Yep, we're back at where it started on the newest platform (to date). Gen 1 is back to showcase Pokemon on the Nintendo Switch and its.....good.

Take it as you may, but this game always felt like a good marketing tactic to get a new generation of Pokemon fans while also trying to bring back the original fans who just so happened owned a switch/played pokemon go.

In this game, you basically are starting the same way Pokemon Yellow started with the player receiving a pikachu. In return, the overpowered pikachu is always by your side ready to be cared for and battle for you.

It get 3.5 stars for two reasons. First, there's only so much you can do with limiting the pokemon to one generation. However, I think Nintendo made it work by allowing the Aloha Forms of the Gen 1 Pokemon as well as some Mega Evolutions (and meltan, the forgotten and weird additional to the game that can only be accessed via a Pokemon Go Transfer). The design of the characters and pokemon are cute but it;s just more of the same. Not great but not bad either.
Next, this game had an annoying mechanic where you needed a certain type in your party to get into the gym. A minor nuisance in the grand scheme of things but it's a bizarre inserted mechanic.

I truly believe the best type of player for this game would be a kid who's first experience was Pokemon Go and had not played any pokemon games yet. It's a nice appetizer to hold over newcomers to the series. As for me, a fan who has known the series for decades and have played multiple games from it, its just a good game.

This was equal parts delightful and annoying. The delight mainly came from the inherent nostalgia of the game, given that its essentially the third time that Red/Blue has been remade. So seeing this world thats basically been woven into my DNA in 3D was pure joy. I could gush about this but alls that needs to be said is that this world is still real great.

The bad, though. Bad might be too strong a word, annoyance is maybe more appropriate.

Ok so I still play the hell out of Pokemon Go, and as such was excited to take advantage of the fact that I could transfer my catches from Go into Lets Go, however you cant actually do this until about halfway through the game, which in turn maybe made me rush through a bit. Which then presents a number of other problems, such as the fact that, despite replacing Safari Zone which makes sense to gate behind later game completion, by the time you get to the Go Park you dont even have the benefit of having these overly powered Pokemon at your disposal since the other trainers accelerate their levels kinda quickly in the game, and the max in Go is level 40. So thats annoying. Also annoying is how hard everything you have to catch is if its above level 15, which is fine if youre battling the Pokemon to weaken them but in this game it truly seems impossible to catch anything without draining Ultra balls and berries. The fact that Im coming from Go rather than a main series game made this more annoying, since its not super hard to catch anything once you get to level 20. Annoying at times, sure, but not frustrating.

Another thing is that it does away with showing type effectiveness on moves in battle, which after 20 fuckin years of playing these games I still struggle with. Some are obvious like FireElectric but I dont remember whats better than poison or psychic, man.

Another thing with Pokemon games now, and with a lot of the other more cartoony Nintendo games outside Kirby, is that the antagonist is realllllllly softened to the point where your rival just seems like a total fuckin loser that you beat every time and doesnt seem to care that much. Which I guess sends a more positive message to children than ‘bully grows to grudgingly respect competitor’.

Also I’m really fuckin over Gen 1 at this point.

But all that aside, between this and Detective Pikachu, seeing this world come to life is kinda magical that you sorta forget the inherent annoyances that these games give

English/German below

After I was very skeptical about the game at the beginning, after watching various Twitch streams I got the mood for the game and I haven't regretted it. I finished the whole thing after 28 hours and 04 minutes with 100 Pokémon caught.

Story:

You don't have to say much about a Pokemon game, it is typical and in the special case of Lets Go Pikachu everything is already known, as it is a Pokemon Yellow remake. But I have to honestly say, I thought it was great because it creates a lot of nostalgic moments, be it puzzles that you can remember or arena fights, etc. Wonderful.

Graphics / performance:

This is where the game takes the biggest step. The graphics are very pretty and go great with Pokemon. The rendering is very good for the remake. I don't really have anything to criticize here, except that there can sometimes be minimal FPS fluctuations, which I could live with.

