Pokemon Letâs Go Eevee Retrospective, from the perspective of someone who preferred it over FRLG
To preface this, one of the first things I heard about mainline Pokemon when I first started getting into it was that Letâs Go âwasnât worth playingâ. That it was a very shallow remake compared to FRLG, and that even the originals on the Gameboy were better than it.
I wanted to give it a shot as part of this marathon, though, so I asked for it for my birthday in 2024, and I started playing it the same day I got it.
If you haven't seen my previous mainline Pokemon retrsopectives yet, you can read Emerald here, X here, Firered here, Black here, Soulsilver here, and Shield here.
As you can see from the title of this retrospective, I do not agree with what Iâve heard about Letâs Go. I think itâs perfectly deserving of the title of âUltimate Kantoâ.
Letâs Go Eevee is in my top 3 favorite mainline Pokemon games.
Its opening is very cute, with it being like my Eevee has pulled me into the Pokemon world. And judging by the player characterâs reaction, I guess thatâs implied to be the case? Interesting.
After inspecting some stuff around the room, the gameâs rival, Trace, comes to greet me.
I have a lot to say about this kid. Heâs such a fun alternate take on Blue, and I quite like him! I know the fandom likes to either hate on him or pretend he doesnât exist, but I think thatâs doing him a big disservice, especially given that I feel his character growth throughout the game is far more impactful than Blueâs in Firered.
But most of that was for later. For now, I headed to Route 1, to find Professor Oak taking data on some Pidgeys. Before he could escort me back to the lab, though, surprise! A wild Eevee appeared, and it was up to me to catch her!
Catching in Letâs Go is much different than in the rest of mainline, and is much closer to Go than Firered. You donât have to carefully attack the wild Pokemon, trying to get its HP as low as possible without fainting it. Instead, you just chuck the ball and hope for the best. Thereâs more intricacies to it than that, of course, but I didnât know those at the time.
People rag on the catching in Letâs Go, but I actually quite like it! Itâs much less stressful, since you donât have to worry about fainting the Pokemon youâre trying to catch, and the game supplies you with plenty of poke balls.
My poke ball hit true, and I caught my first Pokemon in this game: Jackie the Eevee. A very, very special Eevee, as I would soon see.
But now that I had an Eevee, I could traverse up Rote 1, catching a Pidgey along the way, who I named Lynno. Itâs really cool that wild Pokemon appear on the overworld now, rather than being complete random surprises whenever I take too many steps in tall grass or caves.
After arriving in Viridian, I found three people I was absolutely not expecting to see here: The Team Rocket Trio from the anime. Jesse, James, and Meowth. I knew they were in Masters, sure, but here? It was a big surprise, and even if Meowth doesnât talk here, Iâm still really happy theyâre here.
Anyways, I made my way back to Pallet Town with the parcel in my bag, and delivered it to Professor Oak. As a reward, I got my first battle, against Trace! And some Razz Berries too I guess.
Letâs Go Eeveeâs battle UI is pretty neat! The run button has been omitted (for now at least), since you canât run from trainer battles, and the wild Pokemon UI is completely different. Thereâs just the buttons for fighting, items, and switching Pokemon, all cool and stylized without being overly complex.
With that out of the way, it was time to start my journey for real! I headed back up Route 1, through Viridian City, up Route 2, and into the Viridian Forest.
I guess technically this was my third time being here? There was Firered, obviously, but a friend of mine had pointed out on my X retrospective that the Santalune Forest has the exact same layout as Viridian Forest. Itâs very interesting, then, that all three times Iâve been here have felt very different.
In Firered,it felt lonely, anxious, like I was wandering off the beaten path. In X, it felt comforting, since I had friends doing shenanigans with me.
Here in Letâs Go Eevee, it felt somewhere in between. It still felt a bit foreboding, but something about it also felt welcoming. Was it the sunlight filtering through the treetops? Was it that Pokemon were roaming out and about, instead of lurking in the tall grass? Was it that my friend Jackie the Eevee was resting on my head? Or was it simple familiarity and nostalgia? Perhaps a combination of all of the above.
Whatever the case may be, I soon made it out, and arrived in Pewter City.
I figure nowâs as good a time as any to talk about this gameâs Town Map. I quite like it, personally! I think itâs a really effective UI design that still keeps the core elements of the Firered Town Map. You can even see a little list of important landmarks when you hover over cities, which is really nice.
Anyways, after exploring around Pewter, I entered the gym, only to be stopped by the gym greeter guy. Apparently, I couldnât challenge the gym unless I had a grass or water-type Pokemon in my team.
