Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! (Japanese: ポケットモンスター Let's Go! ピカチュウPocket Monsters: Let's Go! Pikachu) and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee! (Japanese: ポケットモンスター Let's Go! イーブイPocket Monsters: Let's Go! Eievui) are the third and final pair of core series games[1][2] of Generation VII. They are remakes of the 1998 Generation I game Pokémon Yellow. The games were released on the Nintendo Switch. The games take place in the Kantoregion, and are the second of two remakes taking place in Kanto, following Generation III games Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen in 2004.
The games were announced worldwide on May 30, 2018, at the Pokémon 2018 Video Game Press Conference in Tokyo, Japan.[3][4] The paired versions were released worldwide on November 16, 2018. All copies of the game are playable in nine languages: Japanese, English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Korean, and Simplified and Traditional Chinese.
Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
The player and their friend Trace are citizens of Pallet Town, a small town in southwestern Kanto. One day, the famous researcher Professor Oak offers to give each of them a starter Pokémon so they can set off on a Pokémon journey. While looking for Oak, the player finds him at the entrance to Route 1, where they also encounter a peculiar PikachuP/EeveeE and catch it, making it their partner Pokémon, while Trace receives an EeveeP/a PikachuE from Professor Oak, who also gives each of the two young Trainers a Pokédex and asks them to complete them.
After delivering Professor Oak's Parcel to him from Viridian City, the player's journey begins in earnest. Making it through Viridian Forest, they arrive in Pewter City and defeat Brock, the first one of Kanto's eight Gym Leaders, as well as encounter Blue, another Pallet Town Trainer, who had set off on his own journey years earlier. In Mt. Moon, the player has their first encounter with Team Rocket, an evil organization bent on using Pokémon for their own benefit and gain. They also obtain a Fossil and have their first confrontation with the bumbling Team Rocket trio of Jessie, James, and Meowth. Past Mt. Moon, the player arrives in Cerulean City, where they defeat Gym Leader Misty, thwart Team Rocket's plan of recruiting new members at the Nugget Bridge, and encounter the famous Pokémon fanatic Bill, who gives them a pair of S.S. Tickets for the S.S. Anne luxury liner, which is currently docked at Vermilion City. Along the way there, the player meets up with Trace once more and shares one of the tickets with him. Aboard the S.S. Anne, the player meets up with Blue again and their partner Pokémon learns the Secret Technique Chop Down, which grants the player access to the Vermilion Gym while the S.S. Anne sails away.
After earning the Thunder Badge from Lt. Surge, the player has an encounter with Lorelei of the Pokémon League's Elite Four on Route 10 and makes their way through Rock Tunnel to Lavender Town, where an orphan Cubone is kidnapped by the Team Rocket trio and taken to Celadon City. Following them, the player discovers the secret entrance to the Team Rocket Hideout at the Rocket Game Corner. The player infiltrates the hideout, where they defeat the Team Rocket trio once more; have their first confrontations with Team Rocket AdminArcher and the organization's leader, Giovanni; and learn of the team's plan to take over Silph Co. in Saffron City. Returning to Lavender Town with Cubone, the player uses the Silph Scope to identify the ghost blocking the entrance to the highest floor of the Pokémon Tower as Cubone's deceased mother, Marowak, which is calmed down after reuniting with her child and departs to the afterlife. The player stops the Team Rocket trio from kidnapping Mr. Fuji at the top floor and makes their way to Saffron City, where they and Trace encounter Blue once more and storm the Silph Co. office building, taking down the members of Team Rocket in their way, including Archer and the Team Rocket trio, until the player discovers Giovanni at the top floor. After being defeated, Giovanni has Team Rocket withdraw from Silph Co., and the company's president rewards the player with the Master Ball, a prototype Poké Ball that can catch any Pokémon without fail.
