The Nintendo Direct comes through with some spicy Pokemon news and of course we’re all chomping at the bit for some information about the Nintendo Switch title that was allegedly coming this year. What we got was completely shocking and not in a good way either. Nintendo announced that Pokemon Let’s Go: Pikachu and Pokemon Let’s Go: Eevee will be the new title being released in November and not the mainline Generation 8 title that everyone was expecting.
Pokemon Go is not doubt a very polarizing app. It’s essentially a reskin of the Niantic game Ingress with Pokemon elements and microtransactions. It had a huge boon upon release but eventually slowed down quite a bit but is still very popular. The gameplay itself is very patronizing to casuals and very tough to be a hardcore player without extensive community coordination and grinding to high levels. This is a pretty big turnoff for regular Pokemon players both casual and hardcore alike. That’s where the polarizing nature comes in because you either play it or you hate it.
I’m firmly in the group of haters, but I still plan on buying this game on release. Admittedly, Pokemon Go is a terrible game and embodies a lot of what’s going wrong with gaming nowadays. The key point here is that Pokemon Go is not a Nintendo or Gamefreak game, Pokemon Go is a Niantic game designed specifically for progression to based upon microtransactions. Pokemon Let’s Go is a Nintendo game designed to give a nostalgic revisit to the Kanto region.
Looking in the past, Pokemon has several first party spinoffs and the kicker is that they’re all awesome. Pokemon TCG, Pokemon Pinball, Pokemon Puzzle League, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Pokemon Conquest, and even Pokemon Rumble all provided unique experiences that didn’t disappoint (except for maybe the Pokemon Conquest post game). Point is, whenever Nintendo makes a Pokemon game, it’s a hit (Barry Bonds) but like many other intellectual properties, they decided to sell out for a quick buck and got the backlash they deserved. Pokemon Let’s Go: Pikachu and Pokemon Let’s Go: Eevee is a absolution of sin that we all deserve from them and I’m all for it actually. I plan on importing a fledgling squad of 3 and running through the game in a binge session as soon as it arrives and you can’t convince me otherwise. I guarantee that this game will be a good one.