So, what can I say about Nintendo Switch that hasn’t already been said? The system certainly had its naysayers on its reveal, and who could blame them? It’s an unusual concept for a home console, for sure, and a little too close to the poor old Wii U’s wheelhouse for some people’s liking.

The system didn’t launch to the greatest success, with its only major launch game being The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (which was already a Wii U game). It wasn’t until Super Mario Odyssey arrived that the hybrid handheld really took off, and it’s been gathering momentum ever since.

True, there are still those naysayers mocking its power, all the ports and such, but as Kanye West will tell you, haters always gonna hate. The fact is, heavy hitters like Super Smash Bros. Switch are on the way this year, and a little franchise called Pokémon is poised to make its first big appearance on the console in 2018 too.

That’s right, the one-two punch of Let’s Go, Pikachu and Let’s Go, Eevee have just been announced. Let’s dive straight in there with our buddy Pikachu, and take a look at what we already know about this intriguing new entry in the franchise.

25 It’ll Be The Ride Of Pikachu’s Life

Now, it wouldn’t be a remake of Pokémon Yellow without this feature, would it? For a lot of nostalgic gamers, this is going to be a highlight: Pikachu won’t just be hiding away in its Poké Ball.

That’s right. Like many of you, I’m sure, I have fond memories of first diving into Pokémon Yellow. Pikachu was never my favorite Pokémon, granted, but the little rodent has imprinted itself on our psyches somehow. Without anybody ever officially agreeing that it’s the Pokémon mascot, it’s firmly established itself as such. I guess you’ve got to appreciate that.

As such, when I received Yellow for my twelfth birthday, I was far too excited to see the little guy running right along beside the player character. That was a dang revolution for me back then, let me tell you.

Since then, other series entries have included a following Pokémon feature, whether in specific areas or throughout the whole game. If that’s something you’re after, then you’re in luck: Pikachu is yet again roaming free right alongside the player in Let’s Go, Pikachu. This time around, the little guy’s even cheeky enough to just hop onto its trainer and ride around the region on their head and shoulders.

24 It’ll Feature Other Followers Too

So, yes. Let’s Go, Pikachu is billed as a kinda sorta Pokémon Yellow remake, kinda sorta not. With that in mind, the game can afford to cherrypick certain elements, skirt around others, and otherwise afford to be much more creatively free than a straight-up remaster ever could.

Take Pikachu, for instance. The little guy’s right here, it’s happily following along behind you. So far, so Pokémon Yellow. This feature is not exclusive to everyone favorite electric rodent Pokémon, though.

As the reveal trailer demonstrated, a whole slew of different Pokémon are available to be set as your follower Pokémon. Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Electrode, and Gengar have already been shown off in this capacity, and each have their own unique gait. Watching Gengar float along malevolently behind you, or Electrode rolling across the floor, is worth the darn price of admission alone.

For hardened Poké-holics, it’ll be a thrill to try and collect them all and set them to walk behind you in turn, simply to see how they move. These are some fantastic-looking models, and it looks as though we’ll be able to have any follower we like.

In the original Pokémon Yellow, this feature was restricted to Pikachu only. In Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, specific Pokémon could go out for a walk in Amity Square. It wasn’t until HeartGold and SoulSilver that we were given the freedom to choose, and it looks as though that freedom is finally returning.

23 Pikachu WILL NOT Evolve

Ah, yes. Here we go. It’s another neat little throwback to Pokémon Yellow.

As competitive battlers will know, Pikachu is quite a niche little thing. It’s relatively fast, and has access to some useful and powerful moves, but it has all the defensive ability of a one-legged kitten in a coma. The ultimate glass cannon, it is almost always found with a Light Ball equipped, an item that doubles its Attack and Special Attack when held.

It’s also given access to incredibly powerful moves like Volt Tackle. All of this is highly unusual for a pre-evolved Pokémon, but...

It’s all because it’s Pikachu. This little guy always gets special treatment.

Raichu, too, is an interesting one, and can serve quite well on the right tieam. Particularly its new Alolan form, which is an Electric and Grass type with a unique ability in Surge Surfer (which doubles its speed in Electric Terrain, making it a great ally for Tapu Koko).

It’s quite lucky that Pikachu can do some darn damage on its own, because (as with the original Yellow) the Pikachu you meet at the start of your adventure in Let’s Go, Pikachu will refuse to evolve. It’s the same deal with the Eevee of Let’s Go, Eevee. Other Pikachu you acquire over the course of your adventure can evolve as normal, but this one will not.

