Pokémon Yellow Version

Pokémon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition (Japanese: ポケットモンスター ピカチュウ Pocket Monsters Pikachu), often known as Pokémon Yellow Version (Japanese: ポケットモンスター 黄 Pocket Monsters Yellow), is the third Pokémon game released worldwide, as a follow up to and expansion on Pokémon Red and Blue. In Japan, the game was the fourth Pokémon game released, as a follow up to Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue intended to buy Game Freak time to rework the then-upcoming Generation II games.

Pokémon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition
[[File:File:Pokemon Yellow boxart.jpg|250px]] Pokémon Yellow's boxart depicting Pikachu.
Basic info
Platform:	{{{platform}}}
Category:	RPG
Players:	2 players simultaneous
Connectivity:	None
Developer:	Game Freak
Publisher:	Nintendo
Part of:	{{{gen_series}}}
Ratings
CERO:	N/A
ESRB:	E for Everyone
ACB:	N/A
OFLC:	N/A
PEGI:	N/A
GRAC:	N/A
GSRR:	N/A
Release dates
Japan:	September 12, 1998
North America:	October 1, 1999
Australia:	2000
Europe:	June 16, 2000
South Korea:	N/A
Hong Kong:	N/A
Taiwan:	N/A
Websites
Japanese:	Pokémon.co.jp page Nintendo.co.jp page
English:	Pokémon.com page

Similar to Pokémon Red and Blue, Yellow arrived towards the end of the Game Boy's lifespan. It managed, though, to receive the title of second best-selling non-bundled game for its console, only losing to its predecessors.

Plot

Unlike other games, Yellow was inspired by the anime, and thus, instead of having a choice between Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle, players are forced to start off with a Pikachu that Professor Oak caught on Route 1. With the rival beginning with an Eevee, the player now journeys from Pallet to go through an all-new experience—with no Grass-, Fire-, or Template:Type2s to fall back on until each member of the Kanto starter trio is given to the player later on, about a quarter of the way through the game.

Much like before, players journey across Kanto from their hometown of Pallet, defeating the eight Gym Leaders (Brock and Misty do not join the player, unlike in the anime) and eventually the Elite Four.

Team Rocket battles feature yet another special, anime-based surprise, as Jessie and James show up, along with their Pokémon, Ekans, Koffing, and Meowth. Beyond these changes, the plot of Yellow is very similar to that of Red, Blue, and Green.

Blurb

"You've finally been granted your Pokémon Trainer's license, and now you're on your way to becoming the world's greatest Pokémon Trainer! The shockingly-cute Pikachu tags along behind you as you search the enormous world for monsters to train and evolve. Face off against Blastoise's torrential water cannons. Stand strong when facing Pidgeot's stormy Gust. Develop the ultimate Pokémon strategy to defeat the eight Gym Leaders and become the greatest Pokémon Master of all time!"

Connectivity

As well as reprising the ability to allow players to trade Pokémon between two cartridges via a Game Boy link cable, Yellow also debuted a new link battle mode, Colosseum 2. While battling another player's Pokémon team had been possible since the release of Pokémon Red and Green two years before Yellow's release, Yellow introduced several regulations in Colosseum 2 mode. Battle modes introduced include the Pika Cup (for Pokémon between levels 15 to 20 only; their combined level limit is 50), Petit Cup (for Pokémon between levels 15 to 20, heights under 6'8", and weights less than 44 pounds only) and Poké Cup (for Pokémon between levels 50 to 55 only, and the sum of all entered Pokémon's levels cannot exceed 155. Mew is not allowed). These three cups would later become standard cups in Pokémon Stadium.

Changes from Red, Green, and Blue

File:PokemonYellowJapanese.png

Japanese version box art.

• Pikachu is the only starter Pokémon the player can have, and travels with the player on-screen, outside of a Poké Ball like Ash's. The rival starts with Eevee, and the three normal Kanto starters can be obtained later in the game. No other wild Pikachu can be found in the game.
  • The cry of the starter Pikachu, or any Pikachu with the same OT and ID of the player for that matter, is changed to "Pika!" in battle, or "Pikachu" on the status screen, instead of the original Pikachu cry.
  • The Rival will eventually evolve his Eevee (and thus affect which are the other members of his party) depending on the player's actions early in the game.
    • If the player beats the rival at both Oak's Lab and the early optional battle at Route 22, Eevee evolves into Jolteon.
    • If the player loses one of these two battles or passes up the Route 22 battle, Eevee evolves into Flareon.
    • If the player loses at Oak's Lab, and loses or passes up the Route 22 battle, Eevee evolves into Vaporeon.
• The front Pokémon sprites have all been updated to resemble how they appear in their then-current Ken Sugimori artwork usually used in promotional images and strategy guides for Pokémon Red and Blue, as well as some of them resembling how they appear in the anime. The back sprites are the same as the previous games.
• In-game trades are changed to different Pokémon.
• Level-up and TM compatibility altered slightly.
• A minimal happiness system is implemented to track how Pikachu feels about the player, and Pikachu will refuse to evolve.
• Gym Leaders have different teams, some based on those that appear in the anime.
• Some Trainer sprites were also redone. The main player now resembles Ash Ketchum from the anime, the player's rival closely resembles Gary Oak, and Brock and Misty resemble their anime counterparts, too.
• Enhanced compatibility with the Game Boy Color (outside of Japan) and the ability to print out Pokédex entries using the Game Boy Printer.
• A majority of glitches were disabled, and many glitch Pokémon were altered because the data forced into a Pokémon template had changed.
• Jessie and James appear and are involved in Team Rocket's scheme, and typically appear before the player battles Giovanni. They also replace the three Team Rocket members in the Pokémon Tower that hold Mr. Fuji hostage.
• Cerulean Cave, the game's final dungeon, is redesigned a second time.
• A Surfing Pikachu minigame, Pikachu's Beach, is included.

