Pokémon yellow

A screenshot of the game while the player is traveling. The player is followed by Pikachu .

The gameplay of Pokémon Yellow is a slightly modified gameplay of Pokémon Red and Blue . The game uses a third-person view. The gameplay takes place on three game screens: the game world the player travels through, the menu where the player organizes his inventory, his Pokémon team and sets up the game process, and the screen where turn-based battles take place.

The player uses his Pokémon to battle other Pokémon. When a player is attacked by a wild Pokemon or another coach calls him to a duel, a battle screen appears. During the battle, the player can order his Pokemon to use one or another ability in the battle, use an item for the Pokemon, change the fighting Pokemon to another or run away from the battle (you cannot run away if the player is fighting with the coach). Pokémon have health points ; when a Pokémon runs out, it cannot fight until the player heals him. By defeating another Pokémon in battle, a player's Pokémon can gain experience points . Upon reaching a certain number of experience points, Pokemon can rise to a new level. The strength of the Pokemon depends on the level, in addition, upon reaching that level the Pokemon can learn new abilities or evolve ( Eng. Evolve ) - transform into a more perfect form.

Catching Pokemon is an important part of the gameplay. When a player is attacked by a wild Pokemon, the player can throw a Poké Ball at him - a pocket device in the shape of a ball for carrying Pokemon of any size. If the wild Pokemon does not break out of the pokeball, then it becomes the player's Pokemon. The success of the capture depends on how strong the wild Pokémon in itself is, how many wild Pokémon have health points and the strength of the pokeball. The ultimate goal of the game is to complete Pokedex, an electronic encyclopedia about Pokémon. If a player catches a new type of Pokemon, then information about him gets into Pokedex. Evolved (developed) forms of Pokemon are also considered as a separate species from their previous forms, so some types of Pokemon can be obtained only through evolution. In total, Pokedex has 151 species of Pokemon. Filling the entire Pokedex is one of the main goals of the game. There is a function for exchanging Pokemon with the players Red , Blue and Yellow . Not all Pokémon can be caught in Pokémon Yellow , and in order to fill the entire Pokédex, the player must exchange Pokémon with the owners of Red and Blue .

Gameplay Changes

Unlike Red and Blue , Yellow is made closer to the anime based on games. From the very beginning, the player is given the first Pokemon - Pikachu (in Red and Blue it was necessary to choose between Charmander , Squirtle and Bulbazavr ). As in the anime, Pikachu follows the main character - you can “talk” with Pikachu, thus recognizing his attitude to the player and his mood. At the beginning of the game, Pikachu is indifferent to the player, and depending on his actions, Pikachu will love the player or, conversely, hate him; if Pikachu occasionally rises to new levels, he will feel happy, and if he often faints in battles, his attitude towards the player will deteriorate. The ability to keep Pokémon outside pokéball was added in a later game - Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver , a remake of Pokémon Gold and Silver . Added a mini-game where a player plays Pikachu on a surfboard ; The goal of the mini-game is to go through the waves as far as possible. To open a mini-game, a player must teach his Pikachu the ability to "surf" ( Eng. Surf ) - this can only be done using the game Pokémon Stadium ^[1] . Now you can print Pokedex recordings on paper using the Game Boy Printer .

Setting

The fictional universe of the game resembles our world, but instead of animals, it is inhabited by creatures that look like ordinary animals and possess supernatural abilities - Pokemon. People called Pokémon trainers catch them and train them to participate in fights - Pokémon fights are somewhat reminiscent of sports . Coaches do not participate in battles, only rival Pokémon fight - coaches only give them commands which attack or ability to use them. Battles take place until one of the rivals falls unconscious or surrenders - battles never occur before death. As a rule, strong and experienced Pokémon trainers are respected.

The game takes place in the fictional region of Kanto , based on a real existing eponymous province of Japan. In Kanto, there are ten cities interconnected by road routes ( English Routes ). Some places in the game become available to the player only when certain conditions are met. Throughout Kanto, different species of Pokemon live.

Story

The plot is a slightly modified plot of Red and Blue ^[2] . At the beginning of the game, the player is not given a choice of three starting Pokémon - the player is given Pikachu, and his opponent - Ivy . Moving along the plot, the player can meet such anime characters as officer Jenny , Jesse , James and Meowth . Pikachu, which the player is given at the very beginning of the game, cannot be let go or forced to evolve. Like Ash Ketchum - the main character of the anime on games, the player can get all three starting Pokémon from Red and Blue . The player’s task is to collect as many Pokémon as possible and with their help defeat all the leaders of the stadiums ( Eng. Gym Leaders ), and then the Elite Four ( Eng. Elite Four ), simultaneously confronting Team R ( Eng. Team Rocket ) - a powerful criminal organization that catches and steals rare Pokémon in order to become stronger ^[3] .

Game development began immediately after the development of Pokémon Blue . The developers tried to finish the game to the release of the full-length anime " Pokemon: Mute vs Mew ." Nintendo’s president, Satoru Iwata , suggested that Yellow’s sales would not be as big as the next games coming out, Pokémon Gold and Silver ^[4] . Pokémon Yellow was released September 12, 1998 in Japan , September 3, 1999 in Australia , October 19, 1999 in America, and July 7, 2000 in Europe ^[5] . In support of the game, a special edition of Game Boy Color was released with Pikachu depicted on it ^[6] . In order to promote the game between Volkswagen and Nintendo, an agreement was signed on the release of one unique yellow Volkswagen New Beetle , stylized as Pikachu ^[7] . Nintendo World Report named Pokémon Yellow one of the most notable games on portable consoles in 1999 ^[8] .

