I'm a Pokemon fasn, through and through. I was first in line to get Pokemon Stadium, as well as Pokemon Gold and Silver. However, when I saw Hey You, Pikachu was coming out, I decided I'd rent before I bought, given that it's $70.00 and comes with a microphone I'd be unlikely to use for any other game for N64. That was one of the smartest decisions of my life.

To be fair, Hey You, Pikachu (HYP) is very much a kid's game. Regardless, even a kid's game needs to be pretty breathtaking to warrant a $70.00 price tag. HYP doesn't fit that description. Granted, kids could find it fun, but it's not $70 worth of fun.

Basically, the point of HYP is to play with a wild Pikachu and build a friendship with it. To this end, HYP provides you with a microphone, which plugs into the Player 4 controller port and straps onto the controller. Using this microphone, you talk to Pikachu on the screen and the two of you have lots of adventures.

That is, if you can stand the awful control. Basically, you move around Pikachu and call him to do certain things. However, you often have to call him several times in order to get him to respond. Worse, you can only say certain words (shown on the screen in red) that he'll understand; anything else, and he'll get confused and/or angry. Furthermore, the camera constantly follows Pikachu, so if you want to call him to a certain point, you may not still be there between when you call him and when he hears you. Another side effect of the camera following Pikachu is that it becomes difficult to focus on one thing, since the pointer has a tendency to jump around the screen like a spastic monkey.

What's worse, if you manage to master the controls, the game is pretty slow. There just isn't enough interaction with Pikachu. Basically, it plays out like a cartoon with a little interaction once in a while. That would be fine if this were a cartoon, but it's not. The game is more watching than playing, and it's just plain not that much fun.

The game isn't all bad, though. Graphics and sound are as close to the cartoon as can be done on N64. The characters all look like one would expect, and they have the voices from the cartoon as well. It's cute listening to Pikachu have a Poke-conversation with Charmander or Bulbasaur.

So, what's the bottom line? If you're intrigued, rent first and save yourself $65. If, on the other hand, your child is bugging you for HYP, you should also rent first. In fact, unless your child is REALLY enthralled by the rental, it's probably worth a couple of rentals to let them get bored of this game rather than paying $70. It's just plain not worth the high price. Basically, Pikachu's cute, but he's not cute enough to warrant buying HYP. If you really feel the need to give your money to Pikachu, go buy Pokemon Gold or Silver instead; just steer clear of this game.



Recommended: No