Game Review — Pokémon Yellow
Revisiting the original formula sprinkled with anime-inspired extras
Background
Revisiting Yellow in the year 2019 is a strange commitment. After getting a little disillusioned with the more recent Pokémon games, I have decided to embark on a little personal sidequest to re-discover what made them so good to begin with. The newer games which seems to be getting better in terms of graphical prowess and new features, but losing some of the original indescribable charm that made me consider myself a lifelong fan with pride.
I am here to discover exactly what is that charm again, and I am going to start from the beginning of the game itself.
Introduction
Well, Yellow is not exactly the first game that brought the series to its legendary fame, but it is a well-known add on. It is still part of the original Generation One games, which launched the original turn-based, travel-and-collect-Pokémon, beat-eight-gyms, beat-Pokémon-League-and-become-Champion, and pull-off-heroic-stunts-along-the-way RPG formula. Specifically for Yellow, this comes with some interesting twists that slightly alters the experience. For the most part, those are considered enhancements. You get a companion Pikachu that you can interact with, all three original starters who are battling powerhouses, and some minor anime references, all without losing anything much from the originals aside from some version exclusives!
I think one has to be a really really appeal to nostalgia to even prefer Red or Blue over Yellow. But each to their own, maybe Red/Blue is your first game which kept you occupied in a memorable manner. But to the rest of us who just want to experience the original games for the sake of it, let’s start with Pokémon Yellow.
Brief Experience
I was greeted with a unfamilar but nostalgic ‘Pika Pi’ upon the loading screen. The game samples a unique cry for your own mandatory starter Pikachu, which is a refreshing twist. However, it can get stale over time and even feels a bit out of place in this 16-bit game world. Soon after starting the game, I was given a Pikachu, sent into a surprisingly treacherous first battle, and off Igo into the wide world of Kanto for no apparent reason after delivering a package for Professor Oak.
Beyond the monochrome world of Red and Blue, Yellow was much more vibrant, with each area and Pokémon species having a distinguishing color. This does not begin to compare with the more vibrant worlds of later games, but it shows that the game is already progressing beyond its monochrome origins, now running on Game Boy Color engines. Soon I travelled past Viridian City and its Forest, and walked into my first formal challenge of Pewter City Gym. My trusty Nidoran picked up Double Kick, and made up for my teams helplessness against Brock’s Rock-types. After Mt. Moon, I abused my type advantage from Pikachu to breeze through Cerulean Gym, and picked up two of the original starters for the coverage.
Along this adventure is slowly expanding my horizons, my own deep experiences with Pokémon games guided my intuition in travelling, searching for hidden item, and winning seemingly impossible battles. Super effective moves and critical hits are surprisingly lethal, allowing me to conquer level gaps that are normally impossible. Soon, with very minimal grinding I was cruising through the game’s objectives. Neither Mt Moon or Rock Tunnel was difficult, although the encounter rates made me want to strangle someone at times. Some places such as Silph Co, Game Corner, Victory Road, and Seafoam Islands are respectably challenging, but they can be cleared with some basic trial and error provided I ignore the encounter rates. There were occasional difficulty spikes in Gym fights, but my experience with the game really stopped them from feeling even close.
The terrible user experience stopped me from calling it enjoyable, but for all intents and purpose the game felt easier than I remembered. Grinding only began when I was right before the Elite Four, which was horrible because of all the suicide bombers in Geodudes and Gravellers. But I was able to beat the main game’s final hurdle even with a ridiculous level deficiency without much trouble.
Highlights
Nostalgia
The game is generally okay, but honestly not a lot of good aspects stands out. The fact that this is one of the most original forms of the series made it worth playing, and possibly make the later games easier to appreciate, especially if the player started at a later generation. The game world had not even been officially called ‘Kanto’ in this game, and it really fleshed out how little it took to deliver a quality Pokémon game adventure. The original game music from the comforting Pallet Town theme, to the classic route theme used even in the anime, is extremely charming as well, which makes you wonder how many of these audio samples made it into later games.
Pika Pika
Your partner Pikachu is what makes this version special. How much you enjoy having a Pikachu walking behind you as you progress will decide how special this game is for you. There are some cute touches with this feature, such as a bare-bones happiness systems (which matters only for acquiring Bulbasaur) and event specific responses. Try talking to it after it learns Thunderbolt! However, Pikachu’s presence is not felt much past midway in the game, which is a shame.
Get’em All
Being able to get all three starters as gifts feels surprisingly rewarding, especially if you feel sorry for not being able to get all of them in other games. They evolve into some of the most robust Pokémon to own due to their balanced stats, good Special stats, and being one of the best Pokémon of their typing. It comes with the odd drawback of limiting your team options given how powerful and accessible they are unless you consciously choose to opt out of using them.
