E3 is less than a month away, and the entire internet (by which I mean the Nintendo Switch and Pokémon Reddit communities) is worried that Nintendo won’t release the latest Pokémon title on Switch by year’s end. In the past, the Pokémon Company and Nintendo were both content to announce their critter catching experiences early in late winter, let the excitement simmer, and drop small tidbits of info each month through the Japanese magazine CoroCoro. This usually continued until the game’s release in late fall. Since no announcement for Pokémon Switch happened in late winter, everyone assumed we just wouldn’t see it this year. What if we were wrong?
This rumor may be false, but it’s gaining traction and significance nonetheless. I’ll break it down for you, then discuss what its elements may mean.
The Logo and 4Chan
On May 15, a Japanese logo began floating around for a game entitled Pokémon Let’s Go! Pikachu. Logos are relatively easy to fake, so this isn’t normally cause for alarm. However, it gained popularity because it gave credence to a few earlier rumors, which were previously assumed false.
First, Let’s Go! Pikachu lines up with a 4chan “leak” that describes a mainline Pokémon game that also serves as a reboot/sequel to Pokémon Yellow. The greentext was posted on April 1st, and was quickly dismissed as an April Fools’ joke. But isn’t that the perfect guise for an actual leak?
Back then, the 4chan user specified that the newest Pokémon games would have a Pikachu and an Eevee version, thus leading most to believe that a logo exists somewhere for Pokemon Let’s Go! Eevee as well. Red and Blue, the original protagonist and rival from Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow, are said to be important to the game’s plot, but we do not play as them.
Following Pokémon, a feature first introduced in Pokémon Yellow and last seen in HeartGold and SoulSilver, are rumored to return, while the PokéRide feature from Sun and Moon also makes a comeback. “Online [mode] has a hub for players,” although this is just vague enough to not mean much.
Here’s where the rumors turn worrisome, for some fans: the games are supposed to integrate somehow with Pokémon Go, as well as borrow some of its ideas for a new Pokémon catching system. This is absurdly vague—enough so that many fans are jumping to the worst case scenario and believing this means a complete overhaul of the battle and exploration mechanics of the franchise. But still, it ties into the branding of the “leaked” logo: Let’s Go is certainly reminiscent of Pokemon Go.
The Picture
I’ll discuss the Go portion of the rumor later, but for now, let’s look at the more traditional Pokémon aspects. The ability to set a Following Pokémon is a fan favorite, and has been clamored for since it was reintroduced in HeartGold and SoulSilver. PokéRide also seemed beloved. In fact, this picture gained traction in certain circles just before April 1:
Let’s note a few things here. The trainer is riding on a Lapras, which indicates that PokéRide survived in some form. The picture appears to be of Route 21, a sea-based route just below Pallet Town in Pokémon Yellow. This trainer is also neither Red nor Blue. The nail in the coffin here is the Eevee perched atop the trainer’s head…almost as if it were a starter that were allowed to follow the protagonist around.
While this one photo alone backs up the idea of a Yellow sequel based on Eevee and the aforementioned returning features, it’s got some more depth to it. For starters, it’s a slight graphical downgrade from Sun and Moon. In fact, this art style looks a lot like Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, the Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire remakes on 3DS.
But what’s interesting is that you can clearly see a Tentacool head and Gyarados tail sticking out of the water. This indicates that you may be able to see Pokémon before you encounter them, letting you pick your battles. That’s something Pokémon Go also lets you do.
The Credibility
On May 15, Emily Rogers posted thoughts on her blog regarding rumors she’d heard about the latest Pokémon game. She mentions how the success of Pokémon Go has affected the franchise and its plan for the future, hinting that the next installment may take a few pages from its book. This lines up pretty well with the April 1st 4chan leak, and by extension, the “leaked” photo. She also states that the newest Pokémon game will be revealed by the end of May.
Rogers, through Eurogamer, previously detailed almost every facet of the Nintendo Switch before launch. She’s got an inside source that obviously knows a thing or two about Nintendo’s inner workings, though she’s been wrong before. Still, it doesn’t seem likely that she’d be fooled by a mere April Fools’ prank.
