When Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! were first announced, series producer and director Junichi Masuda explained that the new games were heavily influenced by, though not direct remakes of, 1998’s Pokémon: Yellow Version. There were a number of things that made Yellow Version unique and stand out from Red and Blue, despite also taking place in the Kanto region. Things like having Pikachu as a starter, and having that Pikachu follow you around in the overworld instead of staying in its PokéBall, were meant to reflect the popular Pokémon anime, which led a number of fans to the games. This mechanic is reflected in Pokémon: Let’s Go with the inclusion of having your starter (either Pikachu or Eevee, depending on your game) always on the player character’s shoulder or head, rather than in a PokéBall, while also allowing other Pokémon in your party to follow you around in the overworld.
Another tie-in with the TV show present in Yellow Version was the inclusion of the characters Jessie and James from the anime’s version of Team Rocket. Since Pokémon started as a video game series, you see characters that originated in the games appearing in the show all the time, but you almost never see characters that originated in the show appearing in the games. However, in a new video that was recently uploaded to the official Japanese Pokémon YouTube channel, it was confirmed that Jessie and James will be returning to the games as they will appear in Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Eevee! It’s easy to miss, since they’re only in the video for a quick second, but you can spot them at around 54 seconds into the video.
Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Eevee! will be released on November 16 for Nintendo Switch.
