A GBA Pokémon demake of the Switch titles Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee has received a full English translation, as Retro Dodo reports. The translation was completed by a Reddit user going by the name logicalpuddings, and the patched hack is now available online for anyone with a legally obtained copy of Pokémon FireRed (Rev 0) to patch and play.
The original hack was built from scratch by a developer called Kevin PokeFan, who reimagined the Switch Let’s Go games running on GBA hardware and released the result in Spanish. The translation project brings that work to English-speaking players for the first time.
Permission sought but not obtained
logicalpuddings did attempt to get Kevin PokeFan’s blessing before releasing the translation. In their own description of the project, they wrote: ‘Contact attempts were made several times via hack’s Discord for translation permission, unfortunately I wasn’t able to get any response from them, as they seem to have been inactive for months, and their hack’s Discord server is completely ghost town atm. I’m sharing this simply wanting more people have the opportunity to experience this hack.’ Kevin PokeFan has not, therefore, given permission for the translation.
The translation itself covers 99% of the text in the game, including dialogue, signs, battle text, Pokédex entries, and names and descriptions for Pokémon, moves, items and abilities. Any Spanish text that Kevin PokeFan drew directly into the artwork has been left as-is, since this is a translation patch rather than a full redraw.
Optional bug fixes on top of the translation
The hack also comes with an optional set of small fixes (all one to three bytes in size) that players can choose to apply alongside the translation or leave out entirely. These address a handful of move behaviour oddities present in Kevin’s original release: Bug Buzz can now lower Special Defence as intended, Moonblast and Steamroller trigger their side effects roughly 30% of the time rather than roughly 1%, and Brine’s double-power mechanic works correctly for Pokémon with 256 or more HP. A display glitch showing the level label incorrectly for regular Eevee in the battle box has also been corrected, along with some minor text inconsistencies.
Notably, the translation leaves all other bugs and glitches in Kevin PokeFan’s original hack completely untouched. The core of Kevin’s work remains exactly as he released it.
The Hackdex website, where the translation is hosted, requires contributors to declare whether AI was used in their work. logicalpuddings confirmed the translation was completed without any AI assistance. To play it, you will need to source a legitimate FireRed (Rev 0) ROM and apply the patch through the Hackdex site.
