I went with the Eevee edition, so I began the game with a friendly Eevee ready to attach itself to my shoulder. The biggest bond is the one between the trainer and their starting Pokémon partner, which corresponds to whichever version you’re playing. Constraining Let’s Go! to the 151 Pokémon of the Kanto region makes every Pokémon memorable, allowing for meaningful team configurations. Bonding with Pokémon is an important element of the series, which is easy to forget with how many monsters are in the newer games. The spirit of adventure is strong here, and so is the spirit of friendship. Jessie and James are nice to see, even if they’re a lot more. (Seismic Toss sends a Pokémon literally flying out of this world, for example.) And Team Rocket, the enemy squad, has a lot of personality, thanks to the appearance of the anime’s hapless Jessie, James and Meowth that helps make this story feel important and fun to follow along with. Gyms are lovingly designed and worth poring over to see the specific, type-appropriate elements trainer battles feel lively, as each Pokémon on screen has dramatic animations to accompany their moves. The benefit of the Switch’s increased power makes these old-school experiences fresh. Trainer battles are business as usual, as are those in the eight gyms around the region. Not only is Pokémon: Let’s Go! optimized for a TV screen - bringing a sense of scale to the Pokémon and people in the world, as well as finer details to help build out Kanto - but it’s also, in some ways, an amalgamation of some of the series’ best parts. It also helps that the formula has several twists this time around. They feel charming here, because replaying a tiny adventure on a much bigger screen recreates that original feeling of wonder. What helps Let’s Go! here is that these titles harken back to that time when the motions of Pokémon didn’t feel so rote. Subtle changes along the way have kept this from becoming completely stale, but the formula has made Pokémon feel predictable in the years since the Game Boy games. The Pokémon RPGs have almost always followed a strict pattern of catching, battling, collecting badges, capturing a tough legendary Pokémon, and fighting the strongest trainers of the region to become Champion. What this adventure has going for it, though, is its sense of nostalgic whimsy. Exploring Pallet Town, Lavender Town, Celadon City - it’s all muscle memory for someone like me, a longtime Pokémon player who has revisited Kanto four previous times. Accompanying the newbie trainer is their hometown friend, who becomes their rival, and both this frenemy and the region’s eight gym leaders serve as the benchmarks of the trainer’s progress.Īlmost beat for beat, Let’s Go! tells a familiar story. Professor Oak of the Kanto region sends off a 10-year-old trainer on their first Pokémon journey, encouraging them to collect as many monsters and badges as possible while they fight their way to the Pokémon League. It’s not quite a remake, but anyone who played the original Game Boy trio ( Red, Blue and Yellow) will be able to jump right in with ease. Pokémon: Let’s Go! is at once a look into the past, present and future of the series.
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