The 13 Most Obvious Pokémon Ripoffs

Monster Rancher (AKA Monster FarmMonster Rancher centers on raising monsters for battles and adventure. Both Pokémon and Monster Rancher exist.Pokémon and Monster RancherMonster Rancher features a young boy who travels a huge region, befriending monsters and people. The only real difference is that Monster Rancher's creatures live in an alternate world; Pokémon exist naturally in the human world.Monster RancherMonster Rancher's creatures live in an alternate world. Pokémon exist in the human world.

The Monster Rancher crew does not go to the Elite Four. Instead, the Monster Rancher crew searches to revive the legendary Phoenix so they can defeat an evil villain named Moo.Monster RancherThe Monster Rancher crew searches to revive the legendary Phoenix so they can take down the evil villain Moo.

Medabots Medabots tells the story of young children determined to become top Medabot fighters. Ikki gets stuck with a robot named Metabee. Together, they become strong fighters, aiming for worldwide recognition.Pokémon's Ash gets Pikachu.Medabots's protagonist Ikki gets stuck with the seemingly useless robot Metabee. Together, they become strong fighters, aiming for worldwide recognition.

The franchise swapped monsters for robots.Metabots went far, copying Pokémon's game style. Metabots released several game versions; complimentary versions of these games came out together.Metabots went so far as to copy Pokémon's game style.Pokémon'sstyle of game releases.Several complimentary versions of their games came out together.

Yo-kai Watch takes the world by storm with video games, anime, manga, and toys.Yo-kai Watchprides itself on being the next generation of Pokémon.PokémonThe show follows a young boy making friends with his town's spiritual inhabitants. He captures them so they help him on adventures.

LikePokémon, Yo-kai WatchYo-kai Watch has many monsters that repeat their names for communication. The main character has a cute, ghostly cat named Jibanyan instead of a neon yellow mouse (Pikachu).

Dinosaur KingDinosaur King is Sega's analog to Nintendo's Pokémon franchise.PokémonInstead of using evolving monsters for battle, Dinosaur King features children collecting dinosaurs. After a distress call from ancient creatures, the show's characters save the world by using the dinosaurs' prehistoric power.Dinosaur King Dinosaur King features children who collect dinosaurs. After a distress call from ancient creatures, the show's characters save the world by harnessing the dinosaurs' prehistoric power.

Fighting FoodonsFighting Foodons involves kids battling monsters based on food. Characters are colorful and over-the-top; they focus entirely on making extreme food fighters.

The characters write recipe ideas on magical cards to summon monstrous food hybrids. These creatures fight so their creators can claim supremacy. The main character aims to create the most savory food warriors.

The premise of Dragon Drive Dragon Drive involves a group collecting beastly dragons for tournaments. They battle each other in elaborate tournaments inside a virtual reality game. Dragon trainers form partnerships with their creatures to convince them to fight.

The main character finds his small, seemingly useless dragon is actually one of the rarest and most powerful beasts in the game.

Monsuno.Kids journey to unlock alien monster DNA's hidden potential. The story shows them taming and training beasts for world salvation. The hybrid-animals look like Pokémon, but their designs lack creativity; most are just armored Earth animals.

Characters summon their Monsuno to fight evil-doers and compete in arena battles to avoid an apocalypse. They fight evil-doers using their Monsuno in arena-style battles.

It is in.Bakugan Battle Brawlers.Kids summon powerful monsters from cards and flying balls for fights. These fight rules mix elements of Pokémon card games and anime, creating a messy mix that only vaguely looks like the original franchise.Pokémon.The card game and anime create a confusing mess that only slightly resembles the original franchise.

After cards fall from the sky, the children design a game to play with them. This unlocks the cards' real power. Kids in Bakugan Battle Brawlers use tiny devices instead of Poké Balls to control their monsters.Bakugan Battle Brawlers.Kids use tiny devices that look like marbles. This seems easy, but losing track of the small gadgets is also easy. This problem hits the cast early; a main character loses track of his monster.

Even though it ignores monsters and card games,Angelic Layer.Angelic Layer still copies the Pokémon franchise in its own uninspired way.Pokémon.Characters in Angelic Layer use their personal battle bots to fight in arena battles.Angelic Layer.Characters in Angelic Layer use their personal battle bots to fight against each other in arena-style battles.

Contestants build, train, and fine-tune their robots, called Angels, for battles. Creators place the bots in an area called the Layer for them to fight.

While the Beyblade anime lacks colorful, cute monsters, the franchise uses the same formula asBeyblade.BeybladePokémonBeyblade features a story about a young boy destined to be an arena-battle champion. Viewers find that over the series, this meansBeyblade.Beyblade amounts to nothing more thanPokémon.With all the monsters swapped for tops.

The show's cast is a group of kids who all want to be the best "Beyblade fighter" globally. The titular Beyblades are just fancy tops, so even tough Beyblade fights remain gore-free.

The similarities between Digimon: Digital Monsters.andPokémon: Pocket Monsters.go beyond their names.Digimon.Focuses on children interacting with evolving monsters in a digital world. After fighting, Digimon shrink to smaller forms, and the creatures speak human languages.

Digimon Adventure shows blatant influences.Digimon.Digimon can get intense; many consider it a more mature series than Pokémon.Digimon is a more mature series than Pokémon.Pokémon.Digimon Adventure appears in 'The 13 Most Obvious Pokémon Ripoffs'.However, a Digimon trading card game that mimicked Pokémon appeared.Digimon.The trading card game mimicked Pokémon.The card game mimicked Pokémon.The card game released to promote the show caused awkwardness.

The story of Yu-Gi-Oh! centers on gaming.Yu-Gi-Oh! is in 'The 13 Most Obvious Pokémon Ripoffs'.Yu-Gi-Oh!'s card battle system does not stop it from being a Pokémon ripoff.Pokémon.The show uses high-tech devices for characters to summon monsters from card decks. They battle in arena duels. Monsters power up and fuse, like Pokémon evolve.

When the series got an American dub, the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime changed to look like a mature Pokémon card game.Yu-Gi-Oh! is in 'The 13 Most Obvious Pokémon Ripoffs'.The Yu-Gi-Oh! anime morphed into a more mature version of the Pokémon card game.Pokemon card game.Pokemon card game.

Kids in Zatch Bell! do not join monsters. They pair with demons summoned from spell books. They use these demons to fight, competing for the king of the demon world.Zatch Bell! is in 'The 13 Most Obvious Pokémon Ripoffs'.Zatch Bell! kids pair with demons summoned from spell books. They fight for the title of king of the demon world.

The story of Zatch Bell!Zatch Bell! is in 'The 13 Most Obvious Pokémon Ripoffs'.Zatch Bell! follows Kiyo and his demon partner Zatch. Zatch lost his memory before they met, but Kiyo plans to unleash Zatch's full spell power.Kiyo is determined to unleash Zatch's full spell power.They fight to win the competition.