WMG / Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!

Pre-release

Pokémon Bank support will be a feature.

Because while it is a spin-off, doing so would allow players to migrate Go Pokémon into the main games, and since they're already having Go support in this game as a core feature, there's no reason not to do so.

That "special Pokémon" teased at the end of the announcement trailer will be...

• A new Eeveelution of a formerly unused type.
• Mew.
• Zeraora.
  • Mew and Zeraora are Jossed; the Pokémon is confirmed to be never-before-seen.
• A new evolution for Pikachu.
  • Gorochu.
  • A new evolution for Pikachu in "Let's Go Pikachu" and a new evolution for Eevee in "Let's Go Eevee".
• A squirrel or an anthropomorphic daifuku Pokémon based on the Development Gag that Pikachu was first based on squirrels and daifuku during its initial creation.
• One that would have otherwise debut in Gen VIII.
• A physical-oriented Dark-type to keep Psychic-type Gen I in check.
  • That's the main reason why Alolan forms are apparently included: type diversity. Alolan Rattata, Grimer and Meowth are all Dark types and Alolan Marowak is a Ghost.
  • Not to mention that Mega Gyrados will also be in the game.
  • Will also be part Ghost to go against Mega Mewtwo X.
• Missingno.
• As part of Pokémon: The Power of Us's WMG theory about Zeraora reprenting Byakko of the Four Gods, what if the new Pokemon is a merged species of Pikachu and Eevee? slightly more robust like Jolteon, with the slenderness of Espeon but slightly rugged like Flareon? (however it'd be Grey, Eevee's shiny color, with vague Pikachu-esque markings) it'll be an above-average Pokemon that can use either a Light Ball or an item Eevee gets (mainly to have equal footing with Pikachu) to build its other playstyles.
  • They'll tout this pokemon as a Manaphy-type situation where it's the only game where you can obtain it. Zeraora would essentially be a mutated fusion that's unbreedable. but the design choices of Merged-Eevee coincidentally foreshadows new Eeveelutions for Generation 8's games; a Steel-type and a Flying-type as 2 sides of a Decomposite Character. electing calling them Soareon and Steeleon. Zeraora's typing would've been Steel/Normal due to mutation, but it's electric typing and unnatural magnetic powers (it lacks electricity-generating Organs) implies that it gained those powers seperately, due to the Eevee genetics, it went beyond from simply being Steel/Normal, and got overrun with electrical power, becoming wholly electric.
• One of the Pokemon that was cut from the 1997 Gold and Silver demo.
• Poipole: In the anime right now, Ash has a Poipole who is fascinated with Pikachu. It's even a starter in its own world in the same way Pikachu and Eevee are in Let's Go.
  • Jossed. As stated above, the Pokémon is going to be never-before-seen.
• New regional variants.
• One that resembles that generic monster on a statue.
• A Chikorita (which is one dex away from being a part of 151) that can never evolve.
  • Or since it'll be a new Pokémon, replace Chikorita with the Gen VIII Grass starter for the guess.
• A Darwinian evolutionary ancestor of Pikachu and/or Eevee.
• An Ultra Beast.
• A Togepi clone.
• Mewthree
• The (in-universe) next attempt at creating the world's strongest Pokémon after Mewtwo.
• Some old unused prototypes to retain the old-world design.
  • All jossed; it’s a new Pokémon named Meltan. However, its typing and connection to Ditto does bring to mind Ditto’s scrapped evolution, for those who guessed that one of the scrapped designs would make it in.
  • Also it's technically not just one Pokémon since it's actually two; Meltan evolves into Melmetal when given 400 Meltan Candies in GO, but can't evolve within Let's Go at all.

All 807 Pokémon are programmed or will be programmed into the game.

While advertising suggests that there's only 151, they've said nothing about post-game or even patches.

• The compatibility with Pokémon GO suggest that second and third generation pokemon can be programed in the game.
• Maybe this will appear as a Downloadable Content.
• A lot of Switch games have "rolling updates" where they patch new content into a game. That's what I envision being done with this game as well.
• Not only that, but so would Gen VIII.
• Jossed for now. Data miners reveal that with a few exceptions all Pokémon not part of the original 151 have missing data.

A new Pikachu and an Eevee amiibo will be released.

Candela, Blanche, and Spark will make an appearance.

Maybe Professor Willow will as well.

• What about Dr. Juvenile? Since these characters are designed by the same guy who designed No More Heroes characters, why not?
• Well in that case any character from Fire Emblem: Awakening or Fire Emblem Fates could appear if that's the only qualification.
• In the reveal trailers for Meltan and Melmetal, Willow is seen discussing with Oak about the new mons; that aside, he's completely absent in the Let's Go itself.

