Pokémon Recreates Original Anime Opening with Let’s Go Gameplay

It’s become very clear through their marketing campaign that The Pokémon Company and Game Freak are targeting two audiences with the new Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!, which launched today (November 16) on the Nintendo Switch. These two audiences are: 1. newcomers who are playing a mainline game for the first time ever, and 2. those who grew up with the first Generation and are nostalgic about the Kanto region. Well, a new video on The Official Pokémon YouTube channel is going hard on this second group as it cranks the nostalgia levels up to eleven.

In the new video, a new version of the “Gotta Catch ’em All” theme song from the first season of the Pokémon anime plays while gameplay from the new games is shown. What really sells it, however, is how the footage used almost perfectly matches up with the images used in the anime’s original opening. The video opens up with Mewtwo and Mew, the quick cut-aways to random Pokémon and characters are the same, and there’s even a shot of a Haunter using Lick on a Charmander. Those who grew up watching the show religiously and have the opening memorized will recognize every shot in this video, and it is glorious.