Introduction:

If you really "gotta catch 'em all", you'll need either Red and Blue Version or a good GameShark. Pokemon Yellow will have you playing, waiting, catching, and lots and lots of random battles.

Story:

You begin the story as Professor Oak is explaining to you about Kanto, the world you live in. You decide your name, the name of your rival, and then you begin in Pallet Town and go to the lab to realize that the Professor is gone. You travel into tall grass and Prof. Oak comes. Just then you are attacked by a Pokemon. Oak Catches the Pokemon. After being rescued by Prof. Oak in wild grass, you both go back to his lab where you receive the pokemon he had just caught and begin your quest to become the best trainer in well, Kanto.

Gameplay:

Yellow's gameplay is very easy, yet limited. As a classic RPG, you walk around, and when you battle, your Pokemon stands there while you have a selection of moves for it to do. It can be compared to Final Fantasy in a way.
Of course, you can ride a Bicycle to go faster, and Surf to go on water.

The gameplay here is annoying.
It's not the fact that you walk painfully slow, but the fact that there is so much grass that you have to stop every 6 seconds because "Wild Pidgey appeared!" When you walk into tall grass Pokemon will randomly come at you, so walking in grass, water, or caves has many detours and delays.

Trainers: If they see you, you must fight no matter how badly your Pokemon are injured. While this does make the game challenging, it detracts from the freedom of the game.

I give the gameplay: 6/10

Graphics:

Not good. While Pokemon Yellow does have much better color than Red or Blue, the colors are not varied. In Red you were green throughout the game and everything else was red. In Yellow, you and everything are yellow in Vermillion, Green in Celadon, etc. The entire screen usually has 3 colors: white, black, and whatever color based on where you are.

Graphics were a bit better for its time. The backpack is defined, eyes are present, although you look like a bobblehead doll.

I give the graphics: 6/10

Sound:

Beeps and bits of music. The random battle music does get repetitive, and the sounds are not that good, except in the later games.

I give the sound: 4/10

Replayability:

Not much. You can beat the Elite Four as many times as you want and you can try to catch every single type of Pokemon and raise their levels, but the sad fact remains: once you beat a regular Trainer, they're beaten for good.

I give the replayability: 5/10

Challenge:

This is not hard, provided you can match different attacks and types. If you train your Pokemon a lot and have a strategy, then it can be easy. (A guide and setting Battles to Shift help too!)

I give the challenge: 8/10

Frustration:

The frustration is the amount of time it takes for you to level a Pokemon up. It takes so long that you could go and get a haircut in less time than it takes to level up a decently strong character. It is tedious at times.

I give the frustration: 10/10

Value:

This game is pretty old, so about $3.00 or so. It's not sold anymore, but I'm keeping mine... it could be worth something.

I give the value: $3.00/$5.00

Comparison to the Anime:

In Red and Blue, you had Rockets confront you. Now it's Jessie and James, along with Koffing, Meowth, and Arbok.
In Red and Blue you could choose between Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur, while your Rival got the type advantage one. Now you only get Pikachu while your Rival gets Eevee, which will be randomly evolved later.
Giovanni, the last boss, has a Persian while in Red and Blue he had a Kankaskan sp?

(This isn't a comparison, but Pokemon look different in Yellow than Red and Blue.)

I give the comparison to the anime: Upgradeable/Upgradeable

Overall:

If you have hopes that Pokemon Yellow will become an antique or you absolutely love Pokemon, buy this. Otherwise, save your quarters.

I give Pokemon Yellow Version: 510

Conclusion:

I did outgrow this game, but I loved it as a kid and it's a shame that the first season died out. This little memoir of the old Nintendo sure is good for little kids, but not for older gamers.
Adam, signing out!

Written By: Adam
E-Mail Address: flashback25@aol.com
Date Submitted: March 17th, 2007

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