Both Pikachu and Eevee will be able to evolve.

Unlike in Pokémon Yellow, where you were unable to evolve Pikachu.

• Jossed. Your starters can't evolve, but any other members of their species that you catch can.

Flying Pikachu and Surfing Pikachu will be available.

• Bonus: There will be special variants for Eevee to parallel with these Pikachu variants.
  • They might even include minigames like an updated version of Pikachu's Beach that can be played if you have those variants.
• Pretty much confirmed this trailer shows that both partner Pokémon will have "Secret Techniques" that are unique to them and will replace H Ms without taking up move slots. They even show Pikachu on a surboard and Eevee taking off with balloons.
• Fly and Surf are partially alluded to with Floaty Fall and Splishy Splash for Partner Pikachu's exclusive moves, as both function identical to Fly and Surf aside from also having a chance to flinch or paralyze respectively, although Floaty Fall doesn't have the charge up turn like how Fly does.

Pokeballs will be extremely cheap and/or given away often.

As a way to offset the problem with using the Pokémon GO style of catching.

• Partially confirmed. You receive Poke Balls as a victory prize in battles.
• Confirmed. Not only are all three types of the original Gen I shop Poké Balls significantly cheaper than they were when last seen in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon^note (Poké Balls cost 100 instead of 200, Great Balls 300 instead of 600, and then Ultra Balls at 500 instead of 1200 in Pre-Gen VII games or the 800 in the Alola games), but there are a few spots in the game where an NPC will give you free Poké Balls if you ever run out, first encountering the NPC in Mt. Moon. Also, when buying increments of 10 for getting a free Premier Ball, it's now also applied to Great Balls and Ultra Balls for the Premier Ball free bonus, and you'll get multiple Premier Balls at a time if you purchase a lot of Poké Balls at once for every increment of 10 included in the purchase. The Master Ball can likewise be very rarely found as a hidden item in the treasure room of Cerulean Cave in the post game, and can indefinitely respawn.

The Vs. Seeker will make a return.

Since encountering wild Pokémon works more like how it is in Pokémon Go, this may create a problem where there are limited opportunities to level up your party. To compensate, you'll be able to re-battle various trainers.

The Sevii Islands will return as DLC.

And for a bonus, it contains Pokémon that are not part of the original 150.

The Team Rocket Trio from the anime will appear

This game is based on Yellow and Masuda states he chose Yellow for the inspiration because it brought in fans thanks to similarities with the anime.

They may cause a little trouble you'll need to prepare for, and could be repurposed to make it a double battle.

• Confirmed in this trailer.

You’ll be able to get Pikanium-Z and Eevium-Z in the game.

Since your starters can't evolve, and the crystals can’t be used on the evolved forms, this would be a good way to introduce the mechanic to new players. This assumes that the starters can battle at all.

• Since the trainers don't appear to be wearing anything on their wrists, I don't think mechanics like Z-moves or mega evolution will be included in this game.
  • Jossed for the above in regards to Mega Evolution; a video was released on the official channel on August 9th, 2018, which reveals that Mega Evolution will indeed be in the games, showcasing both Mega Charizard versions along with Mega Venusaur and Mega Blastoise. Still up in the air whether or not Z-Moves will also be featured, however.
• There's a possibility that the Trainers might receive them late in the game, but considering that this is based mostly on Gen I, it does sound unlikely.
• Jossed. Neither of the Z-Crystals are obtainable.

Gyms will reappear and they may be able to serve as training venues as well as to get medals.

In Real Life gyms are used to train people, so why not train pokemon. Maybe you will be able to rematch their trainers or play special minigames there to give experience to your pokemons since the removal of clasical wild pokemon battles didn't allow Level Grinding.

• Level Grinding can be done by catching Pokémon as, much like with Gen VI onward, catching Pokémon yields experience, and Let's Go has unique multipliers to boost the experience higher than what would be given through trainers normally. Rematching the individual gyms is possible in the post-game, with the first seven gyms increasing their teams to five Pokémon each and Blue taking over Viridian Gym and having 6 Pokémon including Mega Charizard Y as his final mon.

Lillie will appear.

Lillie is a pretty beloved character among fans of the mainline RPGs, and at the end of Pokémon Sun and Moon, she leaves to Kanto. These games take place in Kanto. While the time period/canonicity of these games aren't yet known, it would be nice to see her again.