This was the first of what Iâm calling âgym gatesâ, an arbitrary gate that prevents you from challenging the gym until youâve met certain requirements. IâŠdonât like these, honestly. Thereâs only four that actually do anything, as far as I can tell, but those four each are annoying in their own ways.
My main issue with them is that they feel soâŠnot pointless, but tiring. I can get what they were going for, making sure you donât face the gym leader unprepared, but if I want to challenge Brock with just an Eevee and a Pidgey, I should be able to! I shouldnât have to backtrack to catch a Bellsprout just so I can even enter the gym. It feels tedious.
But I didnât have any other options, so backtrack and catch a Bellsprout I did. I never ended up naming them, unfortunately, since they were only a temporary team member, but they easily cleaved through Brockâs team, and I got my first badge.
At the very least, it was less frustrating than in Firered, but still.
With one badge on my belt, I made my way east, and entered Mount Moon. It was pretty much the same as in Firered, aside from random encounters not making me want to pull my leaf out. I did get to see the Team Rocket trio again, and to my surprise, engaged them in a double battle!
Double battles, as far as I recall, werenât a thing at all in Firered, so to see Kanto in Letâs Go Eevee have double battles was a really nice surprise!
Jackie and Lynno were able to defeat them, though, and I grabbed myself a Dome Fossil, before exiting the mountain, soon arriving at Cerulean City.
It looks a lot more impressive here than it did on the GBA. The buildings all look unique, and I really like the addition of the fountain.
In its Pokemon Center, though, I was about to learn what made Jackie such a special Eevee: The partner moves.
See, thereâs special move tutors in some of Kantoâs Pokemon Centers, thatâll offer to teach your Eevee some very special moves, based on one of the eight Eeveelutions. The selection in Cerulean was Bouncy Bubble, Buzzy Buzz, or Sizzly Slide.
I decided to go with Buzzy Buzz, a 90 base power move that always paralyzes the target when it hits (besides electric-types, of course). A very nice choice, I think.
Now that Jackie was powered up, it was time for me to take on the gym!
Ceruleanâs gym gate wasnât too bad, at least. It only needed me to have a Pokemon that was at least level 15. Jackie was only level 14, though, so I headed over to Nugget Bridge to fight some trainers.
Before I could, though, Trace ran into me, and asked for a battle, to which I happily obliged.
While Zappy Zap made quick work of his Pidgey, it was a bit tougher to deal with his Oddish and Pikachu, but I still won, and Jackie reached level 15.
Now, I was able to take on the Cerulean City gym!
Buzzy Buzz predictably made the gym very easy, which I feel is actually kinda a good thing? Itâs a great showcase of how powerful this new move was.
I netted myself my second Kanto badge, and went back to Nugget Bridge.
âŠor I would have, if I hadnât gotten distracted with other games. I actually took a year and a half hiatus from Letâs Go Eevee after the Cerulean gym. It wasnât anything wrong with the game, I just got very, very distracted. But this year, I finally got back to it.
Now that it wasnât my first time in Kanto, the nugget guy being a Team Rocket grunt wasnât a surprise at all, but itâs nice seeing these moments from Firered again.
I made my way to Billâs house, and you have no idea how delighted I was that he was turned into a quadruped, a Nidorino. Thereâs so little representation of sapient quadrupeds in fiction, with PMD being the only big media I can think of with a bunch of them. So to see a character in mainline be a talking quadrupedal Pokemon, however briefly, was really nice for my Meganium self.
I helped him back to normal, and got some S.S. Anne tickets for my troubles. Walking back to Cerulean, I traveled south, catching a Vulpix along the way (who I named Ralefa), and went into the underground tunnel.
Here, one of the NPCs told me something very interesting: Pokemon can signal hidden items to you with their tails. Essentially, Jackieâs tail would wag faster and faster the closer I was to a hidden item.
I really like this! It adds very cute flavor to the concept of dowsing machines, and removes the need for a dedicated item for it, by packing it all into my Veevee friend.
Exiting the tunnel, I saw an Abra and caught him, naming him Tarlo, before proceeding into Vermillion City.
The S.S. Anne felt a lot less frustrating than in Firered, partly because there was a healer NPC right near the entryway. There were still dozens of rooms to explore, but without as much threat, it was more fun than stressful.
I enjoyed the cute little scene with Jackie on the bow of the ship. That was a nice touch.
Eventually, I ran into Trace, who asked me for another battle. His Pidgey had evolved, but he was still a relatively easy opponent, and I was able to make it past to help the shipâs captain.