There’s also Pixelpar, who knew the date of the last Nintendo Direct before it happened. Starting mid-March, the user began posting drawings and hints on their account, and later confirmed that a few of them hid hints for the latest Pokémon title. It’s a lot to explain, but they summarize it themselves in this video:
The first tweet showcased was published on March 26: the same time frame as the Lapras photo and the 4chan leak. Pixelpar hinted at Pokemon Let’s Go! Pikachu and Eevee more than a month ago, and the rest of the internet didn’t even hear the name until yesterday. Even if it’s a ruse, that’s impressive.
Still, Nibel, a prominent ResetEra (and formerly NeoGAF) member, brought attention to the logo. They mentioned they have no clue if this logo is real, just that their instincts (which, for the record, are usually pretty spot on) tell them something is up with Pokémon right now.
Joe Merrick, the runner of popular fan site Serebii.net, admits feelings of conflict over posting the rumor on his site. Serebii tries its best not to post unvalidated rumors and “leaks,” but with the appearance of the logo, Let’s Go! Pikachu gained traction. Being the host of one of the largest Pokémon sites, there’s a small chance Merrick may know more about this rumor than most do.
But hey, all of this is unfounded rumor with no real substantiation, ri—
Junichi Masuda posted a picture on May 10 showcasing Pikachu and Eevee side by side, along with a Pikachu in a Luigi cap. Some fans believe the cap’s logo could be a hint to Let’s Go‘s name.
The final clue for the rumor, currently, is a domain registry. Sometime yesterday (the same day the logo floated onto the web), PokemonLetsGoPikachu.com and PokemonLetsGoEevee.com were registered. The company behind the registry is the same one Nintendo and the Pokémon Company normally uses to secure domains—including the ones for Sun and Moon. Fans noticed that those domains were registered just a day before Sun and Moon‘s official announcement in 2016.
What It All Means
Whether the rumor is true or not remains to be seen, although its growing support from industry members, the Masuda tweet, and the domain registry all seem to point in the same direction. We may know in just a few days: like I said, Sun and Moon‘s domain was noticed one day before its reveal. That’s the end of the rumor’s actual info for now, but I’d like to discuss what some of this means.
First, the integration and inspiration involving Pokémon Go. As Emily Rogers points out, Go was immensely successful, garnering 500 million downloads in 2016 alone. That’s a wide audience, comprising of diehard Pokémon fans, relapsed players who haven’t been around since Red and Blue, or people who knew the franchise thanks to its popularity, but never really played it. Two of these three sections are populations that are less likely to currently have a Nintendo Switch, or to have played Pokémon X and Y or Sun and Moon. It makes sense that Nintendo would try to entice this market to take the leap into the next Pokémon title and Nintendo console. After all, Sun and Moon were well into development when Go launched, meaning they couldn’t be retrofitted to appeal to this market.
While the 4chan rumor states “Catching Pokémon works like in Go” and “Pokémon Go integration,” this is difficult to do for many reasons. Go‘s catch mechanics are very touch-based and involve movement mechanics for the Pokémon themselves. Both aspects would alienate the traditional Pokémon fans, which I’m sure Nintendo is aware of.
The Switch does not have a GPS, meaning that there’s no chance you’re taking your Switch in public to catch Pokemon at real life locales. Additionally, the touchscreen cannot be used while the Switch is docked, meaning that even if catching in Let’s Go was a 1:1 copy of Go, it would need to be entirely optional so that players could play in docked mode.
It seems likely that “Catching Pokémon works like in Go” simply means that there will be some sort of optional, touch-based catch mechanic, and maybe that players can see Pokémon in the overworld before the encounter begins.
“Go integration” is even more vague. It’s likely that linking the app to the game will give exclusive items in both, and allow the transfer of Pokémon between the two. This is simply a selling point for Go fans who might not have a vast collection of creatures like many traditional Pokémon fans.
And finally, while not necessarily wanted by mainline fans, a Yellow sequel makes sense. It lets the franchise return to Kanto, the region that fall-off fans will remember best. It also lets the series “go back to their roots” and do something new, a la Breath of the Wild or Super Mario Odyssey. It’s also fitting that the first mainline Pokémon game on a home console would return to the series’ beginning.
As Sun and Moon ended with Lillie heading to Kanto, it would make perfect sense for a new game to take place during her visit. After all, this takes place years after Red, Blue, and Yellow. Red and Blue (the characters) appear in Sun and Moon as well, obviously much older than they were in their original games.
That’s about all I’ve got for now regarding the latest rumors behind Pokémon Let’s Go! Let me know your thoughts on it all; it seems to me that we may know more about this whole concept very soon!
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