Over the last month, trainers around the world have speculated how Nintendo was planning to deliver a memorable and meaningful experience to Pokémon fans young and old with Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee. Originally, the announcement of these two games was to celebrate the twenty-year anniversary of Pokémon Yellow being released; sadly, the surprise was ruined prior to E3 by a leak that spread like a ruptured pipe in an old house.
The world was questioning Nintendo’s decisions and enraged that a new generation of Pokémon Games were not being released in the immediate future. Among many of the complaints, the biggest from the community was that Nintendo chose to add the Pokémon Go throw feature to a console game and that players would return to the Kanto Region instead of going somewhere new.
At E3 2018, a majority of the concerns we had for Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee were eliminated when we had the opportunity to test out the demo at a private showing at the Nintendo booth. After multiple rounds of Super Smash Bro’s Ultimate, Marooners’ Rock writers Shane, Adam, and I had the opportunity to try out the Viridian Forest demo while talking to Nintendo staff about the upcoming release. According to one Nintendo staff member, the demo that was playable at E3 2018 was put together less than two weeks prior to the event. The demo allowed the player to move throughout the Viridian Forest to battle trainers and catch wild Pokémon.
At the start of the demo, the Nintendo staff member gave us a brief tutorial on how to catch Pokémon in Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee. Unlike its mobile counter, the upcoming Switch adaptation had Trainers enact throwing a Poke Ball to catch the wild Pokémon. The catch mechanic works similar to Pokémon Go with trainers having to throw the Poke Ball at the right time in order to achieve the best throw possible. Players use a Poke Ball controller to move around the forest with the option to encounter wild Pokémon or trainers. Unlike its console counterparts, Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee allows players to move freely through the terrain without forcing a wild encounter. Players had the option to choose which Pokémon they want to encounter or to go to a mystery encounter that could provide the trainer with a rarer Pokémon. When trainers catch Pokémon of the same name or same type, the party will gain increased experience for the encounter.
Battling using the Poke Ball controller felt a little peculiar with the top of the ball being one button and the center of the ball being a Joystick and a button. Moving through the menu’s felt a little slow based off the input speed but it would still move efficiently enough that the player was not having to wait too long; with the E3 2018 showing only being a demo, we could see the scroll speed increase. Trainer Battles are in an open world setting where the player can see the surrounding area. During our play through some of the moves were not animated; however, the Nintendo representative stated that he expected all moves to be animated in some way or another. Even if only one Pokémon in the party battles in the trainer battle, the whole party gains experience like the old item, experience share.
Depending on which game the player chooses to purchase, the partner Pokémon will be locked in and ride on the trainer’s shoulder. So, if you buy Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu you will be locked in with Pikachu and if you go with Let’s Go Eevee you will have Eevee riding on your shoulder. Trainers still have the option to have a Pokémon following behind them, but more than likely it will be the first Pokémon in party rather than an assigned one. According to the Nintendo Representative, only the original 151 Pokémon will be able to be caught in Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu / Eevee: trainers will have the ability to catch the start Pokémon rather than having to go through specific quests to earn the Pokémon like the player had to do in Pokémon Yellow.
Overall, Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Pokémon Let’s Go Eevee will appeal to a decent amount of Pokémon fans, but Nintendo should put in the option to use the Switch’s Joysticks rather than forcing all players to use the Poke Ball. Once the game’s release, it will be interesting to see how Nintendo updated the gameplay to appeal to a majority of audience members while not killing the nostalgia factor. Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee will probably not be console sellers, but will more than likely be fun games to play for a few months. How will couch co-op be integrated? Will moving Pokemon from Pokemon Go make the game too easy for some trainers? Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee are scheduled to be released on November 16th, 2018.
