Gotta catch ‘em all: all the updates for Pokémon Let’s Go

Pokémon: Let’s Go launches today for the Nintendo Switch, but the tablet’s Joy-Cons aren’t the only way to play. Nintendo is releasing a special peripheral called Poké Ball Plus as a standalone and a bundle with Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! or Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!. The handheld poké ball is adorable, but is it worth an extra $40 to $50?

The Poké Ball has a lot to offer in the way of features, starting with rare pokémon Mew. Connecting the peripheral for the first time will gift you with a level 1 pokémon to add to your lineup. As a controller, the Poké Ball Plus is limited to two buttons — confirm and cancel — and a joystick. Like the Joy-Con, it also includes motion controls that allow you to simulate tossing a poké ball in-game. These simple commands will get you through Pokémon: Let’s Go, whether you’re battling or catching pokémon. For Pokémon Go players, it also functions as a new Pokémon Go Plus. Regardless of which game you’re playing, you can bring a pal with you for a walk by transferring it into the poké ball for extra experience perks.

Since Pokémon: Let’s Go’s announcement, Game Freak director Junichi Masuda has hammered home a single point: this is not your typical Pokémon role-playing game. Instead, it’s a softer, more approachable version. The kind of game meant to capture the attention of younger audiences who never experienced the original games, new fans drawn into the series by Pokémon Go, and older players whose nostalgia will win them over.

The most surprising thing about Pokémon: Let’s Go — which comes in both Pikachu and Eevee varieties — is that it nails that Venn diagram perfectly.

Years ago, during a Pokémon autograph session, a mother approached Junichi Masuda with her son. These games had changed her child’s life for the better, she said. The sentiment stuck with him. “Through Pokémon, you can enrich people’s lives and have a positive impact on them,” he says. The idea had never occurred to him before. “But afterwards, I definitely tried to focus on keeping the series positive, playing and making sure we don’t let people down.”

For more than 20 years, Masuda has worked on Pokémon at Game Freak as a composer, programmer, and director. He was heavily involved with Niantic’s Pokémon Go and is directing Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!, Game Freak’s upcoming Switch games. With Let’s Go, Game Freak hopes to unite its longtime fanbase with new fans — a goal that wouldn’t be possible without Pokémon Go. Since its release in 2016, the mobile game has changed the way Game Freak views the franchise.

Nintendo is releasing a special Pokémon: Let’s Go-themed Switch for the games’ upcoming release. The pokémon-stamped Switch includes Pikachu and Eevee-themed Joy-Con, a Poké Ball Plus, and a dock featuring both mascots. Two different versions of the bundle will be available, one with Let’s Go, Pikachu! and one with Let’s Go, Eevee!.

Nintendo hasn’t announced a price for the new Switch yet, though a previously revealed bundle with the Poké Ball Plus and either game is $99.99. The special edition Switch will be available when the game launches on November 16th. Given Nintendo’s history with supply shortages, it seems unlikely they’ll be available for long.

Pokémon: Let’s Go, the new game that’s out to bridge the gulf between types of Pokémon fans, can be played with regular Joy-Con controllers. But based on our actual gameplay experience so far, the real way to play the upcoming adventure for the Switch will be through the new Poké Ball Plus controller. At E3, Nintendo announced pricing information for the controller along with the news that each Poké Ball Plus will come with a free Mew.

And in addition to working as a functional controller for the game, there’s the added fun of being able to transfer a pokémon to the controller, where it can make noise and vibrate the controller for a truly authentic on-the-go Pokémon experience. Nintendo is also including a bonus for players who spend the extra dough on the controller: each Poké Ball Plus will come with the rare pokémon Mew already installed for use with the Pokémon: Let’s Go game.

Game Freak has been adamant that Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! are not an addition to the mainline, “core” Pokémon series — the one that kicked off with Pokémon Red and Blue (or Green, in Japan) back in 1996. Instead, they’re a soft reboot to the beloved Pokémon Yellow, a revisiting of the original Kanto region and the first 151 pokémon that made the series so popular. It’s an improvement on the original gameplay, but players only need to spend a few minutes with the game to understand just how simple it is by modern Pokémon standards.

There’s a soothing, familiar rhythm to Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! While Eevee and Pikachu are content to ride on your shoulder throughout the game, you can also tag in an extra buddy of your choice that’ll dutifully follow behind you. Spinning around to talk to it will give you an idea of how it’s feeling. The kid-friendly pair of Switch games is reminiscent of Niantic’s Pokémon Go, which simplified the experience of catching pokémon to learning how to successfully flick an in-game ball. I played Let’s Go, Pikachu! today at E3 using the Poké Ball Plus, an undeniably cute controller that will also double as the new Go Plus used in Pokémon Go. Like its name suggests, this new Plus is a smooth pokéball that fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. Its capture button doubles as both a joystick to explore the game’s world, and an A button. On the top of the ball is a second button to cancel moves, and… that’s it.

The tremendous success of the mobile game Pokémon Go changed everything for the monster-collecting video game series. After 2016, there were suddenly millions of new fans willing to spend millions more dollars to raise digital battle monsters. Despite its popularity, however, Pokémon Go seemed to linger in an ambiguous space, separate from the core Pokémon games and their deep role-playing systems, as well many of the fans devoted to them. Pokémon Go mined “real” Pokémon titles for gameplay ideas and monster compendiums, sure, but otherwise, the two worlds hardly intersected. Until now.

Last week, developer Game Freak surprised fans by proposing something unusual: two new Pokémon RPGs for the Nintendo Switch that mixed the more casual elements of the mobile games with a beloved version of a traditional Pokémon game. Called Pokémon Let’s Go, one version of the game pairs you up with the franchise mascot, Pikachu, while the other game gives you an Eevee buddy. For Game Freak, these upcoming games are a clear attempt to bridge the gap between the two distinct fandoms. For newcomers who mostly play Pokémon Go, mechanics like throwing pokéballs to capture critters will be immediately legible. For veterans, the promise of basking in the glory days of Pokémon remains an attractive prospect. And everyone can agree that having your monsters follow you around is cute as hell. But despite the individual appeal of these elements, Let’s Go is a precarious marriage of ideas, one that could have huge implications for the future of the series.

Over the last few years, the Pokémon series has gingerly offered the mostly Pikachu-occupied spotlight to a handful of other characters. Slowpoke and Magnemite got their own theme songs; Magikarp was granted not only a track, but a mobile game. With Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!, a new pair of Switch games coming from Game Freak, the series’s creators are giving another old face, Eevee, a fresh chance to impress. And according to longtime Pokémon developer Junichi Masuda, it’s all because of fan art.

As a callback to the old days of Pokémon, Pikachu is an obvious choice. Let’s Go, Pikachu! is already a nod to Pokémon Yellow, from its inclusion of the game’s original creature lineup and location to the appearance of pokémon walking outside around next to players. Adding Pikachu to the game, says Masuda, would allow players to feel like Ash — the star of the animated show — with the iconic butterball riding around on their shoulder.

As a supplementary experience to Pokémon Go, Niantic released a watch-like Bluetooth sensor it dubbed the Pokémon Go Plus. The wearable vibrated when pokémon and pokéstops were near as a way to enhance player experience, and now it’s making a comeback — sort of. Developer Game Freak announced today that in addition to new Switch titles Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! the company and Niantic have plans for a new peripheral called the Pokéball Plus.

The Pokéball Plus will serve as both a joycon for the Let’s Go games and the new version of the Go Plus. In addition to motion controls, it also lights up, vibrates, and makes noises imitating the pokémon inside. According to Game Freak, “when catching a Pokémon in the Nintendo Switch games, players will be able to feel it moving within the device.”