Pokemon Quest (Switch, iOS & Android)

Titles	Pokémon Quest ポケモンクエスト (Pokémon Kuesuto) 寶可夢探險尋寶 (Taiwan, Hong Kong) · 宝可梦大探险 (mainland China edition)
Platforms	Nintendo Switch (Nintendo eShop download only) · iOS and iPadOS (App Store) · Android (Google Play)
Developer	Game Freak, with programming and planning support from Rebuild Games · China edition: NetEase
Publisher	Nintendo (Nintendo Switch, outside Japan) · The Pokémon Company (Switch in Japan; iOS and Android) · NetEase (mainland China edition)
Director / Producer	Tetsuya Watanabe (director and producer) · producers Hitoshi Yamagami, Kazunori Sugiura and Takanori Sowa
Music	SuperSweep: Teruo Taniguchi, Takahiro Eguchi, Fumihisa Tanaka and Shinji Hosoe
Players	1
Genre	Action RPG
Business model	Free-to-start: optional one-off Expedition Packs and Power Stone packs; PM Tickets earned through play
Pokémon	151 (Bulbasaur to Mew), all as cube-shaped Pokéxels
Areas	12 on Tumblecube Island, including the Chamber of Legends and the post-game Happenstance Island · 10 statues · 18 recipes
Released	Nintendo Switch: 29 May 2018 (North America) · 30 May 2018 (Japan, Europe, Australia) · 18 June 2018 (South Korea) · 9 September 2025 (Taiwan) · 18 November 2025 (Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand) iOS and Android: 27 June 2018 (worldwide)
Service ended	Mainland China edition only (NetEase, 13 May 2021 – 10 February 2025); the global game is still live
Rating	ESRB E · PEGI 3 · CERO A · ACB G · GRB ALL · App Store 4+
Predecessor	None
Successor	None (no sequel announced)
Downloads	More than 7.5 million across Switch and mobile by 6 July 2018 (The Pokémon Company)

Overview · Quick Answers · Story · Cooking & Expeditions · Gameplay · Areas · Pokémon · Updates & China Edition · Regional Variations · Glitches · Videos · Trivia · Legacy · Sales & Reviews · Media

Overview

Pokémon Quest is a free-to-start action RPG from Game Freak, set on Tumblecube Island, a remote landmass where the scenery, the ancient ruins and every last Pokémon are built out of cubes. The Pokémon have become Pokéxels, chunky toy-like versions of all 151 original Kanto species from Bulbasaur to Mew. Directed by Tetsuya Watanabe, the game was revealed and released on the same day: it appeared on the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo Switch on 30 May 2018 in Japan and Europe (29 May in North America), straight after The Pokémon Company’s press conference in Tokyo, and the iOS and Android versions followed on 27 June 2018.

Instead of wandering a region, you lead a team of three Pokémon on expeditions into the island’s stages, where they take on waves of wild Pokémon largely by themselves. Your job is to tap each Pokémon’s moves as they recharge, or to scatter the team out of the way of a big attack. Victories bring home ingredients and Power Stones. Back at base camp, ingredients go into a cooking pot to make one of 18 dishes that lure new Pokémon, stones slot into each Pokémon’s Power Charm to raise its stats, and decorations bought with PM Tickets add handy bonuses. A battery keeps sessions short: it holds five expeditions and recovers one charge every 30 minutes.

Quest was a low-key curtain-raiser for the core series, arriving six months ahead of Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!, which were announced at the same conference. Critics found it charming but thin, and it sits at 64 on Metacritic for Switch and 62 for iOS, yet players flocked to it: by early July 2018 The Pokémon Company had counted more than 7.5 million downloads across Switch and mobile.

In 2021 NetEase opened an expanded edition in mainland China, a rare official Pokémon release there, which added Pokémon from later generations before closing in February 2025. Everywhere else the original is still on sale, and the mobile version picked up another bug-fix update as recently as October 2026.