• That would depend on what role Red and Blue play in the game, but it's very possible at this point.
• I imagine her battling you twice or thrice throughout, not exactly as a 'rival' & once just before the League, at the end of victory road, with NEBBY in her party. She might also say that you remind her of the SM protagonist, and say that she wants to become the Champion to match the SM gang in strength.
• Jossed for Lillie anyways, but someone does show up who was first introduced in Sun and Moon; specifically a younger version of Mina who you meet in-game after watching the S.S. Anne depart. She can even be rematched in the post game as a means of acquiring bottle caps for Hyper Trainer, and although she doesn't have any Pokémon on her team that were first introduced as new species in Gen VII, she does have an Alolan Ninetales and two others which are all Fairy Type as to coincide with her normal type specialty.

Wild Encounters...

Will still give experience for catching Pokémon because every game beginning with Gen VI gives you experience for catching mons rather than solely through fainting them. In other words, Level Grinding is still a part of the game, just not in the same traditional sense for Wild Mons.

• Confirmed

Trainer Customization options.

While it hasn't been revealed for player characters (Pikachu and Eevee can be customized), I'd be shocked if the players can't also be customized, since you can do it in the 3DS games and Pokemon Go. But what sort of option would you want to see?

• Outfits of all the protagonists, even spin-off titles.
• Outfits based on popular Pokemon and trainer classes.
• The option to go barefoot in addition to going hatless.
• GREEN OUTFITS!!! There aren’t that many in recent games...
• Ash’s Outfit (His Alolan Hat appeared in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, so why not?)
• Recolors of clothing based on Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle's color schemes.
• Swimsuits?
• The option to dress as Pikachu or Eevee. It would be funny if Pikachu/Eevee could dress as the trainer while the trainer dresses as the starter.
• It's now confirmed that trainers can also be customized but it isn't known by how much (it's not known if they could either be full outfits or each article of clothing can be bought and worn separately).
• Height and/or age could be a factor, given that many pokemon go players may find going from a teenager to an eleven year old jarring.
• A majority of these are either jossed or confirmed; Pikachu and Raichu get version exclusive outfits themed after them, and some of the Eeveelutions from other generations cameo as unlockable outfits for the player in Let's Go, Eevee!. In addition, Pikachu and Eevee get matching sets of clothing as the player does, though in the player's case, rather than getting individual sets of clothing like in the Gen VI and VII games for the Nintendo 3DS, they get matching pieces of clothing designed mostly as a set to go with each other. The starter also gets exclusive accessories it can wear as well, including one super expensive crown, all of which purchasable at Celadon City. One more thing is that at the very beginning of the game only, the player's skin tone and hair color can be picked to be different from the default, but you can't change your hair color or style in any way or form later on. Anything else not mentioned at all in this bullet point that is mentioned further above is completely Jossed.

The Rival Character's Starter

It should be expected that the Rival is still Professor Oak's grandson. As for what Pokémon he will start with, it might be the opposite of the Pokémon the player receives depending on the version instead of the three Kanto starters (i.e.: he'll receive Eevee like he did in Pokémon Yellow whereas in Let's Go, Eevee! he'll receive Pikachu instead).

• Confirmed
• Jossed as far as Blue himself reprising the role as the rival; everything else ultimately checks out with how Trace's starter works.

Timeline placement

Is the game going to be a straight remake or is it a new story? So far it seems like it takes place in Kanto of the Red and Blue era (that empty lot in Vermillion City is still not built!) But its possible that this game will pull an Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire and its another alternate timeline, which would explain the Alolan Pokémon that are supposedly in the game.

Alolan Raichu, Exeggutor and Marowak will not be in the game

As their pre-evolved forms are non-regional variant Pokemon, it wouldn't make any sense for them to evolve into their Alolan forms.

• They could still make it work by making the regular and Alolan forms split evolutions, like how Rockruff can evolve into different forms of the same Pokémon. A majority of them do share the same evolution method, so that won't be possible without some minor changes. (And minor changes are entirely possible.)
• They could also evolve into Alolan forms by leveling up in a specific location that gives off an "Alolan" vibe. Maybe Cinnabar Island?
• Jossed. Instead, they can be obtained through in-game trades.

Mew will be catchable in the same way it was in the first generation.

• This capture method will add some new Anti-Frustration Features to prevent the Pokemon from being event-exclusive.
  • Or the method will change completely and it will be only a Mythology Gag in Route 24. Possibly related to Bill.
  • Or directly it will not be present in the game and it will be an event-exclusive pokémon, like it was in the previous games.
  • Or it will have a place somewhere in the post-game just like Deoxys from Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
• Jossed. It is instead obtainable through the purchase of Poké Ball Plus.

In Let's Go, Eevee!, you'll get a Pikachu instead of an Eevee from Celadon Condominiums.

Just like in Yellow, Pikachu won't be found in the wild in either game.

