Pokémon Let's Go

2018video game memeclassic

Published September 22, 2026

Pokémon Let's Go: Pikachu and Pokémon Let's Go: Eevee are two Nintendo Switch games launched November 16, 2018 that sparked running online jokes about the mascots' terrible bangs haircuts and the mysterious debut of a hex-nut Pokémon called Meltan13.

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Overview

The Let's Go titles put the original 151 Pokémon on the Switch in colorful 3D and made every wild Pokémon visible in the overworld instead of hiding them in tall grass1. Catching swapped the usual weaken-then-throw loop for a Pokémon GO style motion toss with the Joy-Con or the optional PokéBall Plus accessory, a change reviewers found charming but easy to the point of divisive12.

Online, two side features did most of the meme lifting: a salon option that let players give Pikachu or Eevee different hairstyles, including a much-mocked set of bangs, and Meltan, a Steel-type Mythical with a hex-nut head that debuted through datamined Pokémon GO code before being confirmed for the Switch games3. Both fed short, screenshot-friendly jokes across Twitter for months around launch3.

Origin & Background

Platform
YouTube (trailer) / Twitter (viral spread)
Date
2018

Nintendo revealed Pokémon Let's Go: Pikachu and Pokémon Let's Go: Eevee in a trailer on May 29, 2018, confirming a November 16, 2018 Switch release set in the Kanto region with Pokémon GO transfer support and the toss-to-catch PokéBall Plus controller34. The meme wave started with a follow-up trailer on July 12, 2018 that showed the mascot haircut feature, which players immediately turned into jokes about the bangs option3.

Nintendo developed and published the games; the meme formats themselves were made by fans posting jokes and screenshots, so no single meme creator is confirmed3.

How It Spread

The July 12, 2018 haircut trailer set off the first wave of jokes the same day3. Twitter user @SNatent posted a bit about Officer Jenny confiscating Pokémon from trainers who gave them bangs, pulling around 970 retweets and 3,100 likes, and @ConnieKuroi's Eevee-with-bangs joke picked up roughly 130 retweets and 800 likes3.

A second wave hit on September 21, 2018, when @Chrales datamined Pokémon GO code showing a mystery creature initially labelled Kecleon and later renamed Meltan, with the reveal thread pulling over 500 retweets and 1,700 likes inside four days3. On October 24, 2018, the official Pokémon YouTube channel posted the reveal of Melmetal, Meltan's evolution and the first Mythical Pokémon known to evolve, which fans quickly tagged with 'absolute unit' jokes about its bulky Steel-type frame3.

The games shipped on November 16, 2018 to an 81/100 Metacritic score2 and a positive IGN review that called it a strong reimagining of Pokémon Yellow, even with the softer difficulty1. Meme activity around the haircuts and Meltan mostly settled once the launch cycle ended3.

How to Use This Meme

Common bits paired an in-game screenshot of Pikachu or Eevee wearing the bangs hairstyle with a caption pretending the haircut was a crime, or reposted the leaked Meltan sprite alongside jokes about its hex-nut head and later its bulky evolution Melmetal3.

Frequently Asked Questions