Features

Gyms

As in the other games of Generation I, there are eight Pokémon Gyms in Kanto, each with their own type affiliation. The Gym Leaders are Brock (Rock), Misty (Water), Lt. Surge (Electric), Erika (Grass), Koga (Poison), Sabrina (Psychic), Blaine (Fire) and Giovanni (Ground). The levels of certain Gym Leaders' Pokémon were adjusted for Yellow; some of their Pokémon teams were revised as well. For example, Lt. Surge will only have one Pokémon: a Raichu (as in Electric Shock Showdown).

Elite Four

The Elite Four is located at the Indigo Plateau. The Elite trainers are Lorelei (Ice), Bruno (Fighting), Agatha (Ghost) and Lance (Dragon); the Champion is the player's rival, who has Pokémon of mixed types. The levels of certain Elite trainer's Pokémon were adjusted for Yellow; some of their Pokémon teams were revised as well.

Pokémon

Yellow did not introduce any new Pokémon, and so the 151 present in Red, Green, and Blue are the only ones obtainable. Like the prior games, some Pokémon are missing from Yellow and must be traded from another game to complete the Pokédex or evolved from less powerful forms.

Version-exclusive Pokémon

The following Pokémon are not obtainable in Pokémon Yellow. In order to obtain any of the below Pokémon, they must be traded from one of the paired versions of Generation I which has that Pokémon available, which will be indicated.

Note that "G" indicates a Pokémon that can be caught in the Japanese Green, and thus in the English Blue as well. "B" indicates a Pokémon obtainable in the Japanese Blue.

Yellow
0013 Weedle Bug Poison RGB 0014 Kakuna Bug Poison RGB 0015 Beedrill Bug Poison RGB 0023 Ekans Poison R 0024 Arbok Poison R 0026 Raichu Electric RGB 0052 Meowth Normal GB 0053 Persian Normal GB 0109 Koffing Poison RGB 0110 Weezing Poison RGB 0124 Jynx Ice Psychic RGB 0125 Electabuzz Electric R 0126 Magmar Fire G

This is the only game in Generation I where Lickitung and Farfetch'd can be caught in the wild; in Red, Green, and Blue these Pokémon are only available by means of in-game trade.

Reception

Like Pokémon Red and Blue, Pokémon Yellow was also well received by the press. Like its predecessors, it received a perfect 10/10 "Masterful" rating from IGN. However, it was criticized as being "just a stopgap to help us wait for the real sequels". Yellow received a slightly lower average score than Pokémon Red and Blue of about 85% on GameRankings. Despite this, it was the site's top rated Game Boy game in the year of its release, 1999.

Title

While this game's title has become widely accepted as simply Pokémon Yellow, its officially recognized name is not entirely certain. On the boxart for most English versions, "Special Pikachu Edition" replaces the series' then-current slogan "Gotta Catch 'em All!," below the Pokémon logo, while "Yellow Version" is at the bottom, near where Red and Blue had theirs. However, "Special Pikachu Edition" is repeated on the box's opening and spine, while the Japanese title is simply Pocket Monsters Pikachu, with no color specified.

Despite this, the instruction manual refers to the game as "the Yellow version of Pokémon", the player has the option of being called Yellow, following the trends of the other versions, and "Yellow Version" can be seen at the game's title screen.

Trivia

• The opening of Pokémon Yellow features the least Pokémon out of all main series games, fittingly showing only Pikachu.
• Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, which implemented the walking Pokémon mechanic that was introduced in this game, was released in Japan exactly 11 years after this game was released in Japan.
• Pokémon Yellow is the first main series Pokémon game to depict two trainers (Jessie and James) in a battle sprite.
• Pokémon Yellow is the only Generation I game in Japanese where a message describing the current progress of a save in course appears, unlike the international versions, where such behavior is present in all games of the generation.
• Pokémon Yellow is the only game to allow the player to walk into the grass without any Pokémon, though Prof. Oak intervenes after taking two steps into the grass.
• If a player uses cheats to obtain another Pikachu and releases the one they started with, the new Pikachu will continue to follow the player as if it were the original. In addition, the new Pikachu will refuse to evolve into Raichu. This shows that the game recognizes any Pikachu whose original Trainer is the current player as the starter (this is normally fine, as no other Pikachu can be obtained in the game without trading). If one of the new Pikachu is released, the "active" Pikachu will have a disappointed expression for a limited time.
• The two available starter Pokémon of this game, Pikachu (player) and Eevee (rival), happen to be the only two Pokémon that can evolve using a Thunderstone.

In other languages

Language Title Japanese ポケットモンスター ピカチュウ French Pokémon Version Jaune German Pokémon Gelbe Edition Italian Pokémon Versione Gialla Spanish Pokémon Edición Amarilla

References

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