Here, I received the first of five âsecret techniquesâ: Chop Down. Basically the HMs of the game, except they didnât take up move slots, and Jackie is the one to learn them all. Interestingly, it seems the secret techniques are normally something humans can do? Which has some fascinating worldbuilding implications.
But thatâs for a future worldbuilding post, because now it was time for me to take on Lt. Surgeâs gymâŠafter a surprise battle with a character I had never seen before, Mina. She had a few fairy-types on her team, and said sheâs visiting from Alola. I guess sheâs from the Alola games? Interesting inclusion, but not one Iâm complaining about.
Thankfully, the gym gate this time was trivial, since it was just knowing Chop Down. Same as in Firered, except perhaps even less stringent this time.
Surgeâs gym puzzle was the same bizarre trash can guessing game as in Firered. I have no idea why itâs a thing, or why it has remained this way throughout so many games. Itâs just annoying and tedious.
Surge at least was a pretty fun fight. Since I couldnât use Buzzy Buzz, he was quite tricky, but I still managed to pull through, and won both my third Kanto badge, and his autograph. For some reason.
With that out of the way, I was going to head back north, until Misty stopped me to show me Diglettâs Cave. I figured, why not, and decided to head through it.
On the other side, I suddenly became very glad I went here, since Jackie got access to another secret technique: Light Up. I wouldnât have to stumble around in the dark in Rock Tunnel!
I made my way over to Cerulean City, and chopped down the tree blocking me from heading east. The route wasnât much to write about, but what was at the end sure was.
I was ambushed by a group of Rocket grunts, seemingly about to face off in a 1V4, until who shows up to save the day but Elite Four member Lorelei, riding on her Lapras in the nearby waterway.
This was completely new to Letâs Go, and was a brilliant addition for many reasons, some of which Iâll get to later, but the main one was justâŠactually showing any of the Elite Four before you arrive at Indigo Plateau, rather than you only knowing theyâll be there because thatâs how mainline Pokemon works. Even if itâs just Lorelei and none of the others, Iâm still really happy this little event was added.
But then, it was time for me to enter the Rock Tunnel: my least favorite area in Firered. Would it be as bad here?
In short, not quite, but itâs still my second least favorite area in this game.
While it was much easier to navigate with Light Up than in total darkness, and without random encounters every other step, it still wasnât fun. It was just boring rocky corridors with nothing interesting in between, aside from an overabundance of tough trainers.
I was nearly out of healing items at all by the time I finally made it out. I know I could have just backtracked to the Pokemon Center, but the Rock Tunnel is surprisingly long so thatâs a lot of backtracking that Iâd rather not do.
At least now that I was out of there, I was at my favorite town in Kanto: Lavender Town.
I adore Lavender Town in this game. It retains the creepy-yet-calming vibe from Firered, but also makes it feel so much more alive, for lack of a better term.
After healing my Pokemon, I headed up the Pokemon Tower, eager to see what the Ghost looks like in this game, only to run into Trace for another battle.
Heâs been getting tougher, and evolved both his Pikachu and his Oddish. No longer was he trivial to deal with, I actually had to work for that win.
Hereâs where Trace started to become one of my favorite rivals in Pokemon. The Cubone storyline.
I followed the Cubone up to the next floor, and got a glimpse at the new Ghost design. It was every bit as eerie as I was hoping, and them slowly chasing you was a really nice touch.
I was sent back to the start of the tower by one, and decided to wait to try again until I had the Silph Scope. Instead, I headed west towards Celadon, after seeing the Team Rocket trio trick the Cubone into coming with them.
Along the way, a friend of mine helped me evolve Tarlo into an Alakazam, the first fully-evolved Pokemon on my team. This was also around when I decided, âhey, the Kanto pokedex is only 151 Pokemon long. I could totally catch âem all,â and started trying to catch every new species of Pokemon I saw. Iâm very grateful I started this now, as youâll see why later.
Unfortunately, while I was trying to talk to everyone around Celadon, I somehow missed the most important person in the city: the guy outside the Game Corner who teaches your Eevee the secret technique Sky Dash, which is essentially HM Fly.
At least there was plenty for me in the Pokemon Center. The special move tutor was back, offering to teach Jackie a new selection of moves, Glitzy Glow or Baddy Bad, representing Espeon and Umbreon respectively. I decided to go with Baddy Bad, since Tarlo already had psychic-type covered on my team. Itâs exactly like Buzzy Buzz, except dark-type, and instead of paralyzing the opponent it puts up a Reflect barrier for five turns. Quite nice!
There was also someone else in the Center, offering to trade a Kantonian Vulpix for their Alolan Vulpix. I didnât want to trade away Ralefa, so I went back to Route 7 to catch an extra to trade.
