"Pawn Placement" - a GCHQ word association puzzle (video game edition)

Question

_{If instead of video games you're looking for board games, check out Stiv's "Guess Where?" puzzle! ;)}

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Instructions (adapted from The GCHQ Puzzle Book (2016) and the introductory puzzle here on Puzzling Stack Exchange): The words in the following list can be partitioned into equal-sized sets depending on words associated with them; each set has its own word association method. This list is arranged so that these associated words are in alphabetical order. One of these sets is missing a member, so you have to work out where in the list the associated word fits alphabetically, and hence where the word itself should appear in the list. The list should be read from left to right and top to bottom and is only written in columns for convenience. (See the introductory puzzle for a more detailed explanation and an example.)

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The question to answer is:

Where does 'Pawn' fit in the following list?

Coral	Flea	Angry	Candle	Due
Lightning	Beach	Haze	Fable	Per
Just	Jungle	Key	Desert	Man
Duck	Drill	Kingdom	Outpost	Swallow
Shovel	Tail	Crescent	Ton	Bank
Skinny	Meadows	Skyscraper	Hand	History
Dish	Rot	Insect	Cellar	Slime
Dash	Shaker	Rose	Mountain	Well
Muffler	Fish	Farming	Dead	Row
Burner	Blooper	Canyon	Pole	Weaver
Moth	Ninetales	Den	Beard	Fair

Crucially this time, every set relates to video games in some way.

Please hold off posting partial answers unless you think you have found at least half of the correct word associations (although if you make it that far, why not push to complete the whole puzzle!). Thank you, and enjoy!

A note about this particular puzzle:

Some associations in this puzzle are a little trickier than others I've used in the past; one in particular is pretty involved, but hopefully it is apparent why I decided to use it! 😅

Hints (updated based on Stiv's answer!):

The two remaining categories each involve less well-known (but still popular) individual video games; the genres of these video games may be a future hint.

One of these two remaining categories involves the "pretty involved" wordplay I alluded too.

(Now obsolete) @Stiv is right that "the inclusion of 'Ninetales' (a Pokémon) when there has already been another Pokémon category is mystifying", since its inclusion does not relate to Pokémon!

Answer 1

^{This is (still) a partial answer, now with 6/8 groups resolved - 2 to go...}

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Since there are 55 words in the table, with 'PAWN' there must be 56 words in total, making for 7 groups of 8 or 8 groups of 7 - I believe it is the latter.

My resolution of the word-set so far:

#AMARANT# Coral
Flea "BEE"
Angry BIRDS
Candle
Due "BOO"
Lightning
CHEEP CHEEP Beach
#CID# Haze
(CLEF) Fable
[CREE] Per
Just DANCE
DINO DINO Jungle
[DON] Key
DRY DRY Desert
[ENDER] Man
(GOLD) Duck
Drill
Kingdom HEARTS
ICE ICE Outpost
#JACKE# Swallow
Shovel KNIGHT
Tail
#LUCRECIA# Crescent
(MAGNET) Ton
Bank
Skinny "MINI"
MOO MOO Meadows
Skyscraper
Hand
History "MYSTERY"
(ODD) Dish
[PAR] Rot
Insect
Cellar "PROPELLER"
Slime RANCHER
(RAPID) Dash
Shaker
#REDOLENT# Rose
ROCK ROCK Mountain
Well
Muffler
[SILVER] Fish
Farming SIMULATOR
Dead SPACE
(SPEAR) Row
Burner
Blooper "SUPER"
SWEET SWEET Canyon
[TAD] Pole
Weaver
(VENOM) Moth
#VIVIAN# Ninetales
[WAR] Den
Beard "WEIRD"
#ZACK# Fair

Based off the following groups (in solving order):

Group 1: Repeated words in Mario Kart race tracks:
CHEEP CHEEP Beach, DINO DINO Jungle, DRY DRY Desert, ICE ICE Outpost, MOO MOO Meadows, ROCK ROCK Mountain, SWEET SWEET Canyon.

Group 2: Words which overlap with those provided by a single letter to form names of Gen I Pokémon*:
CLEF+Fable (Clefable), GOLD+Duck (Golduck), MAGNET+Ton (Magneton), ODD+Dish (Oddish), RAPID+Dash (Rapidash), SPEAR+Row (Spearow), VENOM+Moth (Venomoth).

Group 3: Words that can precede those provided to form names of Minecraft 'mobs':
CREE+Per (Creeper), DON+Key (Donkey), ENDER+Man (Enderman), PAR+Rot (Parrot), SILVER+Fish (Silverfish), TAD+Pole (Tadpole), WAR+Den (Warden).

Group 4: Two-word video game franchises missing their second word:
Angry BIRDS, Just DANCE, Kingdom HEARTS, Shovel KNIGHT, Slime RANCHER, Farming SIMULATOR, Dead SPACE.

Group 5: Rhymes for names of mushroom power-ups in the Mario franchise
Flea=BEE, Blue=BOO, Skinny=MINI, History=MYSTERY, Cellar=PROPELLER, Blooper=SUPER, Beard=WEIRD.

Group 6: Incomplete character names from the Final Fantasy series
AMARANT Coral (from Final Fantasy IX), CID Haze (III), JACKE Swallow (XIV), LUCRECIA Crescent (VII), REDOLENT Rose (XIV), VIVIAN Ninetales (XVI), ZACK Fair (VII).

_{* Thanks to @PattuX in comments for assistance with the precise connecting rule here.}

I have no firm categories for the remaining two groups (which according to the hint might pertain to specific individual games rather than franchises), but I do still have a few observations that are yet to be put to rest...

Notably that there are several words with useful synonyms that fit in their alphabetical positions, particularly Insect (PARASITE), Shaker (RATTLE), Muffler (SILENCER), and Burner (STOVE). Some or all (or none!) of these may be useful if a shared connection can be spotted...