Nintendo fans are finally getting what they’ve been waiting more than 20 years for: a main series-esque Pokémon game on console.
All core Pokémon games so far have been released for handheld portable systems, such as the GameBoy or DS. Yet Tuesday, Nintendo officially new Pokémon games, Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!, to be released November on the Nintendo Switch. The Pokemon Company released a trailer for the game shortly after.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jRtpMKLsts
From the trailer, the new games appear to be remakes of the original video games released on the GameBoy about 20 years ago, but with many aspects seriously retooled. For example, players will see Pokémon roaming around in the wild, instead of relying on mysterious random encounters, as is traditional in Pokémon games. Wild Pokémon cannot be battled, but can still be captured using motion controls on the Switch, which will support playing the main story co-op with friends as well.
The new games are reminiscent of the popular first-generation game, Pokémon: Yellow, which itself mimicked the TV show, allowing the trainer to have Pikachu as their first Pokémon. Depending on which game players choose, players will be able to have either Pikachu or Eevee follow them around and sit on their shoulders in-game, as well as dress up their starter in some adorable costumes.
Fans of Pokémon Go will be happy to hear their hard work during the popular summer 2016 fad will pay off, as they are able to transfer Pokemon caught on the app to the game. A new controller for the Switch, called the Poké Ball Plus, will act as a periphery for both games.
The Switch, while portable, can also be played as a traditional console, allowing fans to play Pokémon on TV screens at their homes.
The characters and maps of towns appear larger and more realistic, and the Pokémon models are more detailed. Each Pokémon game has made subtle enhancements, such as introducing color, diagonal movement and online play to the series, but no game has introduced such radical changes as this.
Remaking the original generation is perhaps the smartest move for these games. Multiple main series games have been revisited and remade with newer aspects added throughout the years. But the number of changes added in this game, in addition to an entirely new world with new Pokémon, would be overwhelming. Though the original games, Pokémon Red and Blue, have already been remade, the choice to make another game centered in their region of Kanto will widen the audience of the game — and perhaps even encourage people to purchase the Switch console if they haven’t already.
There will also be an entirely new core Pokémon games for the Switch in the second half of 2019, which could capitalize on the new and returning players who got a Switch for Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! A non-core game, called Pokémon Quest, was just released on the Switch as well.
Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! will arrive in stores and online on November 16th. If it’s been a while since you’ve played any of the games, played Pokémon Go, or if you’ve never picked up a game before, it seems like these two new additions to the universe are a great point to join or rejoin the franchise.