For the most part, it was a really nice deal. I love Alolan Vulpix and Ninetales, and Iâve never had any sort of Vulpix or Ninetales on my teams before. Itâs also a really good typing for Kanto, since Kanto doesnât have a lot of fairy-types. In addition, with my best friend, Iâve been doing a RP where a human gets turned into a Vulpix and adopted by a wild Ninetales, so the species was on my mind.
There was one little gripe I had, though: The Vulpix was stuck with his species name only, and I was unable to change it. WhichâŠkinda irked me. I understand not being able to change the names of Pokemon you got from trades as long as they already had names, butâŠthis Vulpix was nameless, and I couldnât give him anything to call his own.
At least I had two fluffy fox friends now. Three if Jackie counts as a fox.
I decided to explore the Department Store, and found a side to the game that I hadnât done much of anything with until now: dress-up. There were all sorts of outfits for both myself and Jackie on sale. I decided to go with an emerald bandana on her tail.
On the roof, Jackie immediately ran up to the vending machine, and begged me for a drink. I of course got her the most luxurious beverage on offer: plain lemonade.
With the majority of Celadon explored, I decided to head into the gym before tackling the Game Corner. IâŠadmittedly have no idea what the gym gate here is supposed to check? They asked for âcute Pokemonâ, so I showed them Jackie, and they let me in. I mean, Jackie is adorable, yes, but a bit of a bizarre interruption.
Erikaâs gym was much more interesting than in Firered. Instead of just being âuse Cut and win!â it was an actual maze. Not the most complex maze, yes, but still interesting. The gym trainers gave me a bit of trouble, as did Erika herself, but it wasnât long before I walked away with my fourth Kanto badge.
Now, it was time for me to infiltrate the Rocket Hideout.
First step was exploring the Game Corner. While I understand why the slot machines and gambling mechanics were removed (and am very glad for it, those things were so rigged in Emerald), Iâm kinda sad that nothing else was put in to take their place. No cute little minigames or anything. Surely it couldnât be that difficult to put in Surfing Pikachu from Yellow in here, right?
Either way, I pressed the secret switch behind the rocket poster, and descended down below.
After taking care of the initial Rocket grunt in the way, I met someone who declared themselves a âbeautiful spyâ and healed my Pokemon. A nice little bit of accessibility, just like in the S.S. Anne.
Most of the rest of the hideout isnât much to write about, until I got to the bottom floor, where my enjoyment of Letâs Go Eevee reached new heights.
First of all, the Rocket grunt whoâs supposed to leave behind the Lift Key instead throws it up onto the wall partitions, rendering it unreachable by me. Fortunately, I had a friend with me, Jackie. I helped her reach a vent, and thenâŠI actually got to play as Jackie for a short bit! It was so cool and awesome and amazing! It reminded me a bit of the short bit I played of the Crystal romhack Pokemon Prism, where you briefly play as your Larvitar starter exploring a tunnel.
Jackie got the Lift Key and returned safely to me, and now I could go on to face GiovanniâŠor so I thought. There were two more roadblocks in my way.
First was Jesse and James and Meowth, back for Round 2. They were much tougher this time, and took a bit to beat.
After that wasâŠTeam Rocket admin Archer?!
I was stunned. Archer hadnât even existed as a character until HGSS. He was completely nameless in GSC, and Rocket Admins at all had no presence in what I played of Firered. This was completely new and original to Letâs Go, and I was so happy. It wasnât that tough of a battle, but it was still so cool seeing a character from Soulsilver here in Kanto!
With that out of the way, it was time for my first battle with Giovanni. I still had Double Kick on Jackie at this time, so she was able to make quick work of his Persian and Rhyhorn, and walked away with the Silph Scope, and a freed Cubone.
Now that I was about halfway through the game, I decided it was a good time to evolve my foxes. Besides Jackie, of course. I purchased a Fire Stone and Ice Stone from the Department Store, and used them on Ralefa and Vulpix respectively. More floof per floof!
Brock also made a brief appearance, and delivered some tea for me. Now I could get into Saffron!
I made my way back to Lavender Town, and started properly climbing up the Pokemon Tower. The Silph Scope revealed the majority of the Ghosts to just be ghost-type Pokemon, so it was a relatively easy trek with Jackieâs move Baddy Bad. The spell tag circle this time felt much more inviting and calming, especially with one of the channelers welcoming me in.
Eventually, I reached the penultimate floor, and found an absolutely massive Ghost. The mother of the Cubone that Team Rocket had kidnapped. There was a really emotional scene of the Cubone trying to reach out for her, only for her to fade away. I shed a few tears.
