The 5 best games like Pokemon on Android (2014)

The chances of an official Pokemon game surfacing for Android are more slim than getting hit by lightning while scratching off a winning lottery ticket.

Luckily, you can get some of the same Pokemon thrills from a few games on Google Play.

Games in which you can collect a team of cute and fuzzy monsters, basically, and then pit them against one another in a violent fight to the death.

None of them is as good as Nintendo's creature-catching series. There isn't the same scope, depth, and originality present in that masterful critter collectathon.

But if you truly must have Pokemon on Android, make do with one of this little lot.

Beastie Bay is a survival game. After being washed up on a deserted island, you must plant crops; build a house; and develop new technology to stay alive and explore the surrounding islands.

But, and here's where it sounds more like Pokemon, you'll also be able to capture the savage beasts that roam the island. You can then use those elemental critters to fight people, and you can also trade them with pals.

That never happened on Lost, did it?

This one comes from Game Dev Story creator Kairosoft. We cautioned that "Beastie Bay's battles aren't an entertaining as Pokemon's", but ultimately decided that it's "a deterrent for boredom".

This game is supposed to be about monsters, but my first critter looked more like a house cat than some fearsome dragon. Then again, there are about 60 other animals - including unicorns and trolls - to collect.

As you might expect, you'll use these monsters to fight turn-based battles. And you'll also train your team to boost stats like attack, life, and mana. Oh, and to equip your critters with helpful items.

Monster Kingdom is more about tapping through menus than exploring the world, and an energy system will put a stop to your fun every few minutes. But it does have online play so you can battle monsters with your pals.

You'll know that the maker of Puzzle & Dragons has taken its cues from Pokemon when you load up the game and are asked if you want to adopt a fire, grass, or water critter. That's not even subtle, guys.

Instead of participating in turn-based battles, you fight monsters by shifting around orbs and trying to match up same-coloured gems.

But, in true Pokemon style, you'll also amass a team of monsters that you can train and evolve. Plus: with over 700 critters to collect, it boasts almost as many monsters as Nintendo's franchise.

Basically, imagine putting Pokemon and Bejeweled in a blender and you'll get this insanely popular RPG. Or a disgusting puddle of crushed-up diamonds and bits of Pikachu.

Gameloft has a reputation for borrowing ideas from other game makers, so no one was surprised when it unleashed Monster Life. This is a game so obviously inspired by Pokemon that even Zubat could see the similarities.

Zubat is blind. Shut up. That joke was brilliant.

You will get to fight monsters here, yes. And while the scraps happen automatically, you can deliver boosts and critical hits with a tap. But when the battle is over, you'll also set up and attend to a ranch where your critters grow and learn new skills.

It's got chunky pop-up papercraft graphics, lots of loopy monsters to chase after, and some silly animations. I especially like how defeated enemies are carried off the battlefield on a stretcher.

It's also a free-to-play experience, so watch out for pay-to-win elements, endless wait timers, and plenty of nagging requests to share your progress on Facebook.

Why collect monsters when you can design them?

That's the thinking behind MonsterCrafter, in which Naquatic merges Pokemon with Minecraft in the sort of Google-friendly combination that's been genetically engineered for maximum search visibility.

After you've built your monster out of simple geometric shapes and trained it to fight, you can battle other monsters in a single-player campaign or online. Battles are simple, but seeing your homemade monster do the fighting is always nice.

We gave this one a Bronze Award, and said that "MonsterCrafter is a unique monster-battling game that forces you to show a little too much love to your critters."