Sadly underappreciated within the Pokémon community. While I’m not the biggest fan of the mechanics taken from Go, this game is still a fantastic introduction to the franchise and one I would definitely recommend to newbies.

The visible Pokémon, the inclusion of Jesse and James, and the expanded experience share make it a sufficiently different experience to Red/Blue/Yellow and Leaf Green/Fire Red. And then there’s the graphics and art style. I have no idea why Sword/Shield didn’t adopt the charming visuals of Let’s Go. I also appreciated that I could complete the Pokédex all on my own without needing to trade because of the ability to transfer Pokémon from Go.

Leaf Green is still my go-to for whenever I want to revisit the Kanto region, but if I want a fast and easy playthrough (made possible through experience share), Let’s Go is the one to go for. My partner, who had previously been a Pokémon virgin, completed this game in just a few days and is now open to trying more in the series. I’d love a Johto version of Let’s Go, but that seems extremely unlikely given the success of Legends Arceus and the new mechanics it introduced.

So earlier this year I got summoned to jury service, but in the end couldn’t do it. The trial would be at least eight weeks long and that simply wasn’t going to work with my job. I’ll admit I was disappointed to be missing out on such a prominent case, and with all the media attention on the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard trial, I needed something to scratch my unfulfilled jury duty itch.

And that’s when I turned my attention to Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. I can completely see the appeal of this game (and the rest of the series), but sadly it’s just not for me. Perhaps all visual novel style games aren’t my jam, or the backtracking to different locations annoyed me too much. I enjoyed the first two cases which served as a kind of tutorial, but the third case almost had me abandoning the game altogether. Definitely a return to form with cases four and five though. Tempted to give one of the later games in the series a go, but we’ll see.

Instead of gushing over how amazing the storytelling and gameplay is in this game (others here have done so far better than I could), I'll just say that as someone who teaches Latin and Ancient History, this game was an absolute joy to play with regards to Roman culture. The amount of time I spent wandering around looking for all the bits of graffiti (and having a good laugh at some, especially the one in the public toilet), or smiling when I found the lararium in Sentius' house, or listening to the compelling but also believable backstories of the characters, including a Vestal Virgin. A must for other Roman culture enthusiasts.