Old Adventure, New Sensibilities

Pokémon just shook up, and in a big way. A new game - actually, make that a pair of games - have been announced: they are Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, they're for the Switch, and they're coming this November. The teaser trailer is phenomenal; so phenomenal, in fact, that a few of my Pokémon fellows are blown away. I'm blown away too, not the least because of the things that the two games bring to the table.

As indicated by the title of this post, the games will comprise an old adventure... or at least a new adventure in a place familiar to many Pokémon fans. The games will feature Kanto and the first 151 Pokémon, although those with their Alola forms are due to appear as well. As such, this game can be considered a "second remake" due to the inclusion of these elements; it's actually not too far off, as the games are said to be indeed based on the Yellow Version of the first-generation games. Even so, it's not a faithful remake due to the addition of new sensibilities.

And those new sensibilities include Pokémon capture in the style of Go (as suggested by the games' titles), the phenomenal Pokémon game of recent memory. While there won't be any battles with wild Pokémon, at least there will be battles with other Trainers, something that Go hasn't had even now, at least not directly against one another. Another sensibility is the addition of cooperative play, which means that a friend can join and revel in the same adventure. These are all new frontiers for every fan, in combination with the renewed adventure.

Things don't stop there. The games promise an interlink with Pokémon Go, and the result of this interlink seems to be bonuses for all the games involved. It's somewhat of an affirmation to the existence and success of the mobile game as well as its relation to Pokémon in general. The games also appear to be linkable to a Poké Ball Plus, which can be used to play the game and do other nifty things; it's the game's analogue of the Pokémon Go Plus, which is Go's own nifty peripheral to assist in playing the game. These are wonderful to be sure.

These two games won't be released for another six months or so, and not everything is set in stone yet for that release, but at the least it has captured the attention of many Pokémon fans and aroused quite a bit of interest among them. I'm one of those fans, given that these games appear as a perfect blend of the main series and the phenomenal Go. They're revolutionary, they're big, and they're the next step; I'm all for enjoying them, however they may be.

One year ago: Ad Astra per Aspera... and the Third Games