Pokedex Checkpoints
I took this for granted all these years, but having various Prof Oak Aides in various parts of the game checking with your Pokedex and rewarding you with awesome key items after you registered a certain amount of Pokémon is actually a feature which I am shocked to not see in future games. This feature falls exactly in line with the spirit of ‘catch-em-all’, and really should be implemented in every main series game.
Respectable Difficulty
This game respects your ability as a player. It trusts your abilities to handle difficult enemies with elaborate rosters and coverage. It trusts your abilities to figure the next step on your own, allowing you to be lost while exploring different corners of the region. It also presents some pretty challenging Strength boulder puzzles for those who want to challenge legendary Pokémon, but also make it simple enough for the others who just wants to get through the game.
Safari Zone
The Safari Zone is a pleasant distraction from the main gameplay. Being able to encounter and capture Pokémon using a different formula rather then battling is a pretty sweet and refreshing experience, which adds a layer of depth to the game that normally goes unappreciated. The formula is repeated and enhanced in multiple future games, but the original still manages to hold its own.
Grievances and Shortcomings
Regretably, I feel that in this time and age, Pokémon Yellow has much more flaws than strengths. These breakdowns in game experience comes from multiple angles, many from having little to no precursor of this game and limitations of the system, others from odd design decisions. There is a comprehensive list of everything wrong with Generation 1 below, which my review shall omit. Ultimately, ignoring the general success of the main game formula, I will preface by saying that Gen 1 games are terrible to play, compared to future generations.
Subpar Storytelling
This game is proof that you don’t need a good story to make a decent role playing game, but the significant lack of a major driving narrative isn’t a feature, but a clear problem. I mean, each of us can slowly learn to navigate this game world in the beginning and master the mechanics on our own, but once the gameplay begins to get repetitive and the dopamine bursts from leveling up slows down, a good narrative is valuable to sustain our motives.
This game had little to no sense of that. Nothing explained to me why I had to defeat gym leaders and challenge the League aside from having to make my Pokémon obey me when they are stronger. Why fight Team Rocket aside from the reason that they are in my way? None whatsoever. Also, many Legendary Pokémon have very little backstory to them or any narrative indication that they are present in the game world. To be fair, there were some interesting notes in Team Rocket’s hideouts and the mansion at Cinnabar, but they weren’t at all integral to the game and requires me to be a hardcore fan to care about.
The only good plot driver so far is your rival, who is constantly going head-to-head with you and getting on your nerves, which makes sending him packing satisfying. I can safely say that beating the rival is probably the only reason that drives the progress of our in game character.
Shallow Characters
I honestly cared for little to no one in this game, aside from the rival and the NPCs who gave me the starters and checked in on them. I know next to nothing about most of the gym leaders aside from mafia boss Giovanni and Lt Surge who was a soldier. But there was no depth to these characters. They were just obstacles to overcome. Later games proved that a lot of potential lie in using NPCs backstories to drive a narrative, but Yellow didn’t do much of that.
Team Rocket had no reason to do whatever they do, and never felt like proper enemies I feel great about beating. Even Jessie and James felt like afterthoughts, despite the clear decision to include them in the game. Heck, even Giovanni had a surprisingly bland character until you fight him for the last time.
Horrendous User Interface
This is the killer: at many points of Pokémon Yellow, things just become unfun to play and unbearable. Many of these very well be engine limitations, but it doesn’t change the fact that it renders a otherwise decent game very hard to recommend to other players.
- Item Menu and TMs
The moment I get my first TM and opened my Item menu, I suddenly wished I was playing a later game. The Item interface was minimalist to a fault, and I wouldn’t be able to know what does what if I weren’t educated about Pokémon through years of researching guides and personal experience. There were no item categories, and no TM description (until you actually use it!). Nothing explains the different Pokéballs and their strengths. For the first generation game, you have to be a goddamn veteran at the series already to comfortably manage your items. Plus the bag was small, so I had to rely on the PC item storage feature to keep items that might come handy at the later part of the adventure, or stash away in-disposable key items I no longer care for.
I was surprised to find out that even the PC for item storage, which I barely touched in other games, was limited. I actually had to immediately use or throw away items which I might find better use for in the future when I reached the middle of the game, which was frustrating. Imagine a Pokémon game which actually cannot hold all the TMs at once, even in the PC.