Quick Answers

The questions people most often ask about Pokémon Quest, answered up front and covered in more depth further down the page.

Is Pokémon Quest free, and is it pay-to-win?

It is free to download on Switch, iOS and Android. The optional Expedition Packs (US$4.99 to US$17.99, or US$29.99 for all three) each add an extra cooking pot, an extra battery charge, bonus decorations and Pokémon that know special moves. They speed things up considerably, but all 151 Pokémon can be befriended without paying a penny, and free PM Tickets arrive every 22 hours. More →

Can you still play Pokémon Quest in 2026?

Yes. In October 2026 the Switch version is still on the Nintendo eShop, and the mobile version is still on the App Store and Google Play, where it received version 1.0.10, a bug-fix update, in mid-October. Only the separate NetEase-run edition for mainland China has gone, having shut down on 10 February 2025. More →

Is Pokémon Quest on Switch or on phones?

Both. It arrived on the Nintendo eShop for Switch on 29 May 2018 in North America and on 30 May in Japan and Europe, then on iOS and Android on 27 June 2018. The two versions are essentially the same game, and the Switch edition is download-only, with no physical release. More →

How many Pokémon are in Pokémon Quest?

The global version has the original 151 Kanto Pokémon, from Bulbasaur to Mew, all rebuilt as cube-shaped Pokéxels. There are no Dark-type Pokémon, because none of the original 151 has that type in its Kanto form. NetEase’s mainland China edition added Pokémon from later generations through events, but the global roster has never grown. More →

How do you get Mewtwo, Mew and the Legendary birds?

Finish the story by clearing the Chamber of Legends, then explore Happenstance Island, the only place where Mystical Shells drop. Cooking Ambrosia of Legends à la Cube with them attracts Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres, and a top-quality Special dish can also bring Mewtwo or, far more rarely, Mew to base camp. More →

Which starter Pokémon can you choose?

You pick one of five partners at the start: Pikachu, Eevee, Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle. The choice only decides your first team member. The other four can be attracted later by cooking, as colour-based dishes such as Red Stew, Blue Soda and Yellow Curry can draw them at higher qualities. More →

Does Pokémon Quest connect to Pokémon HOME or other games?

No. Pokémon Quest has no links with Pokémon HOME, the core series or any other Pokémon game, so its Pokémon stay on Tumblecube Island. The game does get a cameo in Pokémon Sword and Shield’s The Isle of Armor, where Mustard can sometimes be seen playing it at the Master Dojo. More →

Is there a Pokémon Quest sequel?

No sequel has been released or announced. The nearest thing to a follow-up was the mainland China edition, published by NetEase in May 2021, which added Pokémon from later generations, seasonal events and a new island before closing in February 2025. The original game still gets the occasional bug-fix update. More →

Story

The player arrives on Tumblecube Island, a recently discovered island scattered with the ruins of a vanished civilisation, hoping to find treasure. Along for the trip is MoBee IV, a drone built by Silph Co., which behaves strangely from the outset and, after a reboot, admits that it has no information about the island at all. Its advice is to team up with a Pokémon who knows the land, and so the player befriends one of five partners: Pikachu, Eevee, Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle.

From a base camp in First Steppe, the player cooks to attract more Pokémon, trains them up and leads expeditions into one area after another, each guarded by powerful wild Pokémon. Clearing an area uncovers a cube-shaped Pokéxel statue. Nobody explains what the statues are for, but they plainly matter, and when the tenth and last, the Reverent Statue, is found, MoBee IV malfunctions and a bridge rises out of the sea to the Chamber of Legends.

Inside waits Mewtwo. The statues had kept it sealed away, and it had been quietly steering the drone all along so that the player would gather them and set it free. Mewtwo battles the player and, once beaten, leaves, conceding that it owes them. After the credits, MoBee IV detects a surge of energy and a second landmass, Happenstance Island, rises from the ocean. Its terrain and inhabitants change on every visit, which gives the game an endless post-game challenge.

