A free Pokemon fan game has taken the training and racing of Umamusume and applied it to Pokemon, letting Trainers raise their favorite monsters and compete in races across Kanto.
Training Pokemon to become the very best usually involves battling your way through Gym Leaders and beating the Elite Four, but a new fan game is letting fans pit their favorite Pocket Monsters against others in Umamusume-style races.
Just like the viral horse girl racing game that inspired it, Poke Derby has players training up their companions and utilizing strategies to give them an edge. You can even enter Team Trials against other players’ Pokemon or challenge a friend using a code.
Poke Derby combines Pokemon with Umamusume-style races
Just like Umamusume: Pretty Derby, Poke Derby features a 78-turn career mode where players must split their time between training, resting, and handling events along the way to the final.
The similarities don’t stop there either, as Poke Derby also requires you to pick five Partner Pokemon. These are essentially Umamusume’s Support Cards, which help give your chosen Pokemon game-changing stat boosts during training sessions and also provide wholesome story moments during your playthrough.
Each Pokemon also has a unique running style and abilities/skills that can activate during a race, giving you the edge you need to overtake your competition. For example, Charmander is a Pace Chaser who uses skills focused on gaining a speed boost in the final straight of the race, much like Umamusume’s Symboli Rudolf.
When a Pokemon skill activates, you’ll see a brief animation of your companion powering up before they dash toward the finish line. Pokemon also race across varied Kanto terrain, and weather like rain and snow affects race conditions. There’s even the addition of swimming, climbing, and mud sections, which will really put your companions to the test.
Once you’ve finished a career run or been knocked out of Indigo Finals competition, you’ll be able to put your veteran racers into a Team Trials lineup. It’s here that you’ll be able to compete against other players’ rosters in an attempt to advance in the Weekly Cup.
You can play Poke Derby for free via your web browser on mobile and PC by heading over to the website here.
I’m Abhishek Sharma, an author at TigerJek.com. I enjoy exploring games, testing different strategies, and turning what I learn into clear, useful guides. My goal is to help players understand the game better and improve without the usual confusion.