Then comes the reason I love Trace so much: he decides to take the Cubone with him as a team member. And you see it on his team in future battles!
Cubone actually being present during all of this stuff makes this whole storyline from a throwaway series of fetch quests into something truly special, and I adore it.
With Trace staying behind to comfort the Cubone, I pressed on, and battled Jesse and James again to free Mr. FujiâŠonly for him to say he hadnât even noticed they were there. At least I got a Poke Flute for it.
Saffron, just like in Firered, was taken over by Team Rocket, with most citizens hiding in buildings like the Pokemon Center. It was up to me and Trace to free the city.
After a short battle with a surprise guest, that is. Blue decided to show up and test us both, trying to make sure we were ready. Baddy Bad and Buzzy Buzz easily dealt with his Exeggutor and Charizard, though.
Compared to Firered, I was much more methodical in my scouring of Silph Co. Explore the outer areas first, and only take warp pads when I had done all else I could do on a floor.
I kept going, floor by floor, until I ran into a familiar face: Archer. Trace and I engaged him in a double battle, where I got to see for the first time that Trace had added the Cubone to his team. We defeated Archer, and I was able to nab the Card Key. Now nowhere in Silph was off-limits to me.
I continued exploring, and ran into another familiar face: the âbeautiful spyâ from the Rocket Hideout, who healed my Pokemon. I really like that theyâre a recurring healer NPC, itâs a nice touch.
It was also here where someone gifted me my final team member: Sevlio the Lapras.
Archer ran up to try and stop me, but Trace held him off, and it was up to me and my team to take on Giovanni. There was a final battle with the Team Rocket trio in between this too, but it wasnât really anything of note.
The dialogue you overhear just before the battle with Giovanni is rather interesting. It seems like Team Rocket and Silph Co were in some sort of collaboration? Thereâs mentions of a deal, and hints at shady stuff going on behind the scenes, rife for fanfic potential.
But thatâs for another time. It was time for me to battle Giovanni againâŠand Jackie still soloed most of his team, only needing Tarlo for the final hit against his Nidoqueen.
Saffron was now freed of Team Rocketâs influence, and now it was time for me to take on the gym.
I made a quick pitstop at the Fighting Dojo to take it on too, and Lynno and Tarlo had a mostly easy time with it.
The Saffron gym gate needed me to have a level 40 Pokemon to enter, and luckily Jackie was quite a bit higher than that thanks to all the Rocket grunts in Silph Co.
The gym aesthetic here is immaculate. I really have to give credit where itâs due, Letâs Go does an amazing job at giving the Kanto gyms a massive glowup.
Sabrinaâs gym trainers and Sabrina herself were all pretty tricky, even with Baddy Bad on Jackie. I had to leave a couple times to heal my Pokemon, but eventually I emerged victorious with my fifth Kanto badge.
With Saffronâs gym defeated, I headed over to Route 16 to wake the Snorlax there.
To my surprise, it was an actual battle! And a pretty tough one too!
Unlike most wild Pokemon encounters in Letâs Go, it seems static encounters, such as the Snorlax, are closer to regular mainline wild Pokemon encounters, minus the careful HP manipulation. I had to defeat the Snorlax before I could try to catch it.
There was also an additional mechanic here: the Match Timer. It started at five minutes, and kept constantly ticking down throughout the battle, even during menus and battle animations. I have slightly mixed feelings about this. Itâs a really good way to add tension and put pressure on you, butâŠI also donât really like time limits.
In any case, I defeated the Snorlax, and caught it, freeing the way to Cycling Road. OrâŠPokemon Road now.
I made a quick detour to the secret house up north, hoping to get the HM Fly equivalent, butâŠonly TM Fly was there. No fast travel for me.
So where did I have to go to find my fast travel, then?
I sighed, and went to travel down Pokemon Road. The correct way this time, not backwards like in Firered.
Itâs a very different experience than in Firered, thatâs for sure. No bicycles or slopes, just trainers hanging out with their Pokemon. It was nice seeing the various Pokemon out and about, and a bit of interesting strategy to help me prepare against their trainers.
I figure now is as good a time as any to talk about Coach Trainers, one of the new mechanics in Letâs Go. See, in every major area with wild Pokemon, thereâs special trainers who are extra strong, and give you items if you defeat them. I quite like this addition! Theyâre kinda like the dark text trainers in Violet, as an extra challenge in areas, and you can get some nice rewards from them.
Making my way down into Fuchisia City, itâs probably the town that got the biggest overhaul in Letâs Go. That was for after I visited the Pokemon Center and healed up my team, though.
