Louis Hughes Post E3 2018 Most Anticipated Game of 2018:
Pokémon: Let’s Go Pikachu
Of all my years, I never thought I would say that I was looking forward to a Pokémon game (Pokémon: Let’s Go Pikachu). To be fair, my history of the franchise is an interesting one. I mainly followed the anime series on Kids WB while I dabbled for a bit on Pokémon Yellow, and loved Pokémon Snap, I stayed away from the games, mostly. It wasn’t till later when I rented Pokémon Stadium and my friend flipped, as he used the Transfer Pak to dominate me in battles with his level 90s Pokémon, and his sheer excitement seeing them in color and 3D. After that, and the series ending on a cliffhanger, I dabbed out unless a movie was released.
I finally decided to jump in with Pokémon Pearl and wondered why I skipped out on the previous games. When I caught them all, I got Pokémon Soul Sliver, but after that something happened. Responsibilities started taking over and I had less time to play video games, let alone long ones. Rarely will I have time to play a game with lots to do, which is why I couldn’t go back to the series until something else happened, Pokémon Go.
After the popularity blew everyone’s expectations out of the park, I found myself back in the game by helping my friends because I don’t currently own a smartphone. By watching them play and catch ‘em made me feel if the technology was available back then I would’ve been hooked earlier, which comes to the announcement of Pokémon: Let’s Go. The trailer and later the Nintendo Treehouse livestream showed me a simplified game with the original 151 creatures I know. The fact that the game will not have random battles got a cheer from me, and the capture system being similar to Go. Don’t get me wrong, I do like the battle system from the franchise, but the reason this is my most anticipated game of the year is that I feel this game is catering to people like me who would love to play a Pokémon game, but doesn’t have the time. I feel the Let’s Go games can have that, while the hardcore fans can have their piece with the upcoming one catered to them with random battles and a complex battle system. Win-win for all.
