Let's Go Pikachu!

Over the last year plus, I think that's right, the kids have showed more and more interest in Pokemon. And, let's be honest, how could you not? The cards are popular again and all our oldest kid's friends seem to have them. There's a trickle down effect even infecting the three year old. The creatures are cute, or cool. This interest thus far has mostly revolved around the cards, the only media they've consumed. We haven't watched any of the anime nor up until recently played any of the video games.

That's what's changed, we've started playing a Pokemon video game together. I wanted to start introducing video games to them more, as they've only to this point played Mario Kart or watched me play single player games, like Zelda. A while back I got (as a present?) Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu! with the intent of it being collaborative. We'd play it together, with the kids making the decisions. We finally started in December and so far it's mostly been a blast. I do feel the sheer amount of Pokemon talk is driving the missus crazy however, sorry about that.

Title screen, our Pikachu doesn't have the glass (yet?)

Let's Go Pikachu came out in 2018 as a tie-in to the then super popular Pokemon Go mobile game (of which I played a ton - see this post). But you don't need to play or have played PoGo to play this game on the Switch, though there is advantage to doing so. I didn't know a ton about what I was getting with Let's Go Pikachu but it looked like a fun combo of the old games I grew up with and Pokemon Go, and in that respect I got exactly what I was looking for.

To be more exact, this is intentionally a remake of Pokemon Yellow, a GameBoy game from 1999, one of the very first Pokemon titles to exist and I believe the last one I played through. Coming out shortly after the release of the original Blue and Red versions (1998), Yellow had you start with Pikachu instead of choosing between the now famous grass/fire/water starters, all to copy the resoundingly successful anime. You'd get all three starters later too. With the Let's Go version the over-world is again Kanto, generation one if that means anything to you, and the catching mechanics are like Pokemon Go, where (generally) you run into a Pokemon and simply have to throw a ball to catch it. In this respect it's a simpler game. Otherwise most of the rest of the setup copies Yellow, with order of play-through, the locations of the trainers to battle (even down to their dialogue), the interactions with Team Rocket, all that.

Kanto, the OG Pokemon 'region'

How it looks (image taken from elsewhere)

I recently talked to my brother about this game, he's more a gamer than I and has played much more Pokemon over his lifetime, and he told me this one (and its pair, Let's Go Eevee) got a lot of complaints. It wasn't popular with the typical Pokemon crowd. And as we go through it I understand why. It's because, I have to imagine, the fact it's so much easier. You find all kinds of Pokemon that you'd normally need to work for and the training is a breeze, like you get a ton of experience just from catching and everyone in your party ranks up simultaneously instead of one at a time. The thing is Pokemon is usually a real grind, a time consuming endeavor, though one fans of the game are used to and desire. That's where all the strategy is involved and why players of the games, trainers so to speak, get real proud of their teams. That's the fun to them. So when you very quickly can get a bunch of different Pokemon to high levels without a lot of work that would be seen as a negative. There are other pieces that make it all easier too (how TMs work for one example) but we don't need to go into all that.

Then there's the Pokemon Go angle. The mechanic, which we haven't gotten to yet, allows Pokemon Go players to simply send Pokemon from your phone to the Switch game. Completing the Pokedex should not be a challenge with the time I put in all those years ago (I've been in PoGo a bit to see what I have to send...). Put together this is an ultra simplified version of Pokemon.

But that's actually the beauty of it from my point of view and in my situation. First of all I already know this over-world and remember most of what's going to happen. As for the ease of it I don't want to make the kids sit through overly repetitive training and likely failures in attempting to complete the endgame. We find new Pokemon every time we play, get to do more than enough battles, and it moves along at a great clip for the kids. For the most part I'm, and they're, loving it. We play a few times a week for something like 30-90 minutes at a time. They ask to play every day but it's also for the best if it's not a daily occurrence.

Just got our Charizard and learned you can fly on it

The team at the moment (between gyms 4 and 5) and yes there are Alolan variants

It's especially fun to watch them improve. The boys are getting more nimble on the joystick in controlling our player on the screen. Everyone is learning the strategy of the game and what types beat other types. They're getting it and making me proud. I have to say this has been both fun for me to re-live and watch them experience it for the first time.

Now, if we can only get those emotions in check. One kid gets a nervous wreck when we're trying to catch something tough and only have one shot (though not really since we save first). They all get super charged up coming off screen time. And there might be some real disappointment, or even anger, on those days when attitudes preclude us playing at all. Ah, kids.

Anyway, it's been a great game to play with them, together. I'm glad we're doing it that way.