Pokémon Let's Go at Treehouse Live at E3

[Cecillia]

During Nintendo Treehouse live@E3 2018, Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu was shown with the first gameplay footage of these Yellow version remakes. During this, they also discussed the goals of the game's development team, what the Pokéball Plus is about, differences between Pokémon Yellow and the remakes, and new things they added. Below is a text recap of what was talked about and shown during the stream.

When the stream started, the hosts began by discussing the goals of the development team. When asked what the goals of the game development team were, Gamefreak’s Junichi Masuda said: “we wanted everyone to enjoy these games. Up until now all (main/core) games were developed for handheld systems, but this time around it’s, of course, on the Nintendo Switch. We envisioned people playing (the system) in their living room. (Besides this) we had another take on Pokémon in general, which was what Pokémon for everyone would be. I had in mind a lot of the younger kids, who might not have their own smartphone to play Pokémon GO with. There are so many people playing Pokémon GO, but some of the younger kids might not have had a chance to do that. (Which was why) I had them in mind, but also everyone else. We wanted this to be truly a Pokémon for everyone.” Directly afterwards they started showing gameplay while still discussing the games.

During the gameplay it was clear that a lot of things had changed. Such things like wild Pokémon battles were absent in this freshly styled 3D Kanto. If you want to catch Pokémon, you'll need to walk towards one on the map and then use your Joy-Con to throw Pokéballs. This works quite similar as to how throwing works in Pokémon GO, and you can also throw berries just like in the aforementioned highly popular smartphone game. You need to press the "Get Ready" button, and if you do so, you can use a variety of throwing styles. The way this works so well is because the gyro sensor in the Joy-Con resets its original location to the location it had during the pressing of the button. Some throwing styles are harder than others, so you'll truly have fun when trying to catch Pokémon. After you catch a Pokémon, your party Pokémon will get experience points, as was shown in the presentation, you can then add the Pokémon to your party or, if your party is full, your Pokémon can be sent to the Pokémon Box in your bag. Nintendo's Treehouse team also showed off how Pokémon battles against trainers work. This was similar to the core games we got to know so well, although you will receive Pokéballs besides the cash you receive usually when defeating a trainer.

On the map, you can also interact with the Pokémon that follow you. When you interact with such a Pokémon, a textbox will popup stating how the Pokémon feels. A fun, nice addition is that your partner, Pikachu, will ride on your shoulder and Eevee will ride on your head respectively in Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee. Besides your partner Pokémon, any other Pokémon can follow you. In the demo, large Pokémon like Onix were able to be ridden, while smaller Pokémon like Charmander followed behind. Also, the size of the Pokémon are relative to their Pokédex entries. This looks really like a fun addition, which also makes the graphics stand out a bit more. Also on the map, there are certain Pokémon with glowing auras. If the Pokémon's aura is red, it indicates that a particular Pokémon is bigger than average, but if it's blue, it's smaller than average. This is to make it fun to catch more Pokémon of the same species.

Your partner Pikachu or Eevee will wag its tail when there is a hidden item nearby, which are supposed to be more abundant in this game as opposed to Yellow. The graphics are higher in resolution than the latest 3DS games, but is again in chibi form like XY/ORAS. Although the style is intended to be appealing for everyone whether you are a Pokémon veteran or a new player. You can feel influences of all things Pokémon, like the core games, the trading card games, spinoffs, GO, the anime, and the anime movies.

You can also play with the game in handheld mode, this mode requires to hold the system in both hands, align the system with the target appearing on the Pokémon after pressing "Get Ready", and throw the Pokéball by pressing the button for throwing. Aside from the handheld mode, there is another mode, which includes playing with someone else. To play in support-mode/co-op mode you'll need to shake the second joy-con. Afterwards, a new player appears on the map which can be controlled with the second Joy-Con; This makes it easier to catch Pokémon. For example, if two players throw a Pokéball at the same time, a special screen appears and you'll get a bonus for catching the Pokémon. Battling opponents is also easier this way, because the second player will join in on the battle and can use Pokémon too.

Some other differences from Pokémon Yellow include: the music is higher-quality than the old music, you got CP (Combat Points), which is all the individual values combined, the rival is different (he isn't Gary/Green), small ingame events occur (like in Pokémon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon), gyms might differ, the Safari Zone got replaced with the Go Park, the linking sequence is similar but uses digital cables/pipes, Pokémon are able to be sent to Professor Oak (you’ll get candy from that), there is online connectivity (although no Global Trade Station), and candies are used to increase the Individual Values of a Pokémon. Although the games and the catching is quite different, the story and the type-matchups didn't change very much, which makes it easier for older fans to guide people new to the games. Also, catching Pokémon in the Go Park can be quite difficult when they originally had high CP.

Besides this, the Pokéball Plus will have Mew in it when you buy it, so you can actually get Mew in the game. It's pre-loaded on the Pokéball Plus, which means you can hear its cry when you walk home with it from the store. Also, the Pokéball Plus works as a Joy-Con. This means it has a joy-stick, which is integrated as the Pokéball button, and a button on top of it, which can be used as the typical "A" button. The Pokéball Plus gives different colours depending on what type of Pokémon is loaded on it, and it is able to be used as a Pokémon GO Plus device. You can either buy both the game and the Pokéball Plus seperate, or you can buy both as a bundle.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzh99yoNOXI

 

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