Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition

aka: Pocket Monsters: Pikachu, Pokémon Edición Especial Pikachu: Edición Amarilla, Pokémon Version Jaune: Edition Spéciale Pikachu, Pokémon Versione Gialla: Speciale Edizione Pikachu, Pokémon: Gelbe Edition - Special Pikachu Edition, Pokémon: Versão Amarela - Edição Especial Pikachu
Moby ID: 5053
Game Boy Specs
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Description official descriptions

Pokémon Yellow, along with Pokémon Blue and Pokémon Red forms the first generation of Pokémon games. You control a number of fictional animals known as Pokémon and must travel the land using your current Pokémon to defeat and capture more.

There are 151 Pokémon that fall into various types such as fire, water and grass that have a complicated rock-paper-scissors relationship. You come across a series of town, each of which contains a gym where you must do battle with other Pokémon trainers. Each gym specializes in a different type of Pokémon. After beating each gym, you are given a new ability that lets you travel to new areas.

The object of the game is to defeat all eight gym leaders, or ultimately, to catch all the varieties of Pokémon. Some of them are not actually catchable in Yellow, so you must use the Game Boy link function to trade with friends using Red and Blue to complete your collection.

Pokémon Yellow differs from the other first-generation games because it is based on the Pokémon anime series. The main character looks like Ash and he starts the game with Pikachu, rather than choosing a Pokémon as in all other games in the series. Character graphics throughout the game are based on designs from the series and it includes Jesse, James and their Meowth, which the other games do not.

Spellings

  • ポケットモンスター ピカチュウ - Japanese spelling

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Credits (Game Boy version)

37 People (31 developers, 6 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 79% (based on 19 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 82 ratings with 3 reviews)

The best Pokemon game of its time

The Good
When I used to play this game, it was very cool. I don't like it anymore. Anyway, it featured the same bad graphics as the first Pokemon games only in color. That still doesn't make it much better. The color was an improvement though and so was the storyline. Now it's not just "Wow, you magically appeared here so go catch stuff for battle." The sound was slightly better but not much.

The Bad
I didn't like that there were no new creatures. Also, the setting was exactly the same. Nothing changed except an expanded storyline and now you have a weird Pokemon following you that doesn't listen to you.

The Bottom Line
Pokemon Yellow is better than the first Pokemon games. With improvements in the story and graphics, this game has gone beyond the original. It lacks new components like an expanded world and more creatures. You still do the same thing.

Game Boy · by Dark Lord (31) · 2005

Better than Pokemon Blue, and RPG just keeps getting better!

The Good
This game is the ultimate, it's got everything from the previous Pokemon games, and this game is also based on the TV series, that's right, you'll get to meet Jessy, James, and Meowth! Some of the rare pokemon are free to catch like Scyther, and Dragonair. The game's basic fun is the new features in it, the pokemon, trainers, and even Giovanni look exactly like they look in the TV series. You have to take Pikachu at the beginning, I kept my Pikachu for playing with, imagine I finished the game and he's still at level 27!

The Bad
The color (although way better than before) is still not colorful enough.

The Bottom Line
RPG fans, your favorite genre just took a huge step into a delightful future. Adventure fans, your favorite genre just took a twist (not for the better, but for difference). Puzzle freaks, don't look forward to much. RPG just got better, and so did Pokemon. 5/5. Wonderful.

Game Boy · by Jim Fun (207) · 2001

Final Fantasy in the Poke-Verse

The Good
Just to clarify, the main difference between Yellow and Red/Blue is that you don't choose to start with one of three Pokemon (Charmander, Bulbasaur, Squirtle) but, just like in the animated series, with Pikachu. Oh, and it has some Color too, if you own a GBC or GBA, which Blue and Red did not.

Well, essentially it's a role-playing game. I'm very sure that it borrows heavily from the early Final Fantasy adventures for the original Game Boy (remember those?), although in a more child-oriented world. Thus, it appeases both the Pokemon-lover (and I do admit it, I am one - Pokemon certainly had more class and style than the later clones like Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh, etc.) as well as the role-player, which I also have been for many years. Your "party" are actually up to 6 Pokemon that you can raise in levels and customize via items called "training machines", etc., you explore the landscape and battle "boss monsters" (okay, rivaling gym leaders) and "wandering monsters" (rivaling trainers), but same concept really. The game is a lot of fun with the right difficulty level - high enough to be challenging, yet low enough to allow fairly fluid advancement.

