Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee are coming to the Switch and feature interoperability with Pokemon Go. This massive expansion of the Pokemon Go brand was announced in a Tokyo press conference this evening alongside Pokemon Quest and a new core series entry, and looks to bring a ton of features that Go fans have been craving since release.
It was thought that Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee and Let’s Go Pikachu were the previously announced “core” titles for Nintendo Switch, but instead they’re separate titles that hover somewhere in-between the Pokemon Go and Pokemon central series experience.
The concept is roughly based on Pokemon Yellow, and the games heavily feature their titular Pokemon. Pikachu or Eevee will accompany the player, and you can pet, battle, dress them up, and interact with them in other ways to deepen your connection. You’ll also be able to summon other Pokemon to follow you around, which is a feature fans have wanted back in the games for some time now.
It looks like catching wild Pokemon will function closer to Pokemon Go, and you’ll be able to use Switch motion controls, or a new Poke Ball Plus peripheral, to throw Poke Balls at monsters. Pokemon Let’s Go won’t be battle-free though. You’ll get a chance to take on trainers in the standard turn-based fashion that fans of the core series are used to.
Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee will take place in Kanto, though it’s not been confirmed when this takes place in the Pokemon timeline. Whether it’s a reboot, alternate universe, side story, or sequel isn’t known at this time. We do know that you’ll be able to bring any of the 151 Kanto Pokemon from Pokemon Go over to Pokemon Let’s Go, including the newly released Alolan forms.
A new Pokemon will feature in Pokemon Let’s Go as well. This special Pokemon was teased in the conference and confirmed to be a never-before-seen Pokemon via the official Pokemon Twitter account.
There’s still a lot of unanswered questions about Pokemon Let’s Go, but we should learn more as the release date of November 16, 2018, gets closer.
