Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! Poké Ball Plus Bundle - Nintendo Switch

I’ve had a great time revisiting Kanto. This time my son played with me so it was a whole new experience in lots of ways. The character art is wonderful. It’s a very tasteful example of how a 1D/2D game can be reimagined in three dimensions. A great example of this is how the 3D models are flattened during the beginning of battle sequences to resemble an HD version of what they were and then go back. Every little detail was added to objects too. They created thousands and thousands of 3D objects without tons of texture mapping and placed them exactly where they were in the original. I was wondering how it would come together in 3D 1080p and Gamefreak did not disappoint. It’s gorgeous. Gameplay is also good. I really like how they stayed true to the format and didn’t make a lot of 3D cut scene animations that eat up time. Actions are short and sweet, controls and menus are extremely well done. My first criticism would be the constantly repeating text for every little thing that happens. If a battle has level ups it can take a solid 3 minutes to scroll through the notifications. I hated this in the originals, and I can’t really understand why they went through the trouble of translating it to the new one. We all know what happens when you get paralyzed, you don’t need a dialogue that needs to be closed every single time. My second criticism is how easy it is. I get that they are going for a younger audience, but the bosses were extraordinarily easy, you would have to bend over backwards to lose. On the flip side, my son can play with me and enjoy it without grinding, so on that front it is not all bad. If I was playing on my own I’d be pretty bored with the story mode. Every game needs epic bosses, not ones that are one hit kills with without grinding. You no longer have to battle wild Pokémon! This. Is. Great. I always hated having a rare Pokémon within my grasp and then not having the right Pokémon equipped to take it down or not having enough pokeballs. The game gives you more pokeballs than you know what to do with. Just being able to throw and throw and throw is really a lot more fun and does add more dimension and strategy to the game. Gameplay in handheld mode is unplayable. There are constant communication errors with the Joy-Cons this makes menus open constantly while you’re walking and will randomly take the controls away. This is the one thing that really needs to be fixed. You just can’t play like that. Lastly the Pokeball Plus. Contrary to the reviews I read online before buying, I had no issues with throwing, either did my son, and he’s 5 years old. It actually works better than handheld motion control mode in terms of accuracy. I also really enjoy the interactivity. The ball will vibrate in sync with the ball. It also makes the click sound with haptic and light when you catch something and the Pokémon will make a noise as if something was caught in the ball along with the Pokémon color. When the ball is plugged in to charge it makes the pole enter healing sound, so cute. Build quality is great. Nothing breaks buttons and joystick are solid and do not become loose. And the ball didn’t mark up from my hands. They even made it weighted so when you set the ball don it rights itself. The device is so incredibly well excecuted, you can tell they spent a lot of engineering hours on it, which is suprising, because I thought for sure it would be a cheaper gimmick. This is coming from someone who usually hates motion controls. But there is one big caveat to this. The ball is TINY for adult hands. My son loves it because it’s perfectly sized for him. But me? My hands are so cramped after hours of playing. It is NOT comfortable. This really killed a lot of the fun. I hate hand cramps. I played through the entire game with the ball and let me tell you it was painful. I totally understand that this was designed with kids hands in mind. Buy adult buyers beware. Overall, this was great fun. I’m just about done with the story, afterwhich I’ll probably say goodbye to Kanto forever. I applaud Game freak on a very fun, well made package.

