When players were first speculating about Pokémon's jump to Nintendo Switch, the Let's Go games weren't what most imagined. Somewhere between a simplified remake of Kanto and a console re-imagining of Pokémon GO, Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee proved to be divisive. The games were a spin-off side-step that many derided for being too simple and, in some respects, too safe. For as well as the games sold, the tepid community response colored the narrative around them. However, the Let's Go formula is intriguing and experimental in ways that the Pokémon series desperately needs.
Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee truly came at the perfect time. For many fans, Nintendo 3DS era Pokémon was becoming stale. Generation VII attempted to refresh the formula with new elements like Island Trials, but those gimmicks wore thin. This was especially the case after Ultra Sun and Moon, which were incredibly iterative follow-ups to the original releases. Gen VII proved that Pokémon needed more than an aesthetic shift and vaguely remixed structural elements to feel fresh. It needed fundamental gameplay changes, and Let's Go provided those.
In the face of its obvious shortcomings, Let's Go was a reinvigorating game that capitalized on what continues to be the freshest game in the modern Pokémon landscape: Pokémon GO. The magic of GO is that it, like Pokémon Snap, showed the player a new side of the series. It brought Pokémon to life in ways that the formulaic main series couldn't.
A New Take on Pokémon RPGs
Let's Go took that focus and applied it to the core formula successfully. While the GO-style catching mechanics didn't hit for everyone, they provided an arguably tactile and satisfying way to engage the player. It made the exciting (often melodramatic) act of throwing a Poké Ball in the anime into a legitimate gameplay mechanic. Throwing the ball was no longer a quick "A" press, but a deliberate action. Beyond that, the implementation of overworld Pokémon and Pokémon walking with the trainer added another layer of believability and organic design to the experience.
The latter elements were integrated into the main series through Pokémon Sword and Shield, but they were integrated from the blueprint of an experimental Pokémon experience. The main series is fresher as a result of ideas workshopped in Let's Go, and Pokémon GO before it. That is the strength of the sub-genre. Pokémon Let's Go can inherently be more experimental; it can be a place for Game Freak to throw new concepts against the wall and see what sticks. It allows Pokémon to get weird -- sometimes more casual -- and then carry over only the best components for future mainline titles.
Most Pokémon spin-offs are so divergent from the core RPGs that they can't have much impact on the overall series. Let's Go sits on the intersection between mainline title, spin-off and remake. These diverging and converging identities allow Let's Go to be something unique, which Pokémon desperately needs, and that uniqueness can inform the trajectory of the core generations.
Let's Go Sinnoh?
This sort of freedom allows for remakes and revisits that feel genuinely fresh. This is the other component to Let's Go's success that is worth carrying forward. Most Pokémon remakes, like FireRed and LeafGreen or Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, are glossy but stagnant revisits of the original games. Let's Go, by contrast, offers a new way to engage with and appreciate Red and Blue.
While many players want a straightforward remake of Generation IV this year, a Let's Go Sinnoh is the more compelling option in some respects. Pokémon Platinum still exists and still offers the hardcore challenge fans love it for. Instead of retreading the same ground in HD, a Let's Go Sinnoh could allow the community to experience the generation in a new light with fresh gameplay systems.
Certain elements of the Let's Go formula should be changed before being implemented into a new game, though. While the idea of a simplified, accessible Pokémon game works on paper, Let's Go Pikachu and Eeevee did take that too far in execution. Held items should come back, among the other core Pokémon elements that were cut. These were flawed games.
However, the principle is in the potential. Let's Go games can experiment and offer a Pokémon adventure with a different texture. This is what Pokémon needs, and what the main games can't provide. It provides an avenue for Game Freak to innovate and experiment with new concepts while also providing the traditional, iterative main series games that players expect.