Why I Love Pokemon Yellow

While everyone is looking forwards towards the release of Pokemon X and Y, I've been going through the first generation of Pokemon games, more specifically Pokemon Yellow. This isn't out of some nostalgia driven hunger, although little shivers of excitement do pass through me whenever the old battle tune starts. This is purely coincidental (I found my old cartridge, plugged it in and hey ho, I'm playing again) but it got me thinking about why Yellow inspires fuzzy feelings of warmth in Pokefans.

I loved Pokemon Yellow. Out of the first generation games it is ranked number one by me for the simple fact it has oodles of character. It takes the formula laid down by Red and Blue, and reworks a little of the anime magic into it to create a hybrid game that throws up familiar characters (Jesse and James) and familiar plots (collecting all three starter Pokemon the way Ash does in the cartoon series), yet retains the essence of the original first gen games (battling your way to the top of the Elite Four). You can't help but get sucked in by these elements, yet these are the smaller rewards that Yellow offers. In fact, the biggest draw of Yellow is a pocket-sized electric mouse.

Getting Pikachu as your starter Pokemon is a brilliant break away from the norm, but the best is yet to come, because Pikachu doesn't just travel with you on your belt of Poke balls. No, Pikachu follows you around wherever you go (as long as you don't cause Pikachu to faint in battle, of course).

This is a great addition that made you feel like a real Pokemon trainer for the first time. Seeing Pikachu react to the environment around you (the Bill moment made me laugh and the Clefairy moment coo) meant that you never felt like you were travelling alone. You had a partner there right beside you, going through changes and being awed by new situations that way you were. Plus, you had to win Pikachu's trust. The feeling of finally seeing Pikachu display love towards you cannot be underestimated. It was pure genius.

Sure, Pokemon walking alongside trainers was reintroduced in HeartGold and SoulSilver, but it never captured the same joy that Pikachu delivered in Yellow. Most of this stems from the generic actions that your Pokemon give whenever you click on them. Whereas Pikachu gave unique response, your Pokepals never had responses tailored to them (their type, their characteristics, their personality). There is pleasure in catching as many different Pokemon as possible to see what they look like walking beside you, but the HG/SS never develop their own character in the same way Pikachu did.

There is a big drive online to see Yellow remade the way Red/Blue and Gold/Silver/Crystal were. Personally I don't think this will work (although the mock-ups online almost make me change my mind) but I would love to see this game on the Nintendo handheld eShop. I honestly don't know why Nintendo hasn't done this yet already, but the GameBoy and GameBoy Advance Pokemon games would get a lovely home on the eShop. I'd certainly re-download all of them for the sheer nostalgia of it. Perhaps there are technical problems with an eShop version (trading and battling locally springs to mind), but I still firmly believe that the old generation needs to revived in its original form, starting with Yellow.

As for the remake, I would much rather that Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald get the next make-over, preferably with the upcoming 3DS engine. We've replayed Kanto and Johto a lot in recent years, so it's only fair that the Hoenn region can be re-explored. I'll keep my fingers crossed that we'll see both Yellow and Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald in the near future, either remade or on the eShop.