Game Freak Had My Curiosity; Now They Have My Attention

By: Ryan Ramakrishnan

The Pokemon Company and Nintendo announced “Master Trainers” as a post-game challenge in the upcoming “Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!” and “Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee!”

After defeating the Elite Four and becoming Kanto’s champion, players will have the ability to take on “Master Trainers” who focus entirely on one single Pokemon.

When this was first rumored, I had already grown curious, given my, like many others, desire for interesting and worthwhile post-game content.

After realizing just how these “Master Trainers” play out, Game Freak and the Pokemon Company gained my full attention and interest.

“Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!” and “Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee!” offer the player 151 different trainers to take on post-game, each specifically using one of the region’s Pokemon. For example, one trainer will use Charmander, one Charmeleon and another Charizard.

What makes these already unique battle circumstances all the more exciting is the requirements for each of the battles. To battle that trainer who uses Charmander for instance, you too need to use Charmander. And you’ll need a Charmeleon to take on the “Charmeleon Master.” This adds a whole new level of depth to the overall challenge.

Catching Pokemon in the wild as you progress and gradually evolving them is one thing but to have access to the entire Pokedex is another feat altogether. You won’t be able to claim the title of “Master Trainer” for every single species unless you have one of each yourself.

In my 10 plus years of playing “Pokemon,” I have never taken on the task of completing the National Dex nor any of the regional dexes. Taking breeding, trading and heavy exploration of Kanto into account, completing the Pokedex to become a “Master Trainer” yourself will undoubtedly be time consuming; yet this is exactly what I want.

I find this news exciting in that it adds both a surefire post-game and an incentive to be a completionist and challenge yourself in an otherwise casual-driven game. “Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!” and “Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee!” have frequently been viewed and even referred to as kid-friendly titles built for casual players and newcomers alike. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that; in fact, I’d argue that these games look quite good, so good that I was already getting them before news broke of “Master Trainers.” I do however find this tight-knit challenge of collecting all 151 Pokemon and battling a different trainer for each of them in intimate matchups to be a huge selling point for series fans looking for something a little more hardcore in their “Pokemon” experiences this year.

Which Pokemon do you hope to become the master of first? Will you take on the challenge of all 151 “Master Trainers?” Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.