Gameplay:

Also here some changes to Pokemon Yellow and all other Pokemon games before. What is meant, of course, is the lack of random battles in the grass, etc. At first I was skeptical, but I have to share the opinion of most of the people that it fitted in very well and also felt very good to see the Pokemon on the screen that you want to attack in the grass or in the case of Lets GO wants to catch. I found the level system with the new capture system similar to the Pokemon GO mobile app very pleasant. I didn’t miss to weaken individual Pokemon in battle first in order to be able to catch them then. Especially because there are MASSIVE lots of Pokemon Trainer battles.

I never had experience problems, the EP divider, which now applies to the entire team, was of course very helpful again. In terms of difficulty, the game was incredibly easy at the beginning, because Pikachu and Eevee are also simply OP, but then became more difficult over time. Overall, the top 4 was no longer a problem with my team from Pikachu, Vulnona, Entoron, Turtok, Bisaflor, Charizard (LvL 60-66).

The controls always ran smoothly, only when throwing the Pokeballs to the right with the JoyCon I sometimes had a bit of problems.

The only thing I didn't really use was the candy system, there are just so damn many that you quickly feel overwhelmed.

Content:

Even after the top 4, there is still a lot to do, which I will take a moment to do. E.g. visit some people (boarding house, etc.), complete Pokedex or defeat the master trainers for each Pokemon. You can also rematch the top 4 and the arena manager from Vertania City.

Conclusion:

I have to say I'm looking forward to the upcoming Pokemon Game 2019. I would love to catch and level a mix of the current Pokemon Go-like and see the old random fights. I'm also looking forward to the next generation and of course the hopefully existing possibility of catching all previously available Pokemon in a new graphic splendor.

There is nothing else to say about Pokemon Lets Go Pikachu itself than that I had a lot of fun and was really pleasantly surprised. For me 4.5/5 special sweets.

-----------------------------------german---------------------------------

Nachdem ich dem Spiel gegenüber sehr skeptisch war am Anfang, hab ich nach einigen Zuschauen verschiedener Twitch Streams doch Bock auf das Game bekommen und es keinesfalls bereut. Beendet habe ich das Ganze nach 28 Std. und 04 Min. mit 100 gefangenen Pokemon.

Story:

Dazu muss man bei einem Pokemon Spiel nicht viel sagen, ist eben typisch und im besonderen Fall von Lets Go Pikachu schon alles bekannt, da es ein Pokemon Gelb Remake ist. Aber ich muss ganz ehrlich sagen, ich fands super, weil eben dadurch viele nostalgische Momente geschaffen werden, seien es Rätsel an die man sich zurückerinnert oder eben Arena Kämpfe usw.. Wunderbar.

Grafik/Performance:

Hier macht das Spiel wohl den größten Schritt. Die Grafik ist sehr hübsch und passt einfach super zu Pokemon. Die Darstellung tut dem Remake sehr gut. Wirklich etwas zu kritisieren habe ich hierbei nicht, außer dass es manchmal zu minimalen FPS Schwankungen kommen kann, mit denen ich aber leben konnte.

Gameplay:

Auch hier einige Veränderungen zu Pokemon Gelb und allen anderen Pokemon Spielen vorher. Gemeint ist natürlich das Fehlen von Zufallskämpfen im Gras usw. Anfangs war ich skeptisch muss aber die Meinung der meisten teilen, dass es sich sehr gut eingefügt hat und auch sehr gut angefühlt hat, die Pokemon auf dem Bildschirm zu sehen die man im Gras angreifen möchte bzw. im Fall von Lets GO fangen möchte. Das Level System mithilfe des neuen Fangsystems ähnlich zur Handy App Pokemon GO fand ich sehr angenehm. Mir hat es nicht gefehlt einzelne Pokemon im Kampf zuerst zu schwächen, um sie dann fangen zu können. Insbesondere, weil es MASSIV viele Pokemon Trainer Kämpfe gibt.

