Pokémon Yellow
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Pokémon Yellow<tr><td colspan="2" style="font-size: 100%; text-align: center;"> </td></tr>
| |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Game Freak
<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Publisher(s)</th><td>Nintendo</td></tr><tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Designer(s)</th><td>Satoshi Tajiri</td></tr> |
| Release date(s) | Image:Flag of Japan.svg September 12, 1998 Image:Flag of the United States.svg October 1, 1999 Image:European flag.svg July 7, 2000 |
| Genre(s) | Console role-playing game |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer
<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Rating(s)</th><td>ESRB: Everyone |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy, Super Game Boy, Game Boy Color
<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Media</th><td>cartridge</td></tr> |
Pokémon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition is the fourth game in the Pokémon video game series in Japan, and the third in North America and Europe. It was released on the Nintendo Game Boy and features Super Game Boy and Game Boy Color enhancements. The game follows Pokémon Red, Blue and Green. Yellow, like other 8-bit Pokémon games (Red, Blue, Gold, Silver, and Crystal), is not compatible with the newer Advance generation games.
The game was released in Japan on September 12, 1998 and was simply known as Pocket Monsters Pikachu. It was released in North America on October 1, 1999 and was called Pokémon: Special Pikachu Edition by Nintendo. In both regions, the games are often referred to by fans as simply Pokémon Yellow, Pokémon Yellow Version, or Pokémon Pikachu (though the latter name is ambiguous with the Pokémon Pikachu pedometer).
The name (and Pikachu on the cover) is due to the fact that Trainers get Pikachu as their starter Pokémon (like Ash Ketchum did) instead of being able to choose between Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle, although you can receive all three during the course of this game.
Pokémon Yellow was originally designed to be tradeable with the Red and Blue versions, though players can also trade with Pokémon Gold, Pokémon Silver, and Pokémon Crystal. However, any of the 100 Pokémon introduced in those versions cannot be traded into Pokémon Yellow, just like they can’t be traded into the Red or Blue versions.
The graphics are improved over the original Red and Blue games. Although it was released in Japan as a monochrome Game Boy game prior to the Game Boy Color, Yellow was colorized to a limited extent when it was released elsewhere. For example, the Pokémon’s art is colored a single color for each Pokémon, and each city shades everything in its own particular tint. Because of the additional coloring beyond the usual single palettes of GB games when played on a GBC, this title actually acts as a dual mode Game Boy Color title (i.e., the default palette can’t be changed at start-up), even though it was packaged as a monochrome Game Boy title.
Pokémon Yellow can be played on any of the handheld Game Boy units, as well as the Super Game Boy (the Super Game Boy and Game Boy Color palettes are nearly identical) and the Game Boy Player. On the Nintendo 64, Pokémon Yellow could be played on the television through Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Stadium 2 with the use of Nintendo 64 Transfer Pack.
Both Pokémon Stadium games offer support Pokémon Yellow, allowing for the Pokémon in the game to be uploaded into the Nintendo 64 for three-dimensional battles and new features. Using the Yellow Pikachu in the Stadium games makes it sound like Pikachu from the Pokémon anime.
Pokémon Yellow was followed by Pokémon Gold and Silver for the Game Boy Color. Along with the release of Pokémon Yellow, a special edition Pokémon Game Boy Color was also released
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[edit] Game information
Pokémon Yellow was not one of the original Pokémon releases, but a new version based upon the extremely popular Pokémon anime. In this game, like in the animation, the main character was given a Pikachu instead of given a choice between the three starter Pokémon from Pokémon Red and Blue.
This made the game a bit harder at the beginning than the previous two games, since Pikachu’s electric attacks are ineffective against the first Gym-leader. Several Pokémon had their move lists altered, giving them different attacks, allowing them to access some of their more powerful attacks earlier (for example, both Nidorans learn Double Kick forty levels or more earlier, giving the player an easier time against Brock), or allowing them to learn from new Technical Machines. Whereas Pikachu in other games would learn Swift, in Yellow it would learn Thunderbolt, its trademark attack in the anime and a move normally only learnable by a Technical Machine. All Pokémon games after Yellow would have Pikachu learn Thunderbolt instead of Swift.
