Pokémon: Let’s Go Eevee! and Let’s Go Pikachu! were released exclusively for Nintendo Switch on 16 November 2018 worldwide. These titles are notable for being a reebot of the first instalments and are focused on catching creatures, although battling is also possible.
Both games left the community divided, as many were not convinced by their proposal and would have preferred a version more similar to the main games of the saga so far. Well, this time we’ll tell you why Pokémon: Let’s Go, Psyduck! was cancelled in favour of Eevee. In fact, Psyduck was about to get its own game, as it was originally going to be the mascot for one of the Pokémon: Let’s Go titles. However, Psyduck was replaced by Eevee as Pikachu’s counterpart.
These are the details that have been shared:
- Pokémon: Let’s Go director Junichi Masuda is a big fan of Psyduck and wanted to use it in the Let’s Go games, according to The Verge.
Since Pysduck shares the same colour scheme as Pikachu, the two would have looked similar in the box art and promotional material, so Eevee was chosen instead. - It’s worth remembering that all the Pokémon that have appeared on game boxes have looked different, often with directly opposite colours (red and green, black and white, etc.) that make the games look different to the casual gamer. In addition, the Let’s Go game boxes prominently feature their pets against a field of grass, so it would have been difficult to distinguish them from afar if they were both yellow.
- Masuda told The Verge that Eevee was chosen over other first-generation Pokémon because of the large number of fanarts created for it over the years. Also, Eevee had the advantage of being a different colour to Pikachu, and has the connection to Pokémon Yellow’s rival, so it made sense for it to be chosen over Psyduck.