéPark series has been lost amid much of the Wii-era shovelware. But while it’s not the most robust action game, there’s a lot to like in these games as a neat exploration of the Pokémon world in a way that is demonstrably uninterested in human’s relationship to it. Both PokéPark Wii: Pikachu’s Adventure and its sequel PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond follow a Pikachu who sets out on a quest through the titular PokéPark to save the area from threats unknown, all within the framework of a mediocre to bad action game. But the premise—which feels evocative of something like a Super Mario game in the way you explore its worlds, fight enemies, and interact with other Pokémon—feels really fresh, even more than a decade after launch.
