Pokemon Let’s Go, Eevee!

Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! are 2018 remakes of the 1998 Game Boy role-playing video game Pokémon Yellow. They were developed by Game Freak and published by the Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. Announced in May 2018, Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! were released worldwide for the Nintendo Switch on 16 November 2018. The games are part of the seventh generation of the Pokémon video game series and are the first main series installments to be released for a home game console.

They feature connectivity with the mobile game Pokémon Go and support an optional controller, the Poké Ball Plus. The eight Gym Leaders and the members of the Elite Four return, as well as the antagonist faction Team Rocket, including Jessie, James and Meowth, from the anime series. Unlike the anime series, Meowth cannot speak the human language and is given his own Meowth cry. There are eight gym badges. The Boulder Badge, The Cascade Badge, The Thunder Badge, The Rainbow Badge, The Soul Badge, The Marsh Badge, The Volcano Badge, And The Earth Badge.

Players need all eight gym badges to get into the Kanto Pokémon League in the Indigo Plateau and challenge the Elite Four. Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! are set in the Kanto region and include the original 151 Pokémon in addition to their respective Mega Evolved forms from Pokemon X, Pokemon Y, Omega Ruby, and Alpha Sapphire and their Alolan Forms from Pokémon Sun and Pokemon Moon. Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! feature common elements of the main series, such as battling non-player character Pokémon Trainers and Gym Leaders with caught Pokémon creatures.

However, when facing wild Pokémon, instead of battling them with the traditional battle system like in past games, the catching of Pokémon uses a system that is reminiscent of the mobile spin-off game Pokémon Go. By using the motion controls of the Joy-Con controller or Poké Ball Plus peripheral, players can throw berries to pacify a Pokémon or Poké Balls to attempt to capture it. The action can also be performed with a button press when the Joy-Con controllers are docked to the console or in handheld mode, but this still requires using motion controls to aim. 

If a player uses motion controls, the catching of Pokémon is based on the player’s timing rather than accuracy. Although it is possible to miss a throw, the ball is almost guaranteed to make contact with the Pokémon. One notable difference in Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! is that wild Pokémon are visible from the overworld, rather than as random encounters in grass or in caves like in previous main series Pokémon role-playing games. To start an encounter with a wild Pokémon, the player must simply approach the Pokémon in the environment.

The games’ control scheme is designed to only require one Joy-Con per player, and the games support cooperative multiplayer. If another player shakes a second Joy-Con, they can join the current player and are able to participate in battles with Pokémon Trainers and wild Pokémon encounters, allowing them to aid in the catching of wild Pokémon. When playing multiplayer, Trainer battles become battles of two Pokémon against one, and in wild encounters, there is the possibility for each player to throw a Poké Ball at the same time, doubling the chances of capturing the Pokémon.