Last time,


So, now I have a pikachu that hates pokeballs and has the cutest walk sprite.

If I hold still, it’ll start to turn around.

It’s little details like this that make Pikachu seem really alive.

Anyway, time for adventure!

And here we see the next change in Yellow. Instead of everything being one color set, each time you move to a new area, there’s a new color. Unfortunately, you turn the same color, so there’s still the problem that nothing’s visually distinct. Except the sprites!

Interesting side-fact: when the screen flashes and the battle transition starts, Pikachu disappears although any uninvolved sprite you were talking to will be dragged in, as you can see. I’m assuming this is because Pikachu is coded differently, although it could just be that the game ignores anyone you’re not facing. Certainly Pikachu doesn’t seem to have much physical presence, because you can walk right through it to switch places.

As you see, each town will have a different color scheme. Some will be more dramatic than others.

As always, the pokemart won’t let you buy pokeballs and wants you to deliver their packages instead.

Pikachu jumps ledges like this, like it’s holding back to see what you’re doing. It’s cute.

Ah. And here’s where we approach my problems with happiness in this game. The game certainly makes Pikachu feel like its own creature with thoughts and feelings, and left to our own devices, most assumed the happiness system was a lot better done than it was – that a badly injured pikachu lost happiness, that the longer you walked around with an injured or fainted pikachu the more upset it’d be, that leaving status effects in place was mean… While those really should have actually been factors, the fact people would assume that was true meant it worked well enough. (The main changes between this and future games will only be to take out one of the most reasonable parts, that using healing items makes Pikachu happier.)

No, the real problem is with the NPCs, who don’t seem to give a damn. As you can see here, Pikachu doesn’t look happy with me at all.

If I faint Pikachu, that’ll catapult things all the way down to hating me, where Pikachu turns away from me when I talk to it, cursing me with a skull speechbubble.

And how does Oak react if you’ve been treating your pokemon poorly?

Why, the same way he does no matter what, that’s how. What’s really odd here is this is just the same speech he gives you in Red and Blue, down to it being his old pokemon. Why they tweaked so much else but left this bit intact despite it making no sense and contradicting their main gimmick is beyond me.

It’s stuff like this that really crystallized my belief that pokemon aren’t treated all that well. Sure, NPCs will reference the idea that you or someone else is a good trainer, but Yellow proves that they will say that regardless of how obviously miserable your pokemon is. Yellow now does in fact track how you treat your pokemon, and yet no matter how abusive you are, no one cares.

On a lighter note, at least Gary’s true to form. Yes, Gary. Brag more. It makes your inevitable defeat that much sweeter.

So, regarding the pokemon beyond Pallet…

As you can see here, it looks like the designers were trying to make it easier to level Pikachu. There’s also higher-level spearow on Route 22 and the addition of mankey, and nidoran can now be caught on Route 2 as well, making it hard to miss them and their new move of double-kick.

And in retrospect, balancing the game by giving you options for dealing with Brock was a much better decision than just saying Pikachu’s attacks could fry his pokemon, as outrageous as it seemed to me at the time. The gameplay has never been the best balanced, but there’s a sincerity to it in that everyone has the same pokemon with the same potential movesets interacting according to the same type system. The times the game does give you special treatment, like the badge stat boosts, are its weakest points.

Speaking of decisions, we’ve now got pokeballs, and it’s time to start making decisions there. As I’ve said, I don’t like raising the same pokemon twice, which means the pokemon I raised last time are off the table.

Which is to say:
Bulbasaur
Nidoran
Pidgey
Weedle
Meowth
Magikarp
Jigglypuff
Dratini
Tauros
Muk

All of these were done in Blue, it’s time to try new things.

As luck would have it, some of those are not found in Yellow to begin with – despite Ash clearly fighting and almost catching a weedle, they don’t exist, and meowth are also gone. We will have access to all three starters, but I’d prefer to avoid them. I’ve also tried raising a butterfree before and would like to hold off until a later game to try one out again.