Who’s who

• The player: An explorer who comes to Tumblecube Island in search of treasure. With MoBee IV, the player sets up camp in First Steppe, befriends a first partner and builds a team strong enough to clear every area, collecting the statues that unwittingly lead to Mewtwo’s release.
• MoBee IV: The player’s flying robot companion, made by Silph Co. It behaves oddly on arrival and, after a reboot, admits it has no data on the island. Mewtwo has been manipulating it all along; it malfunctions after the final statue and later detects the energy that raises Happenstance Island.
• Mewtwo: The final boss, imprisoned in the Chamber of Legends by the island’s ten statues. It steers MoBee IV so that the player will collect them and break the seal, fights the player once it is free and departs after losing, admitting it owes them. It can later be attracted with Ambrosia of Legends.

Cooking and expeditions on Tumblecube Island

There are no Poké Balls in Pokémon Quest: every new team member is tempted to base camp with food. Expeditions across Tumblecube Island’s 12 areas turn up ten kinds of ingredient, which fill the five slots of a cooking pot to make one of 18 dishes, each a favourite of Pokémon of a certain colour or type. Which Pokémon arrive, and how strong they are, depends on the pot, the quality of the dish and the expeditions run while it simmers, so exploring the island and cooking at camp form a single loop.

• 18recipes, every one ‘à la Cube’
• 10ingredients, from Tiny Mushrooms to Mystical Shells
• 4cooking pots: basic, Bronze, Silver and Gold
• 12areas to explore on Tumblecube Island

Ingredients, pots and dishes

IngredientsEight everyday ingredients come in four colours, each in a small and a precious form: red Tiny Mushrooms and Big Roots, blue Bluk Berries and Icy Rocks, yellow Apricorns and Honey, and grey Fossils and Balm Mushrooms. Every ingredient also has a category (mushroom, plant, sweet or mineral) and a texture (soft or hard), which count as much as colour when the recipe is decided. Rainbow Matter can stand in for any ingredient, and up to 999 of each can be stored.

Cooking potsEvery dish fills five slots. The basic Cooking Pot uses three of an ingredient per slot and draws Pokémon of roughly Levels 1 to 15. The Bronze (10 per slot), Silver (15) and Gold (20) pots, won by clearing Backforth Brook, Pincushion Plain and the Chamber of Legends, bring in progressively higher-level Pokémon with bigger stat bonuses. The Expedition Packs add up to three more pots, so four dishes can simmer at once.

Dish qualitySmall ingredients are worth one point and precious ones two, and the total sets the dish’s quality: five points makes a Standard dish, six or seven a Good one, eight or nine Very Good and ten or more Special. Better dishes tempt rarer and stronger Pokémon but take more expeditions to finish: a Standard dish in the basic pot is ready after two, while a Special one in the Gold pot needs eight.

How a recipe is decidedYou never choose a recipe directly. The game tests the five ingredients against recipes 2 to 18 in turn and cooks the first one whose conditions are met; if none fit, the pot produces Mulligan Stew à la Cube, which draws an assortment of common Pokémon. Because every ingredient has several properties at once (a Bluk Berry is both blue and soft, for instance), one potful can meet several recipes, and the order decides which one wins.

Multiple visitors and decorationsMost dishes bring one Pokémon, with about a 4.3% chance of two and 0.5% of three. The Pikachu Surfboard decoration raises those odds by half, and the Lapras Pool that comes with the Great Expedition Pack doubles them. A pot stays busy until everyone it attracted has been befriended, and cooking never brings in an evolved Pokémon.

The 18 recipes

The colour recipes (2 to 5) attract Pokémon of a matching colour, the next twelve each favour a single type, Ambrosia draws the Legendaries, and anything that fits nothing becomes Mulligan Stew:

Expeditions, statues and the post-game

Expeditions and area groupsThe ten regular areas open in four groups of one, two, three and four, and every area in a group has to be cleared before the next group opens. Enemy strength climbs stage by stage across the whole group rather than area by area, so the smoothest route takes the first stage of every area, then each second stage, and so on. Each area also leans towards particular ingredient colours, which helps when stocking up for a recipe.

Statues and the Chamber of LegendsClearing an area’s final stage uncovers one of ten Pokéxel statues, from the Prolific Statue in First Steppe to the Reverent Statue at the end of the fourth group, and each can be put on display at base camp. Once all ten are found, the seal on the Chamber of Legends breaks: Mewtwo waits inside as the final boss, and beating it earns the Gold Cooking Pot.

Mystical Shells and legendary dishesMystical Shells are found only on Happenstance Island, where the harder levels yield more ingredients, and each shell in a pot adds one expedition to the cooking time. They are the key to Ambrosia of Legends à la Cube, the only dish that attracts Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres. Made at Special quality it can also bring Mewtwo, nearly half the time, and Mew, less than one time in 20.

Gameplay

On an expedition

ExpeditionsAn expedition sends a team of three into one stage of an area. Each stage is a string of waves of wild Pokémon ending in a boss wave; beat the boss and the next stage opens. Your Pokémon walk about and attack on their own, while you tap their move icons to fire off special moves once they have recharged, or press Scatter to send the team running apart and dodge a big attack. An auto setting can handle the moves too. Defeated Pokémon drop ingredients and Power Stones.

Battery and play limitsExpeditions run on a battery that holds five charges, one per expedition, and refills at a rate of one charge every 30 minutes. Decorations raise the cap: the Mewtwo Arch (700 PM Tickets) adds a charge, and each paid Expedition Pack brings another battery decoration, the Perfect Pair Statue, the Eevee Arch or the Pikachu Arch. Several main and challenge quests hand out a five-charge refill, and PM Tickets can top the battery up instantly. The waits between sessions were among critics’ most common complaints, especially on Switch.

Team building and team strengthEvery Pokémon is either a close-range or a long-range fighter, with a pool of moves drawn from its species. Squads are rated by their combined team strength, which is set against each stage’s recommendation; Happenstance Island’s levels, for example, ask for between 18,000 and 36,500. Each area also lists a bonus type, such as Fighting for First Steppe or Electric for Farside Fjord. Challenge quests reward experimenting, with prizes for all-close-range, all-long-range and mixed teams, single-type squads and evolving a whole team at once.

Building a stronger team

Power Stones and Power CharmsEach Pokémon wears a Power Charm with a set number of sockets, and the Power Stones found on expeditions slot into them. Mighty Stones raise Attack and Sturdy Stones raise HP, while others speed up movement or raise the critical-hit rate, and rarer stones are tied to specific moves. Six special stones (Scattershot, Broadburst, Whack-Whack, Wait Less, Stay Strong and Sharing) come from clearing areas or from paid packs. Completing Bingos with the stones on a charm earns extra bonuses, and spare stones can be recycled into ingredients.

Training, levelling and evolutionPokémon gain experience on expeditions and evolve at set levels, the only way to obtain evolved forms, as cooking attracts basic-stage Pokémon alone. Training offers two shortcuts. Level-Up Training feeds up to four supporting Pokémon to one target for experience; members of the same evolutionary line give far more, and rarer, higher-level or more heavily socketed supporters help too. Move-Learning Training uses up to four supporters for a chance to swap one move for a random one from the species’ pool, with the odds falling after each attempt. Either way, the supporters leave camp afterwards.

Base camp, the Poké Mart and Expedition Packs

Base camp and decorationsBase camp, set up in First Steppe, is where Pokémon are managed, dishes cooked and statues displayed, and it can be dressed with decorations that each bring a bonus. Cusheons and larger pieces boost drops of one ingredient colour by 1.5 or 2 times: the Charizard Torch for red, the Blastoise Fountain for blue, the Venusaur Planter for yellow and the Mechanical Tauros for grey. Others raise training experience, move-learning success, recycling returns, the chance of Pokémon with extra sockets or the odds of several Pokémon arriving at once.

Poké Mart and PM TicketsThe Poké Mart, which delivers to the island, sells decorations and box expansions for PM Tickets, the in-game currency, alongside the paid downloadable content. Prices run from 50 PM Tickets for a Cusheon to 800 for the Kangaskhan Swing Chair, and each Pokémon Box or Stone Box Expansion costs 50 and adds 20 spaces, up to 300. Tickets come in steadily: every player is automatically enrolled in a Member Service that pays 50 PM Tickets every 22 hours, quests hand out more, and every real-money purchase includes a one-off bonus of 100. Tickets can also finish a dish instantly.

Expedition PacksThree permanent Expedition Packs are the main paid extras: the Expedition Pack (US$4.99 / £4.49), the Great Expedition Pack (US$9.99 / £8.99) and the Ultra Expedition Pack (US$17.99 / £16.19), or all three in the Expedition 3-Pack Bundle (US$29.99 / £26.99). Each adds one extra cooking pot, a Ball model that raises the Member Service payout and a decoration worth an extra battery charge. They also bring Level 1 Pokémon that know special moves (Nidoran♀ with Sing and Nidoran♂ with Work Up, Lapras with Aqua Ring and Snorlax with Play Rough), plus the Lapras Pool, the Gengar Balloon and the Snorlax Lounger.

Quests

Areas of Tumblecube Island

Tumblecube Island has 12 areas. The ten regular ones open in four groups, each holding part of the trail of statues that leads to the Chamber of Legends, and Happenstance Island rises from the sea once the story is over. Every area lists a bonus type, and its clear quest pays out a reward the first time it is beaten:

Area	Group	Bonus type	Clear reward	Notes
First Steppe	1	Fighting	Wait Less Stone	The opening area and home of base camp; its last stage reveals the Prolific Statue, the first of ten
Gloomy Grove	2	Fire	Scattershot Stone	Opens with Backforth Brook once First Steppe is cleared; the pair share the Spring Showers and Flourishing Statues
Backforth Brook	2	Grass	Bronze Cooking Pot	Its reward is the first pot upgrade, which takes ten ingredients per slot
Parched Peak	3	Flying	Battery recharge (+5)	First of three areas that open together and share the Tranquility, Gentle Breeze and Abundance Statues
Belly Button Cave	3	Water	Broadburst Stone	A cave area in the third group, alongside Parched Peak and Pincushion Plain
Pincushion Plain	3	Bug	Silver Cooking Pot	The Silver pot uses 15 ingredients per slot and draws far stronger Pokémon than the Bronze
Miasma Moor	4	Rock	Battery recharge (+5)	Opens the final group, which shares the Purification, Burning Mane, Longevity and Reverent Statues
Hushed Highlands	4	Ground	Stay Strong Stone	One of the four areas in the last group
Nightlight Nook	4	Psychic	Sharing Stone	Shares its statues with Miasma Moor, Hushed Highlands and Farside Fjord
Farside Fjord	4	Electric	Whack-Whack Stone	The last of the ten regular areas; with every statue found, a bridge rises to the Chamber of Legends
Chamber of Legends	Finale	–	Gold Cooking Pot	Area 11, where Mewtwo waits as the final boss; beating it rolls the credits
Happenstance Island	Post-game	–	Mystical Shells	Area 12, reshuffled on every visit, with nine difficulty levels

Happenstance Island

Unlocked after the credits, Happenstance Island is the post-game area. Its layout and the Pokémon met there are reshuffled on every expedition, drawing on rosters themed on the ten main areas. There are nine difficulty levels, 12-1 to 12-8 plus a boss level, with recommended team strengths climbing from 18,000 to 36,500. Each stage has three regular waves, a boss wave and a final boss, a five-minute time limit and a record of the fastest clear. The harder the level, the better the chance of meeting Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres or Mewtwo, and the island is the only place to find Mystical Shells.

Pokémon

The global game has exactly 151 Pokémon: the complete Kanto Pokédex from Bulbasaur to Mew, each rebuilt as a blocky Pokéxel. New team members are drawn to base camp by cooking, which only ever attracts basic-stage Pokémon, so every evolved form has to be raised by levelling up. Five partners are offered at the start, four Pokémon with special moves come in the paid Expedition Packs, and the Legendary and Mythical Pokémon are held back for the post-game Ambrosia of Legends. Outside China the roster has never changed.

Starting partners

The partner chosen at the start is simply your first team member, and the other four can all be attracted later: each is a favourite of a Special-quality colour dish, shown under its name below.

• PikachuSpecial Yellow Curry
• EeveeSpecial Red Stew
• BulbasaurSpecial Yellow Curry
• CharmanderSpecial Red Stew
• SquirtleSpecial Blue Soda

Expedition Pack Pokémon

Each paid pack includes Pokémon at Level 1 that already know a move they would not normally have, and two of them come with their own decorations: the Lapras Pool and the Snorlax Lounger.

• Nidoran♀Expedition Pack · Sing
• Nidoran♂Expedition Pack · Work Up
• LaprasGreat Expedition Pack · Aqua Ring
• SnorlaxUltra Expedition Pack · Play Rough

Legendary and Mythical Pokémon

Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Mewtwo and Mew can only be befriended after the story. Mewtwo is fought as the final boss in the Chamber of Legends, and the Legendary birds and Mewtwo turn up as bosses on Happenstance Island, more often on its harder levels, but the only way to bring any of them home is a pot of Ambrosia of Legends à la Cube made with Mystical Shells. Mewtwo and Mew only come from a Special-quality dish, and even then Mew appears less than one time in 20.

• ArticunoAmbrosia of Legends
• ZapdosAmbrosia of Legends
• MoltresAmbrosia of Legends
• MewtwoAmbrosia of Legends
• MewAmbrosia of Legends

A few ordinary Pokémon are rare visitors that generally need a Very Good or Special dish to appear, Ditto among them:

• DittoBlue Soda, Mulligan Stew
• DratiniBlue Soda, Mulligan Stew
• AerodactylGray Porridge, Mulligan Stew

Updates & the China edition

Quest has led a quiet life since launch: a burst of patches in its first summer, the odd bug-fix release since, and no new Pokémon outside China. The main versions:

The mainland China edition

On 13 May 2021 NetEase launched 宝可梦大探险 (Bǎokěmèng Dàtànxiǎn), an expanded edition of Quest for iOS and Android made with The Pokémon Company and Game Freak, giving mainland China a rare official Pokémon game of its own. Unlike the global version, it kept growing: seasonal events brought in Pokémon from later generations, from Heracross to Darkrai, Zacian and Zamazenta, and a third-anniversary update added a whole new island. The service closed on 10 February 2025, after almost four years.

Events announced in 2024, the edition’s last full year, included:

• January 2024: the Ice Festival, with Klink, Klang and Klinklang
• February 2024: a Lunar New Year event headlined by Ho-Oh, alongside Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres
• February 2024: Heracross’ Grand Debut
• March 2024: The Warm Spring, with Cacturne and Tangrowth
• April 2024: the 3rd Anniversary Eevee Festival, with Timburr, Gurdurr and Conkeldurr
• April 2024: the 3rd Anniversary New Island Celebration: a new island, plus Uxie, Mesprit, Azelf, Darkrai and Shining Mewtwo

Some of the later-generation Pokémon that joined the China edition:

• HeracrossChina edition
• Ho-OhChina edition
• CacturneChina edition
• TangrowthChina edition
• UxieChina edition
• DarkraiChina edition
• ConkeldurrChina edition
• KlinklangChina edition
• ZacianChina edition
• ZamazentaChina edition

Regional Variations

The Switch and mobile versions launched within a month of each other almost everywhere, but a few regions had a different story:

• Mainland China had its own expanded edition, 宝可梦大探险, run by NetEase from 13 May 2021 to 10 February 2025, with Pokémon from later generations, seasonal events and a new island.
• In Taiwan and Hong Kong the Chinese title is 寶可夢探險尋寶, meaning ‘Pokémon Treasure Quest’, rather than a direct translation of ‘Quest’. The Korean title is 포켓몬 퀘스트.
• South Korea received the Switch version on 18 June 2018, almost three weeks after Japan, Europe and North America.
• The Switch version reached the Nintendo eShop in Taiwan only on 9 September 2025, and in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand on 18 November 2025, although the mobile version had been available there since 2018.
• Expedition Pack prices are set region by region: the 3-Pack Bundle costs US$29.99, €29.99, £26.99, A$45.00, ₩33,000 or ¥3,600.

Glitches, exploits and oddities

One early bug stood out on the mobile version:

Frozen team members

Shortly after the mobile launch, a bug could leave Pokémon in the player’s expedition team rooted to the spot after they used certain moves. Because team members normally walk into position and attack by themselves, a frozen Pokémon was a real handicap in the tougher stages. The Pokémon Company fixed the problem in a later bug-fix update for iOS and Android; the Switch version had already had its own round of fixes in version 1.1.0 on 10 July 2018.

Videos & media

Two official videos, one in English and one in Japanese:

The English-language trailer, from the official Pokémon YouTube channel.

The first footage shown in Japan, from The Pokémon Company’s Japanese channel.

Trivia & facts

• There are no Dark-type Pokémon on Tumblecube Island: the type arrived in Generation II, and none of the original 151 has it in its usual Kanto form.
• The cube-shaped Pokémon that live on the island are known as Pokéxels.
• In Japanese, Tumblecube Island is カクコロ島 (Kakukoro Island).

• 

  The Japanese official site sums the game up as ‘タップで手軽にわちゃわちゃ探検!’, roughly ‘Easy, rambunctious exploring with just a tap!’

• Buying ten decorations earns a free Premier Ball Model, a nod to the core-series tradition of a bonus Premier Ball when ten Poké Balls are bought at once.

• 

  Every recipe name ends in ‘à la Cube’, from the humble Mulligan Stew à la Cube to Ambrosia of Legends à la Cube.

• Cooking time is measured in expeditions rather than minutes, and even an expedition that ends in defeat brings a dish closer to being ready.
• The Pokémon cries are taken from the Generation V core-series games, such as Pokémon Black and White.
• Quest lets some Pokémon learn moves that they could not learn in any game before it.
• MoBee IV, the player’s guide drone, was built by Silph Co., the Kanto firm behind the Silph Scope and the Master Ball in the core series.

• 

  NetEase’s edition for mainland China, launched in May 2021, was a rare officially licensed Pokémon game there, and it came with its own app icon.

Legacy

What came after

• Reveal and Nintendo Switch launch – 30 May 2018. Announced and released on the same day in Japan and Europe; 29 May in North America
• One million Switch downloads – Early June 2018. Passed within two days of release, before the mobile version existed
• South Korean Switch release – 18 June 2018. Reached the Korean Nintendo eShop nearly three weeks after the first wave
• iOS and Android launch – 27 June 2018. Published by The Pokémon Company; players spent an estimated US$3 million in the first week
• 7.5 million downloads – 6 July 2018. The combined total across Switch, iOS and Android, announced by The Pokémon Company
• 10 million mobile installs – January 2019. An estimate by the analytics firm Sensor Tower, with about US$9.5 million spent by players
• Mainland China edition – 13 May 2021. NetEase’s expanded 宝可梦大探险, with Pokémon from later generations
• Mainland China edition closes – 10 February 2025. The service ended after almost four years
• Taiwan Switch release – 9 September 2025. Added to the Taiwanese Nintendo eShop more than seven years after launch
• South-east Asian Switch release – 18 November 2025. Added to the Nintendo eShop in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand
• Version 1.0.10 – 16 October 2026. A bug-fix update for iOS and Android, a sign that the game is still looked after

Where to play it today

Pokémon Quest is still a free download in October 2026, on every platform it launched on. The Switch version is on the Nintendo eShop, which added Taiwan and then Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand in 2025, and the mobile version is on the App Store, where it now needs iOS or iPadOS 15.0 or later, and on Google Play; both mobile versions received version 1.0.10 in October 2026. The Expedition Packs can still be bought. Only NetEase’s edition for mainland China has gone, having closed on 10 February 2025.

How it was made

Pokémon Quest was made by Game Freak, with Tetsuya Watanabe credited as director and producer and Tsubasa Matsuzaki as art director. Ken Sugimori and Shigeru Ohmori acted as supervisors, and Junichi Masuda, Shinya Takahashi and Takato Utsunomiya as general producers. Kazuki Saita and Satoshi Muramatsu are credited for programming and Takeshi Kawachimaru and Kei Setoguchi for planning, with Rebuild Games contributing additional programming and planning. The sound and music came from SuperSweep’s Teruo Taniguchi, Takahiro Eguchi, Fumihisa Tanaka and Shinji Hosoe.

The game was unveiled on 30 May 2018 at The Pokémon Company’s press conference in Tokyo, the same presentation that revealed Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!, and went live on the Nintendo eShop that day. Pre-registration for the mobile version opened in June, ahead of the 27 June launch on iOS and Android. In 2021 NetEase worked with The Pokémon Company and Game Freak on the expanded edition for mainland China.

Pokémon Quest elsewhere

Sales & reviews

Downloads and player spending

As a free-to-start game, Quest has download totals rather than sales. The Switch version passed one million downloads within two days of launch, before the mobile version even existed, and soon went beyond 2.5 million. On 6 July 2018, nine days after the iOS and Android launch, The Pokémon Company announced more than 7.5 million downloads across all three platforms. The analytics firm Sensor Tower estimated about 3.5 million mobile installs and US$3 million in player spending in the first week, about US$8 million in the first month, and roughly 10 million installs and US$9.5 million by January 2019. Japan was the biggest market for spending, with about a third of the first month’s revenue, ahead of the United States (24%) and South Korea (about 12%), and at launch the app went to No. 1 among free apps on Japan’s App Store and No. 2 in South Korea.

• 7.5m+downloads across Switch and mobile by 6 July 2018
• 1m+Switch downloads in its first two days
• ~US$9.5mestimated mobile player spending by January 2019
• 64on Metacritic, Switch (12 critics)

Review scores

Reviews were mixed. Nintendo Life called Quest “a fun little time waster that will satisfy your collect ’em all urges” and gave it 7/10. Game Informer, with 6/10, was far less taken: “With passive gameplay and constant random elements, Pokémon Quest is entirely forgettable”. IGN gave it the same score but was gentler in tone, finding that it “can be a cute little distraction when taken in bite-sized pieces”.

Most reviewers warmed to Pokémon Quest’s look and its generosity as a free game, but doubted it had much staying power. The cube-shaped Pokémon and Tumblecube Island were widely called charming, and the team-building side, picking three Pokémon, socketing Power Stones and chasing better moves, was singled out as the most rewarding part. The battles took the most criticism: with the Pokémon moving and attacking largely by themselves, several critics felt they were watching rather than playing, and noted that a strong enough team clears stages with no input at all. The long battery waits and the heavy randomness of cooking and training were frequent complaints, and many felt the game suited short sessions on a phone better than the Switch. Across the aggregators it settled in the low to mid 60s.

Media & artwork

• Box art from Pokémon Quest

Further reading

More Kanto, Switch and mobile links on the site: