Pokemon Yellow

In the late 90s, Nintendo struck gold. Fuzzy, yellow, electricity-producing gold, to be precise.

In the shape of that accursed Pikachu and his other revolting little friends, Nintendo received the lifesaver it was looking for. Struggling with its ridiculously outclassed N64 games and shoddy Game Boy titles, many thought that Nintendo was done for. However, when the Pokemon craze hit the U.S. of A., the game versions caught on like wildfire and the company enjoyed having its two Gameboy titles Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue at the top of the charts. Then, after taking advantage of the impressionable youth and hoping to squeeze every ounce of moo-juice out of this humongous cash cow, the company came out with multiple sequels, the first of which was Pokemon Yellow.

This game is a masterpiece of an RPG. It's pretty much either Pokemon Red or Blue, only you have little Pikachu following you everywhere, like in the TV show. But that doesn't make it unexciting. All controls and battle systems are similar. Same goes with sound and graphics.

You should be familiar with the premise by now, so we'll skip the banter and cut to the chase: What's new? Not a lot, though the differences are clearly noticeable. In many ways this feels like a slightly updated version of the original, with a few surprises here and there to keep long-time fans interested. Pikachu is given to you at the very start of the game. Oak even goes to the trouble of capturing it for you, and your rival, Gary, starts his Pokemon-collecting spree with Eevee instead of Squirtle, Bulbasaur, or Charmander. Dungeon layouts have been slightly altered, and different Pokemon are now found in new places than you would expect. For the visually conscious, new character portraits for each and every creature are a welcome sight. Full Game Boy Color support is noticeably lacking - I had to wait for Gold and Silver, which had it - but on a Super Game Boy this looks fantastic. Good to see that niche version of the world's most popular handheld still being supported so well.

The modifications are mostly made to resemble the animated series as closely as possible. Encounters with Team Rocket now pit you against those lovable rogues Jesse and James, and Pikachu follows you around on the screen instead of staying inside his Pokeball. As this is the Special Pikachu Edition, everyone's favorite electric mouse stars heavily. When you're not out catching 'em all, you can check on Pikachu's condition - a close-up view of him is always available, and his facial expressions indicate whether or not you need to spend some more quality time with him. Pikachu is at his happiest when he's sent into battle and kept well taken care of with potions.

Oh, and before I forget, he even stars in a surfing minigame for no apparent reason, just if you're border. But to unlock this minigame, you have to trade Pikachu, via the control pack of the N64 in the Pokemon Stadium game, where Pikachu can learn the move Surf, because if he doesn't know Surf, you can't play the minigame, and there is no other way (except hacking) for Pikachu to learn it!

Overall, Yellow is just a stopgap that helped us wait for the real sequels - Gold/Silver. Thankfully, the new challenges were enough to fill the hole - but only just. Good thing for Nintendo that Pikachu is so darn cute....

NAME: POKEMON YELLOW

SYSTEM: Game Boy