• Jossed; it was confirmed that you can get more than one Eevee or Pikachu in both games so you can get their evolved forms.
  • The part about only getting one of each is Jossed, but the part about getting Pikachu in Celadon still stands.
  • Jossed: no gift Pokémon is acquired through Celadon Condominiums; regular Pikachu appear in Viridian Forest regardless of version as normal, whereas Eevee now instead appears on Pokémon Road (where cycling road normally once was).

The Team Rocket Executives from HeartGold and SoulSilver will reappear.

As a way of adding more variety to Team Rocket besides normal grunts and Giovanni. Granted, this would mean retconning the implication that Archer and Arianna were leading the Sevii Islands branch at the time, but it's unlikely the Sevii Islands will appear anyway.

• At most, I'd expect Proton and Petrel to appear in the main story, with the latter disguising himself as Giovanni to try and keep Team Rocket from falling apart without him, Proton taking the Rocket Trio's role and assuming their Pokemon (Ekans, Koffing, and Meowth, in addition to Zubat), and Archer and Ariana keeping their FRLG roles.
• Confirmed, but it's reduced to Archer all on his own, and he doesn't even interact with the TR Trio as suggested above with Proton. The other three are completely absent, and Archer doesn't even use his signature Houndoom for obvious reasons. Archer's frustration with the player for causing Giovanni to bail continues into the post-game, putting his own plan to try and revive Team Rocket on his own within the next three years in motion.

The Celadon Game Corner will return.

Obviously, it won't have gambling anymore, but it will feature minigames nonetheless.

• Confirmed to be returning as an arcade. No word on if any games are playable.
• None of the games are playable and no coins can be bought, but hidden items still exist on the floor that occasionally respawn. This is the only way to get Golden Bottle Caps repeatedly at that.

The Kanto Power Plant will now be a special magnetic field...

In order to obtain the evolutions Magnezone, Probopass, and maybe Vikavolt (see post-game Pokémon entry).

• Jossed. All non-Gen I Pokémon are unobtainable in these games.

The truck in S.S. Anne's port will return and contain an Easter Egg.

Like in Fire Red/Leaf Green, though the reward may be different to the Lava Cookie obtained in the aforementioned games.

The Safari Zone will not return.

Instead, the GO Park from the trailer will take its place in Fuchsia City.

• Confrmed the interviews at E3 2018 says the Safari Zone was replaced with GO park.

Mewtwo will be That One Boss.

Mewtwo could serve as the true final boss of the game.

• Ultimately depends on how much you've trained ahead of time, if you happen to have Alolan Muk with Toxic or not at all, Mega Gyarados as an optional alternative, but regardless of the fact the point still stands that if you underestimate Mewtwo in the slightest you're greeted to Ultra Necrozma stat boosts it gets, which also apply to the three Legendary Birds as well when encountered initially.

Cross-gen evolution will be prevented.

Since only the first 151 Pokémon (plus a special, separate Pokémon) will be in this game, then the developers will go all the way to make evolving into non-Gen 1 Pokémon possible by the following measures:

• Methods:
  • Friendship ^{Affected Pokémon} Golbat, Chansey and Eevee: The mechanic is removed, justified as bonding with Pikachu/Eevee causes the trainer to neglect other Pokémon in their trust.
    • So the hero of this game is just a neglectful asshole? What kind of message do you think that sends?!
    • Zigzagged. Happiness is retained, just it being an evolution method is removed. Alolan Meowth also evolves by the same method as its regular counterpart, reaching Level 28 to become Alolan Persian.
  • Holding certain Item ^{Affected Pokémon} Poliwhirl, Slowpoke, Onix, Rhydon, Seadra, Scyther, Electabuzz, Magmar and Porygon: All Pokémon will not be able to hold items.
    • Confirmed
  • Knowing certain Move ^{Affected Pokémon} Lickitung and Tangela: The affected Pokémon will not be able to learn that move.
    • Confimed. In fact, those moves are not even in the game.
  • Eevee to Sylveon: Pokémon Amie/Refresh is removed.
    • What about a heavily-modified version of Amie/Refresh? The Poké Ball Plus showed the hints.
    • Partially confirmed. In addition to Refresh not being available to any other Eevee, they are also unable to learn any Fairy-type move. Your Partner Eevee, which seems to be an exception to both cases, cannot evolve anyways.
• Why do all that when they can just remove the evolutions from the game?
  • Because it wouldn't make sense why those Pokémon won't evolve despite meeting those requirements.

A lot of Pokémon will be missing from the 151.

Rather, these Pokémon will be exclusive to Pokémon GO and will be required for trading. This stems from the idea that the Safari Zone will the missing. So Pokémon from the Safari Zone, such as Tauros and Chansey, will not be in the Safari Zone, but missing entirely from the game and required to be sent from GO.

