Rock_On's Full Review: Pokemon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition fo...
“Pikachu, GO!” Those Pokemon famous words ring through your ears. As the Pokemon craze has started dying down in the past six months to a year, more games are coming out.
I know that when the original Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue first arrived in the U.S., I hated the furry little “Pocket Monsters,” as they’re called in Japan. But once more screen shots and information came out, I started liking the little creatures. So I bought the game and played it for a total of 279 hours before collecting all 150 monsters.
Then came Pokemon Pinball to the Gameboy Color lineup. This kept the Pokemon craze up a little longer, but soon started dying out again.
The first Pokemon game for the N64, Pokemon Snap sort of lowered the Pokemon craze because it was way to easy and had no replay value.
Then, as the Pokemon craze was about to die, Pokemon Stadium rocked the N64, and brought many new, and old, gamers to the craze.
Now, Pokemon Yellow for the GBC arrived in stores last year, and evidently boosted the Pokemon craze up a couple of notches, because it swallowed me up. Pokemon Yellow set the standards for what was going to arrive soon after its début. Pokemon Stadium 2, Pokemon Silver, and Pokemon Gold continued the Pokemon phenomenon. Pokemon Crystal, a sort of expansion set to Gold and Silver, just like Yellow was to Red and Blue, is set to arrive in stores soon.
Now that I’m done with the little time line to update you on Pokemon a little, I’ll move on to Pokemon Yellow now.
Pokemon Yellow wasn’t really a whole new adventure like Gold and Silver, but a sort of expansion set like some computer games. That means that it’s the same adventure, but new twists that can enhance game play.
For the people out there who aren’t familiar with the Pokemon story, you’re Ash Ketchum, a boy who has just turned old enough to train Pokemon. Your mission, should you choose to accept, is to become the greatest Pokemon Master. On the way to becoming a Pokemon master, you battle many different trainers, wild Pokemon of different shapes and sizes, and a gym leader who train in each city. Once you collect all eight badges and have trained your Pokemon well, you can challenge the Elite Four, to become the greatest Pokemon trainer in the world.
Now that you know your mission, here it is.
Game Play
There are many things in the game that you can do in Pokemon Yellow.
First of all, before you can catch a Pokemon, you must lower its health so it’s weak enough for you to catch using a Pokeball. There are four different Pokeballs that you can collect on your journey; Pokeball, Great Ball, Ultra Ball, and the no-fail Master Ball. You only acquire one Master Ball in the whole game which you use to capture an elusive Pokemon.
As your Pokemon gain levels, all their stats and HP also level up. Hp are Hit Points, which determine you Pokemon’s health. There are four different stats that can rise; Attack, Defense, Speed, and Special.
Every Pokemon is allowed up to four moves at a time. no more, could have less, but I don’t know why you’d want less than four attacks. Attacks are used with PP(Power Points). Power Points different between every attack.
Different attacks include ground, water, fire, and almost every other element type attack. Most Pokemon can learn a different element attack than what they are.
Special Features Available for Yellow Only
The best feature in Yellow is the surfing Pikachu mini-game to the south of Fuchsia City. you can’t play however, unless you have gained the surfing ability for Pikachu in Pokemon Stadium.
Like in most games that are an expansion off of an original game, there’s usually plenty new features. First of all, you get Pikachu as yoru first Pokemon instead of the original three; Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander. You now must have your Pokemon like you and do certain tasks to get the three starter Pokemon. Pikachu also follows you around on screen in yellow. You can talk to Pikachu and it will show how happy it is by a little thumbnail picture above it’s head.
Instead of the annoying sounds that the Pokemon make again, Pikachu says “Pika!” when it’s called into battle. The other Pokemon still have their annoying little grunts.
The sounds not only changed, but the animations were also altered. Unlike the change of Pikachu’s voice only, all of the Pokemon have a new animation. There are also new inserts in your pokedex for each Pokemon.
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Graphics~ 9/10
Hmmm..... What should I say, they’re good? Of course they are. not as good as the Gold and Silver or the new Gameboy Advance, but they’re there. One plus of yellow’s graphics are the color schemes. in Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue, the main color for Red was different shades of red, and the blue was different shades of blue. In yellow, it’s got a yellow tint. However, you can clearly see the distinctive colors like the green grass and blue water.
Along with the better graphics and colors, every Pokemon has a new animation. Some have different battle animations also.
Control~ 10/10
This is simple. you don’t get much use out of the “A” and “B” buttons, unless you’re in battle. The D-pad is the only thing you use while walking around the world map.
The menus are easily navigatable. I think that Nintendo had definitely intended the menus towards young toddlers, because my four year old cousin was easily finding himself around.
While in battle, the “A” button serves as the command button, “B” button is a back command, and the D-Pad is used to choose what you’re doing, and which attacks to use.
Sound~ 7/10
There’s nothing really big here. The music gets old and annoying, therefore using your stereo as your sound. While in most towns and cities, the music will be cheery, and most dungeons have a low, slower sound.
You remember those annoying little grunts that the Pokemon made whenever they went into battle? Well they’re back, except for Pikachu. Whenever Pikachu goes into battle, it yells “Pika!”. It’s quite entertaining. But annoying if you use Pikachu all the time.
Overall~ 26/30
If you’re a Poke mania, then this might be for you, but anybody else, save your money for better games or the new Pokemon Crystal, which has tons more availability than Yellow.
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