Also available on 3DS At the center of the late 90s’ Pokemon craze was the (in hindsight poorly dubbed) anime series following the protagonist Ash Ketchum and his overpowered Pikachu that refuses to evolve or stay in a Pokeball. To cash in on this, GameFreak made Pokemon Yellow Version “Special Pikachu Edition” to put a spin on the Gen 1 games that referenced the anime. At its core this is just another version of Red, Green, and Blue, but there are some aspects that make it distinct. Other than the routine variations in Pokemon availability, the first major difference becomes apparent as soon as you start the game. In Red, Green, and Blue, you have three starter choices - Fire-type Charmander, Grass-type Bulbasaur, and Water-type Squirtle - but in Yellow, your starter is always the Electric-type Pikachu (hence why it’s called “Special Pikachu Edition”). This Pikachu is special for a few reasons. For one, it won’t stay in its Pokeball unless it’s fainted; it always follows behind you. It also refuses to evolve into Raichu, and since no other Pikachu are catchable in the game, you have to trade with Red, Blue, or Green to get a Pikachu to evolve into the best Pokemon of all time. Most interestingly, it learns Thunderbolt much earlier than usual for Gen 1. Pikachu isn’t exactly an amazing Pokemon - its attack stats are middling, and it’s fairly frail - but it’s also illegal not to finish the Elite Four with your starter, so you make it work. As your rival’s starter was always the counter to yours, Gary also gets a set starter here - Eevee. What he evolves his Eevee into is based on whether you win or lose your first few battles against one another. My favorite change is that all three of the traditional Gen 1 starters are available. You can’t catch them, but there’s a person north of Cerulean City who gives you a Charmander, a person in Cerulean City who gives you a Bulbasaur if your friendship with Pikachu is high enough, and Officer Jenny in Vermilion City who gives you a Squirtle. This means that there’s a 99% that your team is going to be Pikachu, Charizard, Blastoise, and Venusaur by the time you get to the Elite Four with only two wild card spots (I used Alakazam and Porygon). The other big change of note is that Jesse and James from Team Rocket have been put into the game as a few new battles to further reference the anime. They don’t try to steal your Pikachu like in the anime, but there are a few references to “a kid with a really strong Pikachu.” Other than that, it’s pretty much just Gen 1 with color. You still catch all three legendary birds in the same places. Mewtwo in Cerulean Cave is still the only real post-game. The Old Man glitch was fixed, so that’s a bummer, but you can still pull off the Mew glitch on Cerulean’s City Nugget Bridge. All things considered, I’d call this the definitive Gen 1 game, but I’m partial to Red and Blue because of Raichu. I know I’m a minority there, though. It’s definitely worth picking up on the 3DS Virtual Console while you’ve got the chance, though, both just to play the game as well as to move a Pikachu with its Hidden Ability up to Pokemon Home. My Rating - B |
I'm a teacher.And I like to play video games. I like to collect video games. I like to talk about video games, and I like to write about video games. During the day, I teach high school history; during the night, I spend my spare time gaming. Then I write about it. Archives
April 2024
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