• Jossed. They are instead encounterable in other locations.
• Version exclusives and trade only evolutions can be obtained via GO to make trading unnecessary, but aside from that you're not missing much except for Meltan and Melmetal, who can only be obtained this way.

The games are sequels to the original Kanto-based games.

Based on the fact that the male character doesn't look a lot like Red, and either of the player characters could be Red's child, going off on their own adventure. If this is the case, perhaps the final battle will be against Red himself.

• The April 1st leaks support this idea, claiming that these games would be sequels to the Generation I games and that Red and Blue would make appearances.
• They're set in an alternate timeline where the protagonist and Trace live in the two houses in Palette Town, Blue's personality is slightly different and not as hostile as before, but he's not the rival this time, possibly implied to be old enough to live elsewhere instead of Palette Town; he, along with Red, also have a noticeably different choice of Pokémon this time around because as we learn with Green's inclusion in the game, all three of them are based off of their manga incarnations instead of their usual basis elsewhere in the core series games. Foreshadowing the manga basis for the three earlier is the unusual inclusion of Charizard on Blue's first battle team instead of his usual Arcanine elsewhere, as Charizard is his starter in Pokémon Adventures. Likewise Red still has the Pikachu, and despite not having the Poliwrath of his manga counterpart he still has Venusaur, and Green likewise has Blastoise. Also worth noting is that all three of them can Mega Evolve by the time you get to the post-game to face them then. Also as far as the Elite Four goes the first time, it happens exactly the way it did in Gen I, meaning Trace becomes the first Champion of Kanto briefly before being beaten by the player and the role being given to them instead.

Pikachu will be able to dress in its outfits from the various games

Because it would be nice call backs to Pikachu's past appearances wearing clothes, including its cosplay outfits from ORAS and its appearances wearing Ash's various hats.

• Confirmed. Matching outfit sets similar to the player's own custom clothing are present for both Pikachu and Eevee. In fact, simply by leaving Palette Town after getting the Pokédex, you'll automatically unlock a starting outfit for Pikachu or Eevee to wear based off of the protagonist's own starting outfit.

Chronologically, this is an Interquel between RBY and GSC.

Taking place before GSC could explain why this game only has 151 Pokémon in it.

New regional variants.

Its been confirmed that Alola forms will appear in this game, but there's also the possibility that other Pokémon from Gen 1 would also get this treatment and they're variants from the region of Gen 8.

• Jossed. There are no new variants.

The 151 Pokémon + Alolan forms + Special Pokémon being available refers to them only being the ones catchable in-game.

You still have access to those from other gens, but your have to transfer them from Pokémon GO, or evolve them for the case of cross-gen evolutionary lines. Also, none of them can be registered in the Pokédex.

• Jossed. Non Gen-I Pokémon cannot be transferred from Pokémon GO.

Leaf will make an appearance

It'd be a great way to tie these games in with Fire Red/Leaf Green, and the fact that she's now playable in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate may be an early indicator of her presence here.

• Confirmed. Green appears after catching Mewtwo when you revisit the spot it was encountered.
• Beating her the first time also is required to obtain Mewtwo's Mega Stones, and you can rematch her by defeating the Elite Four in which she'll respawn in Cerulean City near the fountain and will continue to appear again after each clear of the Elite Four onward, regardless of whether you've already faced her on a given day or not unlike with the gym leaders.

If there are sequels that take place in Johto, they'll be titled...

• Let's Go, Pichu! and Let's Go, Togepi! Since there aren't any other baby Pokemon that can be considered as iconic as those two.
  • "Let's Go, Togepi!" and "Let's Go, Marill!"
    • I think for the Johto games, you'd start with a regular starter Pokemon, bring the Egg back from Mr. Pokemon to Professor Elm, and Togepi hatches in a cutscene and becomes your partner Pokemon for good (Sufficiently buffed, of course). The games would be called "Let's Go Sky High" and "Let's Go Deep Down," referencing Ho-oh and Lugia, respecitvely.
• Let's Go, Raikou!, Let's Go, Entei!, and Let's Go, Suicune!, triple versions based on Pokemon Crystal.
  • Why would the game let you start off with Legendary Pokemon?
    • They could be debuffed in a reverse of how Pikachu and Eevee are getting buffed above their normal stats. And perhaps the debuff will be removed after defeating the Elite Four.
    • I'm thinking more of them being available to catch later in the game like Suicune from, Crystal, rather than recieving them at the start of the game like the current partner Pikachu and Eevee.
• Let's Go, Espeon and Let's Go Umbreon. It would be odd to start off with fully evolved Pokemon, but it wouldn't be the first time that they've specifically been starters.

Let's Go series for other regions.