Erfahrungs Probleme hatte ich nie, der EP - Teiler, der inzwischen ja für das gesamte Team gilt, ist natürlich wieder sehr hilfreich gewesen. Vom Schwierigkeitsgrad war das Spiel anfangs unfassbar einfach, weil auch Pikachu bzw. Evoli einfach OP sind, wurde dann mit der Zeit aber schwerer. Insgesamt war die Top 4 dann aber kein Problem mehr mit meinem Team aus Pikachu, Vulnona, Entoron, Turtok, Bisaflor, Glurak (LvL 60-66).

Die Steuerung lief immer flüssig von der Hand, lediglich bei dem Werfen der Pokebälle mit dem JoyCon nach rechts hatte ich manchmal etwas Probleme.

Einzig das Bonbon System hab ich nicht so richtig genutzt, sind einfach so verdammt viele, da fühlt man sich schnell mal erschlagen.

Content:

Auch nach der Top 4 gibt es noch einiges zu tun, woran ich mich mal bei Zeit setzen werde. Z.b. einige Personen besuchen (Pension usw.), Pokedex vervollständigen oder die Meistertrainer für jedes Pokemon zu besiegen. Auch kann man die Top 4 rematchen und auch den Arenaleiter von Vertania City.

Fazit:

Ich muss sagen ich blicke sehr gespannt auf das kommende Pokemon Game 2019. Gerne würde ich einen Mix aus dem aktuellen Pokemon Go artigen fangen und leveln und den alten zufallskämpfen sehen. Auch freue ich mich auf die nächste Generation und natürlich die hoffentlich vorhandene Möglichkeit des Fangens aller bisher verfügbaren Pokemon in neuer Grafikpracht.

Zu Pokemon Lets Go Pikachu selbst bleibt nichts anderes zu sagen, als dass ich sehr viel Spaß hatte und wirklich positiv überrascht wurde. Für mich 4.5/5 Sonderbonbons.

The original Pokémon is truly one of my favorite games ever, and it's the first game that comes to mind when I think of my earliest video game memories. I also think above that nostalgia though, it still has the frameworks of a great video game. So, a remake should be incredible.

Instead, we got a game where you're forced to use one joycon and use catching mechanics that almost single-handedly ruin the experience. Not only are the motion controls dreadful, but the over-emphasis of just catching as many pokémon as you can ruins any emotional connections you can have with your pokémon. It also makes the act of catching them less special, and frankly a chore.

The game is still fun, because the core of Pokèmon Red and Blue is excellent, but this is a poor remake.

Full review over at my website: https://www.nepikigaming.com/reviews/pokemon-lets-go-pikachu-and-eevee/

''Pokémon Let’s Go’s biggest asset- and flaw is that it’s catered towards a specific audience, which makes it a tough game to recommend to multiple people despite its unique take on the franchise. For a series veteran, it was great to see the game that started it all in 3D with an art style that I consider to fit the games the most. The overall presentation of the story was pleasant to see as well with multiple characters getting a bigger spotlight, and even though I hate the friendly rival myself, I don’t think the target audience would have an issue with him. Especially the relationship you build with your main companion Pokémon has been handled better than ever before, but that’s also where I have to end most of my compliments unfortunately. I do think the new catching mechanic is not as bad as many people make it out to be (even if it really sucks when Pokémon start moving around like crazy), but it makes the whole game pathetically easy due to how easy it is to get experience from it that’s shared across the entire team. There is actual challenge to be found in the post-game, but it’s now more clear than ever that the Pokémon franchise needs to start introducing difficulty modes because this is even too easy for the target audience. And while I do genuinely enjoy (shiny) hunting specific Pokémon in the post-game, limiting online features does more harm to the game than what was probably intended. I do still consider the games to be good, but I’ll probably stick with the originals or the GBA remakes.''