Also, the replay value is very high - especially if you own a N64 with Pokemon Stadium. Thus, you can keep leveling your Pokemon and catch and explore more even after beating the game (or while still beating the game, thus keeping it from being linear). If you own an N64, you can import and export your Pokemon - and, more importantly, save your Pokemon, then restart your game and gain experience and items all over again. I simply LOVED the Pokemon Yellow/Pokemon Stadium combo, which basically improved both games tremendously and spawned the current GameCube/e-Reader/GameBoy Advance interaction.

The Bad
Well, if you DON'T have the Pokemon Stadium, the replay value drops from very high to zero. You actually have to delete your Pokemon to restart, and you have to restart in order to gain certain skills/items (a lot only exist once in the game). Also, it's not really a "stand-alone" version of the game - initially, there were Pokemon Blue and Red, and by linking the two, you could eventually get all 150 Pokemon, as some only existed in Blue and some only in Red. Yellow has a new set; however Blue+Yellow doesn't give you all, neither does Red+Yellow, thus to complete a collection of all 150 you STILL had to own Blue+Red, thus making Yellow useless for that purpose.

Also, the fact that you HAVE to start with Pikachu is a little silly... since the storyline deviates zero from Red/Blue, the first "boss" you have to defeat is the Rock/Ground trainer, against whom Pikachu is useless, thus causing one of the harder battles in the game fairly early. That's just being shortsighted, promote a game in which you finally can play with Pikachu (YEE-HAW!!!) but when you actually have to use him to win a big battle, he sucks (DOH!) and he can't evolve either because he never does in the series.

Oh, and you can't transfer Pokemon to the new GameCube/GB Advance Pokemon games, so if you get those, your collection of raised and nurtured Pokemon starts all over again. Would it really have killed Nintendo to allow this?

The Bottom Line
Good game, enjoyed it for many hours and still do. But the game becomes about ten times as good if you also own Pokemon Stadium, as you basically unlock whole modes of play while using both. Make sure you enjoy the Pokemon Universe and the game concept before getting this though, it's certainly not for everyone. Also, I doubt if it's really a good game for really young kids, because it requires a lot of patience.

Game Boy · by Gothicgene (66) · 2002

Discussion

Subject By Date
About the trailer... Michael Cassidy (21326) Sep 12, 2017
World-wide release might actually be appropriate Lain Crowley (6630) Feb 29, 2016

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Arbitrary Code Execution

By corrupting their save file and manipulating the resulting item data, it is possible for the player to reprogram the game while playing it, in a process called arbitrary code execution. While arbitrary code execution is possible with several games, including other Pokémon titles, it was two tool-assisted speedruns of this game that brought the practice into the public eye.

Virtual Console Alterations

Pokémon Yellow and its counterpart versions were rereleased for the 3DS Virtual Console to celebrate the Pokémon franchise's 20th anniversary in 2016. Since the Nintendo 3DS isn't compatible with the long-obsolete Game Link Cable, these releases use the system's local wireless features for link trades and battles. Several attack animations have also been toned down for the safety of players with photosensitive epilepsy or other sensory conditions, and Jynx's sprite was updated to the creature's modern coloration due to the original having been accused of resembling a racist caricature. Lastly, the Pikachu's Beach minigame no longer requires the player to own a Pikachu with the move Surf, since obtaining that move on a Pikachu would require the impossible task of connecting to Pokémon Stadium for the N64.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Jim Fun.

Nintendo 3DS added by Harmony♡.

Additional contributors: Jeanne, Exodia85, Chemischer_Kuckuck, DarkDante, Wizo, Spag, LordRM, Patrick Bregger, Kam1Kaz3NL77, Harmony♡, GenesisBR.

Game added October 9, 2001. Last modified February 18, 2024.