• What about Let's Go, Mudkip that is based on Emerald? Or Let's Go, Riolu which is based on Platinum? Both games might be set in Hoenn and Sinnoh respectively.
  • If the games follow a pattern of "pokemon duos that can highlight the region that aren't starters", perhaps gen III will be Let's Go, Plusle! and Let's Go, Minun!
  • Gen IV could be Let's Go, Riolu and Let's Go, Munchlax!
• If they were to reuse the Unova maps, then Let's Go, Minccino and Let's Go, Emolga, since Minccino and Emolga are supposed Pikachu expies of Gen V.

There will be an in-game trade involving Alolan Graveler/Golem.

Not only will it demonstrate trade evolution, it'll also showcase regional variants.

• Jossed. At most, you'll get to recieve Alolan Geodude from the trade.
• Jossed as far as the trade evolution demonstrating goes, as no such trade exists in Let's Go. Alolan Geodude can be obtained in-game by trading a regular Geodude for it, or you could alternatively transfer Alolan Golem from GO since the original Kanto trade evolutions have no special requirements to obtain in GO aside from large sums of candy.

The Magicarp Salesman is moved backwards to Pewter City Pokémon Center.

The player can buy it and show it as a Water-type Pokémon that's super-effective against Rock-types. They'll also learn the hard way that it's not enough to simply use a Pokémon that happened to have a type advantage...

• Jossed; at this point in the game, only Grass Types are readily available; Water Types being an optional requirement if you happen to trade with another player locally or online to get access to a Water Type sooner than normal, so it's more Developer's Foresight in this case.

The Vermillion City Gym Battle will be different depending on the version.

In Yellow, Lt. Sarge only used a Raichu like in the anime. The same will be done in Let’s Go Pikachu, while in Let’s Go Eevee, his one Pokémon will instead be a Jolteon.

• Oddly enough completely Jossed regardless of which version you have. In the initial match against him, he'll still have Raichu, but he'll also have Voltorb and Magnemite. In the post-game rematch, he'll include a Jolteon by then but not anytime sooner, and Raichu will still be part of his team.

There will be a postgame involving the Sevii Islands and a post-game plot

Just not to waste the potential of the Sevii Islands.

• Jossed.

You'll get to battle a team full of non-Gen I Pokémon.

While they are unavailable, some of them will appear as a sort of a cameo. There will be a trainer who uses one Pokémon per generation.

• Jossed. Data-miners reveal that non-Gen I Pokémon had their data removed.

Your companion Pikachu/Eevee will be gender-locked.

Its gender will be set in a way that it'll match your playing character.

• Jossed, official art shows the female player character with a male eevee.

Lt. Surge won't be called "The Lightning American" anymore.

This will be the first time that his gym has appeared in the games since generation 5 came out. Since Unova is the equivalent of (part of) the USA in the Pokémon world, he'll be called the Lightning Unovan or something similar.

• Confirmed. They call him the "Lightning Lieutenant" now.

You need to defeat Mewtwo in a battle first.

After that, you can try to catch it.

• Confirmed, and it applies to Legendary Pokémon as well as in-game event Snorlax.
• Also Electrode as well when mistaken for items in the Power Plant.

Ekans, Meowth (at least its regular counterpart) and Koffing will be exclusive to the Eevee version.

They will still be unavailable in the Pikachu version in reference to those Pokémon being owned by Team Rocket.

• While it hasn't been confirmed if the Team Rocket Trio from the anime are even encounters in this game, it's been confirmed that Oddish, Sandshrew and Growlithe are exclusive to Let's Go Pikachu while Bellsprout, Meowth and Vulpix are in Let's Go Eevee.
• Confirmed. The Ekans, Meowth^exception A Persian can be received as a gift, Koffing and even Bellsprout^note James had a Victreebel lines can only be found in Let's Go, Eevee.

Alolan Counterparts will be version exclusive to the opposite version of their regular counterparts.

It's been confirmed that Oddish, Sandshrew and Growlithe are exclusive to Let's Go Pikachu while Bellsprout, Meowth and Vulpix are in Let's Go Eevee. However, half of these monsters (Sandshrew, Vulpix and Meowth) also have Alolan forms. This may mean that while you can get regular Ground-type Sandshrew in LGP, you can get Ice/Steel Alolan Sandshrew in LGE.

• Jossed. They are instead obtainable through in-game trades. At most, Alolan Sandshrew can be traded in Let's Go, Pikachu, while Alolan Vulpix can be traded in Let's Go Eevee. Respectively, the same also applies to Alolan Grimer and Alolan Meowth.

Your "Friendly Rival" may not actually be so friendly.

It's a bit odd how they're pushing that the rival is "Friendly" but keep in mind that they still decided to give him an eye shape that suggests otherwise.

