{"id":4528,"date":"2026-04-14T21:15:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T21:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/article.php?article_id=2126349"},"modified":"2026-04-14T21:15:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T21:15:16","slug":"the-best-launch-titles-ever-pokemon-dash-on-the-ds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-best-launch-titles-ever-pokemon-dash-on-the-ds\/","title":{"rendered":"The best launch titles ever: Pok\u00e9mon Dash on the DS"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id>\n<p class=\"strapline\"> Wack-ish&nbsp;races. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<section class>\n<p>Pok\u00e9mon Dash is one of those games that makes you say, &#8216;Someone made that? Really? Why?&#8217; The answer is that Nintendo were releasing the Nintendo DS and they most likely wanted a Pok\u00e9mon title in the launch lineup to boost sales, so Pok\u00e9mon Dash was born. The game&#8217;s premise is simple &#8211; you&#8217;re a Pok\u00e9mon, there are races, you run in said races, try to win and hopefully avoid the lava, because there are no regulations in Pok\u00e9mon races. <\/p>\n<p>Sounds mildly exciting, right? Well, Pok\u00e9mon Dash has a few setbacks. <\/p>\n<p>Firstly, aside from multiplayer, you only ever play as Pikachu. Sure Bulbasaur, Meowth, Torchic and even Munchlax, which &#8211; fun fact &#8211; makes Pok\u00e9mon Dash one of the first games to include a Gen 4 Pok\u00e9mon, are there, but, if none of your friends own Pok\u00e9mon Dash, it&#8217;s one hundred percent Pikachu, one hundred per cent of the time. <\/p>\n<figure class=\" \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/the-best-launch-titles-ever-pokemon-dash-on-the-ds.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"388\" alt=\"Poke2\" data-uri=\"2020\/articles\/2020-11-27-10-58\/Poke2.jpg\"><\/figure>\n<p>For a Nintendo DS launch title, Pok\u00e9mon Dash barely considers the touchpad. All you do is drag the stylus forward to direct Pikachu about the track and, occasionally, move it from left to right when Pikachu gets stunned. The Pok\u00e9mon Ranger series utilizes the touchpad more and that&#8217;s about drawing circles around Pok\u00e9mon, while somehow managing to have an excellent time. <\/p>\n<p>It may sound like I don&#8217;t like Pok\u00e9mon Dash that much, but it&#8217;s actually managed to gnaw it&#8217;s way into my heart. Maybe it&#8217;s how you can poke and prod at the Pikachu on the title screen; pulling its ears in bone breaking directions, without being electrocuted. It could be how you can transform your team from one of the GameBoy Advance Pok\u00e9mon games into new race tracks, making Pok\u00e9mon Dash the only game that lets you run about on Mewtwo&#8217;s face. Most likely, however, it&#8217;s because I just like weird Pok\u00e9mon games &#8211; I&#8217;ve replayed Pok\u00e9mon Channel at least twice. I love discovering what kind of new nonsense the Pok\u00e9mon Company has come up with and Pok\u00e9mon Dash is the perfect kind of Pok\u00e9mon nonsense.<\/p>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/articles\/2020-11-27-the-best-launch-titles-ever-pokemon-dash-on-the-ds\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wack-ish&nbsp;races. Pok\u00e9mon Dash is one of those games that makes you say, &#8216;Someone made that? Really? Why?&#8217; The answer is that Nintendo were releasing the Nintendo DS and they most likely wanted a Pok\u00e9mon title in the launch lineup to boost sales, so Pok\u00e9mon Dash was born. The game&#8217;s premise is simple &#8211; you&#8217;re a Pok\u00e9mon, there are races, you run in said races, try to win and hopefully avoid the lava, because there are no regulations in Pok\u00e9mon races. Sounds mildly exciting, right? Well, Pok\u00e9mon Dash has a few setbacks. Firstly, aside from multiplayer, you only ever play as Pikachu. Sure Bulbasaur, Meowth, Torchic and even Munchlax, which &#8211; fun fact &#8211; makes Pok\u00e9mon Dash one of the first games to include a Gen&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-best-launch-titles-ever-pokemon-dash-on-the-ds\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The best launch titles ever: Pok\u00e9mon Dash on the DS | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Wack-ish&nbsp;races. 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