Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu!
Also known as "the game that got me into gaming," or "my childhood but with better graphics and YOU CAN PET PIKACHU"
Overall Score
This game singlehandedly took me from “not really interested in video games” to “stayed up until 3am on a Tuesday trying to catch more pokémons can’t stop won’t stop gotta catch ‘em all.”
Image description: Player info screen. Marie, a white female character with brown hair, is dressed in a white sporty outfit and holding a happy Pikachu in her arms. Her stats show that she is from Pallet Town, has caught 119 Pokémon, and has spent about 47 hours playing this game. She has every gym badge!
Lightning Round Questions
What series of emojis best represents this game?
😍✨⚡️🔥🌱🌊💖
What phrases did I say a lot while playing this game?
“Piii-KAH-chu!!”
“RELEASE THE THUNDERBOLT”
“Noooooo I missed”
What sparked joy?
Petting Pikachu!!!
This was like the best memories I have of playing Pokémon Gold on my GameBoy Color… except prettier.
Turn-based battles are the only kind of battles I like.
I got to ride a Lapras!!!
Exploring the towns and cities was super fun and I loved the different styles of each one.
Did I mention you can PET PIKACHU???
What did not spark joy?
By the end, I felt like I was slogging through catching Pokémon and it started to feel like work instead of fun.
Catching the Pokémon by moving my Switch around was… all right and I eventually got the hang of it, kind of. But a little awkward on my Switch Lite.
I nearly rage-quit several times trying to catch some of the super rare Pokémon when EVERY SINGLE THROW FAILED even the excellent ones!!!
The baby Pokémon are the cutest. Give me level 100 Squirtle with Flash Cannon, you cowards.
Will I keep playing this game in the future?
Probably not? I became the Pokémon champion but I still haven’t caught all the Pokémon or… done anything else. Apparently there are more things to do and leaders to challenge? I had a blast playing this game but I don’t feel compelled to complete every possible goal or start a new game or anything. I might pick it up again in a fit of nostalgia but I think I already derived a lot of joy from this game and I’m content with that.
What kind of friend would I buy this game for?
Anyone who played Pokémon as a kid! Or who likes cute things!
The Review, In Full
When I first started dating my husband, I explained to him that I was “not really into video games” unlike him, who was Very Into Video Games™. But I did promise to try out a few games in co-op mode with him because that was important to him.
It went… okay. Some games I really despised and others I a lot more fun with. I was generally happiest when he was doing the heavy lifting and I could do some low-stakes assistance and back-seat driving. By the time we finished an entire game like that, I wanted to play as the primary character myself.
I had mentioned playing Pokémon as a kid and really enjoying it, so he decided to get me a Switch Lite and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! as a gift. And that was when I realized: my husband is a nerd whisperer.
I immediately fell in love with the game. It was the best kind of nostalgia, it was so much like the games I remembered, and everything was just. so. cute!! Best of all: you could pet Pikachu!!!
Video description: A smiling Pikachu named Zeus holds up a present: a bundle of leaves tied with a pretty flower. The game explains it is “a small bouquet made with heart and soul.” After accepting the present, I pick the Partner Play menu option and begin petting Pikachu. Pikachu responds with smiles and giggles.
Look at how cute Pikachu is!!!! I got into a couple of feedback loops where I would sit in a corner petting Pikachu and every time he giggled, I giggled, and honestly, it was just a cute overload, like disgustingly cute.
I started naming all my favorite Pokémon after Greek deities, starting with my Pikachu: Zeus.
Image description: Pokémon Party screen. Six Pokémon are in the party: a Pikachu named Zeus (level 75), a Blastoise named Poseidon, a Charizard named Apollo, and a Venusaur named Demeter (all level 61), a Hitmonchan named Hera (level 58), and Wigglytuff named Aphrodite (level 35).
This gave me a bunch of joy, both in deciding how to name and when calling out my Olympians into battle.
I was… not the best at catching Pokémon. It took me a while to figure it out and honestly I would never say I was super consistent.
Video description: There is a level 6 Pidgey bouncing on screen! I swap out my Ultra ball for a regular Poké Ball and throw it. I technically hit the circle but not very well and the Pidgey escapes. I try again, manage to pull off a “Great!” throw and this time, snag the super low level Pidgey.
But I did eventually get good enough that I could advance. However: some of the super rare Pokémon that took FOREVER to catch nearly made me stop playing because I got so frustrated and tired of throwing expensive Ultra Balls over and over with Excellent precision and for what? Nothing. NOTHING. Until finally the Poké gods decided to smile upon me??
I liked the battles though!! I enjoy turn-based battles because they are a lot less stressful to me than “real-time” action. I also loved the way the people you met along the way got more and more challenging to beat. I felt like I never had to stop and just “level up” before I could advance—I naturally gained the skills I needed along the way just playing the game. That felt really well done.
My biggest moment of glory: I had been playing the game… a lot… for a week or so and my husband had just started. He challenged me to a battle and was very certain that he would win. I tried to explain to him that my Pikachu was like thirty levels higher than his Eevee but he confidently explained that was a great field leveler considering his hard-won knowledge of type matchups based on years of playing.
Dear reader: I smoked him.
Image description: Peer-to-peer battle score screen. In a single battle, Marie has WON and Luis has LOST… but Marie won with a single remaining Pokémon out of six.
Well okay, I barely managed to eke out a win after nearly losing several times. But! He really does actually know type matchups a lot better than me. I was incredibly proud of myself and he was incredibly proud of me and a little bit surprised to have lost. I learned a lot after suffering his sneaky super-effective attacks, then made myself some Post-It notes indicating what types I should use in different situations and began religiously referencing them in every battle and grilling him in the car about different Pokémon strategies.
Image description: Marie, a white female character, and her Pikachu ride a Lapras in a small body of water surrounded by rocks, wooden piers, and a lighthouse. In the background are a sailor and an old man in a suit just standing around.
Anyway, I finally got to ride my Lapras, beat all the gym leaders, and become Pokémon champion! But it took a long time and by the end, I was kind of over it. I felt… a bit like a kid ready to leave her hometown and go on a new adventure with cute friends. Technically there are more things to do in this game, like catch the rest of the Pokémon, but I don’t feel a burning need to complete the game entirely. I made a bunch of friends, I trained up my Pokémon to be a super-strong team, I helped some people out of a jam, I beat the bad guys, and most of all… I PET PIKACHU. What more could you ask for???
Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu costs $59.99 and was released in 2018 by GAME FREAK for the Nintendo Switch.