While Pokemon fans wait for Pokemon X and Pokemon Y to drop October 12, they can enjoy a few other monster catching, monster training, and monster breeding games out there.

Here is a quick rundown of some the most celebrated monster games that are not Pokemon.

Monster Rancher

Monster Rancher is a popular monster simulation role-playing game series (it's also an anime series) by developer Tecmo Koei. This is an oldie but goodie, with releases for the PlayStation, PS2, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance.

Their arguably most popular and well-crafted releases belong to the PS2, with titles like Monster Rancher 3 and 4 actualizing the full monster-raising experience with enhanced graphics that its PlayStation progenitors could not achieve.

The main draw of Monster Rancher is training your monsters with exercises and healthy diets. The stronger they become, the better they'll perform in battle tournaments, but the main focus remains being a good caretaker for your monsters.

Digimon

Fans of Pokemon will no doubt know its competitor Digimon. Although it continues its life as an animated series, it also has a healthy gaming history on the Nintendo DS.

The closest Digimon has come to producing a title that matches Pokemon's legacy is Digimon World DS. Although less complicated, it has an engaging storyline and hundreds of evolutions.

Digimon World DS, as well as its predecessors Digimon Dawn and Dusk, are heavy favorites for Digimon fans, as it draws from the animated series (particularly Digimon Savers). Like Pokemon, Digimon works on nostalgia of older fans.

Recently, Namco Bandai has launched a series of games for its 15^th anniversary celebration. These include Digimon World Re:Digitize for the PlayStation Portable and Digimon World Re:Digitize Decode for the 3DS, but there are no confirmed plans for a North America release.

Dragon Quest Monsters

Dragon Quest Monsters is a classic series with iconic releases like its original release for the Game Boy Color, but Nintendo DS users can enjoy the experience with Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker and Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2.

Although many DWM fans can attest that the original may still be the best entry of them all, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 is the latest release (2011) and has many enjoyable and challenging elements to it.

For one, catching (called scouting in this game) monsters, especially the valuable ones, can be quite the challenge. It involves a bit of luck, and one often finds mammoth-sized monsters lurking in areas that can only be obtained much later in the game.

There's also a lot to do after the game finishes, so for gamers who enjoy exploring every facet of a role-playing game, this should give you many hours of enjoyment.

Shin Megami Tensei

Out of all the series, Shin Megami Tensei is the more mature of the bunch. Its games often involve apocalyptic themes and dark themes and imagery, but it also houses some of most engaging stories of any role-playing games.

For monster lovers, the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona series and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor series are absolute must-haves.

Be aware that Devil Survivor is in fact a tactical game like Final Fantasy tactics, but uses monsters which can be fused and purchased for battle. Devil Survivor Overclocked is for the 3DS, while Devil Survivor 2 is the latest DS release.

Persona, on the other hand, has Sony releases like Persona 3 and 4 for the PS2, as well as their PlayStation Portable ports with added bonus content. The only common complaint of the series is that grinding is very much necessary to build your team.

So, even with a few months left for Pokemon X and Y, here are just a few other games you can enjoy and still use the phrase, "Gotta catch 'em all!"