This game is a nice remake of the old Red, Yellow, Blue games; I've gotten 3 badges so far upon writing this review and so far, it screams Pokemon Yellow for the most part; I debated between getting this or Pokemon Let's Go Eevee, eventually decided on Pikachu; to be honest, though, a part of me wishes I had gotten Let's Go Eevee due to catching so many Pikachu but it's all good. So my overall thoughts on this game are pretty positive, but there are a few small things I had an issue with, so let's start with the positives #1: Change in character and rival story: you actually have a rival who's your friend and deviates from the original Red vs Blue (Ash vs Gary) rivalry, who you share some good moments with and have some pretty comedic times with the friend's reactions to various events. #2: Pokemon catching: After winning trainer battles, you do get poke-balls from trainers and sometimes higher strength balls, so you don't really run out unless you like to catch Pokemon a LOT to try and get the best of the best of the best (like me) but even then you shouldn't run out that often. You don't have to battle pokemon anymore so you can rest easy that you don't have to have the pokemon needed to weaken the target pokemon to catch it; HOWEVER, this can be a double-edge sword as a result since the catching mechanic is similar to Pokemon GO (mobile game) due to the Green, Yellow, Orange, Red circles (Green being easy, Red being super hard) so you could end up using so many poke-balls just to catch a pokemon (wasted 30+ just to catch a level 9 Clefable once which was excruciating) or for it to just run away #3: Catch Combos: Now this one is a bit new to me, but this is a nice incentive to catch so many of the same pokemon. This combo can also increase the amount of Experience Points you get for each one you catch in a row (my current highest EXP gain was 1,345 from catching 25 Diglett from Diglett's Cave) and this can help raise pokemon quick as well; I remember back when I first got to Lt Surge, my strongest pokemon was Lvl 24-25; this game, I had my strongest Pokemon at Lvl 27-29 (Pikachu being the highest at 29) so maybe it has made the battles a little too easy from time to time, but haven't run across a gym battle where I beat a trainer way to easy (sure that'll change in time) #4: Pokeball Plus: Mine came with Mew (great 2nd gift since I got the game as a late birthday present) and it has a few different functions a) Controller: while you can use a Joy-Con as the single controller, you can use the Pokeball Plus instead. b) Pokemon inside Pokeball Plus: just to clarify, you can't open the Pokeball Plus. What I'm referring to is that you can put a pokemon inside the Pokeball Plus to take it on a stroll outside of your Pokemon Let's Go adventure; this can be a great boon during times where you want to train certain pokemon (such as Magikarp, which I'm taking with me) with lots of experience and it counts your steps, similar to that of the 3DS. c) catch Pokemon: use a throwing motion to throw the poke ball you have equipped (Poke Ball, Great Ball, etc) Now for some concerns #1: Pikachu partner does not evolve: now this isn't really as bad of a concern, as this does keep in tune with Pokemon Special Pikachu Edition (aka Pokemon Yellow) as that Pikachu could NOT evolve, but it does get frustrating sometimes if you are wanting to have a powerful Raichu thus having to catch Pikachu after Pikachu just to get very strong stats; on the flip side of this, the Pikachu Partner does have VERY high stats for a Pikachu, even to where it is able to overpower Raichu. #2: Small Pokeball Plus: while the Pokeball doesn't bother me in regards to its size, it can be a bit uncomfortable to hold, especially with the strap, which can make it harder to make a great throw sometimes when trying to catch pokemon. It's not too big of an issue to me, but I can understand people's frustrations with the size as well. #3: EXP Gain: while I praise the catch combo which leads to great EXP gains, it can be near overflow depending on what you do with the game; granted, there are likely few players who do what I do in regards to extreme pokemon catching; but there are still those like me who do who can borderline exploit it #4: Handheld Mode: While I have not tried this game in handheld mode, there have been multiple people who have and have had multiple issues, so I've avoided it altogether, which can take away from the Switch's great hybrid operation (Handheld, Console) Overall, this game is amazing with some flaws that are in the game; I enjoy every moment even as I'm making this review.

I'll preface my review by stating that I haven't played many Pokemon games. I owned Omega Ruby on 3DS but hadn't played more than maybe 40 hours. That said I have played Pokemon Go some, and have watched a good share of the television series back to the originals. I have really enjoyed playing Let's Go Pikachu and am about maybe 20 hours in going through the main story as well as trying to catch rare and shiny Pokemon. I'm a big fan of a few new mechanics like Pokemon encounters and even the new catching mechanic. I have played mostly with the Pokeball Plus, but have put less but equal time into using a single joy-con and in handheld mode. The easiest method is handheld mode as catching requires motion controls and if you just hold still it's more just timing when to throw a pokeball. A single joy-con is pretty easy, but the pokeball controller almost feels "more natural" (if such a thing can be said). I would have loved to have option to use my Pro controller, but to me it's okay that's not an option, hopefully it is in the next game. The catching mechanic is easier than in past games, but it's not perfect, occasionally the motion controls don't work as intended but largely aren't a problem. The game looks beautiful in my eyes as it's the best iteration of Kanto I have ever seen in game and looks like the anime would have you believe the game should look. I have used the Pokeball with the game beautifully, but I'm still having major issues connecting it to Pokemon Go I will have to work out. I have transferred a few Pokemon from Go to Let's Go and it's easy enough. It doesn't break the game as you can't do it until later in the game anyway. Most Pokemon you will find in the game without too much effort, though there are a few that will test your resolve to catch them all. I can easily recommend the base game, it's well worth playing. The Pokeball Plus is a little more difficult to recommend. If you tie the game into Pokemon Go it can have an added benefit of collecting Pokestops and chance of catching Pokemon but without Go you can still walk and level up your Pokemon helping you level up Pokemon even when not actively playing the game which makes it worthy of ownership in my mind.

I am a Pokemon fan who has played all previous Pokemon games. This game is fun, and it has lots of features that separate it from previous games. For example, every pokemon in the game can get out of its pokeball and follow the player around, or if the pokemon is big enough, the player will ride on top of the pokemon. Another change is the wild pokemon capture method. If you walk in tall grass or other areas where Pokemon would show up in other games, you will see them appear in the world before you enter the encounter. If you touch the pokemon you see, then you'll enter a Pokemon GO style catching minigame where you have to physically swing your joycon controller toward the screen. If you have the Pokeball Plus controller that is sometimes bundled with this game, you can use that controller. The Pro Controller is not supported. If you play in handheld mode, meaning the joycons are attached to the console and you're holding it to look at the screen of the console, then you will have to move the console to center yourself on a pokemon and use a button to throw the pokeball. Overall, the game is very similar to the old Pokemon Red and Blue games in terms of mechanics beyond what I've mentioned above, along with some other changes. * NOTE: Your starting pokemon will never evolve. So if you pick the Pikachu version of the game, you cannot get Raichu unless you capture a different Pikachu and evolve that. If you get the Eevee version of the game, your starting Eevee will not evolve at all. You must obtain an Eevee other than your starter if you want to evolve one.

