As the player traverse the various planets, they are frequently transported into space to pilot the Krill defense fleet surrounding each planet. The ships are biological in nature and semiautonomous: they only require a pilot when they sense danger. In most battles, the player are required to shoot down a certain number of enemies to end the sequence.

This is a cool as fuck premise, ngl.

Another older RPG Pokemon fans might have missed out on is Fossil Fighters. Love that series. Not good exactly but right out of the period where creature collectors were big. Also the plot is zany fun.