Chase: The Let's Go Hero Whose Name Came After the Game

He was playable for more than five years before he officially had a name. Chase is the male protagonist of Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee, the avatar the player keeps or picks on the very first screen. His adventure crosses Kanto, but his character profile is mostly built by omission: a name borrowed from the trailers, a partner that never evolves, and no appearance at all in animation.

Contents

• The male protagonist of the Kanto remake
• A departure from Pallet Town that starts with a catch
• A team the game hands out rather than one you build
• A name that came from marketing, not from the story
• The only protagonist animation has never shown
• Chase at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

The male protagonist of the Kanto remake

Both versions of Let's Go open with a choice of avatar, and Chase is the male option. Choosing him removes Elaine, his female counterpart, from the story: the two never coexist in the same playthrough, one filling the space the other leaves empty.

This avatar status has a direct consequence on what can be said about him: both his name and his appearance are left up to the player. Skin tone and wardrobe can be set from the menu, and nothing forces anyone to keep the suggested name. So "Chase" refers less to a written character than to a default setting.

That setting still has a fixed look, the one used in the official artwork. His hair and eyes are black, his skin is light, and his cap echoes the red and white of his jacket; underneath, he wears blue shorts and yellow-and-black shoes on white soles. His white bag is trimmed with a brown band and carried on a brown strap.

A departure from Pallet Town that starts with a catch

A resident of Pallet Town, Chase is still just a Trainer in the making. On the morning he sets off, Professor Oak catches him in the tall grass along Route 1 — the opening scene isn't a formal handover at the lab, but an encounter out in the open.

A single wild Pokémon attacks them on the spot, and the future Trainer catches it then and there. So Chase's partner isn't given to him: it's caught, in the very moment of the attack. His first official battle follows right away: Trace is waiting for him at the lab.

Then comes the usual Kanto kickoff routine: a parcel to pick up at the Poké Mart in Viridian City, then bring back to the professor in exchange for the Pokédex. The rest of the journey alternates between Gym Leaders, clashes with Team Rocket and repeated battles against Trace, who also happens to be his next-door neighbor.

A team the game hands out rather than one you build

The partner depends on the version you buy: Pikachu in Let's Go Pikachu, Eevee in Let's Go Eevee. In both cases, this Pokémon can't evolve, which locks the creature you see most throughout the playthrough at its first stage.

The rest is picked up along the way more than caught at random. The original starter trio is obtained at fixed points along the route: Cerulean City for Bulbasaur, Route 24 for Charmander, Vermilion City for Squirtle. The Legendary Mewtwo waits, for its part, in Cerulean Cave.

The list goes on in the same way, one species per location: Mt. Moon holds a fossil Pokémon, the dojo in Saffron City lets you choose between Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan, and Silph Co. hands over a Lapras at its headquarters. Chase's team thus looks less like a Trainer's choices than like an itinerary.

⚡ The yellow partner from Let's Go Pikachu has its own section: see our Pikachu products.

A name that came from marketing, not from the story

The name is borrowed straight from English: to chase means to pursue — a transparent nod to the core activity of these two games, catching. His Japanese equivalent, Kakeru, points in a similar direction: the word translates as "to run."

Yet the name wasn't born in the game. It already appeared in black and white in the marketing for both versions, trailers and screenshots included, without ever being presented as canon. It was the mobile game that eventually gave it that status, long after release.

A retroactive detail completes the picture: the English versions of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver already offered "Chase" in their list of preset names for the hero, and the Japanese versions did the same with Kakeru. So the name existed in the series before it referred to anyone.

The only protagonist animation has never shown

This is his most measurable distinction. No series and no official short has ever put him on screen: across the first seven generations, he is the only canonical hero animation has done nothing with. Nearly all his counterparts got at least one appearance; he didn't.

Print was kinder to him. A manga adaptation of the two games, by Kemon Kawamoto, brings him to life through an amusing detour: there, Chase serves as the avatar of a fictional player, Hajime, sitting in front of Let's Go Pikachu with his friend Satoru. The hero goes back to being what he really is: a character controlled by a player.

The mobile game finally recruited him on January 31, 2024, in his canonical outfit. Pikachu partners him in his base sync pair, and Eevee in the alternate version, and his profile highlights two traits: a love of running he shares with his partner, and the latter's unexpected ability to use Secret Techniques.

Chase at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Chase in Pokémon?
  He's the male protagonist of Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee. An aspiring Trainer from Pallet Town, he travels across Kanto after receiving the Pokédex from Professor Oak. The player can customize his name and appearance.
• What is Chase's partner Pokémon?
  Pikachu in Let's Go Pikachu, Eevee in Let's Go Eevee. It isn't handed to him at the lab: he catches it on Route 1 after being attacked. A quirk of these two games: this partner can't evolve.
• What's the difference between Chase and Elaine?
  They are the two avatars offered at the start, one male, one female. They never coexist: choosing Chase removes Elaine from the story, and vice versa.
• Why is the character called Chase?
  The name comes from the English verb "to chase," a reference to catching Pokémon. His Japanese equivalent, Kakeru, translates more as "to run." The name was already among the preset names in the English versions of HeartGold and SoulSilver.
• Does Chase appear in the anime?
  No. Across the first seven generations, he is the only canonical hero that official animation has never put on screen. He does appear, however, in a manga adaptation of the two games and in the mobile game, which added him on January 31, 2024.

In short

Chase illustrates a kind of character the series produces without really writing them: an avatar whose traits are almost all settings. His name, his face and his wardrobe belong to the player, and what's left that is truly his own comes down to very little — a catch on Route 1, a partner frozen at its first stage, a rival who lives next door. The rest was decided outside the game, in trailers and then in a mobile title, which makes him the only hero of the first seven generations that animation has never shown.