2. Having to go to the Start Menu to use HMs and Key Items
Just when I am beginning to doubt the relevance of HMs to gameplay in the later games, I thought I would remember how much I appreciated it in simpler times.
So when I got my HM01 Cut, taught it to one of my Pokémon after winning the second gym, and happily walked up to a small tree and pressed ‘A’……nothing happened? Turns out one cannot use HMs from the overworld in Pokémon Yellow. Why doesn’t the game know that this is a tree I have to cut or a boulder I have to push when I already have the prerequisites to? (But knows how to operate a PC that can reverse Bill’s fusion with a Pokémon?)
Oh, and why bother riding a bike or using the Item Finder, when I have to go and browse through the item menu only to use it once?
3. Unrefined moves interface
There is also no way that the player knows what Pokémon moves actually do other than trying it out. Nothing to indicate base power and function, other than type and Power Points. There was also no way to rearrange the move menu of a Pokémon, making it cumbersome to go on exp grinding trips.
Limited Sense of Options
I am willing to bet that most of us end up largely using the same team to beat the game. Pikachu is mostly a given, then you have your three fully evolved starters, and likely having a Snorlax and an Eeveelution. Yes, we do have choices, but it is always easier to stick to the gifts granted to us naturally. Why not stick to Charizard when the other good option is to painfully train a Growlithe or capture Moltress (some of us have a no legendary policy for in game fights)? Why Victreebell or Gloom when Venusaur comes so naturally? Why hunt for Starmie or grind for Gyrados when you can have Blastoise easily? When the game requires you to consciously omit using them, it is no wonder we end up using the same things.
While the game can pride itself for being non-linear when it comes to gym sequence (past Vermilion gym), on closer examination it is not exactly the case. There is a recommended sequence that makes more sense to follow because of the natural level progression. Opting to challenge gyms differently is ultimately a very forced and unnatural task, as the level gaps can require a lot of painful grinding to close with no special reward. Nobody cares that you consciously went out of your way to beat Sabrina before Koga, or went all the way to beat Blaine before Sabrina and Erika, but that choice requires you to painfully grind your team a lot more just so you can keep up with the higher level opponents you have to face earlier, and have an underwhelming fight later. I am not sure if it is still a well thought out game choice in the name of ‘non-linear gameplay’ if one option is clearly inferior in quality and fluidity with nothing to compensate.
Lack of Post Game Features
This might be cherry picking considering that this is a very early game in the franchise, and I am generally bored and frustrated by the game at this point already. But I really do love myself a good collection of post-game features, and the creators clearly cared enough to consider.
We get the Cerulean Cave where Mewtwo resides, but artificially blocked from access by some random guy who had no reason to be there. Mewtwo was there all along, playing no role in the story despite clearly related to some Team Rocket research. That cave is laden with rocks, which forms surprisingly narrow paths for people to navigate, and is home to some monstrously high leveled Pokémon. The game is only practically beaten once you conquered the cave and fought or captured Mewtwo.
Not bad for a first time, but there is potential for more. Perhaps a surprise battle against Prof. Oak himself? Some extra content at the Game Freak building in Celadon? A Team Rocket remnant sidequest involving Porygon, Bill, or more Silph Co? It does leave me wanting for more content.
Very Artificial Obstacles
‘Did the guard stopped me from passing, not because I didn’t carry an ID or did something illegal, but because he was thirsty? Did that just happen?’
‘What business does this guy have with me blocking a cave that is public property?’
‘Who plants removable trees in the way of important city attractions?’
‘ This is the only dark cave in the entire game??’
You get questions like these a little too often. Some obstacles exist just for their own sake, which are very questionable design decisions.
Nailing The Coffin of Pokémon Yellow
Overall, Pokémon Yellow is not one of the better games in the franchise although it has many reasons to stand out and be memorable. It is certainly unique with the companion Pikachu, and in smaller ways better than the original Red or Blue.
I had a lot good moments with the game as a child, but now looking back at it as an adult, it is really hard for me to recommend for someone who wants a Kanto experience, even though it can be finished quickly enough. I would only recommend this for those who are a fan of the series enough to want to experience the state of chaotic poverty that is Gen 1 mechanics or play an official title with anime references (or the interactive Pikachu, valid reason), and that’s about it. There is nothing here that Fire Red and Leaf Green doesn’t do better, save for the anime references.
Ultimately, Pokémon Yellow is a fun run down memory lane that eventually become unbearable at certain points, which made me want to play a more recent game a lot. I will definitely miss being able to have all 4 starting Pokémon as options, but otherwise there isn’t a lot to look back fondly on. Maybe a further remaster and remake that isn’t the Let’s Go series is due?
