Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Eevee leak reveals more difficult boss battles and other cut content

Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee! have both taken some flak within the Pokemon gaming community, particularly from veteran players, for drastically changing the process by which Pokemon trainers catch wild Pokemon (with wild battles being non-existent and the process being more akin to Pokemon Go, with players flicking their controllers to throw a PokeBall) and the difficulty of the level being far too easy, even for a gaming franchise that’s not known for its difficulty.

The difficulty level complaint makes a recent Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Eevee leak that much more interesting considering the datamined content which was cut from the final versions of the game would have ramped up the difficulty level in considerable fashion. For starters, bosses such as Giovanni, the infamous Team Rocket Boss, Lance, the Elite Four Dragon trainer and Sabrina, the Saffron City Gym Leader would have all fielded far more dangerous Pokemon teams.

“It also appears the games were made far easier for the final release. Giovanni’s whole team are 7 levels higher than the final, whereas Lance’s got lowered by 5 on launch,” revealed Pokemon dataminer Lewchube on his Twitter account. “Towards the middle of the game, some trainers like Sabrina have less Pokemon, such as her Jynx being gone.”

In addition, renowned Pokemon protagonist Red, who is essentially a competent version of Ash from the first generation of Pokemon video games (and who also returns in Generation II Pokemon games Gold, Silver and Crystal to battle players in one of the most iconic Pokemon appearances of all time in Mt. Silver Cave) would have factored into the game’s narrative as well, including cutscenes where players would interact with Red as early as Pewter City.

Another cut facet of the game revealed in the Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Eevee leak includes a cut fossil story event on Mt. Moon, which would have involved a “fossil chase.” As Lewchube explains, “Seems that there was a cut event for the story involving the chase for the fossils in Mt. Moon right after you met Blue (and Red) but that data has been wiped.”

Nintendo/Game Freak

The Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Eevee leak even suggests that Pokemon breeding and eggs were going to be included in the games, as one of the NPCs introduces herself as a “Pokemon nursery lady,” who seems to pay special attention to the player’s Pokemon “holding eggs” in their party.

What do you think of the differences shown in the Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Eevee leak and the final versions of the game? Do you wish some of these differences had been included in the final version of the Switch game? Sound off in the comments.