I play a lot of roguelikes because I rarely have the time for a multiple hour gaming session anymore, and I can get a complete start to finish game in with a roguelike in 30-60 minutes. I think that may be part of the popularity.
I’ve played all the ones you mentioned, my recent vices are Magicraft & Star Vader’s, both on steam. Slay the Spire & The Binding of Isaac are two I always come back to during my “what should I play?” moments.
If you set out to create a game involving collecting, or even looking at and cataloguing, a bunch of different fantasy creatures, you’re going to have some that are at least a little similar to pokemon
I think Cassette Beasts pulled off the Pokemon gameplay format without making anything that Nintendo could try and sue over.
I jumped through a couple hoops to get Pokemon Infinite Fusion working on my Steam Deck & I’ve been having a blast slapping shit together to see how fucked up it looks.
Cleffa + Geodude made me giggle for a good 5 minutes.