Fainting In Pallet Town: Replay Value: Pokémon Yellow: Part 1

Welcome to Replay Value! In collaboration with Aidan Moher, this four part miniseries will explore one of the most consequential games I covered in my book, Monster Kids: How Pokémon Taught A Generation To Catch Them All: Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition!

Replay Value is a cross-newsletter series hosted by Aidan and myself where we’re each replaying a childhood favorite— Pokémon Yellow and Chrono Trigger, respectively—and asking each other pointed questions along the way. For the next four Fridays, you’ll track our progress in the game and get an inside track on just why we love these games so much. Head on over to Aidan’s terrific newsletter, Astrolabe, to check out his progress on Chrono Trigger. And consider checking out his wonderful book, Fight, Magic, Items: The History of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the Rise of Japanese RPGs in the West.

For this initial installment of Replay Value, I chose Pokémon Yellow, and have played through the section that runs from the start to Vermillion City and the SS Anne. It’s not my favorite game in the main series (though it’s certainly near the top,) but in the grand scheme of the Pokémon franchise, it’s perhaps the most important exercise of its branding power. Serving as both update to the classic Red and Blue, a tie-in that recalled numerous aspects from the anime and invited new fans that had previously only experienced it in that medium, a virtual pet simulator, and a tribute to Pikachu, the monster that had become Pokemon’s mascot, Yellow finds Pokemon at the height of its cultural omnipresence.

Q&A with Aidan Moher

Aidan: Let's get the obvious questions out of the way: You've just started up Pokémon Yellow, who're you picking as your starter? Just kidding. Pokémon Yellow was unique because it took a cue from the show and started the player with Pikachu instead of letting them pick one of the classic starters. How does having this predetermined starter—an electric type, no less—change the beginning of Pokémon Yellow compared to its predecessors?

Daniel: Well, the most obvious way it changes things comes in regards to the first gym. Brock, now bearing his anime garb instead of being the jacked, shirtless twelve-year-old we saw in Red/Blue, is a Rock-type trainer. And Pikachu’s lack of effective moves and fairly poor defense means that, from the very beginning, you’re forced to plan around it. You have to focus on team-building from the onset in a way that you really didn’t have to with Red/Blue (even if you picked Charmander in those games, you could eventually whittle Geodude and Onix away with Ember.) So aside from the endlessly cute addition of being able to chat with Pikachu and find out whether it’s happy with you or, as it is at the start, extremely pissed, the biggest change is enforcing strategy as an immediate concept rather than simply powering through.

Also, the updated monster sprites, meant to resemble their anime counterparts, are kinda neat. I think I prefer Red/Blue’s for their critter-ey quirkiness, but Yellow’s certainly add to the “everything is a route to everything else” synergy that the franchise is known for.

Aidan: Speaking of Pikachu, one of the notable things about Pokemon early on was that its various media properties sort of existed in parallel—from its raunchy original manga to Ash's journey on TV to the games. What are your thoughts on Pokemon Yellow beginning to merge the TV experience with the games?

Daniel: It’s cool, but if every game did it to the extent of Yellow, I think I’d probably get pretty sick of it. Pokémon, for me, has always been the result of two scoops of supplied creation and one scoop of imagination. You’re able to tie together all of these distinct parts to get a mental picture of its universe and you fill in the cracks with your own vision and theories.

Adding all of these little anime callbacks and storytelling beats is a fun experiment, especially in how it changes how you approach the game itself - You can get Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur, just like Ash Ketchum! They’re pretty cool, but do you use them all? Which do you keep? And how do you have to plan around these gym leaders who have more powerful teams (that often loosely resemble ones they had in the anime)? Does the inclusion of the silly Jessie and James from Team Rocket change the tone of the terrorist group at all? You have to reckon with the influence of the wider franchise itself rather than performing something purely singular.

As I wrote before, Yellow is a notable symbol of Pokemon’s evolving status in the world. It’s a pretty fine bridge between the world you create and the world that’s created for you.

Aidan: Nowadays Pokemon's criticized for being too easy, but I was surprised recently when I went back to one of the Game Boy games and died on the first battle and then in the grass outside Pallet Town. Was the series tougher back then?

Daniel: So, the debate around whether or not Pokemon used to be harder will go on until the earth devours the sun. That said, fainting in Professor Oak’s lab or on the first route is not super uncommon. One thing for Yellow is Pikachu’s aforementioned defense - it’s not exactly a tank. Take a few Rattata tackles and it’s over. Another thing that’s also changed is the accelerating move pool for Starters. For example, in Gen 1, Charmander doesn’t learn Ember until level 9. By Gen 2, it’s level 7. And now, as of Gen VIII, it’s level 4. Knowing type-specific STAB moves is pretty helpful in balancing the playing field and not having to rush back to the Pokémon Center between every brawl with Pidgey and Caterpie.

So I can’t for certain say whether or not Pokemon games are harder or easier (especially since I started playing when I was a clumsy child and every video game was hard,) but I will say that older generations made it so that it was much easier for the games to be hard. Does that make sense?

Aidan: What's your tactic when you replay a Pokemon game? Do you always end up using the same team of six? Or do you mix it up?

Daniel: As a kid, I always used my mainstays. Eventually, my team will have a Dragonite on it and that’s just that. Nowadays, I try to mix it up a bit and catch stuff that I’ve never used or rarely used in the past. I also try to end up with six. Even if I never use that last monster for anything other than surfing around or cutting down trees or pushing rocks in ubiquitous cave puzzles, I leave them in there. Just feels right!

Feel free to leave a comment before with your own answers to Aidan’s questions and subscribe to make sure you get the next instalment of Replay Value: Pokémon Yellow in your inbox next Friday!