Following Team Rocket's defeat at Silph, the player starts gathering the remaining Badges, until only the one from the closed Viridian Gym remains. While returning to Professor Oak's Laboratory for advice regarding the closed Gym, the player and Trace meet Blue once more and receive a Key Stone each from him, enabling them to use Mega Evolution. During this visit, the Viridian Gym is reopened. Challenging it, the player discovers that Giovanni is actually the final Gym Leader. Being defeated at his strongest, Giovanni rewards the player with an Earth Badge and disbands Team Rocket in order to focus on bettering himself as a Trainer. Blue, having been asked to take over the Viridian Gym, now finally takes up the offer, with Trace earning his final Badge from him soon after. The player then makes their way through Victory Road and reaches the Pokémon League at Indigo Plateau, where the Elite Four awaits their challenge. After defeating the final Elite Four member, Lance, the player learns that Trace defeated the Elite Four first and is now serving as the Champion they must defeat in order to claim the position for themselves. The player and Trace clash one more time, with the player eventually emerging victorious, becoming the new Champion and entering the Hall of Fame.
Following the player's ascension to Championship, they learn that elite Trainers known as Master Trainers, each of them a master of a certain species of Pokémon, have appeared throughout Kanto. The player also travels to Cerulean Cave and catches the LegendaryGenetic Pokémon, Mewtwo, as well as battles Green, an enigmatic girl who wants Mewtwo for herself. In Team Rocket's hideout in Celadon City, the player meets Archer one last time and learns of his plan to leave Kanto and resurrect Team Rocket someday. The player can also return to the Pokémon League, where Trace will rematch them in an attempt to reclaim his Champion title. Once the player has beaten at least six Master Trainers, they find a silent Trainer named Red at Indigo Plateau and challenge him to a battle between Pallet Town Champions.
Spoilers end here.
Blurb
An Electrifying Adventure with Pikachu!P / An Exciting Adventure with Eevee!E
A first Pokémon adventure for everyone!
Swing the Joy-Con to catch Pokémon!
Let's Go Together!
Share your adventure with a second player!
Plus!
Connect for More Fun!
This game connects to Pokémon GO and Poké Ball Plus.
Features
The starter Pokémon in this game, Partner Pokémon, Pikachu and Eevee, have higher base stats compared to the regular ones, in addition of having all-perfect 31 IVs. Their gender can be determined by the title screen during the start of the game. Unlike the regular Eevee, which does not have any gender differences, the female starter Eevee has a unique heart-shaped pattern around the tip of their tail.
The Joy-Con is used to catch Pokémon by flicking one's wrist in a throwing motion, similar to the method in Pokémon GO. While in handheld mode, wild Pokémon are caught by aiming the Poké Ball with motion controls. Wild Pokémon, except for interactive Pokémon, can no longer be battled in a traditional sense, but NPC Trainers can be battled as normal.
Two-player simultaneous play feature, which can be done by sharing one of the Joy-Con controllers. Both players can adventure at the same time and one of them may lend a hand by joining in battles against NPC Trainers. This feature also increases the chances of catching Pokémon successfully by throwing Poké Balls together at the wild Pokémon.
An accessory called the Poké Ball Plus can be used to catch Pokémon in place of a Joy-Con. Like the Pokéwalker, a Pokémon can be taken on the go and be interacted with for rewards when returned to the game. It also contains the Mythical PokémonMew, a special Pokémon that cannot be obtained by normal gameplay.
The introduction of two new Mythical Pokémon: Meltan and its evolved form, Melmetal.
Once the player has become the Champion, Master Trainers will appear and can be found scattered throughout the Kantoregion. They are considered the strongest Trainers for every Pokémon species in Generation I and can be spotted by the icon of the Pokémon they favor above their heads. In these battles, the player is allowed to use only a single Pokémon, of the trainer's preferred species; and any medicines are prohibited.
The starter Pikachu and Eevee also react differently near the hidden items by wagging their own tail.
A feature that allows the player to pet a Pokémon similarly to Pokémon-Amie and Pokémon Refresh, can be called by pressing "Play with Pikachu/Eevee" on the menu. However, this feature is limited to the starter Pikachu and Eevee.
Any Pokémon that the player has in their party can follow them outside their Poké Balls, as well as their action and reaction depending on the environment, like they did in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver. However, the Pokémon that walks outside of its Poké Ball can now be chosen out of the party.
Only Gyarados and Lapras cannot appear outside unless they are in the sea.
After entering the Hall of Fame for the first time, Charizard, Aerodactyl, and Dragonite can be ridden across the Kanto region; they cannot enter the secluded places, however. This allows the player to encounter and catch the wild Pokémon in the sky.
