How to play Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! on Mac

Game summary

Take your Pokémon™ journey to the Kanto region with your energetic partner, Pikachu, to become a top Pokémon Trainer as you battle other trainers. Use a throwing motion to catch Pokémon in the wild with either one Joy-Con™ controller or Poké Ball™ Plus accessory, which will light up, vibrate, and make sounds to bring your adventure to life. Share your adventure with family or friends in 2-player action on one system using a second Joy-Con or Poké Ball Plus (sold separately). You can even connect to the Pokémon™ GO app using a compatible smartphone to bring over Pokémon originally discovered in the Kanto region! Explore the diverse and vibrant region of Kanto! True-to-size wild Pokémon roam around in the game, so catch them like a real Pokémon Trainer by using motion, timing, and a well-placed Poké Ball™. Go on a stroll with your favorite Pokémon in your Poké Ball Plus! Connect your game directly to Pokémon GO* to receive Kanto region Pokémon.
First released: Nov 2018

Play Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! on a Mac is through Parallels, which allows you to virtualize a Windows machine on Macs. The setup is very easy and it works for Apple Silicon Macs as well as for older Intel-based Macs.

Parallels supports the latest version of DirectX and OpenGL, allowing you to play the latest PC games on any Mac. The latest version of DirectX is up to 20% faster.

Our favorite feature of Parallels Desktop is that when you turn off your virtual machine, all the unused disk space gets returned to your main OS, thus minimizing resource waste (which used to be a problem with virtualization).

Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! installation steps for Mac

Step 1
Go to Parallels.com and download the latest version of the software.
Step 2
Follow the installation process and make sure you allow Parallels in your Mac’s security preferences (it will prompt you to do so).
Step 3
When prompted, download and install Windows 10. The download is around 5.7GB. Make sure you give it all the permissions that it asks for.
Step 4
Once Windows is done installing, you are ready to go. All that’s left to do is install Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! like you would on any PC.
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