Pokémon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition

THE GOOD:
-The Original Set of Pokemon - A Classic
-A Fairly Long Game
-Can Keep You Entertained past just beating the Elite 4
-Provide you with 50+ Hours of gameplay most likely, depending on how much you get into it
-Good Graphics for it's time
-Battle your friends on Link Cable
-Casino game
-Pikachu follows you (More of an Easter Egg)

THE BAD:
-Pikachu doesn't really do anything useful when following you
-Pikachu is the only Pokemon you can have follow you

SUMMARY:
The Pokemon Series Franchise started out with Pokemon Red and Blue in the late 1990's. Since then, there's been Pokemon Yellow, and also this Pokemon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition. The differences aren't really significant enough to mention, so let's stick to Pokemon Yellow in general.

Graphics 9/10

Ok, looking at this review now, in 2008, you might call me crazy to give the graphics a 9 out of 10. Well It's only fair to rate the game based on it's time, they didn't have the kind of technology they have now. So anyways, Pokemon Yellow, Special Edition or not, had great graphics for it's time and doesn't disappoint. Even with where we are now, people still go back and play the Classic Yellow version. The graphics may not be what they are today, but they're still not enough to turn us away from this horribly addicting game.

Blue:



Yellow:



Gameplay 10/10

Basic Pokemon Gameplay is back again from Blue. You'll start out asked a few questions about yourself and your rival. What your name is, and what your Rival's name is. Get creative or just use your own name, people always snicker when "Armpit" challenged them to a battle. You start out as a trainer with no Pokemon (Until you get one from Professor Oak) Of course it's Pikachu. Pikachu is a Thunder type Pokemon. Each Pokemon have different elements which are weak or strong against each other. In Red and Blue, your rival always chose whichever one was stronger than yours, but in Yellow, Pikachu is your only choice.

You'll then start your long journey through the world of Pokemon when you never know when one might pop up. Battles occur randomly, and only in grassy areas or caves. Of course there's the trainer battles as well.

Battles are turn based giving each Pokemon a move back and forth. Depending on which one goes first depends on which one has the most Agility stat. When you are in a battle, you get 4 options. Attack, Item, Pokemon, or Run. Attack lets you chose an Attack from your Pokemon's move list. Each pokemon will learn many moves throughout their course of leveling up, but they can only have 4 moves at a time, so chose carefully. Each Attack only has a certain number of PP. Each Attack takes away one PP from that move. When the PP is out, the move cannot be used any more until you use an Ether, or something of the like, or if you go to a Pokemon Hospital. The Pokemon Hospitals are entirely free so don't hesitate to use one.

The Item option allows you to chose items from your inventory. If you have potions, you can use those to recover health. There are several different types of potions and other recovering items that you can buy at Pokemarts or find on the ground. Use a Pokeball to capture wild Pokemon. The Pokemon option allows you to switch between your current group of 6 Pokemon which is all you can carry at once. Use this to change your battle strategy if you get stuck in a corner somewhere. The final option is the Run option and that allows you the chance to flee. Beware, you cannot flee from trainers and sometimes fail to flee from wild Pokemon, giving them an extra turn in battle.

You can capture wild Pokemon with Pokeballs, but don't waste your balls on trainers. You can then capture as many Pokemon as you like, but you can only have 6 Pokemon with you at a time. You'll be able to withdraw and swap out Pokemon at a PC in a Pokemon Hospital. There's usually one of those and a Pokemart in every city.

Don't forget about Linking up with your friends via Link Cable and fighting against them. That's always fun as well. When fighting against your friends or against any other Pokemon, always remember type advantage. As I said before, each Pokemon have different types and get damaged more or less by certain attacks. Fire is strong against Grass, Grass is strong against Water, and Water is strong against Fire. There are several other types as well, and some Pokemon are weak to more than one type. Such as Cloyster. It is weak to Electric as well as Grass. Water can be effective against Rock or Ground as well, though. So keep an eye out on types and make sure you're not at a disadvantage. There are also some moves like Thunder Wave and Hypnosis. These moves have special effects like paralyzing your opponent and putting them to sleep respectively. Watch out for moves like these. These are Status effects and some are temporary while others are permanent. If you end a battle with a status effect, you'll keep that status effect until you heal at a Pokemon Hospital or until you use a status recovery item.

You can't use items in Link Battles, so be careful. And of course you can also trade with your friends. The Gameplay aspect of this game is well worth the money itself. But if that isn't enough to convince you, read on further.



Music 8/10

The music in this game is really good. It's pleasant in the town areas, and when you're about to get into a battle, it'll let you know with a cool battle sound. When you use Attacks, those also make sounds, although not really many/any different ones to distinguish the attacks. The reason Music gets 8 of 10 is because it can get a little repetitive, but it's not really something you focus on because you're more interested in actually playing the game. I kept the music off most of the time just because I don't care for Gameboy music playing while I am playing my games in general, but it's a nice sound companion when left on.



Story 7/10

Alright. You saw it in Red/Blue, you'll see it in Yellow. Team Rocket wants to take over the world again and it's your job to stop them..again. If I recall, it's actually even the same plot they had in Blue/Red. The definite main difference between Red/Blue and Yellow is that Yellow is in color and Red/Blue were single pixel colors of their respective names. Playing in Color for the first time sure made things more interesting.

Overall 34/40

Alright, what have we got then? Decent Graphics for it's times, a decent story, typical battle system. So this game isn't really anything super special, but it's a fun game and it'll keep you busy for quite a while. At any rate, the game is well worth the money. Grab a copy if you haven't played the game before. It's a Classic.