Pokémon Let's Go! Pikachu and Eevee confirmed for Nintendo Switch, featuring Pokémon Go-style catching
And it was all Yellow.
Update 3: A "special Pokémon" was briefly, verbally teased during the conference. We can confirm this is a "new Pokémon" that's coming to the Let's Go! games.
Update 2: Players will be able to bring all 151 Kanto-region Pokémon from Pokémon Go to Pokémon Let's Go! Pikachu and Eevee, as well as the Alolan forms of those Pokémon such as Alolan Exeggutor (which has just been surprise-released to Pokémon Go, too).
Update 1 (correction): The Let's Go! core RPG games will release November 16th, 2018. The mobile-switch hybrid game Pokémon Quest is out now, while an additional, "core RPG" Pokémon game will release "in the second half of 2019".
Original story follows.
The first pair of core Pokémon RPGs for the Nintendo Switch have finally be unveiled and, as rumoured, they're called Pokémon Let's Go! Pikachu and Pokémon Let's Go! Eevee.
The games are set for the Nintendo Switch, feature Pokémon such as Eevee and Pikachu riding outside of their Pokéballs, just like we first saw Pikachu do back in 1998's Pokémon Yellow, a Pokémon Go-style catching system that involves the motion controls of a single JoyCon, co-op functionality, connectivity with Pokémon Go, and more.
A new peripheral, the Pokéball Plus, was also announced and will be sold separately to the games. Here's the official blurb on what it does:
"The Poké Ball Plus features motion controls, lights up with a variety of colors, vibrates, and plays sounds. When catching a Pokémon in the Nintendo Switch games, players will be able to feel it moving within the device. It also does more than function as a controller-using the Poké Ball Plus, players can bring one of their Pokémon from Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! or Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee! with them as they explore the real world, giving Trainers the opportunity to spend time with favorite Pokémon even when they're not playing the game. Additionally, Trainers can receive a variety of rewards once Pokémon are returned to the Nintendo Switch games."
Pikachu will of course accompany the player in Let's Go! Pikachu, and Eevee in Let's Go! Eevee. You can pet, interact, and battle with them to deepen your bond. Here's a look at the reveal trailer:
Any other Pokémon can follow you - examples shown included Onix, Lapras (on water), Gengar, and Electrode. Notably, the only Pokémon featured in the reveal were the original 151 Pokémon of generation 1's Red, Blue and Yellow games.
Catching is handled very similarly to Pokémon Go: you see Pokémon in the game overworld, roaming through long grass or out at sea. Interacting them will bring you to a catch screen that's battle free and instead heavily inspired by Go, where you throw Pokéballs at Pokémon using the motion controls of the Switch. Battling appears to work in the same, turn-based fashion that core-RPG players will be familiar with.
The news comes direct from a press conference held by the Pokémon Company International (TPCI) in Tokyo, Japan today, where the media were promised information on "new ways of playing Pokémon". Eurogamer is in attendance at the conference and will be reporting on any further news as it comes.
As Eurogamer originally reported, developer GameFreak first planned to release enhanced, HD versions of the 3DS's Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon to the Nintendo Switch, before plans changed, and the decision was made to instead release the less-dramatically enhanced Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon to the older console, first.
More to follow.