Pokémon Masters EX

Review by eFreeware

The pitch behind Pokémon Masters EX is that the trainers matter as much as the creatures. Instead of building a team of anonymous monsters, you pair up with named characters from across the Pokémon regions and fight alongside them. That single idea shapes everything else in the game, and it is what makes it stand apart from the usual creature-collecting titles.

It is a free role-playing game from DeNA, rated for Everyone, with more than 10 million installs and a 4.2 average across 528,823 ratings. The game has been running since August 2019 and still receives content updates, the most recent in September 2026 adding new material and small fixes.

I would point this at people who already have a favorite Gym Leader, Champion or Elite Four member and want to see them do something. If your attachment to Pokémon comes from the creatures rather than the humans, the appeal is thinner, because the humans are the point here.

A cast pulled from every region

The roster is the headline. Trainers come from many regions and eras, so the roster mixes generations and settings instead of following a single storyline. Gym Leaders, Elite Four members, Champions and time-traveling visitors all appear, giving the game a reunion feel.

Each trainer comes as a sync pair, meaning a person and a Pokémon working as one unit. Team up with those pairs and you get interactions with characters who would otherwise never share a scene. That cross-region mixing is where the game's original stories come from, and the developer frames it as the next chapter of Pokémon unfolding.

The other wrinkle is wardrobe. Trainers appear in outfits made specifically for this game, and those outfits come with their own storylines. It looks like a small detail, but it gives familiar faces a reason to be looked at again rather than simply reused.

How the battles work

Combat is three against three. You bring a squad of sync pairs and fight it out, and the developer ties victory to the bond between trainer and Pokémon rather than to raw stats alone. That framing fits the rest of the design, where relationships are treated as a resource worth building.

Eggs feed into the same loop. Hatching gets you new Pokémon, and those Pokémon can be added to your team before you head back into battle. So there are two ways to grow your lineup: the trainers you bring in as sync pairs and the creatures you hatch yourself.

The developer recommends a device with at least 2GB of RAM, and notes that performance can vary with a device's capabilities and specifications, and that compatibility with the newest operating system versions can take time. Those are worth reading before you commit on older hardware.

The Trainer Lodge and the photo studio

Between battles, the Trainer Lodge is where you spend time with the characters you like. Talking to trainers raises your bond level, which opens up extra photos and stories. For a game built on affection for its cast, that is a sensible place to put the quiet moments.

There is also a photo mode, and it is more flexible than I would have guessed. You choose the trainers, the background, the frame and the effects, then compose a shot the developer likens to something from Pokéstar Studios. Up to three trainers can appear in a single photo.

Together these two features explain why the game keeps its audience. Battles give you something to do, but the lodge and the camera give you something to keep. Players who enjoy arranging characters and collecting moments will get more out of this than players who only want fights.

What it costs and what you get

The game is free to download and carries no ads. It does offer in-app purchases, which is standard for a title that has been adding content for years.

Since it is free with purchases available, my advice is simply to treat it as a game you can start at no cost and decide about later.

One practical note on the content itself: updates arrive periodically, and the most recent one was described as new content plus minor improvements and bug fixes. Long-running games like this tend to grow over time, so what you install today is not necessarily the finished shape of it.

A reunion for longtime Pokémon fans

Pokémon Masters EX is at its best for someone who has followed the series long enough to have opinions about specific trainers. The three-on-three battles, the region-spanning cast, the exclusive outfits, the lodge and the photo mode all serve that attachment. It is a game about people you already know.

The 4.2 average from a large body of ratings suggests a settled audience rather than a passing one, and ten million-plus installs means you will not be alone in it. The trade-off is that the game leans on familiarity. If the trainers mean little to you, the hooks are weaker, and the battles have to carry more weight on their own.

For fans of the characters, though, there is a lot here: stories, outfits, bonds, photos and a steady stream of additions. It is free to try, it does not interrupt you with ads, and it has been kept alive with updates. That combination is easy to recommend to the right player.

What's new in version 2.73.0

Updates Added new content and completed minor game improvements and bug fixes. For more details, visit the News section of the app or the official website.