Pokémon Yellow beta

018Pidgeot.png It has been suggested that this article be moved to Development leftovers of Pokémon Yellow.
Please discuss whether or not to move it on its talk page.

050Diglett.png This article is incomplete.
Please feel free to edit this article to add missing information and complete it.
Reason: Pikachu cries leftovers, unused graphics from Pikachu Surf Game, other leftovers, tcrf is a good reference

Pokémon Yellow is a special edition of the Generation I games. It introduced the friendship system, which was improved and completed in Pokémon Gold and Silver and has since become a staple of the core series. It also added other features, such as walking Pokémon, which are exclusive to Pokémon Yellow and Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, and the Pikachu's Beach minigame. Some aspects of the game's initial design did not make it to the final release, either due to time constraints or due to its heavy reliance and basis on Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue.

Pre-release

Evolution levels

In a news article on Pokémon.com about upcoming Pokémon games, it was mentioned that Pokémon would evolve at different levels to what they would in Pokémon Red and Blue.[1] However, the game had already been released in Japan at the time, so this may have just been misinformation.

Post-release

Hidden battle system

Data exists for a battle situation when the Trainer has no Pokémon, though it isn't actually used when entering a battle with no Pokémon in the final release. In this case, selecting any option other than Run shows the message "Hurry, get away!" In the Japanese version, this dialogue is written in an "old man" dialect, so this may have been intended to be used for Professor Oak during the initial battle with the wild Pikachu at the start of the player's adventure, as the player has no Pokémon at that point.

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Leftover music theme

An unused music theme has been encountered in the internal data. It is not known where it would be used, but it is possible that it relates to the aforementioned "no Pokémon" battle system. However, it is not stored in either the battle, overworld or cave soundbanks. It is located in the minigame and "special Trainer" (Jessie and James) soundbanks, where the Pikachu's Beach music is stored, which is partly why this track only exists in Pokémon Yellow.

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


It may be worth noting that it closely resembles the battle music theme with Madake from BUSHI Seiryūden: Futari no Yūsha for the Super Famicom, a game that Game Freak developed and released in January 1997 after the release of Pokémon Red and Green, but before the Japanese release of Pokémon Yellow.

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Scrapped Pikachu's Beach bonus score

 
The unused +750 points score

There is unused radness data for a score of +750 points in the Pikachu's Beach minigame. It is impossible to achieve this score, regardless of how many flips Pikachu does, or how they were performed.

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Unused in-game trades

The Butterfree-for-Beedrill in-game trade from Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue remains.[2] The Japanese version of Pokémon Yellow kept the Beedrill's name from the Japanese Blue while the English version renamed it to Stinger.

Two additional in-game trades were also planned but scrapped, probably to compensate for the removal of the in-game trades in Cerulean City and Vermilion City. One is a Pidgeot for Pidgeot trade while the other is a Mew for Mew trade. In the Japanese version of Yellow, both received Pokémon have the same nickname, まつみや Matsumiya; however, in the English localizations, Pidgeot is nicknamed Marty while Mew is nicknamed Bart.

Default player and rival names

The unused default names for Red (Ninten) and Blue (Sony) remain unaltered.[3] In the Japanese version, Blue's unused default name remains unaltered from Pokémon Blue while Red's was subtly altered by gaining an extra digit (ゲーフリ1).[4]

Unused Pikachu Cries

Pikachu's voice actress Ikue Ohtani recorded 42 cries for Pikachu but 16 of them go unused.[5]

Semi-unused yellow palette

 
The Game Boy Color mode's yellow palette

In Japanese Yellow on Game Boy Color mode, the game uses a yellow palette similarly to how Red, Green, and Blue use their respective red, green, and blue palettes. In Western Yellow, Game Boy Color mode instead uses the Super Game Boy palettes but with more saturated colors.

The yellow palette from Japanese Yellow is used by Western Yellow in certain situations, like the Pikachu's Beach hi-score screen. It can be reinstated completely by modifying the ROM.[6]

References


Beta versions of Pokémon games
Generation I
Red and GreenYellow
Generation II
Gold and Silver (Spaceworld '97 demo) • Crystal
Generation III
Ruby and SapphireFireRed and LeafGreenEmeraldColosseumXD
Generation IV
Diamond and PearlPlatinumHeartGold and SoulSilver
Generation V
Black and WhiteBlack 2 and White 2
Generation VI
X and YOmega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
Generation VII
Sun and MoonUltra Sun and Ultra Moon
Generation VIII
Sword and Shield
Unreleased
Pokémon Picross


  This game-related article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games.