Pokemon Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! Won’t Have Held Items and Abilities

The “main series Pokemon RPG” that was promised to us for Nintendo Switch isn’t the game we are getting this year- that’s coming next year. What we are getting this year instead, is Pokemon Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!, re-imaginings of the original Pokemon games that also include simplified mechanics.

Those mechanics include catching mechanics adapted from the mobile hit game Pokemon GO, as well as not being able to take on gyms unless you have the proper team constitution. Now, we also know that the game will not have any held items for your Pokemon, nor will it have Abilities (which are passive effects that come into play in battle, or on the field), Serebii reports. That said, it does seem like they will have EVs and IVs; considering the latter two are actually among the most “hardcore” Pokemon mechanics, I am puzzled about why they’re being retained, when something as simple as held items is being removed.

Pokemon Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! launch on Nintendo Switch on November 16.