Like in the anime, Team Rocket members Jessie and James make their appearances along with their Pokémon, although they are never named as such in the game. They always attack with the same Pokémon – Ekans (which evolves into Arbok later in the game), Koffing (which evolves into Weezing later in the game) and Meowth. But unlike in the anime, Brock and Misty do not go with Ash in the game.
As for the original three starters, Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle, Pokémon Yellow allows the player the chance to acquire those three Pokémon without having to trade for them from Red or Blue. The way they are obtained closely follows the storyline of the anime as well, in accordance with the number of badges received or objectives the player completed. For instance, Bulbasaur is awarded after your Pikachu is very happy; Charmander is given to the player by a man after defeating Nugget Bridge; and Squirtle can be obtained from Officer Jenny after winning the Thunderbadge which is curious since Ash didn't have the Thunderbadge when he received Squirtle in the Anime.
The game also had smaller changes to closer reflect the anime’s first season. The receptionist in each Pokémon Center is now Nurse Joy, and many of the Trainers the player meets have their Pokémon lineups and dialogue altered to represent characters Ash met in the anime. Many of the Gym Leaders also had similar alterations as well. Lt. Surge uses Raichu as his lone Pokémon, Koga uses 3 Venonats and a Venomoth, Sabrina uses Abra, Kadabra and Alakazam, and Giovanni uses Persian instead of Rhyhorn in the Viridian City Gym. These changes are all a result of the anime’s influence on the game.
The game also allows the player to catch Pokémon in a similar manner to Ash Ketchum in the anime. The first two Pokémon Ash captures in the animé are Pidgeotto and Caterpie, both in Viridian Forest. Both of these Pokémon can be captured in Viridian Forest in Pokémon Yellow to allow the player to follow the events of the anime if he or she wishes; in Red and Blue, Pidgeotto is not available in Viridian Forest.
Yellow also attempted to fix major glitches in the Red and Blue versions. Some elements were re-coded, and thus, in certain areas, Yellow-exclusive glitches occur, such as a Yellow-exclusive Glitch City tied to the Saffron City gym.
[edit] Yellow’s Pikachu
In Red, Blue, and Green, Pikachu was just a normal creature that could be captured in Viridian Forest or the Power Plant. This time, however, a Pikachu is given to the player at the beginning of the game. The player’s rival gets an Eevee which the professor had been saving. There are no other catchable Pikachu in the game, and the player does not get to choose their starter as in most games in the series.
This Pikachu is modeled off the one in the anime. Therefore it hates Pokéballs, so remains outside of its Pokéball for most of the game.
When the player entered certain buildings and rooms, the Pikachu would react in some way. For example, in Lavender Tower, Pikachu screams in horror, no matter how happy it is. It was generally easy to tell its mood by examining it. The player could face Pikachu and “talk” to it, like everything else in the game world, by pressing A. A box would appear showing Pikachu’s face, and it would say its name “Pikachu!” with various inflections. This, along with its facial expression, told the player about Pikachu’s current mood. Pikachu’s mood ranges from murderous (a skull and crossbones appears above its head if a player loses their first battle) to curious (pika pika? pika chu?) to bursting with love (Pikachu smiles with several hearts around its head). Pikachu occasionally becomes upset or overjoyed by an outside event. Attempting to use a Thunderstone on it makes it complain and shake its head (on the anime, Ash tries to give Pikachu one but he refuses). Depositing it in a PC makes it cry out, and upon withdrawing it, Pikachu will be mad for a short while. In the Pokémon Center in Pewter City, you encounter a Jigglypuff, and as the anime tells us, the Jigglypuff uses Sing and Pikachu will fall asleep and stop moving until it is examined (upon which you can see an animation of it awaking) or if you leave the Pokémon Center. Also, when the player fishes for Pokémon using one of the three rods, Pikachu can be seen hiding under a bucket before joyfully reappearing. The happiness system in all following Pokémon games is based on this. However, if the player trades to Pokémon Red, Blue, Gold, Silver, or Crystal, evolves it and trades it back, Raichu won't stand behind the protagonist.
[edit] Version-specific Pokémon
There are a total of 151 Pokémon programmed into Pokémon Yellow. However, there are normally only 137 total Pokémon that can be found in Yellow alone. For 13 of the missing Pokémon, one would have to trade with Pokémon Red, Blue, Gold, Silver or Crystal.