The games are no longer backwards compatible with any other main series games, unlike every other main series game released since Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen.
In addition to customizing the player's skin color and clothing, the starter Pokémon can also be dressed in different outfits and be given different accessories and hairstyles.
Wild Pokémon now appear on the overworld. Coming into contact with one will engage them. They may appear with either a red or blue aura, which indicates their size, either being larger or smaller, respectively, than their own standard size.
Shiny Pokémon in the wild will also appear so in the overworld.
A feature called the Catch Combo tracks how many of the same species of Pokémon is caught in a row without the Pokémon running away or the game turning off. The higher the combo, the stronger and rarer wild Pokémon become, and Shiny Pokémon become more common.
High friendship can boost all stats by up to 10%, before adding in AVs.
The Bicycle has been removed; the Miracle Cycle shop in Cerulean City is replaced with the home of a Bike Maniac who collects many kinds of bikes.
Cycling Road is redesigned as the "Pokémon Road"; some of the Bikers (now Punk Guys) and Roughnecks that used to challenge the player there have been moved to near the Secret House instead.
Candy can be used to increase the AVs of Pokémon, and is obtained from capturing or transferring Pokémon to Professor Oak, similar to the Candy from Pokémon GO.
The Pokémon Box, accessible from the Bag, replaces PCs, allowing players to switch the Pokémon in their party at any point in the game.
The player can no longer play mini-games on the machines in the Celadon Game Corner because the service desk has run out of coins. However, there are certain spots where the hidden items such as Bottle Caps are recurring once per day in the Game Corner.
The Safari Zone in Fuchsia City is replaced by GO Park, where the player is able to interact with their caught Pokémon. Similar to the Box system in the Pokémon Storage System, the GO Park complex has a total of 20 GO Parks, with each capable of holding 50 Pokémon. Thus, the player can transfer up to 1,000 Pokémon into the games.
If the player has gathered 25 of the same species of Pokémon, they can play a minigame in the Park's Play Yard for Candy. Alolan forms are counted as a separate species, listed in red.
The zoo in front of GO Park is now referred to as the "Safari Zone".
The starter Pikachu and Eevee can activate their own partner powers in battle once they have high enough friendship. If activated while they are in battle, they use an exclusive move—Pika Papow or Veevee Volley—which increases in damage based on friendship. If activated while they are not in battle, they boost the stats of the current Pokémon.
TMs have been reordered and readded with some moves previously available via Move Tutor. The amount of TM moves available also have been decreased compared to previous core series games.
HM moves have been replaced by Secret Techniques, which the starter Pikachu and Eevee can use in the overworld, but which do not take up move slots. These include Chop Down for Cut, Sea Skim for Surf, and Sky Dash for Fly.
Interactive Pokémon such as Electrode, Snorlax, and Legendary Pokémon can be battled, but they must be defeated to be captured. A five-minute time limit is in effect for the battle. If the timer hits 0, the battle ends abruptly. Hitting the Home button or putting the console in sleep mode does not pause the timer.
Electrode disguised as items are now white on top and red at the bottom, just like real Electrode.
Both Snorlax are battled with either an Attack or Defense stat boost, while all the Legendary Pokémon have all their stats increased, similar to Totem Pokémon.
All the interactive Pokémon are guaranteed at least 3 perfect IVs.
Legendary Pokémon encountered this way are treated as regular wild Pokémon, so they do not have to be battled before being caught, can flee, and are not guaranteed to have any perfect IVs.
Story
Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
The Team Rocket trio appears early at Viridian City, where they replace the old man as the obstacle keeping the player from progressing to Route 2. They later can be found in the Pokémon Road in Route 17 after the disbandment of Team Rocket.
After killing the Cubone's mother in Lavender Town, Team Rocket kidnaps Cubone and takes it back to the Team Rocket Hideout. They also push away the Team Rocket Grunt blocking access to Silph Co. Cubone is later adopted into Trace's team after being rescued.
Instead of battling the ghost of Cubone's mother, she is calmed by the presence of her child, Cubone, and then departs. This is very similar to what happens in Pokémon Origins.
The player meets Red, Blue, and, for the first time as a non-player character, Green over the course of their adventure.
Red only appears in the Indigo Plateau outside of the Pokémon League after the player beats at least six Master Trainers.
