Update: Due to improper translations, Ishihara’s “Please trust us” line is incorrect. According to ResetEra’s Serebii, it actually translates to, “Please believe that there is no way that we will stray from the basic elements.” Due to the number of translations (Japanese to English, then English to Spanish and finally Spanish to English), take the overall article with a grain of salt.
Original Story:
When the Pokemon Company unveiled its first major titles to grace the Nintendo Switch – Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu and Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee – there was a bit of a mixed reaction. Hardcore fans expected a full-scale RPG not unlike Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. The upcoming titles do look interesting so the enthusiasm was cautious to say the least.
Pokemon Company CEO and President Tsunekazu Ishihara spoke to Famitsu (translations via Nintendo Soup) in its recent issue and talked about concerns that fans may have. “Among those who have tried the game, some may feel that it has changed. However, we have been continuously changing the formula of the games since our inception, and in the end the players have accepted those changes.”
To that end, Ishihara believes that these changes are in the spirit of what the franchise is known for. “In that sense, this time we are doing the same, but that is part of the long tradition of Game Freak and the Pokémon series. We will not go wrong with the basics, so please, trust us.”
The Pokemon: Let’s Go series may not be a traditional Pokemon experience but it’s definitely considered a stepping stone to the next core RPG. The latter title will be out in 2019 for the Nintendo Switch. That’s the reason why the Pokemon: Let’s Go titles are based off of Pokemon Yellow.
“In Pokemon GO, you can take with you an associated Pokémon and walk with it, but if we return to its origin, we get to Yellow Pokémon. In Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!, we wanted to expand this feature even more. Pikachu always follows Ash in the anime, while Eevee has become very popular because it can evolve in many different ways.
“And as I mentioned before , we want this to be the game that people go to play after Pokémon GO, since Pokémon Red, Blue, Green and Yellow appear in Pokémon GO, so it seemed like a good decision. Based on these things, we decided that Yellow Pokémon would be the perfect choice.
Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu and Let’s Go, Eevee release on November 18th for the Switch. What are your thoughts on the games thus far? Let us know below.