Comment by GuB-42
10 hours ago
A 1:1 replication of the original Pokemon (1995) would be safe from all patent claims as it is obvious prior art and patents filed during that time would be expired. Copyright would be another story though.
It looks like here, they picked minor game mechanics introduced in a later games that Palworld also used (possibly as a coincidence) and then applied for patents. Some of them passed.
If they did come up with it and spent significant R&D on it only to be copied by another, they probably should have applied for the patent before they released it?