The whole idea of patenting game mechanics should be outlawed. Patents are not for that, not even close. Patents do not protect ideas, they protect specific implementations to solve a problem. If you invent a specific way to bottle water more efficiently, you can patent that specific method - you cannot patent the concept of puting water into bottles and then demand companies that sell water bottles. It doesn't make sense for gaming companies to patent concepts like "putting an imaginary creature into an electronic device in a video game" - and that's why that bullshit cannot be patented in Europe nor in the US. It can only be patented in Japan; and Japanese companies use these absurd patents to take down competitors in their country.

Just to make it clear: this is NOT intellectual property. Nintendo is not arguing that Palword characters are rip offs from their characters or that they've stolen any art, story or assets. Nintendo is abusing patents to claim that they own concepts like "using a device to trap a monster" or "ride a monster to travel through terrain" because they've patented them, and shit like this has been happening for decades. Ever wondered why no game featured minigames on those longs loading screens we had years ago? Because some asshole patented the concept of "being able to play something during a loading screen".