Monster-taming game

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A monster-taming game (also known as monster-catching, creature-collecting, or simply Pokémon clone) is a subgenre of role-playing video game that most notably includes the Pokémon franchise. While Pokémon is the most recognizable example of such a game to Western audiences, the origins of the genre were in the Megami Tensei series, which involved fighting, negotiating with, and recruiting demons and other mythological beings.

Monster-taming games share core mechanics such as being able to capture creatures, train them, and use them in battle against similar creatures.^[1] In many such games, these creatures are the only means of combat, although the darker-themed Megami Tensei series also allows the player to participate in combat, using weapons such as guns.