Pokemon is a very long running series, having everything in the way from the original rpg's, to beat em ups. Even a few rather strange games focused on taking pictures or taking care of your adorable Pikachu. Though sometimes it is always nice to get back to the classics. Pokemon Yellow was one of the first Pokemon games released. Although it is mostly the same, it has some large differences, such as the use of Pikachu as your starter, and the ability to get the other three starters later on.
Graphics: The graphics of the overworld in this game are mostly the same as the ones in Red and Green. Not to say that's a bad thing of course. Pokemon had relatively good graphics in those games. Though of course there was room for improvement. The fact that none of them were changed means the same here. The overworld sprites are pretty good, but have plenty of room to be improved on. The battle sprites on the other hand, received a major upgrade for many Pokemon. No longer do you squint and tilt your head while looking at Exeggutor's sprite, wondering what horrible creature you had just evolved your Exeggcute into. Pikachu also has a look more in line with it's anime counterpart, getting rid of the older, chubbier sprite the original games had.
Sound: The sounds of the game are relatively solid all around. Though there are no differences in sounds from Green and Red. So this was probably expected by most people. Every Pokemon still makes it's cry when you send it out into battle. Each move still makes the buzzing sound through the speakers when it hits. So all sounds go relatively well. Though you're bound to go insane by the fifth or so time you head the low health alert buzzer.. You get used to it eventually, especially since you have the nice and catchy gym leader themes to balance it out. The battle themes in these games truly are nice to listen to, especially the ones for the more powerful trainers you fight. It gives the game a nice sense of how strong your opponent is.
Addictiveness: As you probably already know, this game can get very addictive. Each time you play through the game, you have a new team of Pokemon you can choose. So the thought is always there to restart your file and decide to use a different group of Pokemon this time. With all the choices, it's obvious you won't get to try them all out in one run. So this game makes you have multiple playthroughs to really find which Pokemon you enjoy and which go well together in a team. Without Dark and Steel types though, which were added in gen 2, it does overpower Psychic-types quite a bit. So it is likely you'll end up with a Psychic-type on your team through most of these playthroughs.
Story: Probably the weakest point of this game is it's story. Not to say it's a horrible story though. It's just that you won't be doing anything overly special through most of it. The story is the same as in the previous installments, except for the fact you're given a Pikachu as your starter. This does add a bit of side moments to the story though. Such as finding a Jigglypuff that ends up putting your buddy to sleep. Or a Clefairy that the adorable mouse tries to woo, which doesn't really get anywhere for him. So while the main story is the same as the previous games, Pikachu does have small interactions with other Pokemon. This makes the game seem more in depth, as Pikachu's small moments can be pretty entertaining for a distraction from the main story. The rest of the story is average though. You're a young trainer who leaves his home town, fights his rival, collects badges, and is apparently the only person in the region actively stopping a villainous team of people. So as you can see, the story isn't amazing, but it definitely is enough to keep you playing.
Depth: It's a Pokemon game, so of course there's a lot of depth to be found here. My earlier comments about the large number of Pokemon shows how much there is to this game, especially if you intend to catch every Pokemon you can find in the game. Along with trying to find good move sets for them. This means you'll very likely be spending a while catching Pokemon, wanting as many species as possible before you decide on which are good and which you'll most likely get rid of without care. This can take a while, especially if you don't know where to find most of them. So you'll end up searching the region for a while as you search out every species that hasn't filled up your Pokedex yet. It truly does feel rewarding though when you capture or evolve the Pokemon that finally fills the Pokedex, knowing that you have caught every single Pokemon that exists in the world. (Until gen 2 comes out of course.)
Difficulty: As an rpg, this game really doesn't have a set difficulty that everyone will be experiencing. It mostly depends on what Pokemon you train and how high their levels are when you battle certain opponents. Certain teams may prove to wreck the whole game with minimal effort, while others may struggle to keep up as they realize they can't handle the late game trainers. So this puts the games difficulty as a more middle of the road experience. Some players may find a large amount of annoyance during some parts, while others might breeze through without care. The only tip I can offer to help is that you should try to make a balanced team. As a team that covers each others weaknesses tends to get farther than one that simply focuses on one aspect to the detriment of all others.
Wrapping up: My final score to the game is a very good 8.7. It's not a perfect game by any means, having small bugs and other problems that could derail the experience at points. There's also the somewhat generic story that holds it back. But everything else definitely makes up for it. Especially the tiny moments that Pikachu does add by being in the game. So whether you're a new trainer, or someone with the series from the beginning, picking the game up because of nostalgia, you'll most likely have a good time playing through Pokemon: Yellow.
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