So this game is basically a remake of Pokemon Yellow, which will appeal to long time fans, but keep in mind that this game does have some really annoying things that you have to deal with all the time. Motion controls.... I'm sorry. I hate this so much. It works from time to time, but it also tends to fail pretty annoyingly. Not to mention that it's tiring to deal with from time to time. Story: It's pokemon yellow, but you do have some people from the first generation come out once in a while. So it's 90% pokemon yellow and then a few changes such as the addition of Alolan pokemon as well as the nature additions. Otherwise, the plot is roughly going to be the same. So feel free to join that. They do remove pokemon catching battles and just relegate it to the pokemon go system of catching. However, other than that, battles were plentiful and I think I'm still satisfied in the end. Now the accessory is a nice addition to only let you get mew (>.>) but you can also integrate it with pokemon go. though the controller is really cramped unless you have small hands. So keep that in mind. Overall, the bundle with a controller and the game is ok for the full pricing, but I'd recommend avoiding the accessory if you don't really care much about mew and stick to using the joycons. Your hand will thank you.

This is an interesting way to combine two very different versions of the Pokemon games. It's a blend of the Red/Blue/Yellow versions with a sprinkling of Sun and Moon version styles (IE no longer having HMs or sticking party pokemon with those moves) and combine all that with a healthy serving of Pokemon Go. I was a little put off by the inability to battle pokemon to capture them, and the fact that the rarer ones can run very easily. It's definitely mimicking Pokemon Go in that aspect. As you play and learn the mechanics, it's really not completely horrible and ends up growing on you. Much like Pokemon Go itself. The ability to actually throw the pokeball is pretty cool and is much more fun when using the PokeBall Plus. Not having to keep a pokemon in your party that's the designated HM bearer is really nice. That's an aspect from the Sun and Moon series that I enjoyed, and it's nice to see the tradition continued. The gameplay is pretty solid, however the PokeBall plus controls can be a little confusing and cumbersome. Sometimes the ball with shift in your grip and then you'll move in the wrong direction. I prefer playing in handheld mode personally. All in all, still a fun game. It's extremely easy to pick up and run with even if you've never touched a single game in the series.

Well. Let me tell you. I love this game. I’m a pretty hardcore Pokémon fan. There’s a few things I wish I would have known about this however before buying it. I had figured that they wouldn’t work, but I couldnt find a clear answer anywhere. 1- there no controller support. This entire game is played with one hand unless you play handheld. It isn’t bad, just be prepared. It gives you an almost “bored” feeling sometimes. Like, you hand isn’t busy so it wants to grab your phone, and then you pull up some dank memes for your viewing pleasure, and before you realize it, you aren’t even playing the game. It isn’t as consuming without both hands. Easily solved by playing handheld, but then you miss out on the Pokeball and motion controls, which are a lot of fun. Pokeball- super worth it. Syncs with Pokémon go, you can walk around with a buddy and it makes cute noises, and it’s adorable. It also plays the healing center ditty when you plug it in to charge, and I get giddy every time I hear it. Reminds me of my game boy days. It’s odd adjusting to the new feel of “Pokémon go” gameplay, but it’s easily gotten over. The graphics are superb. No frame lags, not once. The 3D graphics for this are wonderful, Seafoam caverns was beautiful. 10/5 stars. Would play again. Would buy again.

When this game was announced I was worried that it would be a stripped down experience like Pokemon Go is compared to the traditional core games. It actually turned out to be alot better than I thought. It's basically a remake of Pokemon yellow with some modern updates for better or worse. Some of the good things is that you can now see Pokemon in the wild so no more random encounters. You also have modern stuff like EXP Sharing automatically. They also changed some stuff that might upset fans. There are no wild pokemon battles. To catch pokemon you basically have to play a catching minigame with motion controls (or the a button in handheld mode). It can get annoying when you constantly have to use Pokeballs in hopes that you will actually catch something. I miss battling a wild Pokemon to reduce its health to make the catch more likely. Everything else is the same like gym battles and trainer battles. Also the Pokeball Plus works really well. It sucks not having a Y button though during battles to check move summaries while using the pokeball plus. Overall I felt the stuff that annoyed me (which is mostly the catching mechanic) wasn't enough to not enjoy the game. If you are a fan of Poekmon Yellow and don't mind some of the changes this game is great.