Pocket Card Jockey
Pocket Card Jockey
- Pocket Card Jockey*** is a card-based video game developed and published by Game Freak for Nintendo 3DS, iOS, and Android.
It was released for Nintendo 3DS in Japan on July 31, 2013 and worldwide by Nintendo on May 5, 2016. It was released for iOS and Android in Japan on November 26, 2014, (January 21, 2023 in Japan) and on Nintendo Switch on February 21, 2024.
Plot Pocket Card Jockey puts players in control of a jockey, which can be made male or female. The male jockey wants to one day take over his father's orange farm, and the female jockey wants to one day get married and have kids. On July 23, 2013, this project was revealed to be SolitiBa, set for release the following week on July 31, 2013 as a download-exclusive title. A demo for the game was released on the eShop on December 4, 2013.
In August 2014, it was announced that the game would be ported to iOS and Android. A beta test of the Android version was run with 2000 players; applications ran from August 19 to September 8, 2014, and the beta test ran from September 17 to 28, 2014. The mobile version was released on November 26, 2014.
On October 22, 2015, it was announced that the mobile version of the game would shut down on December 21, 2015.
In the 3 March 2016 Nintendo Direct, an English localization of the game was announced, with the title Pocket Card Jockey. The English localization received a demo before release. It was released on May 5, 2016 in North America, Europe, and Australia. | MC = 83/100 | Destruct = 9.5/10 | NWR = 9/10 | USG = 4/5 | GI = 7/10 | NLife = 7/10 }} Pocket Card Jockey received "generally favorable reviews" according to review aggregator, Metacritic.
Both Kat Bailey and Nadia Oxford of USgamer counted Pocket Card Jockey as one of their favorite games of 2016, with Oxford calling it "unorthodox but brilliant." NintendoWorldReport writer Neal Ronaghan felt that the game combined solitaire with horse racing well, offering praise to its writing while criticizing it for being "frustrating and punitive at times." In NintendoWorldReports end of year awards for 2016, Pocket Card Jockey was ranked as the fifth best. Ronaghan felt that it had been unlikely to come out of Japan, stating that once it did, it took the staff "by storm." Ronaghan called its systems "shockingly deep," though they note that its "convoluted and long tutorials" prevented it from being ranked more highly.
CJ Andriessen of Destructoid said that he was addicted to the game, comparing its gameplay loop to Tetris and said that he hoped that the game was on every Nintendo console in the future. He praised it for its "wonderfully funny" script, though he found it strange how the game handles the motivations of the male and female protagonists. Andrew Webster of The Verge similarly found it addicting, noting that while it starts out "incredibly challenging" but becomes more manageable once the player gets used to it. PCMag writer Will Greenwald called it an "incredibly fun, accessible diversion" due to its JRPG-like features. Game Revolution writer Kevin Schaller praised it for how easy it is to get into, though they felt that the raising and breeding mechanic was too limited. GamesRadar+ writer Lucas Sullivan strongly recommended it for people who enjoy card games, stating that he was surprised that he found himself enjoying a horse-racing game. Sullivan praised the game for its art style and music. Nintendo Life praised the overall gameplay, but felt the game could be unfair to the player, saying that "It flirts with the line where difficulty is replaced by mean-spirited design".