These 13 Pokémon are:
The 14th missing Pokémon is Mew, which is normally unobtainable unless the player receives one from Nintendo. It is possible to obtain all 151 Pokémon, including Mew, by exploiting the “Mew glitch”, or gaining Mew as a reward for completing the Pokedex in the Japanese version of Pokémon Yellow. It is also possible to get a Missingno., without trading from Pokémon Red and Blue, using variations of the Mew glitch.
[edit] Reception
| Publication | Score | |
|---|---|---|
| <center>10 of 10 | ||
| <center>GameSpot | <center>8.9 of 10 | |
| Compilations of multiple reviews | ||
| <center>Game Rankings | <center>86 of 100 (based on 14 reviews) | |
Despite the game being merely an upgraded game of previous titles Pokémon Red and Blue, Yellow proved to be extremely popular. It was released in North America in late 1999, it was available to consumers in a dual package containing a Game Boy Color, this debuted at #2 in its first week, before claiming the #1 spot a week later.
The standard cartridge sold over 600,000 units in its first week and more than one million copies in its first fortnight. It became Nintendo’s fastest selling game in history, a record previously held by The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
The popularity of the game can be attributed to its relationship with the highly popular anime at the time, which the game followed very closely. Some also attribute this to the Pikachu emotion system.
[edit] Trivia
- Pokémon Yellow was the 4th Game Boy game to feature a yellow cartridge. The other three are Donkey Kong Land, Donkey Kong Land 2 and Donkey Kong Land III.
- Pokémon Yellow was one of the few games that was able to interact with the Game Boy Printer.
- The surfing Pikachu obtainable in this version using Pokémon Stadium or from Nintendo events has been referenced before on the anime - as "Puka" who was a Pikachu with blue eyes belonging to a surfer. Gaining this Pokémon also unlocks a special mini-game, "Surfing Pikachu".
The mini-game "Surfing Pikachu" is none the less a hard mini-game to make a very high score or beat one. The mini-game starts out with a short scene of Pikachu who is on its belly while on the surfboard going to the ocean. After that, the mini-game starts with an easy moment until you take sight of a high pillar of water, which supposedly is a wave. Determining from height and width, there are a few level of waves. Low, Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, and Tall. Low and Tiny waves may be seen between Medium or Large waves or after any kind of wave. Small waves will almost look the same as Tiny waves and Medium waves be higher. Large waves may be located around or in between some Medium waves. Tall waves will not be seen much, but there are very high chances for it to be the last wave until Pikachu hits land.
Now gaining points is not too easy even though it is easy to perform. It depends on your timing, accuracy, balance, and mood that will affect how many points you can make as a total score. There are times in the game where you might see Small, Medium, or Large waves that will make you jump into the air space allowing you to perform flips. Doing a complete flip that will give you 150 points cannot be done on Low, Tiny, and Small waves. While having little chance on Medium waves, more chance on Large, and perfect percent chance on Tall, there is balance that must be put into it. You cannot do a 4 flip in the mini-game. 3 flips is the best that will get you there. Timing and Accuracy is an important asset as well. Timing in the mini-game will give you the choice to either get many bad flips or some good ones. If you repeatedly do bad flips, you will get many times on Low, Tiny, and Small waves to do them, which are commonly found. If you repeatedly do good flips, you will need Medium, Large, and Tall waves which are also common, but will give you the more percentage to fall into the water wasting time. Another disadvantage about doing good flips and landing perfectly is missing the chance to do other flips on other waves you pass by while still doing the good flip. Your Mood affects you greatly as well. If you are angry or excited, you might not be able to time it right to land safely. If you are calm and happy, most of the time you will get lands.
There will be a small bar at the bottom of the screen that is how far you are from reaching land. When you reach land, Pikachu's HP, happiness, and points will be added up to make a total of whatever it is.
[edit] External links
- Official site at Pokémon.com
- Pokémon Yellow at IGN.com
- Pokémon Yellow at GameRankings.com
- Pokémon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition at MobyGames
| Red, Blue and Green • Yellow • Gold and Silver • Crystal • Ruby and Sapphire • FireRed and LeafGreen • Emerald • Diamond and Pearl Stadium • Stadium 2 • Colosseum • XD • Battle Revolution |
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sv:Pokémon Yellow
