25/08/2018

Pokemon Yellow: The Pikachu Solo Run


My tatty, sweaty, sticky original cartridge.
All the current talk about Pokemon Let's go made me curious about their source material, i.e. Pokemon Yellow. My gaming instinct was ever-so-slightly stirred, and I reasoned that the time was ripe to play that game. (More like a 'now-or-never' situation, really: given my dislike for Gen I and my recent purchase of FireRed and LeafGreen, there is virtually no guarantee that I'll ever want to play Yellow once the fuss about Let's go dies.) I went with lil' Pikachu as my One and Only because indeed, what's the point of even playing Yellow at all if you're not gonna run with the sparkly mouse?

So off we went, Wonderful Electric and I (I actually wanted to name him just like that but alas, there were not enough slots available); and we soon found ourselves facing that most formidable obstacle, the one that's supposed to stop dead in their tracks any Yellow player who made the fatal mistake of relying on Pika-cute only: the Pewter Gym, lair of Brock and his Rock 'Mons. Now obviously, my little Etincelle that's the name I settled for, and it means spark in french only wielded three pathetic Moves at that time, namely Thundershock, Quick Attack and Tail Whip. Thundershock being virtually useless, I had to conquer that Gym with Quick Attack and Tail Whip only talk about a tall order. The only strategy I could think of and probably the only one that existed, for that matter was to weaken Brock's 'Mons as much as possible by spamming Tail Whip, before wearing them down with Quick Attack. And blimey, it worked! And it was not even that much of an ordeal: sure, it was long and tedious, but Etincelle endured hits quite bravely and was never in real danger of fainting.

Once that most infamous roadblock was behind us, cruising Kanto was easy-peasy. My electric ranger proved to be surprisingly resistant as well as quite strong, which surprised me after Alolan Raichu's poor performance on both defensive and offensive fronts. Gen I being, well, Gen I, I had to make do with the measliest of Move pool, made of Thunderbolt, Quick Attack, Swift and Mega Punch. Not that this Move diet stopped us from progressing, mind you: one-shooting was our bread and butter and we blazed through Kanto, leaving only fainted 'Mons and crying Trainers in our wake. Well, take that back: we didn't blaze through Kanto as much as we plodded through it. Yellow's pacing is every bit as horrible as Blue's one, and I had to backtrack and take detours so often that my run ended up bloated beyond belief, clocking at 15 bloody hours. Before we parted ways though, the game had one more nasty surprise in store for me: a final Gym and a Pokemon League bristling with Ground and Rock 'Mons. Why, thank you, game! You really don't want me to rely on Pikachu, now do you? Anyway, a whole lot of grinding and metric tons of Battle Items did the trick and I finally beat all those punks fair and square.

Ooh, I feel love, I feel love, I feel love. 
After playing Yellow, my verdict on Gen I remains the same: I still don't like those games although not for the exact same reasons as when I played Blue, ironically. I took the inventory limitation, the terrible pacing and the general clunkiness and glitchiness in my stride this time around, only to be thoroughly bothered and troubled by yet another limitation: somehow, the Gen I entries don't feel like true-blue Pokemon games to me. This may sound like a ironic and even wildly ignorant statement, given that those games are the original Pokemon instalments; and yet, the opacity and abstruseness of the whole Move business in those games, the horrible HM management, the limited fauna and the constant herding of the player feel weirdly at odds with the spirit of the series. How are you supposed to manage your Moves, exploit the Type chart and fight efficiently when you cannot even check the nature and effects of Moves before your 'Mons learn them? How are you supposed to build up a well-oiled team when so few 'Mons can learn HMs and when you constantly encounter the same tired Rattatas and Pidgeys? How are you supposed to enjoy exploring and cruising around when you're constantly blocked by the most random obstacles and have to take a million detours in order to progress? In many ways, the Gen I games feel like a pre-evolution to the Pokemon series as we know and love it nowadays: everything is there, only half-baked and still in an embryonic state. It's certainly fascinating from a purely historical point of view; but when it comes to gameplay, latter Pokemon entries are undoubtedly more refined and fulfilling.

As for Yellow in particular, I'll be blunt: it's a complete rip-off. What we have here is basically Red&Blue all over again, only with Pikachu at the helm and a couple of Jessie and James cameos. I guess that setup delighted many a fan of the anime who rejoiced in pretending they were Ash Ketchum fighting the evil Team Rocket, but that doesn't make Yellow less of a shameless cash grab. Ultra Sun&Moon took a lot of flak for not bringing enough novelties to the table, and yet they still bring ten times more than Yellow did. I'd be curious to know if Yellow was mauled by reviewers and branded as daylight robbery back in the days, or if the Pokemon honeymoon was still going full force and blinding Pokefans to the series' flaws.