• Could be subverted. A combination of Hugh and Hau if not completely the latter.
• Actually somewhat confirmed considering he politely asks to go first into Victory Road after facing him on Route 22, in which he then beats you to becoming the Champion first indirectly because of that. Whether or not he actually intended to go behind your back deliberately is debatable.

Female Eevee's heart tail.

It will be exclusive to player's starter if picked, and will not apply to other female Eevee.

• Confirmed so after that no other female Eevee have this difference.

Your rival can be named just like the original games

It seems weird that the trailers are just calling him your rival. The name during the E3 demo was just a name for the demo.

• Confirmed.

The third Poke Ball

At the 30 second mark in this(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSL7l2Ie_NY) trailer, three Poké Balls can be seen. Obviously, two of them are the Pikachu and Eevee received by the player and their rival, so that just leaves one left. The Pokémon will likely be chosen by whoever the third rival/main character will be (my guess being the player character not chosen).

• Clefairy. The supposed original mascot of the series. The 2nd player in the trailers is usually seen using Clefairy, so there's some possibility.
• Jigglypuff: Another popular Generation I Pokémon. No real evidence though.
  • It's popular enough to be one of the original Super Smash Bros. characters, so why not?
• The special new Pokémon to be introduced in these games.
• Forever staying a mystery.
• Chikorita to foreshadow Pokémon from other Gen.
• Absolutely nothing-the ball is just an empty prop. The three Poké Balls were supposed to represent Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle, which are the original Kanto starters.
• Most likely a second Eevee. The idea was that upon receiving them, you and your rival would be offered stones to evolve them with. Or in Let's Go Eevee, it's basically just a mirror of Yellow, with one Pikachu and one Eevee.

Alolan forms and their availability.

It has been stated in an interview with Junichi Masuda that Alolan forms, while programmed into the game, will not be found in the wild like most Pokémon. They also won't be exclusively available through connecting with Pokémon GO. So how will they be available?

• My best guess is that they can be obtained through the Celadon Game Corner. While it probably won't have playable slots, Team Rocket and their criminal acts will probably be referenced in the game, Pokémon trafficking among them. Alolan variants were smuggled from Alola and are now available for purchase from the Game Corner.
• Final answer: They can be obtained through various trades across Kanto.

Onix will be buffed heavily.

In its current state, its base stats are so pitiful, it's a disincentive to player to have it in their party just to ride on it.

• Jossed. Its base stats stay unchanged.

The other regions will be DLC.

Once the engine is done for Let’s Go, it’s a fairly simple matter to create art assets for places, people and Pokémon. People have been asking for Gen IV & V remakes, so this would be a way to give it to them. There will also be a mechanic to keep you from stomping through the region with your high-level team; either they’ll be disallowed based on level, or the Gym Leader will pull a Pokémon Origins and scale their team to your badge count or level, busting out the high-level big guns if your team has any members with a Champion Ribbon. This would also give players a long-desired “travel the whole world” version.

Wearing certain outfits will buff your partner Pikachu/Eevee even further.

For example, wearing a Flareon onesie raises Eevee's Attack, makes it Normal/Fire and temporally teaches it a decent physical Fire-type attack.

• Jossed. Your partner has already been buffed (increased stats, type diversity moves), just not by their clothing.

Eventually, Game Freak will take back on this game having 150 Pokémon+Mew+Never-seen-before Pokémon only.

They need to hype up again to make up for the unusually low pre-order sales. They'll start by showcasing cross-gen evolutions of Gen I Pokémon followed by fan-favorites of other gens.

• Jossed

A Steelixite will be obtainable in the game.

It's not to Mega-evolve Steelix; after all, it's not a Gen I Pokémon. It's real purpose is to mock Onix, an otherwise fully-evolved Pokémon with underwhelming stats. For a bonus, it'll be found in Rock Tunnel or any other location Onix can be found in.

• Jossed. Steelixite is not obtainable in-game, and nobody lampshades Onix's poor stats.

The League Champion will be your rival as per usual.

Many believe that the rival may not be the champion, but I am almost certain that he will.

• Blue himself is confirmed to appear in the games, and he does seem to be at the Indigo Plateau. Who's to say?
• Confirmed. Trace is indeed the Champion.

The arcade games in Celadon's game corner are playable.

Instead of slot machines (which are no longer included due to changes in the EU's laws about gambling), Celadon's Game Corner now has arcade machines. These arcade machines are playable and you can earn coins to get prizes. What sort of games would they play though? That isn't known yet.

• Voltorb Switch from HGSS will make a return.
• Both Jossed.

Chase is Blue's younger brother.

The Giovanni in the game is actually Rainbow Rocket Giovanni.