Blue appears early in the Pewter City and later in the Silph Co. during the raid of Team Rocket. Similar to the storyline prior to Generation II, Blue takes over as the Gym Leader of Viridian Gym after the player beats the Champion.
The Version-exclusive Partner the player starts with cannot be traded to other games or stored in Pokémon HOME. While a single Persian is obtainable in Let's Go, Pikachu!, and a single Arcanine is obtainable in Let's Go, Eevee! through an NPC, they are not obtainable as wild Pokémon in those respective games.
The games are not compatible with other core series games outside of its pairing. The games are compatible with Pokémon GO through Bluetooth LE. Players can send Generation IPokémon and their Alolan Forms, as well as Meltan and Melmetal, from their phone to the games where they will appear in GO Park. Pokémon that are one-time or event-only in GO cannot be transferred, such as Mew, Pikachu with various event hats, and Squirtle with sunglasses.
Each time a Pokémon is transferred from Pokémon GO to the Nintendo Switch, the Pokémon GO account will be awarded 100 experience and one candy corresponding to each Pokémon transferred. Transferring a Pokémon from Pokémon GO to the Switch for the first time also gives the GO account a Mystery Box, which can be opened once every three (originally seven) days to spawn wild Meltan. Each time before the box can be opened, a Pokémon transfer must be made from Pokémon GO to the Nintendo Switch.
Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! can connect with Pokémon HOME. Users of HOME can transfer Pokémon freely between other Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! savefiles on the console, even if the files belong to different profiles. Through HOME they can also take those stored Pokémon through a one-way transfer to Generation VIII games, provided the Pokémon is available to play in the target game. The player cannot store their Partner Pokémon or Pokémon in their party.
Save data for Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! unlocks bonuses in later Nintendo Switch games. These are the only Pokémon games for which certain games (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Pokémon Sword and Shield) have received separate bonuses from the two versions. Both games have since effectively removed the need to have both Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! to obtain all of the bonus content, as they have been updated with other means to obtain the content.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Let's Go, Pikachu! save data unlocks the Partner Pikachu spirit, and Let's Go, Eevee! save data unlocks the Partner Eevee spirit. Since Ver. 2.0.0, both are obtainable from the Spirit Board without a save data bonus.
Pokémon Sword and Shield: A Pikachu and/or Eevee with the Gigantamax Factor is received at the Meetup Spot, depending on which versions the player has save data for. This is no longer the only permanent way to obtain a Gigantamax Pikachu or Eevee, as The Isle of Armor expansion makes the Gigantamax Factor available for other Pikachu and Eevee using Max Soup.
Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! hold a rating of 79%[6] and 80%,[7] respectively, on Metacritic. IGN rated the games a "Great" 8.3/10.[8] Gaming magazine Famitsu gave Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! a score of 37 out of 40.[9]Nintendo Life gave the games a score of 8/10 noting that "They might not be an absolute masterpiece, but we’d urge any Poké-fans out there to give these ones a go". [10] And Game Informer gave the games a 8.5 out of 10 calling them "strong remakes of the original games".[11]
Sales
The games sold 3 million units in their launch weekend.[12] In the fiscal year of their release, they sold 10.63 million units.[13] As of December 31, 2022, Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! have sold 15.07 million copies worldwide, making these the first remakes that have outsold the game they were based on and the best selling remakes.[14]
Japanese sales
Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! sold 661,240 units on their first week on the Japanese market, being 364,105 from Let's Go, Pikachu! and 297,135 from Let's Go, Eevee!, with a sell-through of 62.96% and 51.80% respectively.[15] By January 3, 2021, the end of their 112th week, they had sold 1,811,431 copies, being 1,021,041 from Let's Go, Pikachu! and 790,390 from Let's Go, Eevee!.[16]
The issue where the Pokémon received through Mystery Gift does not get registered in the Pokédex when exiting the game without saving has been resolved.
If you have already received the Pokémon through Mystery Gift, put the Pokémon that is not registered in the Pokédex in the Pokémon Box and download the update data. Once this is done, the Pokémon should be reflected in the Pokédex.
Other Update Information
The Pokémon's Markings and Judge function's □ and ☆ orders were reversed. It has now been changed to match.
