'Pokemon Let's Go' Launch Trailer Panders to Fan Nostalgia in the Best Way
"A heart so true — our courage will pull us through!"
Any OG Pokémon fans who watch the launch day trailer for Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! are bound to Poké-flip. The Pokémon Company cashes in on the nostalgia factor by using an epic version of the original “Pokémon Theme” song over the latest trailer for remakes of the two games that started it all. For anyone that loves the Pokémon anime and Pokémon Blue, Red, or Yellow but hasn’t kept up with the franchise but hasn’t kept up with the franchise, it looks like Let’s Go is the game to drag them back into this world.
“I want to be the very best / like no one ever was!” the rock power ballad begins in the trailer. “To catch them is my real test, / to train them is my cause.”
There’s something about the way this trailer is cut together that really works — like it’s an energetic music video rather than a video game trailer. It makes the overplayed song feel that much more infectious. Will it ever get old? Probably not.
Not only does Pokémon: Let’s Go mirror the gameplay of the first Pokémon games ever, capitalizing on nostalgia from Pokémon gamers, but many of the characters featured in those games were recycled for the first few seasons of the wildly popular Pokémon anime.
"Blasting off at the speed of light!"
The video includes iconic characters like Team Rocket’s Jessie, James, and Meowth (featured above) as the vocalist sings, “In a world we must defend!” It’s a triumphant moment that really makes me want to get the hell up and defend this world.
The bad guys aren’t the only familiar faces either. Brock and Misty return as Gym Leaders like they were in the original games. The male player avatar also looks just like Ash Ketchum. It’s admittedly weird seeing him with an Eevee instead of a Pikachu, however.
The anime's original trio all (sort of) make an appearance in 'Let's Go'.
Some of the best action scenes in the trailer belong to huge characters in the anime, like Charizard. Mewtwo, the star of the first Pokémon movie ever, also gets some really great combat moments.
A huge part of the trailer’s charm also comes from the perfectly-timed song cues set to deliberate visual moments, like when the player avatar pats Pikachu on the head and the vocalist shrieks, “You’ll teach me, and I’ll teach you!” The bond between Pokémon and trainer has never been stronger!
Pikachu will teach you and you will teach Pikachu.
If there’s anything that can get players hyped in the new Pokémon games, it’s a video just like this one catering to original Pokémon trainers and fans of the anime alike.
Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! are available now for Nintendo Switch.
