C'mon, Pikachu, let's go party!
Well, for all intents and purposes, this is a Pokemon Yellow remake. While we get the new types, Steel, Dark and Fairy, no Pokemon outside the original 151 appear in the game... unless you caught Meltan in GO, in which case you can pass him into Let's Go. The story includes a Pikachu that won't get inside his ball, as well a Pikachu(Or Eevee, if you are playing the Eevee version) who won't get into their Pokeball. Jessie and James, from the anime, also made it into the game. That said, there were a few changes made, so now you have a new original rival, and both Blue("Gary") and Red("Ash") appear in the game, albeit as Pokemon Masters instead of being the rival and playable characters respectively.
The rest of the game is the tried and true Pokemon formula: Set out on an adventure, capture as many Pokemon as you can, have them battle against other trainers' 'mons, challenge the 8 Pokemon Gyms and earn their badges so that you can challenge the Elite 4 and the champion, thus, becoming the new champion... while battling an evil organization and your own rival along the way. This is as classic Pokemon as it gets, and I'm not gonna lie, it still works. It's simple, but it hits all the right notes, and in a way, I think the simplicity of the plot kinda makes it stand out from how silly future games got. Straight and to the point, no unnecessary fluff.
There were a few minor alterations, such as removing the Casino and the Safari Zone, but for the most part, it follows the same plot and progression from the original games. Before tackling each Gym you'll have to show some sort of Pokemon, which is kinda dumb. For instance, to tackle Brock you need to show a Grass or Water type Pokemon, to battle Koga you need to show a Pokemon who is at least level 45. It's a bit annoying because they only added it to help make sure newbies stand a chance, but for most people it will be superfluous, as you'll probably meet the requirements and then some every time you reach a new Pokemon Gym. New additions include Master Trainers, after finishing the game, which are 150 trainers spread throughout the world of Kanto that want a mirror 1 vs 1 Pokemon match, using the Pokemon they are masters of. It's not a bad post-game addition, to be honest, and after you defeat a few of those you'll be allowed to challenge Red.
Before I get into all the stuff I didn't like, I'd like to go over the stuff I did. For instance, the combat is fast and snappy, unlike Shining Pearl that felt as if it took forever due to all the flavor text. TMs don't run out, which is HUGE considering how the keep changing their mind with these when it comes to new games, and as far as HMs go, you don't need any, as Pikachu learns all the moves you need to progress and they don't take up Attack slots. This is also AMAZING and I wish all the other Pokemon games did it this way. You get Mega Evolutions later in the game for a few select Pokemon, and it was neat seeing those again. You can have any Pokemon running behind you, although a few only appear on water. It's pretty cool, because some of them are pretty darn large. Lastly, at first I thought the mandatory gyroscopic controls, for when you have throw pokeballs, were super annoying on a handheld game, since where am I gonna turn if I'm sitting in a bus, but then I realized two things: A) You can use the analog stick and B) They feel so much better and accurate than using the stick, go figure! While I hated the first 5 hours or so of catching Pokemon, once I got used to it I didn't mind it at all.
On and since I'm at it, the game is quite a looker. It does have some framerate issues here and there, at least if you play in Handheld mode, but only when traversing the overworld, so it shouldn't affect fights or captures. The game includes mini-cutscenes for events such as coming across legendary Pokemon, which is pretty cool as well. Oh! And no more random encounters, you can see Pokemon walking about and you can tackle them at your leisure. That said, this means that you may have to wait until the Pokemon you are hunting for spawns, and since only 3-4 Pokemon might be on screen at the same time... you might need to wait for them to despawn. Or approach them and escape/capture them to make them disappear from the overworld.
But then... there's the bad. You can no longer fight random Pokemon on the overworld, instead, tackling a Pokemon means entering the Capture mode, in which you have to follow them as they jump around, trying to land the Pokeball on them, much like Pokemon GO. I did not like the new capturing mechanics, and this means that Training your 'mons, if you already defeated all the trainers available, is a matter of capturing a load of Pokemon over and over again, which is annoying as you'll have to purge your Pokemon box every now and then, unless you want it cluttered with garbage. Capturing is such a big part of the game now that defeating Pokemon trainers rewards you with money as well as a few Pokeballs, and releasing captured Pokemon nets you Candy. First of all, there are no Pokemon Boxes, so you are carrying your full amount of 'mons with you at all time, which is kinda annoying. You can't have Pokemon folders, the most you can do is 'Mark' them so that you remember which ones you want to keep. It's so cumbersome, why mess with something that worked well? Probably because you are expected to capture a ton of garbage.
EVs, the hidden stat boosts you obtain as you battle other 'mons are a thing of the past, instead, now you have to feed pokemon Candy in order to raise their stats. This takes a LONG time and it's infinitely more annoying than EVs. Hold Items and Pokemon abilities were axed entirely, which means strategizing took a huge hit, in an effort to streamline it more. I'm a casual player, so this doesn't affect me TOO much, but playing around with items or abilities such as setting up Sunny Day was fun.
And by the by, there's a route that is bugged, because if you enter that route while having Charizard, Dragonite or Aerodactyl you'll be sent flying upwards, above trainers and wild Pokemon. Turns out, this is a feature, after you defeat the Elite 4, but you should be able to fly over towns and routes. There's a tiny issue with this... you can't toggle this 'high flying' mode on or off. This means that if you want to capture Pokemon, talk with NPCs, enter buildings or whatever.... you can no longer have any of those three Pokemon following behind you. Thanks for nothing, I can't run around with my Charizard anymore.
As with pretty much every other modern Pokemon game... this one is a mixed bag. Has some really cool features, has some really bland and half-baked mechanics, it's missing some core elements but it adds others... I enjoyed visiting Kanto again, no doubt about it, but it feels like yet another underwhelming entry in the Pokemon franchise.
5.5
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