22 We’re Heading Back To The Fan-Favourite Kanto Region

Oh yes we are, friends. As you’ll come to see over the course of this rundown, Let’s Go, Pikachu is a little far removed from Pokémon Yellow to count as a true remake. It’s more of a Frankenstein sort of affair, building on Yellow’s foundations but stitching on and splicing in all kinds of different parts along the way.

What we’re really looking at here is Yellow with two different coloured eyes and one arm longer than the other. Brought back to life via electricity and the electrodes fixed in its neck (which are not bolts, contrary to popular belief). I’m not saying that you need to shout It’s alive! IT’S ALIVE! When your copy of the game arrives later this year, but I’m not not saying that either.

Despite all of this, the core details we know so far demonstrate that the game’s very much inspired by generation one. The game is confirmed to be set in Kanto, the very first region we explored in Blue, Red and Yellow. This is the region, of course, that many players have been hankering to return to since, and it sure does look spiffy from what little we’ve been shown so far. Let’s hope they do it justice.

21 Professor Oak Is Back On The Scene

So, yes. As we’ve established, both Let’s Go, Pikachu and Let’s Go, Eevee are loosely-defined remakes of the first generation title. According to Polygon, Junichi Masuda has confirmed that this was the intent, and you can’t really argue with that. Mechanically, as we’ll see, this new entry is vastly different, but the main building blocks are based on what came twenty years before.

We’re meeting our starter Pikachu (or Eevee) and cruising off into the wild? Check. They’re following along behind us, or actually riding on our shoulder like some cheeky furry passengers? Check. So far, so Yellow. As you might remember, after all, Eevee is the Pokémon that was first intended for the player’s starter in the original, before our rival took it for themselves.

The fact is, when you’re going all old school on us and reinstating generation one, there’s something else you’re going to need. Something that just made the generation what it was. That something is actually someone: dear old Professor Oak.

Dang right. This was the guy who made the games what they were. Who established the bizarre professors must be named after types of tree, because that’s totally a thing precedent. The man who became a glorious WHAT IS MY GRANDSON’S NAME meme.

Don’t worry, friends, Oak is returning too.

20 Everything Kicks Off In Pallet Town

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m absolutely digging this old school vibe. If you’re a Doctor Who fan, you’re probably familiar with that whole concept of having a special attachment to your Doctor, the first person you saw playing the role. Nostalgia is a powerful, powerful force, and it gets its hooks into our brains like an Ancient Egyptian mummy-maker.

Like a lot of you, I’m sure, I’ve been with Pokémon right from the start.

I’ve been riding the wave of Pokémania (which hit just as I started high school) for two decades now, and so will my children be. That’s just the way it is. Their first decision in life will be which starter Pokémon to pick, and I trust that they’ll do it right and go with Charmander (don’t @ me).

With all of that said, yes, the original Pallet Town theme has a unique place in my heart. Everything about the place does, really. Sure, there’s a tiny what, you call this sad little gathering of three buildings a town vibe to the place, but I love it anyway. This wouldn’t be a gen one throwback without everything kicking off in Pallet Town, and sure enough, that’s where we start off in Let’s Go, Pikachu/Eevee.

19 It’s An Original 151 Party, And Everyone’s Invited

So, yes. I could squee away about the first generation Pokémon games all day. I could do it for a good few years, if I’m honest, but I’m going to restrain myself. I don’t want to be one of those notorious ‘genwunners,’ who worship the original games and declare everything that’s happened in Pokémon since to be a huge heap of steaming crapola (remember the Triceratops’s mountain of droppings in Jurassic Park?).

Many of the innovations and quality of life enhancements we’ve seen since have been completely necessary. I do adore generation one, but man is it just beyond faf-tastic to play today.

Kanto was an invaluable part of so many of our childhood, but it was also a major pain in the cheeks. What the heckola is this limited item storage about? What is this, freaking 1998? Oh. Okay. Fine. Why haven’t those spinny tile puzzles disappeared back down Belezebub’s clogged underworld u-bend from whence they came?

Let’s Go, Pikachu’s whole thing, as we’ve seen, seems to be dragging Kanto into the late 2010’s (I’m not sure what to call this decade, other than the Years That McDonald’s Still Aren’t Dang Delivering). To that end, yes, all the original crop of 151 Pokémon will be available in game.

18 Team Rocket Are Blasting Off Again

So, yes. We’ve got Kanto itself, Pallet Town, Professor Oak, and all of the original Pokémon. Already, fans are feeling some kind of way about this setup, with some loving the nostalgia of it all and others howling about the lack of the new generation they’ve been waiting for. That’s always the way. You can’t please everybody, whatever you try to do, and especially not on the internet.

The internet’s a harsh, inhospitable environment, like Pluto, only with less friendly forms of life.

All of the critical elements are there, but there’s one major thing we’re still totally in the dark on (for now): the story. Are we on another quest to be the very best? Will there be the usual gyms and suchlike? We don’t know. One thing that has been stated is that certain mainstays of the Pokémon anime are going to return, characters and such. Most prominently, Team Rocket are going to appear in Let’s Go Pikachu.

Whether they’re simply going to make a cameo (as with Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon) or are going to be central to the main plotline of the Switch title is a mystery for now, but they will appear in some capacity.

17 In With Most Of The Old, In With Some Of The New As Well

There we go then. From everything we’ve seen so far, this is looking to be quite the retro-centered adventure. There’s Oak and Team Rocket, we’re starting in Pallet Town, trying to hunt down everything from #1 Bulbasaur to #151 Mew (more on that later) across Kanto… this is a nostalgic Pokémon fan’s dream, right here.

At the same time, though, it’s not just a straight up re-textured, prettier-looking HD Pokémon Yellow. It’s dang far from being so, as we’ll see over the course of this rundown.

For one thing, we’re making certain concessions here. We’re bringing back certain mechanics that have appeared in the series since. Pokémon Sun and Moon’s intriguing Alolan forms are also going to be available in Let’s Go, Pikachu.

Quite how, we don’t know. As fans will remember, though, these new forms were exclusive to generation one Pokémon, and added an interesting new spin on their design and concept. Alolan Vulpix/Ninetales, for instance, adapted to a snowy climate and became an Ice/Fairy type, with an ability that set ups automatic hail instead of its customary sun.

As the game is a spin-off, it doesn’t have to concern itself too much with where it fits in the overall timeline. It’s still interesting to think about what the presence of the Alolan forms implies about that, though.

16 Breeding And Egg Hatching Are Not Going To Feature

From what we’ve heard so far, it seems that Let’s Go, Pikachu/Eevee are going to be intriguing hybrids of the old and new. After all, there were twenty years between the original Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow and the introduction of Alolan forms. If that’s the route you’re going to take, are we going to see a Kanto-set title with breeding, egg hatching and all of those complex mechanics?

Well, no. No, we aren’t. Fans of those super-healthy gluten-free cakes can rejoice, because there are no dang eggs in sight here.

It was Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal, the second generation Johto games, that introduced breeding. This process allowed players more control over their Pokémon, and is a vital process for raising Pokémon for competitive battling. This was expanded in the generations that followed, giving trainers easier and more precise control over natures, movesets, IVs and all of those more advanced techniques.

For Let’s Go, Pikachu/Eevee, Game Freak have opted to streamline the gameplay. The familiar art of taking Pokémon to the daycare, waiting for an egg, cycling up and down to hatch it, checking its IVs, and repeating is gone. We don’t yet know what mechanics will be available in their place, if any, but there’ll be no breeding.

15 It’s All Getting Very Pokémon Go In Here

When the super-popular Pokémon Go app was first released, it was clear that it was all about that genwunner nostalgia. In my own experience, the players I tend to meet are around my own age (I’ve only got a couple of months of my twenties left, and I’m already feeling the urge to dye my hair jet black and buy a Harley). In a way, that’s the target audience just as much as children are: those who grew up with Kanto and were thrilled with the chance to relive it.

Pokémon Go has been available for almost two years now, and it’s gradually introduced Pokémon from a couple of the following generations. At its heart, though, it’s still very much a Kanto-flavoured experience (as the recent Kanto-themed event demonstrated).

I once witnessed a huge, bearded man shrieking with glee because a rare Dratini had spawned, and that’s something special right there.

When it comes to Let’s Go, Pikachu, some have dismissed the game as a glorified Pokémon Go, in that it shares many of the app’s mechanics. The core concept, as with Go, is all about capturing Pokémon with a manual ball throw, without weakening them with attacks and/or status first. Needless to say, this has proven very divisive, but there’s the truth of it.

14 Wild Pokémon Encounters Are All Kinds Of Shonky

If you’re an established Pokémon veteran, you’ll know how tense a legendary Pokémon encounter can be. You’ll gradually whittle down its HP, or sometimes calculate whether two of a big hit will just take it down into the red. You’ll fire of whichever status effect you fancy, maybe throw in a False Swipe (if you’ve actually prepared for this and aren’t just winging it).

Then comes the ball throw. You’ll fire off the best you have, hammer Up and B even though you know it does absolutely nothing for you (it’s a nice placebo, though), and just hope. Depending how cantankerous the Pokémon’s feeling, it’ll break out over and over again. Most heartbreaking of all, it might even Struggle until it knocks itself out. That really does make you want to roundhouse kick someone’s grandma in the teeth.

In Let’s Go, Pikachu, as in Pokémon Go, encounters are different. As I say, you’ll manually throw balls at your target, with no way of weakening or statusing them prior to doing so (no way that we’ve seen yet, at least). Whether you enjoy this dynamic style or you think it’s simplifying the whole process, that’s how wild Pokémon encounters are going to work in this one.

13 Co-Op Capturing And Adventuring Is Go

So, as we know, the whole co-operative thing has always been central to the series. Right from the start, the emphasis on trading was designed to have people playing together, sharing in the experience. To support this, Pokémon has always been about two central themes:

You’ve gotta catch ‘em all, and you can’t dang well catch ‘em all by yourself, buddy boy.

Trade evolutions, version exclusives and all of those sorts shenanigans play into that. It’s either someone teams up with the owner o the other title, or they buy both if that’s not an option. Either way, Game Freak are either advancing their wholesome philosophy or they’re making themselves some nice double-dipping cash. Either way, they’re happy.

With co-operation being so important to the franchise, it’s interesting that straight-up couch co-op type play has never really been an option. With Let’s Go, Pikachu and Let’s Go, Eevee, they’re introducing some true shared-screen co-op. As the trailer demonstrates, another player can join a game with a simple shake of another Joy Con. Once they’re in, they’re adventuring right along you. you can even catch wild Pokémon together, the same one simultaneously, with your two Poké Balls combining into one once thrown. I don’t know what sort of witchcraft this is, but it sure is interesting.

12 The Poké Ball Plus: Pokéwalker 2.0

Nintendo fans know that the company is not backward when it comes to hawking plastic peripherals. Their reputation for creativity, innovation, and experimentation has served them well over the years (and not so well, as the likes of the incredible-yet-doomed Virtual Boy will testify).

From ROB the glorious little robot to the balance board and Wii wheel, we sure have seen some sights. There were even fancy tennis racquet attachments you could affix to your Wii Remote, so that grandpa could feel like Serena Williams as he struggled with Wii Sports Tennis.

Sure, Pokémon is not a Nintendo-developed franchise, but it’s brought us some incredible peripherals too. The latest is set to arrive along with the game (sold separately, though there’ll probably be a bundle of some sort): the Poké Ball Plus.

This magnificent hunk of technology will be a must for any Pokémon master. It’s intended to supplement the Go-style ball throwing, and features an analog stick allowing it to serve as another Joy Con. You can even put a certain Pokémon into it in-game, and take them out for a jaunt Pokéwalker style. Yep, there’s a little speaker in there, and your Pokémon of choice will jibber away from inside it as you go.

11 Leveling Up, On The… Go

Why, yes, I am just a little proud of that pun. Thanks for asking.

Whether you dabbled in Pokémon Go when it was first released, or you’re still playing, you’ll surely be familiar with how the game works. The Pokémon you randomly encounter do not have levels, but rather a random degree of CP (or Combat Power). This is expressed only as a total number, and can be increased by feeding the Pokémon candy of its own type.

There are stats, in Attack, Defense and such, but they’re hidden away, only expressed in terms of IVs. When Pokémon Go was new, there was no way to determine these, other than through complicated calculators online. Now, though, players can ask for an Appraisal of a particular Pokémon from their team’s leader. This mechanic works similarly to the IV checker in the core games, who will let you know which particular IVs are the highest.

As for Let’s Go, Pikachu, it hasn’t been confirmed yet if this same system will be in place. Masuda has commented that the game is somewhat tailored towards younger players, suggesting that this more simple approach may be in place, but he’s also mentioned the hidden depths that the game will offer advanced players.

10 Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need HMs

So, we’ve already established quite a lot about these upcoming releases. The fact that it’s a heavy, heavy Kanto throwback is the main takeaway here, and that’s a huge selling point or an instant turnoff depending on who you’re asking. That’s just the way it is with issues like these.

Sometimes, though, you get some answers and they just throw up more potential questions.

Here’s another little doozy we already know from the game: HMs are out.

In terms of generation one, that’s quite a big deal. After all, gameplay all around the region was built around the mechanics of Cut, Strength, Surf, Flash (remember when that was relevant?) and such. There are a couple more interesting implications of this, too.

We’ve already seen sneak peeks of ridable Pokémon, but we don’t yet know what exactly this means. Are they going to be brief little side attractions you can try, as with previous games’ walking Pokémon? Is this mechanic actually going to central to exploration instead? There’s no saying for sure until we see more of the game in action. One thing we can be sure of is that we need some way of traversing Kanto, and the game isn’t afraid to break with tradition.

9 Bluetooth Connectivity With Pokémon Go

The other key takeaway from all of this is that Pokémon Go is central to everything that the new game wants to achieve. The app may not be the phenomenon it was at launch, but it’s also not the craptacular, buggy, glitchy mess it was at launch either. That was almost two years ago, and the player base has settled and become much more dedicated. If you’re still here, you’re here for the long haul, that’s probably the school of thought here.

Perhaps this new game will reignite interest in the app for those who may have fallen away. You know, the way people pick a game back up after a major update or a new online event drops. The Switch title is all about an expansion of everything that Go brought to the table, and so a method of connecting between the two was needed.

Bluetooth connectivity, friends. The idea is that players will be able to transfer Pokémon from their Go collection straight to Let’s Go, Pikachu/Eevee, simply by beaming them across. This will not work the other way around, sadly, so it’s a one-way trip for the Pokémon in question, but there it is.

Whether this means that all of the original Pokémon can be caught in the Switch game itself, or they can all be obtained in it via this method, remains to be seen.

8 Wild Pokémon Emerge From The Long Grass, But Not In The Way You’d Think

I know what you’re thinking. Wild Pokémon emerge from long grass? You’re a couple of decades late with that revelation, friend. Come on, that’s the very first thing you learn at Poké Camp. Don’t wander into the brush without a Pokémon, or you’ll wind up with an angry ratatta dangling from your hindquarters.

Oak told us that back in 1998, after all. Here’s the kicker, though. Here’s the news that’s going to send your brain shooting straight out of your skull and leaving a splattery stain on the ceiling.

Brace yourselves, because… wild Pokémon don’t appear as random encounters in the long grass this time around.

I know, right? I had to go and lay down in a darkened room for a good couple of hours too, but there it is. The system is, again, much more akin to Pokémon Go, in that the classic random encounters of a lot of traditional RPGs are done away with. Instead, in a much more dynamic style, you can see everything you’ll encounter in a give area ahead of time. Engaging as and when you choose is a favored style for some genre fans, while others will find this quite a jarring change.

7 Don’t Panic, Turn-Based Trainer Battles Are Still A Thing

I can totally understand how core players may not be so impressed with what they’re seeing, right about now. For all the accusations of Pokémon being a ‘kiddy’ game, it has great strategic depth, and a lot of the fanbase are adult competitors. The official circuit plays out on quite a large scale, and they jet all over the world to compete.

For me, Pokémon has always embodied exactly what that E for Everyone designation is all about. Your little sister can hop in and have fun playing through the story, and dedicated players can immerse themselves into the competitive side of EVs, IVs, movesets, held items, damage rolls and cheap, horrible hax that leaves you crying to grandma at times. That’s the essence of high-level Pokémon, and it can be a surprisingly intimidating world.

The question, then, is what’s in this new Switch title for those players? While the crux of the gameplay is in finding and nabbing new wild Pokémon, Go style, those trainer battles we’re so accustomed to are present and correct as well. When a trainer engaging you, it’s back to that familiar turn-based combat style (complete with the classic four-move panel and such), and this new Switch-powered take on that looks pretty darn good. The team has promised that these will offer a range of challenges for all skill levels.

6 Ride Pokémon Are Back In Town

As we’ve seen, then, your Pokémon aren’t going to stay confined to their Poké Balls in this adventure. I mean, sure, most of them are for most of the time, but they’re going to make appearances outside of it too. For reasons both practical and cosmetic.

Not to mention the coolness factor. Because if you try to deny that having a gigantic Electrode happily rolling along behind you in glorious 3D is what you bought a Switch for, you’re clearly a filthy liar (again, don’t @ me).

I have to say, though, I’m a little conflicted on this one. I have to admit, I was never really a fan of HMs, and how they would clog one of your precious moveslots. If we’re talking something like Surf or Waterfall, that’s totally fine, as those moves aren’t craptastic, but Cut? You can just cut that sort of thing right out. I could totally appreciate Pokémon Sun and Moon’s ride Pokémon for this reason, even if they did seems a little forced (Lapras and Sharpedo? at times.

While I think they do look pretty dang fantastic here, I also hope that they serve a purpose beyond simply showing off fancy Pokémon models. That will be a temptation, after all, with this being the franchise’s first big release for the system.