After recent leaks and rumors, The Pokemon Company has announced Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee for Nintendo Switch. Inspired by Pokemon Yellow, the new Pokemon RPGs are set in the Kanto region and also connect to Pokemon Go. Here’s everything we know about the new Pokemon games so far, including what rumors were correct and how Pokemon Go fits into the picture.
What Are They?
Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee are not the core Pokemon RPG announced for Switch during Nintendo’s E3 2017 press conference; that game, often called “Pokemon Switch,” is set to release in late 2019. The Let’s Go games are Pokemon RPGs, however, and are developed by Game Freak. Director and producer Junichi Masuda said that the Let’s Go games are specifically designed for newcomers to the Pokemon series, especially those who are familiar with Pokemon Go, and that they have been in development for around two years.
So Is This Pokemon Go On Switch?
No. Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee do share a lot with Pokemon Go, as was rumored; they utilize Go’s Pokemon capture mechanics, meaning you throw Poke Balls at wild Pokemon to catch them rather than battling them. You can also connect the Let’s Go games to Go via a Bluetooth connection, and you can transfer Pokemon from Go into Let’s Go (though not the other way around). Pokemon appear in the overworld before you can initiate capturing them, and you can send gifts to Pokemon Go from Let’s Go as well.
However, the Let’s Go games are Pokemon RPGs, and you explore the Kanto region just as you would in Red and Blue. While you can’t battle wild Pokemon, you can battle NPCs and other players, and those battles use the turn-based system of the main Pokemon games. Masuda has said that the Let’s Go games take a “simplified approach” to stats compared to the core games, and we don’t know how Pokemon level up, but your player character doesn’t have a level like in Go. Connecting to Pokemon Go also isn’t required to play the game.
Are These Pokemon Yellow Remakes?
This was a prominent rumor, but it’s not exactly accurate. The Let’s Go games are heavily inspired by Yellow, though, and Pikachu or Eevee (depending on your version) stays by your side the whole game rather than going in a Poke Ball while you explore. These games are set in Kanto, but we don’t know yet if you remain in Kanto or what the story will be like.
How Does Transferring Pokemon From Go Work?
The Let’s Go games connect to Pokemon Go via Bluetooth. Once you transfer a Pokemon, it is sent to a specific area where you then have to catch it. We don’t yet know how stats will transfer (or if they’ll be randomly generated, as they are in Pokemon Bank when you’re storing Pokemon from the first or second generation games on Virtual Console), but Masuda did confirm that Pokemon that are shiny in Go will remain shiny in Let’s Go. That’s a big deal, since certain Pokemon Go events make shiny Pokemon far more common than they ever would be in the main Pokemon games.
Is There Trading, And Do They Connect To Pokemon Bank?
Masuda confirmed that you will be able to trade Pokemon between the Let’s Go games. Transferring Pokemon from Go only works in the one direction. When asked about Pokemon Bank, he said he could not comment; he also did not comment on whether the Let’s Go games would be compatible with present or future Pokemon games.
What Pokemon Are In Let’s Go?
Masuda confirmed that the first 151 Pokemon as well as their Alolan forms from Sun and Moon would appear in Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee. We don’t know yet if you’ll unlock an expanded Pokedex when beating the game, like in the remakes of previous generations.
Eevee’s prominence in these games doesn’t come as a surprise; Eevee has been heavily featured with Pikachu in several recent Pokemon Center merchandise series, the most recent of which, Salko Soda, is currently only available in Japan. Eevee was also your rival’s starter Pokemon in Pokemon Yellow, which makes it the natural “opposite” of Pikachu for the two Let’s Go versions.
Can You Breed Pokemon? What About Competitive Battles?
There is no Pokemon breeding (and therefore no eggs) in Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee. Though battles against NPCs and other players follow the same turn-based format as the core Pokemon games, it’s not yet clear how stats work. That means that competitive Pokemon players, who rely on breeding Pokemon for good IVs (individual values, or starting stats) and training for the correct EVs (effort values, or stats earned through battles), may not have as much to work with in the Let’s Go games.
The official competitive Pokemon series, the VGC, is currently played using Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. When asked what game players will be competing in next year, representatives of The Pokemon Company did not comment.
What Else?
Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee feature two-player co-op. While playing using one Joy-Con, another player can shake the second Joy-Con and join as a support character when in open areas or battle. This player can help you catch Pokemon and can battle alongside you (though it doesn’t appear to initiate a double battle).
Release Date
Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee release on Nintendo Switch on November 16. Releasing alongside them (but sold separately) is the Poke Ball Plus controller, which is a Joy-Con-like peripheral you can use when catching Pokemon.