Fixed the issue where you could not Link Trade after being disconnected during Link Trade (Local wireless connection or Internet) when the number of hours played is “999:59”.
Fixed the issue where if you entered the wrong code/password 10 times for the Mystery Gift, you could not enter the code/password even after a set amount of time had passed.
For customers who have already experienced the issues, the issues will be resolved after downloading Update data (Ver. 1.0.2).
Demonstration
The demo version of Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! were playable at several events worldwide prior to the games' release.
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.
Gallery
Logos
English, Italian, and Spanish Let's Go, Pikachu! logo
English, Italian, and Spanish Let's Go, Eevee! logo
Japanese Let's Go, Pikachu! logo
Japanese Let's Go, Eevee! logo
Korean Let's Go, Pikachu! logo
Korean Let's Go, Eevee! logo
Simplified Chinese Let's Go, Pikachu! logo
Simplified Chinese Let's Go, Eevee! logo
Traditional Chinese Let's Go, Pikachu! logo
Traditional Chinese Let's Go, Eevee! logo
French and German Let's Go, Pikachu! logo
French Let's Go, Eevee! logo
German Let's Go, Eevee! logo
Title screens
English Let's Go, Pikachu! title screen
English Let's Go, Eevee! title screen
Japanese Let's Go, Pikachu! title screen
Japanese Let's Go, Eevee! title screen
Boxarts
Korean Let's Go, Pikachu! boxart
Korean Let's Go, Eevee! boxart
Emirati Let's Go, Pikachu! boxart
Emirati Let's Go, Eevee! boxart
Trivia
Professor Oak's introduction in Japanese Pokémon Yellow
The term "Let's Go!" (Japanese: レッツ ゴー!) may be a reference to Pokémon GO and the end phrase of Professor Oak's introduction in the Japanese and English versions of the Generation Icore series games.
The Japanese title of Pokémon: Let's Go Pikachu (ポケットモンスター Let's Go! ピカチュウ Pocket Monsters: Let's Go! Pikachu) is formed by adding "Let's Go!" to the Japanese title of Pokémon Yellow (ポケットモンスター ピカチュウ Pocket Monsters: Pikachu).
Due to the change of Japanese "Pocket Monsters: Pikachu" to English "Pokémon Yellow", the game title "Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu!" is not a longer version of any previous English game title. It shares this distinction with Pokémon LeafGreen (a remake of Pokémon Green, which is a game title used in Japanese but not in English).
Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee! is the first game remake whose title is not a longer version of the remade game title in any language.
These are the first core series games:
To be released exclusively on a home console.
They are also the first since Pokémon Emerald to be playable on a home console in any form. While the core series games of Generations I through III were released for handheld platforms, they could also be played on Nintendo's home consoles of the time through various peripherals.
In which not every Pokémon revealed at the time is programmed into the games.
To have a decreased amount of TMs available compared to past games.
To not be compatible with previous core series titles in any way since Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, and as such, the first to be unable to trade with other core series games in their generation.
As the Pokémon Box can be accessed from the player's bag, this is the only core series game in which the player can change their Pokémon party between battles while facing the Elite Four.
To not use different designs between the two versions for the Pocket Monsters (ポケットモンスター) part of the Japanese logo since Pokémon Red and Green.
To natively support multiple save files per game, thanks to the Nintendo Switch managing save files by profile and cartridges no longer being used to store save files.
To feature the name of the mascot in the English title.
As revealed in an interview with Junichi Masuda, the reason Eevee was chosen as a game mascot alongside Pikachu was because of all of the fanart Eevee has gotten.[23]
Masuda also revealed that Psyduck was considered for the role instead of Eevee, but was not chosen because it was the same color as Pikachu.
These are the first core series remakes to introduce brand-new Pokémon.
Like in Pokémon Yellow, Ekans, Koffing, and Meowth and their evolutionary relatives are not found in the wild in Let's Go, Pikachu!. These three Pokémon are commonly associated with Team Rocket in the original series. To compensate, Mankey, Grimer, and their relatives are exclusive to Let's Go, Pikachu!, a reference to two Pokémon Ash caught in the original series, Primeape and Muk.
The button prompts that appear in menus on the lower-right match colors with the buttons on a Super Nintendo's controller as they appear in the Japanese and PAL regions.
These are the only core series games in Generation VII to: