Overview:

A special Pikachu version of the Pokemon RPG series that was loosely based off of the TV show at the time.  Gone are the three starters for you to choose from and instead you’re saddled with Pikachu who follows you around.  He also says his name a lot.  The gameplay is you’re tasked with collecting/cataloging all the Pokemon in the world [151 at this time] and becoming the very best Pokemon trainer by beating everyone.  Collecting consists of weakening your opponent and then catching them to add to your roster.  Rinse and repeat. 

Visuals:

It’s a very simple looking game from the original Game Boy era.  Yellow adds some extended capability if you play on a Game Boy Color and above by giving the Pokemon hints of their natural colors.  The sprites of the game has also changed a bit with Pikachu resembling the anime more and some of the characters changing designs to fit the cartoon as well.  You also get little vignettes of Pikachu doing fun things but that’s up for you to find them.  Again, the visuals are a simple top down view of the game with minimal sprites in the overworld.  All of the pizzazz is in the battle scenes where the characters and Pokemon are more detailed.  But that’s about it.  Moves are just relegated to wiggling or little notes here and there.  Nothing really special.

Audio:

The game, for the most part, is identical to Blue or Red/Green with all of the sounds/screeches being the same.  The only things that change are Pikachu centric.  The opening intro changes to a little more jaunty tune of Pikachu running around.  As I said in the opening, Pikachu talks a lot.  Every time he is called into battle he enters with a VERY screechy “Pika!”  He will also have little scenes where he’s happy/confused/sad and he will let you know with more screechy words.  I can’t really complain because of the limitations of the hardware, but I’m just letting you know!  All the other Pokemon retain their traditional screeches/calls so use that how you will.

Completion:

I know I finished this game back when it released.  It was actually the first game I got with my Game Boy Color so it was nice to see it enhanced.  As for now, I got my characters to level 30, beat Misty, saved the Pokemon collector and was just like, “I don’t wanna play anymore.”  I know how the game is and while it was amazing at the time, I just don’t like the tropes it does.  I don’t like having to go back to Pokemon centers to heal or managing move counts.  I still love you, Pokemon, but it’s not you, it’s me…