Cozy Crowdfunded Corner – Monsterpatch combines 90s Pokémon with Animal Crossing

Sometimes, games wear their inspiration on their sleeves. Monsterpatch, currently available through Kickstarter, is so very 1990s Pokémon that it’d be silly not to acknowledge that out the gate.

Taking place on a floating continent, Monsterpatch tasks players with exploring, catching magical monsters, farming, and being a wizard yourself. Customize your town in any way you want, including terraforming, planting trees, or tending a farm. New blueprints allow you to make buildings and decorations. 

All the while, you catch monsters, known as “MoNs”, to train up and teach spells to. In this world, wizards are common, and the monsters battle against other wizards’ MoNs. 

While the town building is very Animal Crossing (almost glaringly so), the rest of the game leans heavily into the Pokémon inspirations. There will be two versions of the game included within the game itself, mimicking the classic Red and Blue archetype. This time, you can choose between Skyfarer version or Aurora version. 

The versions both come in the single game but change the story that unfolds as you play, as well as offering version-exclusive MoNs. Even the antagonistic teams change between the Moon Mages and Sky Pirates. No worries, though, as you can start a new save on a different version and even battle against your other characters.

Battles are similar to the double and triple battles seen in Pokémon, but they are composed of four MoNs on each team, out at the same time. There are nine “houses” instead of elements in Monsterpatch, which affect weaknesses and strengths like elements would.

Monsterpatch is more than just a Pokémon clone…

I’m in love with the art style, as it clearly takes most of its cues from the later Game Boy Color titles, like Pokémon Gold and Silver. But it’s clear that modern technology makes it look cleaner and easier to see in its pixely goodness.

To lean more into its roots, the developers have physical promo cards that mimic the Pokémon TCG pretty well, complete with art by some wonderful artists. 

As mentioned, this is currently on Kickstarter and was fully funded in 16 minutes. As of writing, they’re about to hit their $175k stretch goal (with an original goal of only $15k). That will unlock The Battle Tower, likely in reference to the Battle Tower in the Pokémon games. But, the stretch goals have already added plenty of cool additions, like shiny variants, Nuzlocke Mode, extra customizations, and more MoNs to be able to discover. At $200k, they’ll be adding a Nintendo Switch version (which is the one I’d want most).

The lowest tier to get the game is $20, which gets you a Steam Key for the game at launch and credit for backing it. But, the tiers add a ton of other options, like special collector’s editions and more.

It seems like it’ll be a great game to scratch that Pokémon itch in between playing the upcoming Pokémon Legends: Z-A, or other like-minded indie titles like Ova Magica (which we reviewed and enjoyed).

The Kickstarter is still going for about 17 more days as of writing and has well beyond hit the primary goal. But, with an estimated release date of December 2025, it’d be worthwhile to get in on the ground floor of this game and get your name in the credits for just $20.