The special move tutor was back one final time, and they had one more selection of fascinating moves to show me: Sappy Seed, Freezy Frost, and Sparkly Swirl, based on Leafeon, Glaceon, and Sylveon. I decided to go with Sappy Seed, since the other two types were covered by Ninetales. Itâs like Buzzy Buzz and Baddy Bad, but inflicts Leech Seed as its special effect. Pretty handy!
Now that Jackie was fully decked out with special Eevee moves (and Swift), I decided to head to the Safari Zone. I was treated to an absolutely adorable scene of Jackie playing with the various Pokemon there, which wasâŠabout the only good thing I can say about the changes made here.
The Safari Zone itself, while I really didnât like it in Firered, could at least have been made into a Wild Area or something like in Shield, but instead itâs been replaced entirely with the GO Park Complex, which required connectivity with Pokemon GO to function. As someone who doesnât play Pokemon GO, it didnât leave me with anything to do here.
This omission made me come to a realization: I hadnât seen any hint of held items or abilities at all throughout Letâs Go Eevee. I know itâs kinda bad to have them gone, but I feel like itâs a testament to how much I loved this game that I didnât notice their absence until this far in.
The bad times werenât stopping, though, as I tried to enter the Fuchisia City gym, only to be stopped by the most ludicrous gym gate yet: I needed to have 50 unique species of Pokemon registered in my pokedex.
Thankfully, due to my earlier decision to try catching âem all, I was at about 45 species, but still. Not great.
I headed south to see if I could find some Pokemon down there for my dex, and ran into the Team Rocket trio freaking about some gold teeth, which they then thrust onto me before skedaddling. Bizarre interaction, but itâs always nice to see the Team Rocket trio.
I went back to Fuchisia to explore the rest of the town, and got Jackie two more secret techniques: Strong Push (basically HM Strength) and Sea Skim (basically HM Surf). Now there was no overworld obstacle in Kanto that could stand in Jackieâs way.
I caught a few Pokemon on the coast, and decided to head east, since I hadnât explored this part of Kanto in this game yet. Maybe Iâd catch the rest of the Pokemon I needed here, too.
This area of Kanto would soon become my second least favorite, right after Rock Tunnel.
Its main problem is just how long it goes without any Pokemon Centers or healer NPCs. Itâs absolutely packed with strong trainers, so youâll need to either stock up on potions, or backtrack a lot.
At least I reached 50 Pokemon registered in my Pokedex, but I decided to keep exploring while I was here. Maybe Iâd finally find my fast travel?
I battled fishermen and another Snorlax, but no luck. Nobody was giving me the HM Fly equivalent, and I was starting to wonder if there even was one in this game.
I headed back west to Celadon. Intending to check the house of the person who gave me TM Fly again. Maybe sheâd give me Jackie the secret technique if I talked to her again?
On my way there, though, I found someone in front of the Celadon Game Corner, next to an odd contraption with balloons. I decided to talk to him, and it turns out, he was the guy whoâd give Jackie Sky Dash, my fast travel. Finally, I had all five secret techniques, and could backtrack with ease.
Now that I finally had fast travel, there was somewhere I wanted to see. Somewhere I hadn't been able to find in my playthrough of Firered.
The Abandoned Power Plant.
I had tried to find it back when I played Firered, since it was on the map, but I couldnât find any other pathways away from the Rock Tunnel entranceâŠor so I thought. I had completely neglected to consider that the waterway could be a path.
But in Letâs Go Eevee, there was a hint: Loreleiâs little visit in this exact area, riding a Lapras in that waterway.
I wondered: could I go where she went? Did it lead to the fabled Power Plant?
And so, I sky dashed back to Cerulean City, and made my way to the waterway that Lorelei had been at. Sure enough, I could sea skim down the waterway, and at its end, the elusive Power Plant I was so curious about.
It was rather fascinating to explore an entirely new area in Kanto (or at least, new to me), and I took my time combing through every last bit of it. I find it neat how you can tell the Electrodes from the items by if the poke balls are upside-down or not.
And at the end of the Power Plant, I was met with an astounding surprise: One of the legendary birds, Zapdos.
I was stunned. I mean, I knew that this was where Zapdos is, thanks to the manga, but I didnât think itâd be here already! I thought it was a postgame-exclusive Pokemon!
Since I was already here, I figured, why not try and catch Zapdos?
I was really pleased that they brought back the system from the Snorlax fights, where you battle the wild Pokemon, even if I have mixed feelings on the Match Timer. It was a tricky battle, since I couldnât use Buzzy Buzz to paralyze Zapdos, given that itâs an electric-type. Instead, I opted to use Sappy Seed. Despite it being not very effective against the flying-type, the constant HP drain from the Leech Seed attribute slowly wore Zapdos down alongside other moves, until its HP was depleted.