He managed to merge or alter the timelines somehow and is using Team Rocket alongside Jesse and James for a bigger scheme...Just a random theory

Post-release

All non-Gen I Pokémon have been banned from Kanto.

There is a conspiracy within the region that result in the ban.

• Alolan variants are the exception due to a loophole that they're technically Gen I.
  • What about Meltan and Melmetal?
  • Jossed; nobody in-game mentions or lampshades any mons not originally from Kanto with the exception of Alolan Forms, Mega Evolutions, and the aforementioned Meltan and Melmetal. In fact, much like the main games when it comes to having a Legendary Pokémon in the team, nobody bats an eye at you for having either Meltan or Melmetal.

AZ killed Melmetal

Melmetal's dex entry says that it came back to life after dying 3000 years ago which is the same time when AZ activated the ultimate weapon.

Mew will later acquire alternate means of being available.

Either by any method of Mystery Gift we've seen used in the core series prior in the past, a Mew based off of the one from Mewtwo Strikes Back—Evolution, or, although likely not, a Shiny Mew distributed no differently from the other Mew before it. Or, ya know, Niantic could change their stance on Mythical Pokémon at a later date and Let's Go meanwhile already has the coding to accept a Mew transfer should that ever occur, considering Game Freak's tendency to carefully plan ahead at times.

The method to evolve Meltan into Melmetal does not yet exist under normal methods in the core series.

• That's why it's only possible to evolve Meltan into Melmetal in GO; because more than likely the actual evolution requirement won't appear until Pokémon Sword and Shield.

Abilities exist unused in the code...

... Because some degree of one way compatibility for Sword and Shield will later exist.

• Basically confirmed. You can do a one way transfer from Let's Go to Home, then move them between Home and Sword/Shield as you please.

The abilities the Meltan line have here are not final.

Their set will change in Swsh into something newer and better.

There will be a DLC featuring Galarian variant of Kanto Pokémon.

There will be later games in the Let's Go series, remaking other generations.

It would be a reasonable way to bring older pokemon in that didn't make it in to Sword and Shield. The Johto version would be Let's Go Marill and Togepi. The Hoenn version would be Let's Go Skitty and Ralts.

Archer and Mina are time travelers.

After his defeat at the Radio Tower, Archer got the idea to use Celebi to go back to before Red ever left Pallet Town and warn Giovanni not to proceed with his plans regarding Fossils, Cubone skulls, or Silph Co. until he hears of two boys from Pallet Town dueling for the title of Pokemon League Champion. Meanwhile, a 13-year-old Mina is exploring Ilex Forest when she notices Archer attaacking Celebi's shrine in an attempt to call it out. Celebi, knowing full well that Archer wants to undo Team Rocket's defeat, decides to send Archer back, along with Mina in the hopes that she can stop him. Naturally, the timeline rights itself once Chase/Elaine and Trace begin their journey.

The third Poké Ball in Oak's lab contains a Psyduck

It's fairly common knowledge among fans now, but Psyduck was originally considered to be Pikachu's counterpart in the Let's Go games, being replaced with Eevee because Eevee was felt to be more marketable. But that doesn't mean Psyduck necessarily isn't a starter Pokémon here. We only see two of the three starter Pokémon Oak intended to give out, leaving the identity of the third unknown. But if the idea of Psyduck being part of a starter Pokémon trio with Pikachu and Eevee in this world still holds true, then we can assume the third ball holds a Psyduck.

The third Poké Ball in Oak's lab contains a Clefairy

As many know, Clefairy was originally planned to be the series mascot before Pikachu's popularity overtook it. Along with Eevee, Clefairy would complete a triad of Cute Mascots for the Kanto region.

Green is Ambertwo.

Before you come at me, this game has multiple nods from the anime, like Misty's sisters.
Now, this theory implies that Ambertwo was Spared By Adaptation somehow. But there are some things regarding Green that could be best explained by her being Ambertwo: such as why she's constantly throwing Pokeballs at you (it may look like she's a Troll at first glance, but if she's Ambertwo then she wouldn't know how to differentiate humans from Pokémon), why she wants you to be one of her Pokémon (she mostly makes her comment as payback for catching Mewtwo before her, but she wouldn't make that particular comment if, again, she knew the difference between humans and Pokémon), and why she has Mewtwo's evolution stones (unless she was involved in the Mewtwo project she couldn't have known about them, and since Project Mewtwo was not only somewhat only grown-ups could work on, but also top secret since it was canonically one of Team Rocket's projects, there were only two ways a kid could get Mewtwo's evolution stones: either by being a clone created in the project, or second-hand from someone who was part of the project, like, say, Blaine, who not only is a former member of Team Rocket, but lo and behold, is friends with Ambertwo's father Mr. Fuji).

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