Maybe it's because I'm sick but I have put 7 hours into this in 3 days. It's not just solitaire with horses; there's suprising depth of strategy and lots of moving parts to work with here. It also looks very cute!
best game ever made
I hate using the phrase “cult-classic” but that’s the best way to describe this game. I finally understand why my grandma liked solitaire so much.
Another one of GameFreak’s games that gets overlooked because it doesn’t involve monsters of the pocket variety, Pocket Card Jockey is proof that the simplest mechanics often make the best games. An addictive combo of solitaire and horse racing with charm spilling out of its every pixel, PCJ is one of the few games I would classify as perfect. Not because it’s flawless, but because I don’t know what more you could want out of it.
I have 60 hours on this game.
That should be enough to convince you to play it.
That should be enough to convince you to play it.
this might just be a perfect video game. fantastic concept and flawless execution. game freak please i need more pocket card jockey
I'm pretty sure I'm awful at this but the charm is so high that I kept coming back to play more. It's nice to see Game Freak do something other than Pokémon as well!
The graph showing the correlation between the amount of enjoyment one gets from solitaire and the amount of enjoyment one gets from Pocket Card Jockey is a straight line.
The localization of this game is very cute.
The localization of this game is very cute.
It is an incredible game, with a lovely art style and fun gameplay. The only reason as to why I abandoned it is that I fucking suck at solitaire and I was getting tired of everyone being disappointed at me for not winning the races :(
i wish this game hadn’t slipped under the radar it’s really great and weird
An answer I'd accept for "what is the best Nintendo game of the 2010s," of which I think the only real competition is Breath of the Wild, and I'd probably take Pocket Card Jockey over BOTW at this point. See, I love solitaire. A lot. And not only is this game an absolutely fantastic version of solitaire, it also contains some of the best writing that's ever been in a Nintendo game of deeply absurd stories. Direly undersung. One day they'll put that iOS one on the Switch and I'll scream to death, come back to life, and play the shit out of it, much like my homie the Pocket Card Jockey does.
A very solid and polished experience for its price. The game is adorable and Go Ichinose's music is great as usual. The gameplay has a lot of depth but sometimes I just wanted to play the solitaire portion.
It was a game that I liked as a concept, but for me, the gameplay started to get repetitive quickly. It was a game that would be opened every now and then and a few races taken. (The horse talking at the end of each race is extremely annoying)
Dril Dozer better be the best game ever made because I've played 3 non-pokemon game freak titles and they were all BORING. Many people refer to this game as being addictive but all the constant, mindless interruptions from the shortest solitaire games you'll ever play put me to sleep, and I'm one of the few people who actually give a shit about solitaire.
Freecell is the best solitaire format, btw.
Freecell is the best solitaire format, btw.
I only have 4 trophies left and probably have another 60 hours spent on getting them. I can do it. This game is so good.
Keep in mind, this review as written as I've completed most of the game's content except for the big final race.
Pocket Card Jockey is a true gem of game design. On the surface, this is a game about doing races over and over again. However, the roguelike-esque mechanic of retiring horses after a certain number of losses, combined with a calendar system that makes so you can miss out on certain races means that the stakes are always incredibly high.
This allows the player to create their own personal narratives with each horse, filled with training arcs, underdogs and redemption. It might as well be the best Pokémon game on the 3DS, as far as I'm concerned.
Pocket Card Jockey is a true gem of game design. On the surface, this is a game about doing races over and over again. However, the roguelike-esque mechanic of retiring horses after a certain number of losses, combined with a calendar system that makes so you can miss out on certain races means that the stakes are always incredibly high.
This allows the player to create their own personal narratives with each horse, filled with training arcs, underdogs and redemption. It might as well be the best Pokémon game on the 3DS, as far as I'm concerned.
Hey game freak you finally got a winning game here that isn't pokemon! Now if you could port it to something that isn't an iPhone...
of course, good for what it is, but starts to falter when you get into the weeds of it.
don't get me wrong, this game is great when you're first picking it up! but as you spend more time with it and look to improve and win races more often, you're thrown into a sea of card RNG and systems way more complex than they need to be for a 3ds solitaire game best played in 15 minute bursts. play it for the novelty for a little while but don't feel pressured to "beat" it, which from the 5-10 hours I played over the span of like 6 months seems like it would probably take years to complete at that pace lol.
don't get me wrong, this game is great when you're first picking it up! but as you spend more time with it and look to improve and win races more often, you're thrown into a sea of card RNG and systems way more complex than they need to be for a 3ds solitaire game best played in 15 minute bursts. play it for the novelty for a little while but don't feel pressured to "beat" it, which from the 5-10 hours I played over the span of like 6 months seems like it would probably take years to complete at that pace lol.
Great style, and people love to gush about this game, however the gameplay is not as deep as one would assume, and gets old incredibly fast.
Este juego es una movida, divertidísimo tener varios caballos, competir, hacerlos criar, el solitario. Es tan simple como adictivo, merece la pena cada segundo que juegues hasta cansarte, de lo mejor que ha hecho GameFreak nunca.
the fucking game ever