Then was the hard part: Actually catching it.
Thankfully, I still had plenty of Ultra Balls, but the only Razz Berries I had were ones that my Pokemon had occasionally found in bushes, so I only had about 20 or so of them.
It took dozens of Ultra Balls, and all but 5 of my Razz Berries, but I managed to catch Zapdos, and I felt amazed.
With that little detour finished, I sky dashed back to Fuchisia, and finally took on its gym.
Itâs probably my favorite gym design in all of Kanto, and got such a glowup from Firered. The entire gym is now made of wood, with intricate carvings of poison-type Pokemon in the windows. The gym puzzle itself isnât blind guessing anymore either, with the fog occasionally showing where the invisible walls are.
Koga himself, though, was a pretty easy foe for Tarlo, and I won my sixth Kanto badge.
With the mainland of Kanto done with for now, I headed south to the Seafoam Islands.
I'm really glad they put a healer NPC outside the Seafoam Islands cave, so I didn't have to sea skim all the way back to a Pokemon Center.
Now that wild Pokemon encounters were more manageable, the Seafoam Islands were much more enjoyable. I get it was kinda my fault back in Firered for refusing to use Repels until Victory Road, but still, the strength (or âstrong pushâ now) puzzles felt less annoying without random encounters every few steps.
This is also where I stumbled upon Articuno by complete accident.
I was just doing strong push puzzles, and I guess I went a bit deeper than the main path? Instead of finding the exit, I found the legendary bird of ice.
Since I had already caught Zapdos, I decided to try and catch Articuno as well.
Due to not being electric-type, Articuno's battle was easier than Zapdosâ, since I could use Buzzy Buzz to full effect.
Catching it was just as much an ordeal as Zapdos, if not even moreso due to my dwindling Razz Berry and Ultra Ball supply. I was going to have to restock on those soon.
But eventually, Articuno stayed in the ball. That was two out of the three legendary birds caught.
The question then, was: where is Moltres?
But that was a question for later. For now, I made my way out of the Seafoam Islands, and sea skimmed over to Cinnabar.
I didn't really realize it in Firered, buy Cinnabar Island feels very lonely. There's not a single residential building you can in and talk to the inhabitants of. There's just the gym, the Pokemon Center and Poke Mart, the research lab, and the Pokemon Mansion.
I bought a good 60 or so Ultra Balls, but it seemed like Berries werenât for sale. So, with the gym locked up tight, I headed into the mansion, where Mewtwo had been created.
The haunting atmosphere of this place both was and wasn't dialed down from Firered. The journal entries are abbreviated, and I do feel like something was lost there. But I feel like what more than makes up for it is the flavor text on the container that had presumably contained Mewtwo: that it showed signs of desperate escape attempts from inside.
With that chilling image fresh in my mind, I grabbed the key, and entered the Cinnabar Gym.
To say it was whiplash from what I had just experienced would be an understatement. I had just delved deep into the shadows of Team Rocket's experiments, and now here I was, stepping up to participate in this amazingly goofy game show.
I adore the gyms in Let's Go. I feel like the latter four are some of the best in the franchise.
I had a lot of fun with this gym, and managed to get all five questions right, netting myself a lovely prize of five Blaine dolls, and a match with the man himself.
He didn't put up too much of a fight, and I got myself my seventh badge. The only one left was the one in Viridian City.
And so, I sea skimmed my way back home to Pallet Town, to make the trip back up Route 1 to my final challenge.
OnlyâŠhe still wasnât here yet. Instead, Trace was waiting at the entrance, wondering the same thing I was.
Given the option to ask Jackie who the Viridian gym leader was, I instantly knew what I was picking. Unfortunately, neither of us could understand her telling us that the gym leader is the boss of Team Rocket.
With no other options, we headed back to Professor Oakâs lab, only to find an immense surprise waiting for us there.
Professor Oak was gifting Trace and I Key Stones, to allow us to use Mega Evolution.
I was stunned. I didnât think mega evolution was in this game! This was so fascinating and exciting to me!
Unfortunately, I had no idea where to find Mega Stones, but it was still really cool!
Exiting the lab, I received some important news: the Viridian gym leader was finally back.
Before I could make my way there, though, Jackie decided to play in the flowers of our hometown a bit. A farewell for now, until the title of Champion was ours.
It was time for my final gym, and I ran back to Viridian, setting foot inside its gym.
