Nostalgia is a powerful thing. It makes many a gamer long for the days of yesteryear. When the games were simpler, they didn’t include multiple-choice endings depending on whether or not you happened to be at this one location at this one particular time.
When games were all about just getting to the end of the level, not worrying about if your score was higher than XX_MuffinLad3120XX’s. Or worrying about microtransactions beating your wallet into submission.
That makes sense, but why?
Many franchises have chosen to capitalize on this feeling, with Pokemon being one of the most storied franchises to ever exist, many games in its lineup harken back to older days. Pokemon Ultra Red and Blue, for example, take newer players back to the first days of Pokemon in a whole new world. But what about Pokemon Yellow? The one where a Pikachu follows you around in real-time?
Well, worry not, for even Pokemon Yellow got a remake with Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee! Kinda. It’s not a 1:1 remake, as there are several new features made for this game. These twin games were released in March 2018 on the Nintendo Switch. It was released to average scores from reviewers, as it wasn’t a bad game, but it wasn’t a great Pokemon game. But we’re not here for that, we’re for the details, facts, and hidden trivia that would have slipped through the cracks.
So, today, let’s take a look at the 5 Incredible Facts About Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu & Let’s Go Eevee that Everyone Forgets.
5. It could have been Pysduck!
So, when this pair of games were in development, there was a bit of a discussion about who to “partner” with the series’ mascot, Pikachu. As you might expect, it couldn’t have been any old Pokemon. It needed to be someone with a lot of staying power, and of course, a legacy that could match the electric mouse.
And one of the earliest contenders for the title was Pysduck, of all Pokemon. Now, this isn’t as crazy as it seems. Thanks to the Pokemon anime, Pysduck was a well-known psychic type and was easy to market as well (A giant yellow duck is hard to mistake for anything else, after all).
But, there was a reason for the change. For one, the rival in Pokemon Yellow, aka Gary, started out using an Evee. What’s more, Evee has also been around since the start of the franchise, and has seen numerous updates and uses in nearly every game. In addition, there was also one another reason Pysduck wasn’t chosen. And its an obvious one in hindsight. See, Pikachu is yellow.
And so is Pysduck.
And you remember how every Pokemon game has an opposing scheme for each release? Red and Blue, Black and White, Sun and Moon, Sword and Shield….
So, it didn’t make much sense, thematically, to have two yellow Pokemon, when a brown colored one will do.
4. Pokemon vehicles a-go-go.
So, early in development, there was a plan to let any Pokemon be rideable. Yes, this does include the smallest of them. This means that at one point, there was a serious consideration to allow the player to ride Pidgey. That’s right! If this had come to fruition, you would have been able to ride around on a bird about 1/4th the Player’s size. How in the world that would have worked, we have no idea. Presumably, it would have involved standing on their back with one leg and hoping not to fall off.
But, as it is, the developers felt sorry for the smaller Pokemon. Even if they are a kid, the player characters are much larger than most small Pokemon, so they changed it so only larger Pokemon can be used as rides.
3. More Master Balls
For those unaware, Master Balls in Pokemon as a whole are like, the holy grail of Pokeballs. See, each Pokeball has a set percetnage rate of which it can catch a Pokemon. In order to catch a Pokemon, you have to damage it first. The lower the health pool, the greater the chance is you’ll be able to catch it. But, this also comes with the risk of outright beating said Pokemon if you’re trying to capture it.
To combat this, almost literally, there are various tiers of Pokeballs the player can use.
In order, there are:
- Regular Pokeball: the standard kind. These have a standard catch rate of 1x.
- Great Ball: It sort of reminds me of a turtle for some reason. It has a catch rate of 1.5x, slightly better.
- Ultra Ball: It has a U on it, hard to mistake. It has a 2x catch rate.
- Master Ball: You can tell because it has an M on the front. It has a catch rate of 255x. You are going to catch any Pokemon you toss this thing at.
So, with that in mind, how do you get more Maste Balls in the Let’s Go games? Well, as you might expect, its not easy to get them, and they are extremely rare. But, there is one place where you can farm for them.
Where can you find these valuable things? As far as we know, there’s only one location where they can be found. In the Cerulean Cave, after you defeat the Elilte Four.
Make your way up to the second floor, and look on the floor for patches of light. At these patches, you’ll often find free items to take. You can usually find berries, candies, fossils, and other such goodies. But, this is also the only place you’ll have a slim chance to find a Master Ball. The odds aren’t great, but its an easier method than others, and the Cerulean Cave is the only place you’ll find this out in the wild.
Also, fun fact! This is also the same location where you can find Mewtwo!
2. It shares mechanics with Pokemon GO
If it’s not clear in the title, Pokemon GO and Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee share a few things in common, not just the name. They both share similar capture and battle mechanics, but there’s one other feature that some players tend to forget. Any Pokemon you catch on Pokemon GO can be brought over to Let’s Go! In Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee, there is a park where players can see their and friends’ Pokemon from the Kanto Region.
And what’s more, while you do need to catch them again in the Park. Also, any Kanto Pokemon you find in Pokemon GO and bring to Let’s Go can be used!
1. The starter Pokemon are the strongest
In a surprising move, the two starter Pokemon for each title, Pikachu and Eevee, have been given new moves that make them forces to be reckoned with. That’s not to say that with proper training, they couldn’t be already. But these new moves make each one far more dangerous than they were before.
Pikachu, everyone’s favorite, Zippy Zap (which is just fun to say), has a 2+ priory, which is a fancy way of saying that you’ll almost always go first. What’s more, it has a decent attack power of 50, and it’s always a critical hit, so its 75 in total. That’s on par with mid-to-late game attacks!
And there you have it! Five facts about two games about powerful pocket monsters!