Never played pokemon?!?! Thats like never watching Sesame street! You are either old as hell or had no childhood.
Had no childhood? My childhood consisted of Playing Sports nearly 24/7, I think that the phrasing "Had No Childhood" would be better suited for those that played Pokemon whether it was the card game, Gameboy game or watching the show.
I did both. I had my gameboy out while I was playing tackle football. Thats how you play the damn game!
Getting a little closer: http://toucharcade.com/2011/07/05/pokemon-coming-to-the-app-store-this-summer/
It's still not a Pokemon game in the truest sense of the word. Nintendo released a mobile phone Pokemon game prior to this one. But it's still not a true Pokemon game, which is what the OP was originally looking for. And which will still not happen.
But you forgot that "a Pokemon game in the truest sense of the word" was not being discussed by RedMattis. He simply stated "Fortunately there might actually be an official pokémon game coming to the iPhone, or so the current rumor in the indie game development scene goes." This is official. It's a Pokemon game. It doesn't go with the main series line, but it's still an official Pokemon game.
Im thinking the OP could clarify, but "closest thing to Pokemon" sounds more like asking for a game where you travel around, collect and trade battle monsters, not a rhythm game where you tap on cards which is what this game is gonna be... whatever its licensed as it doesn't seem to fit within what someone that's looking for a "pokemon game" would want.
GeoSociety Closest thing to pokemon on iPhone and iPod touch? GeoSociety is by far the best, if not the only game like this on the AppStore. Highly recommended!
Turns out that the only thing that Pokemon Company has to do with the iDevices is that promotional music app.
I was working on a Pokemon-like game called Roboji, short for robot and emoji (thinking of changing it to Robojimon ) and it has robots instead of animals (less cruel because I like animals) and it is fully 3D, but it was difficult. Keep in mind it took the original creator six years to make the first Pokemon game! I feel I have the skill to make it now however, so let me know if it sounds interesting to you guys. I think the reason Nintendo won't release a true Pokemon RPG game for iOS/Android is because they are also a hardware company and they are motivated to sell the only system the game runs on. Apple for example gets half of the ~$600 that each iPhone 4 sells for.
How about this one? http://www.148apps.com/news/dragon-island-fill-monstercollecting-void-ios/ Theres a TA thread on it too started by the developer http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=111462
Pokemon Just Got Vicious! It's actually this one! http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=113111 Preview of some graphic assets. We have over 200 monsters!
U can get the game monster galaxy its a bit like pokemon but u always run out of energy and u cant keep playing but its probs the closest thing