It’s been rumored for awhile, but Nintendo just made it official: the Nintendo Switch is getting not one, but two* Pokémon games in November. Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu! and Let’s Go Eevee! will hit the hybrid system, marking the first time a full Pokémon RPG hits the mainline Nintendo system. While there have been some titles on the home systems before, the RPG has firmly been on the Gameboy and DS systems up until now.
The games look to be a modern remake of Pokemon Yellow, and if you’re new to Pokémon games, the two games are more or less the same one, with a few small differences between them. Yellow was a revision of the original, Red and Blue, which incorporated elements from the anime that was literally everywhere back in the 90s. Of course, if you’re crazy people, like, say, myself, Ace, or several people that hang out in our chat rooms… you’re going to end up buying both.
Even better, there are a bunch of new features that the Switch is going to support, like two-player support (which my daughter is certainly going to latch on to), sharing to Pokémon Go (if you still play that… thing), and even a new Pokéball inspired controller. Unfortunately, it also looks like Nintendo is targeting this version with capture mechanics that look quite a bit like Go’s swipe to capture (vs. more traditional battle when looking for wild pokemon).
On one hand, I hate seeing a core part of the classic game go, but if they’re trying to attract the Go crowd, it makes sense. The reality is, Pokemon Go has 65Â million players… which is actually about as many Pokemon Games have been sold over the past decade on Nintendo systems.
In short, I’m going to be picking this up, and probably will have to get that controller for her as well (get to pre-order Christmas stuff this year, yay). Unfortunately, this is likely the death knell for the 3DS, a great little system that simply loses its place with how the Switch works. I know I travel with my Switch and my 3DS rarely leaves my desk drawer.
Both games will be released on November 16th.
