GAME CLEAR No. 66 -- Pokémon: Magikarp Jump

Pokémon: Magikarp Jump (2017, Android/iOS)

Developer: Select Button
Publisher: The Pokémon Company
Clear Date: 12/2/21
Clear Platform: Android

This has been one of the big surprises of the year for me. I never really thought I’d try a clicker game, let alone enjoy one. But here I am to say that Magikarp Jump is pretty good.

Or maybe it’s bad and I just liked it.

Who cares.

The point is Magikarp Jump has spent the better part of the year being a pleasant commuter game for me. I originally downloaded it in 2017 when I was regularly taking public transit in Seattle, but that was not long before I moved back to Atlanta, whereupon I quickly forgot about it. Now, however, I live much closer to Atlanta’s rail service than I used to, so I take it much more often. So I re-opened the game at some point, noticed my save was still there, and I decided to give it another go. I enjoyed it, and it became a regular part of my travel by rail. I’d routinely play the game for the few minutes it allowed before demanding either time to “recharge” certain actions or in-game currency to skip that recharge. I found it to be probably a better use of my time than looking at posts for those few minutes. Just a brief break in my day for some completely unengaging “gameplay” and nice little Pokémon to look at. I’d play for a bit before bed at times too. Quite calming.

Magikarp Jump takes place in a newly introduced Pokémon town where Magikarp are all the rage. Trainers devote their time raising their Magikarp not to battle, but to jump higher and higher. The goal is to become the trainer with the highest-jumping Magikarp in the world. You assume the role of one such trainer, and you set to work increasing your Magikarp’s Jump Power (JP), which is basically just a stand in for traditional experience. You do this by feeding your Magikarp berries and by training. To feed your fish, you simply swipe over or tap on the berries that spawn periodically in its pond. To train, you just click the training button, and the game selects your training regimen at random. Once your Karp has hit its level cap, you’re forced to participate in the current league you’re trying to become champion of. You either win the whole league and retire that Karp or lose once and retire that Karp, then it’s off to fish up and raise another one. If your trainer level has increased (trainers get XP for winning jumping contests), then your next Karp’s level cap will to, so you will theoretically fare better the next time you compete.

And that’s the basic gameplay loop! You do that over and over until you beat the Master League and the credits roll (a rarity for this genre, as I understand it, but I should note that you can continue to raise Magikarp forever and keep challenging the league if you want). Berries respawn slowly, and training is on a cooldown, so that’s what keeps you from just playing forever. When you win contests, you earn coins that can be spent on better berries and training activities as well as Pokémon buddies that provide leveling buffs to your current Magikarp. This is all obviously fluff that doesn’t meaningfully impact the experience of the game, but it’s all necessary to prevent leveling from becoming interminable once you reach the point where you need literal billions of JP to hit your cap.

And if that doesn’t sound very fun to you, I don’t blame you! This isn’t a game I’d necessarily recommend, but it was a surprising game to me that allowed me brief moments of respite throughout the year. That’s not so bad.

Here’s a look at the state of my pond as of my 135th Magikarp. Look at all the things you can click on! How nice.