Viridian Cityâs gym was just as fun as its Firered incarnation, with puzzles involving both spin tiles and trainerâs lines of sight. But with all the gym trainers defeated, I made my way to the gym leaderâs area. The lights lit up, revealing Giovanni, in front of a map of Kanto.
Our final match was about to beginâŠat least until Yellow, Ultra Moon, and Soulsilverâs postgame.
He was more powerful than ever, but so was I. Jackie made quick work of most of his ground-types with Sappy Seed, but I had to switch to Tarlo for his Nidos.
With Giovanni defeated for good (for this game), I exited the gym, and met with Blue. Apparently, with how absent Giovanni had been, heâd been considered to be the next one to run the Viridian City gym, and he finally accepted. It was really cool to see this happen, given what I know about his position in the Johto games.
All eight Kanto badges were now mine, and there was only one place left explored for me: The route west of Viridian.
As I walked through it, Trace ran up to me, and challenged me to a battle. Both of us had gotten our full badge collections, and he wanted to test his skills against me.
I won, but he was getting pretty tough. Heâd clearly been putting a lot of work into training.
He ran ahead, and I followed behind, arriving at the badge check gates.
I know I already said this in my Firered retrospective, but I still absolutely adore this. Itâs so cool having each of your badges individually checked as you progress through this final route. I also got a bit of a chuckle at the mention of Surgeâs autograph.
With all eight badge checks complete, though, it was time for me to enter Victory Road.
It was about the same as in Firered, as far as I could tell. Same puzzles, same trainers. However, between playing Firered, and making it this far in Letâs Go Eevee, I had watched adefâs video on if Fireredâs Victory Road trainers could actually make it there. It was very fun seeing the trainers again, now that I was more familiar with them. I especially got a kick out of battling Juggler Nelson.
It was here in Victory Road, where I found Moltres. I guess itâs here because of all the torches? Still kinda baffling to me, but eh.
Moltres was by far the easiest of the legendary birds to battle. Two Buzzy Buzzes from Jackie and it was down. It didnât even get a chance to attack.
Catching it, though, was a much different story. I had found some Golden Razz Berries on the route with the badge checks, but I only had five of them. I had to make them count, and I ended up only using one, and saving the other four for later as I threw Ultra Ball after Ultra Ball.
Eventually I caught Moltres, and with that, all three legendary birds. What an achievement!
With that out of the way, I finished making my way through Victory Road, and entered the Pokemon League building.
It was here where I finally met the Move Relearner, whichâŠwhat is with Kanto and making the move relearners so late? In Firered, they were in the Sevii Islands, and here, theyâre all the way at the Pokemon League. Why?!
Anyways, I healed my team, and proceeded forth into Loreleiâs chamber.
Our battle felt far more impactful than in Firered. She was more than a random stranger, she was someone I knew, and who helped me on my journey. She was also pretty tough, and I was only barely able to keep Jackie from fainting before I defeated her.
Next was Bruno, and I just want to say that I love the little opening cinematics for the Elite Four in this game, with the screen being frozen over for Lorelei, a flurry of punches impacting it for Bruno, and so on. He was also rather tough, and I couldnât use Jackie at all here against his fighting-types. Instead, Tarlo took the stage, and I moved on to Agatha.
She was laughably easy. None of her ghost-type moves could hit Jackie, while Jackieâs Baddy Bad made quick work of her team. The only problems were her non-ghosts, but Tarlo could still clear them pretty easily.
Last of the Kanto Elite Four was Lance, and I put Ninetales in front for this battle. Dual ice and fairy typing would take care of his team quickly, I thought, until I realized he only had one actual dragon-type. He was a pretty tough foe without the safety of the fairy type on my side, and I had to work for this win.
Only one battle remained: the championship bout.
I took a moment to prepare and heal my team, before I stepped forth to battle against Trace one last time.
He immediately started off with the surprises by mega evolving his Pidgeot. I wasnât expecting Traceâs Key Stone to actually be used here! But no, he was in this to win.
It was an intense battle, and I wish I could recount it all, but the most standout moments were the Pidgeot to Mega Pidgeot standoff, and Jackie hanging on with 2 HP at a critical moment.
It was such an amazing and cool and awesome battle, and cemented Trace as a top 5 rival for me.
With enough strategy and patience, though, I managed to win, and became champion of Kanto again.
Letâs Go Eevee is an amazing game, in my opinion. Itâs the most overlooked of the Switch-era mainline Pokemon titles, and I feel like thatâs really unfortunate, because whatâs here is really special. I have my gripes with some aspects of it, yes, but I think the positives more than make up for it.
I donât see Firered giving you the most adorable and fluffy Eevee companion, after all.