Pokémon Yellow was warmly received by the gaming press, collecting 85.47% on the Game Rankings website, while becoming the fifth best game on the Game Boy and the 1.017th best game of all time ^[9] . Nintendo Power magazine gave the game eight points out of ten possible, while Game Informer gave the game 6.5 points out of ten ^[9] . Electric Playground gave the game 7.5 out of 10 ^[9] . The newspaper Sarasota Herald-Tribune recommended Yellow as a very good game for children ^[12] . Of the ten children surveyed, nine called the game “very good” or “excellent,” but only five of them recommended the game for purchase ^[13] . RPGFan called the game “so addictive that players have no choice but to“ catch them all. ” He also called the game “offensive” due to the fact that there were few additions from Red and Blue ^[14] . IGN columnist Craig Harris praised the game’s innovations, considering novice players are better off picking Yellow rather than Red or Blue . He gave the game a maximum score of ten out of ten points ^[11] .

Cameron Davis, a GameSpot journalist, called the game a “respite” for fans awaiting the release of Gold and Silver , commenting that “there are only enough new tasks to fill the gap - but no more” ^[10] . Brad Cook, a columnist for Allgame , noted that for those who did not play Red and Blue , Yellow might seem like a great game, but playing Red and Blue, he advised to wait for Gold and Silver ^[15] . Steve Boxer, a journalist for The Daily Telegraph , commented that the game has good gameplay mechanics, but it has no way to turn around. Describing Nintendo's politics as mean, he commented that Yellow “marks the point where the Pokémon series ceases to be a game and becomes a marketing ploy” ^[16] .

Sales

Pokémon Yellow was commercially successful and sold well. Before the release, Nintendo calculated that the total profit from sales by the beginning of 2000 would amount to $ 75 million ^[17] . It was assumed that the Game Boy Color and Pokémon Yellow bundle would become the second-largest toy in the New Year season ^[18] . Nintendo employee George Harrison predicted that more than three million copies of the game would be sold and that it would even beat Donkey Kong 64 in the number of copies sold ^[19] . In America, approximately 150,000 pre-orders for the game were made ^[20] . In the first week of release, Pokémon Yellow became the second best-selling computer game; in the second week, it won first place ^[21] . In December, Donkey Kong 64 and Gran Turismo 2 overtook the game in terms of sales. ^[22] In a survey conducted by CNET , it turned out that none of the stores surveyed already had Yellow in stock ^[23] . Sales of a regular game cartridge in the first week gained 600,000 copies, and in the second week, sales increased by more than a million copies, making Pokémon Yellow the fastest-selling game of all time at the time of release ^[24] . Around the same time, the first full-length anime about Pokemon was released - “ Pokemon: Mute to Mew ”, designed to increase sales of the game ^{[25] [26]} . Also, Nintendo representatives noted the high sales of Game Boy Color during the 1999 Christmas season, linking this with the release of Yellow ^[27] .

Gwenn Friss of the Cape Cod Times called the game one of the hottest products of the 1999 Christmas season, comparing it to popular toys from previous years, such as Ferby and Tickle Me Elmo ^[28] . Thomas Content from USA Today also compared toys, commenting that he was “ready to trample” them. He also added that Yellow along with Red and Blue are the reason that Game Boy sales jumped from 3.5 million in 1998 to 8 in 1999 ^[29] . Yellow was in third place among the best-selling games in North America, other places were also occupied by games of the Pokémon series ^[30] . Demand for Yellow led Target to apologize to customers for not being able to meet “unprecedented demand” ^[31] . FuncoLand representatives reported a hole in sales of Game Boy Color and Pokémon Yellow caused by their shortage ^[32] . Yellow also remained the fastest-selling Pokémon series game in the UK ^[33] . Only the Wii Fit for Wii could equal Yellow in the English bestseller list ^[34] . The newspaper Idaho Statesman called Yellow "the new hot hit for Game Boy Color" ^[35] .

Virtual Console

On November 12, 2015, during the last Nintendo Direct, it was announced that Pokémon Yellow, along with Red, Green (in Japan) and Blue, will be released on the Virtual Console for Nintendo 3DS on February 27, 2016 to mark the franchise’s 20th anniversary. In addition to preserving their original graphic and music formats, all three games will have local wireless features that allow them to exchange and fight with other players thanks to the 3DS wireless network. The game will also include a special yellow version of the Nintendo 2DS in Japan. While the international versions of the game were in color, the Japanese version was only released in black and white for the Game Boy, as it was originally released in Japan about a month before Game Boy Color was released in this region. Game Boy Printer features will not work with the 3DS VC version. The VC version will also be compatible with Pokémon Bank, allowing players to transfer their captured creatures to Pokémon Sun and Moon .

Remakes

On May 30, 2018, during the presentation, it was announced that Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! will be released for the Nintendo Switch in November 2018, with both games being remakes of Pokémon Yellow. Both games will take place in the Kanto region and include only the original 151 first-generation Pokémon. Unlike Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver , where only one Pokemon could follow the main character, in Let's Go two main Pokémon can follow the main character: the starting one (Pikachu or Ivy) and another Pokemon.

• Pocket Monsters Yellow on the official Japanese Nintendo website (jap.)
• Official site of the series (eng.)
• Yellow section of the official website