Pocket Frogs
Pocket Frogs is somewhat unique in the virtual-pet space thanks to its mechanical implementation of rampant capitalism. Starting off with just a few terrariums, only one of which that can act as a nursery for incubating eggs, you'll quickly realize how much buying and selling of your hoppy little friends you'll need to do if you hope to expand your frog capacity or fill out your froggydex. The main gameplay loop consists of getting a bunch of new frogs, running out of space for them, and selling old frogs to make room. You'll constantly be bombarded with new frogs to fill your terrariums, with some coming direct via mail order as gifts or store purchases, and others hatching from eggs that you bred for. While it's tempting to grow connected to some of these amphibian friends, you'll likely still sell each of them eventually to help fuel your froggydex addiction.
Pocket Frogs may look similar to a virtual pet simulator, even allowing you to take your frogs to the pond to play around and eat flies. However, when your criminally low froggydex completion percentage is prominently displayed every time you open the menu, you'll remember what the real goal of the game is. With 23 primary colors that can be paired with any of the 16 secondary colors for each of the 112 breeds, you'll need to collect a grand total of 41,216 marginally unique varieties of frogs, which takes more than a little dedication. As you play, you'll gain experience points towards leveling up, and each level unlocks new frogs, easing you into the astronomical numbers. However, I reached level 7 on my latest playthrough, unlocking 18 breeds to collect, and even though I was specifically focusing on completing the dex entry for the first breed you meet at the very beginning of the game, I only managed to get 22% of the color combos and a defeating ending total of 223/41,216 in my froggydex. I was filling the dex at a significantly slower rate than I was expanding the pool of breeds to draw from, which very quickly became overwhelming, eventually to the point that I just gave up on my goal.
Pocket Frogs is one of the most relaxing simulators for pet care, collection, and unabashed capitalism. The process of collecting new frogs, raising them, and then selling them to make room for more, all while filling up the froggydex, is both satisfying and addictive. Unfortunately, it seems like Pocket Frogs may have bitten off more than it could chew. Eventually, the gameplay starts to feel very repetitive, and the relatively minor progress one can make in the froggydex by that time likely just won't be enough to keep up interest. I genuinely love Pocket Frogs (for which I blame, in part, nostalgia), but it's not a game I can play endlessly. I think it's fun, cute, and a total blast to the past, but as soon as that nostalgia wears off, I don't feel very bad shelving it again. We all know I'm going to redownload it in another few years anyways.
The game is available for Android here (as of 12/19/22): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nimblebit.pocketfrogs&hl=en_US&gl=US
The game is available for iOS here (as of 12/19/22): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pocket-frogs/id386644958
