Pocket Mortys is based on the multiple timeline concept as described in episode 10 of season 1, "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind".[2] The game uses a style and concept similar to the Pokémon games, with the player (Rick C-123) catching various 'wild' Mortys, battling them with a variety of 'Trainers' in the form of aliens, Ricks and several supporting characters.[3] The game features voice acting from Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon,[4] and, since 2023, Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden.
Gameplay
Pocket Mortys is in a third-person view, overhead perspective and consists of three basic screens: an overworld, in which the player navigates the main character; a side-view battle screen; and a menu interface, in which the player configures their Mortys, items, or gameplay settings.[5]
The player can use their Mortys to battle other Mortys. Supposedly the strongest Morty so far is The One True Morty later revealed in the game. Wild Mortys are visible on the overworld and can be battled. "Trainer" fights are also visible and entail fighting against their party of up to five Mortys. When the player encounters a Morty or a trainer, the screen switches to a turn-based battle screen that displays the engaged Mortys. During battle, the player may select a maneuver for their Morty to use in the fight, use an item, switch their active Morty, or (against the wild Mortys) attempt to flee. Mortys have hit points (HP); when a Morty's HP is reduced to zero, it gets dazed and can no longer battle until it is revived. Once an enemy Morty faints, the player's Morty involved in the battle receive a certain number of experience points (EXP). After accumulating enough EXP, a Morty will level up. A Morty's level controls its physical properties, such as the battle statistics acquired, and the moves learned. The player may combine two Mortys of the same type to evolve them; these evolutions affect the statistics and which moves are learned. Catching wild Mortys is another essential element of the gameplay. During battle with a wild Morty, the player may throw a Manipulation Chip at it. If the Morty is successfully caught, it will come under the ownership of the player.[3][6][7]
The ultimate goal of the game is to collect and level-up a team of Mortys to battle against the Council of Ricks, who have taken Rick's portal gun until he proves himself to be worthy of getting it back.[6][7]
Avatars
Avatars are the characters that players can control in the game of Pocket Mortys, consisting of:[8]
Of these Mortys, the majority are alternate universe versions of Mortimer Chauncey "Morty" Smith, the titular co-protagonist of the Rick and Morty franchise, with the exceptions of: Mortaion Morty (a member of a mysterious race of beautiful space sirens who all happen to look like Morty), the Morty of the Valley/Mortydrangea (plant experiments of Rick's), Concerto Morty (a version of Concerto who was "Morty-fied"), Morty Jr. (one of Morty's sons), Kissing Cats Morty (a conjoined twin of one Morty, connected at the tongue), Mytholog Morty (a grub created when Beth's Mytholog wore the Mytholog helmet), Beth's Pet and Rick's Pet Morty (pets dressed up as Mortys), MortyBot (a robot made to promote Pringles), Marta and Larry Morty (minds split off of Morty's psyche), and the Child of Gaia. Female versions of Morty featured include the cisgendergirls Mindy "Morticia" Smith,[11] Mortabel Pines–Smith (Girl Morty, a composite character with Mabel Pines from Gravity Falls, also featured in Gravity Falls: Lost Legends), Wendy Morty (a Wendy's-themed Morty), Supernova Morty (a composite character with Supernova), Tammy Morty (a composite character with Tammy Gueterman), and Businesswoman Morty (a composite character with Jennith Padrow-Chunt), and the trans girls Princess/Queen Morty (formerly Prince Morty) and Roller Derby Morty (formerly Roller Disco Morty).
IGN was not as favourable in its review, giving the game a "mediocre" 5.5 rating, stating that the game "lacks cohesion" and that it was "little more than a diluted Pokémon imitator".[17]HardcoreGamer mirrored this opinion by giving the game a score of 2.5/5.[18] With the commercial success of the game, it prompted Adult Swim Games to acquire Big Pixel Studios two years and four months later on May 21, 2018.[19]
^ abcJTH (November 20, 2020). "Pocket Mortys Mortys – ArtStation". ArtStation. Retrieved November 20, 2020. For a female Morty I looked for cues from how the show handles female characters and not just to add long hair. Secret Pocket Mortys Lore – Her real name is 'Mindy', Morticia is the nickname everyone else calls her behind her back… Multi Morty was loosely based on a image from Junji Ito's TomieManga.