Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee! are the closest versions of mainline Pokémon games that we have on the Switch so far this generation, and safe to say, if they are an indication of what is to come, they are a step in the right direction. Both versions of Let's Go! are remakes of Pokémon Yellow from back on the Gameboy Color. They both, with a few twists here are there, are faithful remasters of the game and they feel like how I saw them as a kid. The color and life in this game is absolutely beautiful and has things that all fans of Pokémon can enjoy, both casual and serious. The music is reminiscent of the Anime version and is remastered with the highest quality and care. In terms of presentation and visuals, this is the best looking Pokémon game to date. This game also has some unique touches such as introducing the ability to ride your own Pokémon and have them follow both you can Pokémon around the Kanto region.
While the game looks and feels like the original Pokémon games, they provide unique gameplay mechanics that are very different than the originals. Let's Go! ahead (see what I did there?) and address the first big difference: the catching mechanics. In Let's Go!, there are no wild Pokémon encounters and catching Pokémon is done completely through the Pokémon Go! style of capturing. In this game, throwing and catching Pokéballs is pretty simpler and in some cases even easier than in Go!. The only exception to this is when wild Pokémon begin to move. It can be very frustrating very quickly when a Pokéball does not go the direction you want it to, despite you pointing your joy-con in the direction. Having the joy-con mess up can cause you to waste Pokéballs and can also result in wild Pokémon running away if you are unlucky. A quick fix I found to this problem is to put the game in handheld mode. It is way easier to catch Pokémon in handheld mode because you can just aim and click at the Pokémon to catch them. You can take the random throwing element completely out of the game.
In addition to the Pokémon Go! catching mechanics themselves, Pokémon has also done away with random encounters in this game which means...no more random Zubat encounters in caves! That's right. You can now see every Pokémon on the screen that you want to catch. It is one of the best improvements in Let's Go! and in fact I hope they decide to keep this feature in each iteration of Pokémon going forward. Each Pokémon is also to scale so large Pokémon are way taller than you small Pokémon like Cubone can barely be seen on the screen.
While it was exciting to not know which Pokémon would show up when I was trying to catch them, it grew frustrating when I had to skip through 45 straight encounters of finding Pidgeys so that I could find one Pikachu in the wild. Speaking of encounters, Let's Go! has added a new feature called "Catch Combos" which are when you catch a the same Pokémon a certain number of times in a row. The more of that same example you catch in a row (Caterpie for example), the higher IVs (individual values) and the better chance you have of a Pokémon being shiny. This makes finding strong and shiny Pokémon much more accessible to casual players who may be playing Pokémon for the first time or may have never tried to raise competitive Pokémon because the task seemed too daunting and time consuming. As a result of this new form of chaining, Pokémon breeding has been completely eliminated from the game. So while it is easier to get better stats, getting the right nature is more difficult because of the lack of breeding with items such as an Everstone. The lack of items in this game are not limited to breeding though. In fact, battle items (aside from one battle item boosts) are completely removed from the game. This decision to remove them is a double edged sword in my opinion.
As I mentioned above, because of the removal of items, the Pokémon battles in Let's Go! are slightly different than the traditional Pokémon RPGs are. As a result, this version of Pokemon is the easiest Pokémon game to ever be released. I think in my 20 hours or so of the main campaign, I was only close to losing one battle the whole time. Even the Elite Four do not provide the same intimidation and challenge that they provided in the original games. This is for a few reasons. The lack of items completely takes away any worries you may have about attacking with either a physical or special move because an opposing trainer may be holding an item that effects you. In addition to the lack of items, abilities are also removed from the game. This means abilities like levitate and static are not present in battle which depreciates the value of certain Pokémon such as Koffing or Weezing who used levitate in order to be immune to ground type moves. Flying type Pokémon however, like in previous games, are still immune to ground type moves. Besides those two changes, the rest of the battle mechanics from all the original Pokémon games are exactly the same. However,those are not the only factors that makes this game easy. A very generous experience system and very under-leveled trainers featured throughout the game make this game a breeze to walk through. The real challenge, like most Nintendo games, begins after you beat the Elite Four for the first time.
** a hint for if you want to slightly challenge yourself. I recommend changing the default battle mode from Shift to Set or you can do a blind Nuzlocke.
Now that all of the battling and catching is out of the way, let's get to the main stars of the show, Pikachu and Eevee. I played the Pikachu version and in this game, your starter Pokémon (one of those two) is truly the star of the show. You can interact with Pikachu in a variety of manners and he always rides on your shoulder as he is the way you interact with CPUs, your item finder, and the user of all your special moves. HMs are completely gone in this game and Pikachu (or Eevee) are the ones who learn how to fly, surf, flash, cut, etc... as odd as that sounds. It is actually nice to have because you do not have to worry about taking up moves that, besides Fly or Surf, have next to no use in battle.
On top of that, both Pikachu and Eevee are perfect Pokémon which means they have perfect IVs. Pikachu and Eevee can also learn a variety of incredibly overpowered moves of all types that make them the best Pokémon in your party from the beginning to the end of the game. So while you do not need to have them in your party if you do not want to, they can carry you to victories throughout the game by themselves if you need them to. They are just another factor that make this version of Pokémon incredibly easy.
Lastly, is the Pokémon Go! tie in which allows you to transfer over Pokémon from Go! to Let's Go!. This feature works without any problems (as long as you have a Bluetooth connection) and it is a great way to get version exclusive Pokémon if you do not have someone you can trade with from either Eevee or Pikachu.
This game has many great odes and touches to the Pokémon games of yesterday while trying new ways to liven up the series itself. This game, while incredibly easy at times, is a great step in the right direction and sets up well for Pokémon games on the Switch in the future!
My Score: 85/100
+ Amazing Visuals and Music
+ Pikachu is a great companion
+ Ability to ride Pokémon and have them follow you
+ Great intro for newcomers to the Pokémon series
- Catching can be frustrating and seem random at times
- Too easy sometimes