At any rate, that's one more Pokemon entry and one more solo run under my belt, and both managed to redeem the series' mascot after the Alolan Raichu semi-fiasco. But do you know what's most ironic, dear fellow gamers? Technically, I'm not even done with Pikachu yet. I still have to see how he performs as normal Raichu; and that means yet another Pikachu solo run, this time with a perfectly regular specimen recruited in tall grass. A solo runner's work is never done, indeed! Thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!

6 comments:

  1. >I'd be curious to know if Yellow was mauled by reviewers and branded as daylight robbery back in the days, or if the Pokemon honeymoon was still going full force and blinding Pokefans to the series' flaws
    It's hard to pinpoint if Yellow was panned at all. The original Red and Blue games had a general mediocre score of 6/10 (which, at the time was good) and Yellow maintained that score. Even though it added virtually nothing (it actually even removed the fun of the numerous glitches like MissingNo and weird stuff present in R/B), it was a shock at the time just how colorful the game was and how better the sprites were considering the hardware. Although, as a fan when Yellow released, the game was received with overwhelmingly positive feedback from fans due to some pretty good marketing, since Pikachu was extremely popular, and the general Pokécraze present in the 90's.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your input, Sieg! ^^ Indeed, the testimony of someone who witnessed the whole Pokemon craze when it was at its absolute peak is just unvaluable for a late-comer to the series such as myself.

      I can totally understand people being blown away by the brand-new colour palette, though. Heck, even I was struck by it when playing Yellow, and I've seen my fair share of vivid colour palettes in videogames already. The impact in those monochrome Gameboy times must have been tenfold.

      Delete
    2. Honestly, it's pretty fun and nostalgic to remember those times. I'll gladly give you info of that era. Kind of unrelated but I find it really interesting that the Pokémon demographic keeps "shifting". Back then, the Pokémon fanbase was mostly 5 to 12 years old but nowadays, the fanbase is the same, as in, it's mostly 20+ years old that play and discuss the games. Unfortunately, kids nowadays almost don't even play portable consoles, just mobile games, it seems.

      >I can totally understand people being blown away by the brand-new colour palette, though
      You have no idea. Hell, I remember when the GBA was announced that everyone thought the ads were lies, showing what it was basically a portable SNES/Mega Drive. Boy, was I blown away when I first played on it!

      Delete
    3. "I'll gladly give you info of that era": Maybe you could write about your Pokemon (hey)days on your blog... ^^ Or we'll get the opportunity to talk about this in future solo run posts of mine, which are in no danger of suffering any shortage. ^^

      With hindsight, I just wonder how on earth did the GBA pass me by so totally at the time. I mean, I just cannot remember having seen a single mention of it anywhere, let alone one in the flesh. And mind you, I was still consuming ample amounts of TV in those days and thus wouldn't have missed a GBA advertising - all the less so as a handheld that was basically emulating my beloved 16-bit gaming would have been an instant buy, given how much I was into emulation at the time. I can only assume that the GBA was not that popular in my country, unlike the Game Boy. Weird, really.

      Delete
  2. I don't think it got panned at all; pokemon was still on an all time high, and pikachu following the player around, getting all the 3 other starters and the actual team rocket, was more than enough to make people happy.

    But this just makes one think, what a coincindence that this weak ass version was chosen to be remade into the attrocity in waiting that is Let's Go, huh? I'm just mad poor Eeevee was dragged into this mess, purely so GF could make two versions and try to grab even more money from us. Not gonna work for me, I ain't even gonna get it for the 2 player co-op now.

    I'm sure wishing for those Sinnoh remakes right about now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pikachu following the player alone would have been enough to convince me to purchase the game, I admit. Not that I need a lot of convincing in the first place when it comes to purchasing core entries, mind you. Spin-offs, now THAT's another matter entirely... I see the Let's Go games as such, no matter what GameFreak says about them; and they're definitely not on my To-Get-My-Paws-On list as of now. We'll see what reviewers and gameplay videos have to say when the games finally come out.

      Ooooh yes, Sinnoh remakes! I'm pinning for those as well, if only to get a graphical update. I've never been fond of Diamond&Pearl's colour palette and overall art style, and I'd like to see a complete rehaul of Sinnoh full of gorgeous colours. Oh, and non-expirable TMs would be great too. And the game asking me if I want to use another Repel. Please make it happen, GameFreak; a whole lot of us want those remakes, and certainly more so than a 4th version of Kanto!

      Delete