After months of rumours and speculation, the first mainline Pokémon RPG games coming to the Switch have officially been announced. Well sort of, anyway. Pokémon Let’s Go! Pikachu and Pokémon Let’s Go! Eevee are noticeably different in a couple of key areas when compared to the 3DS entries, with the new titles embracing a lot of gameplay elements seen in mobile hit Pokémon GO. Given GO’s massive success, it’s obvious as to why Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are hoping to feed off of the success of GO and attempt to bring players into the series through a more streamlined, casual-friendly iteration of the Pokémon RPGs. It’s a perfect plan.

First thing’s first: Let’s Go is “inspired” by 1998’s Pokémon Yellow. With a focus on the first generation of Pokémon, we’ll be heading back to Kanto to take on Team Rocket and catch ‘em all. And by all, I only mean the first 151 Pokémon to grace our screens — a big drop off from the 802 that have been conjured up throughout 20 years of handheld Pokémon games.



Rather than kicking off the adventure with Pikachu in tow, Let’s Go will give you the choice between the series mascot and evolution Pokémon, Eevee, depending on what version of the game you pick up. Interestingly, it’s been confirmed that neither of the starters will be able to evolve, so the latter is a bit of an odd choice given it’s a ‘normal’ type — which, in Pokémon terms, is one of the weaker types in the game. As a cool little aside, throughout Let’s Go you’ll be able to dress either Pikachu or Eevee up in a few costumes, which should give a bit more personality and customisation to proceedings.

Pokémon following the trainer in the over-world returns in Let’s Go too, which has been something a lot of fans have been hoping to see come back for a while. Pikachu or Eevee will always sit on your shoulder or head as you make your way through Kanto, while it also looks like you can have another Pokémon follow you from behind as well. Similarly, the Sun & Moon-introduced Poké Ride is back in Let’s Go, allowing you to get on a selection of Pokémon and traverse the landscape. Pokémon like Charizard, Onyx, and Lapras were shown in the reveal trailer, with the trainer riding them across air, land and sea, respectively.

Considering Let’s Go’s trailer opened up with a shot of the player using Pokémon GO, it’s no surprise to see a lot of gameplay elements come across from the mobile title. With that said, random encounters with Pokémon in the wild have been completely scrapped in this year’s games. Rather than running through tall grass (or the cave equivalent) and encountering a random Pokémon, players will now see Pokémon walking around in the over-world and can engage in an interaction by running up to them. It’s similar to GO in that sense, and the battle mechanic has also been completely wiped in these interactions — meaning all you can do now is throw a Pokéball (via motion control or gyro aiming in handheld mode) and attempt to catch the Pokémon, use an item, or run away.



It’s not all bad, though, as trainer battles are still included in Let’s Go. They look similar to the traditional core games in that types of Pokémon will have weaknesses and strengths against other types, though it’s likely to be a bit more streamlined than what’s come before.

If you’ve played Pokémon GO at all over the last couple of years, you’ll also be able to transfer Pokémon from the Kanto region into Let’s Go. From the trailer, it looks like they’ll be heading into the ‘GO Park’, and you’ll be able to catch them and bring them into your game as you progress through Let’s Go.

Local co-op looks to also be a big focus in the game, which is a bit of a surprise. Given you can play Let’s Go entirely on one Joy-Con, another player can grab the other, join up with you in-game and assist you in battles. Further to this, they can also lend you a hand in catching Pokémon, and will have a team of their own to use. How the latter will work, I’m curious to see. There’s also a Pokéball Plus accessory that’ll allow you to take transferred Pokémon out for a stroll in the real world, as well as functioning as a Joy-Con, meaning you can play the entire game with the ball itself.



So with all of the new details out of the way, it should become pretty clear that there’s a bit of a theme here with all of the GO interaction and accessibility. And that’s because Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have very clearly plotted a course for the Let’s Go games. After the 2018 games were announced, the developers also announced that a core Pokémon RPG in the style of Sun and Moon would be coming in the second half of 2019, which will look to appease long-time fans of the series. With the Let’s Go games, it’s evident that they’re attempting to bridge the gap for GO players to slowly move into the core Pokémon series, with Let’s Go as the stopgap between the two.

Pokémon GO took off because it catered to nostalgia, had a simple premise, and was free to download, with the latter the only big stumbling block for casual players getting into the Let’s Go games. If players can fork out the money, they’ll likely find a game that’s very clearly meant for the casual crowd and will help ease them into the gameplay mechanics seen in the Pokémon RPGs. Imagine going from GO to Ultra Sun or Ultra Moon, and that being a newcomer’s first experience with a core Pokémon RPG — there’s just too much going on in terms of stats, types, and so on.

And yeah, it might be hard for someone who knows Pokémon RPGs back to front to take into consideration the difficulty of getting into the series for a newbie, but it’s certainly there. By introducing elements of the core series with casual gameplay features seen in GO, you’re effectively opening up the series to more people, and will allow that transition to happen in a more natural way.



So Let’s Go is a bit of a hybrid between the core Pokémon games like Sun and Moon and Pokémon GO. Losing the battling element of catching Pokémon and grinding to up your level for difficult battles is a big blow for a lot of fans to take, though it’s not losing everything that makes up a core Pokémon RPG’s identity. You’ve still got battles and you can still evolve, nurture, and care for your Pokémon, and the game looks great for a first home console outing — definitely more impressive than I’d expected.

This could well be the perfect way of getting people into the Pokémon games at a console level, and, even for someone who spends a lot of time with the core RPGs, has me excited. It’s likely these entries won’t be the last in the Let’s Go series, and I can see them not only as a stopgap between GO and the core RPGs, but also as a more relaxed Pokémon sub-series for the casual audience.

In the end, there’s a question as to where the Pokémon series is headed as a whole. And I can see it going in a few ways, but one sticks out more than the others. The most realistic and logical way is by having Let’s Go and the core series alternate release years. This way, you’ll be giving the hardcore and competitive Pokémon players something to engage with and enjoy every second year, while also catering to the casual crowd who want something a bit easier in between. If Let’s Go takes off, I can see Game Freak and The Pokémon Company putting out remakes (or the equivalent) of games from Gen 2, 3, 4, and so on for each Let’s Go iteration. And considering we’re already up to the third generation of Pokémon in Pokémon GO, it’d make a lot of sense.

By having these games alternate years, Pokémon on Switch will cater to two different crowds. Assumedly, this is what Nintendo and The Pokémon Company want to do, considering there’s potentially a lot of money to be made through this endeavour. I suppose it all depends on how the first set of Let’s Go games pan out, but if the reaction from friends and family is anything to go by already, it seems like Let’s Go will be a big hit.