Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu Seems Like Pokemon Yellow To Me

The Christmas that I received Pokemon Blue and my translucent purple Game Boy Color was the same morning that I got Pokemon Yellow. Since I started my Pokemon Trainer journey with Squirtle (Water Type Pokemon), I had no issue defeating Brock, the Ground Pokemon Gym Leader. However, Pokemon Yellow is similar to the TV show. You wake up late to and miss out on choosing your starter Pokemon with Professer Oak. Instead of choosing Charmander (Fire Type), Bulbasaur (Grass Type, or Squirtle, you get Pikachu, an Electric Type Pokemon. Why is that a problem?

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Well, Electric Pokemon are weak against Ground Type Pokemon. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t defeat Onix, the stone dragon. That being said, I never beat Pokemon Yellow. I tried to trade Pokemon with a friend that had Pokemon Yellow. At that point, my cartidge was corrupted. Whenever we traded Pokemon, my game would crash and force me to start over. So, what does this story have to do with Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu? In my opinion, it’s an upgraded version of Pokemon Yellow.

How is Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu an upgraded version of Pokemon Yellow?

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For starters, you start in Pallet Town. You’re supposed to head over to Professor Oaks laboratory to pick a Pokemon. Instead of waking up late like Ash Ketchum, you’ll see your in-game rival (that you can name) is waiting for Professor Oak. Plus there’s only two pokeballs to choose from. The player goes searching for Professor Oak and a wild Pikachu runs up to the player. Instead of picking Pikachu, Pikachu chooses you. Your rival ends up picking Eevee. Side Note: Most Pokemon games are released in duos. If you don’t want to play Let’s Go Pikachu, you can play Let’s Go Eevee. Things are a little different, but this is not the only similarity. Let’s Go Pikachu’s town and gym layouts are similar to Pokemon Yellow. So, how was I able to progress? It’s thanks to the  Pokemon Go elements game developers added to the game

Pokemon Go

Let’s Go Pikachu is compatible with Pokemon Go. Since I wasn’t willing to run around catching Pokemon on my phone in 2016, I don’t have a backlog of Pokemon and wasn’t able to exploit this feature to boost my Pokedex. Now I’m experiencing what I missed out on.

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You can’t battle wild Pokemon. Your limited to fruit and pokeballs. The way you throw the ball matters too. There’s pros and cons to this. One, you don’t accidentally make the Pokemon faint from inflicting too much damage. Two, your Pokemon still get the experience points from a successful catch. However, you don’t get infinite attempts to catch that Pokemon. If you take to long, the Pokemon can leave.

The reason I was able to defeat Brock was the types of Pokemon I caught on my way to Pewter City. I was able to find grass type Pokemon. Plus, my Pikachu learned Double Kick. This fighting technique is more effective on ground type Pokemon than electric attacks. Since electric type Pokemon are weak against Ground type Pokemon, I needed Pokemon that wouldn’t loose so quickly.

If That’s The Case, Why Should I Play It?

If you beat Pokemon Yellow, you might think what’s the point of playing “Let’s Go Pikachu” Well for starters, the graphics were updated. It’s not open world like Pokemon Arcerus, but it’s closer to classic cartridge games than Pokemon Sword & Shield. Since it’s focused on the first generation of Pokemon, it’s a nice slice of nostalgia. To the generation that grew up with Mewtwo Strikes Back, it’s interesting to see how much of this information we’ve retained.

It’s not just Pokemon Go with Pokemon League battles. Even though you can’t battle wild Pokemon, there’s plenty of PCs willing to battle. They’re your best chance at raising your teams stats, making money, and getting free pokeballs.

If your committed to getting Ash’s Team back together, there are opportunities throughout the game to have some of those Pokemon given to you. You have to catch a certain amount for some of those Pokemon. Since your getting a trained of their base level, it’s much easier to get them to evolve. That’s how I got Squirtle and Charmander to evolve to Blastoise and Charizard fairly quickly. Since Let’s Go Pikachu has been out since 2018, there’s plenty of walkthroughs out here.

Final Thoughts

I play current Pokemon games, but I’m very out of touch with shows and cards. So, Let’s Go Pikachu is a nice way to reminisce on Pokemon Blue, the version I actually beat decades ago. Since I don’t have my translucent purple Game Boy Color anymore, it’s the closest I’ll get to attempting Pokemon Special Pikachu Edition.

Did you really think I’d leave out Pokerap? If that doesn’t take you back, I don’t know what will. I hope you 90s babies give Let’s Go Pikachu a chance. Thanks for checking out Trisha’s Go In Fridays. Have a great weekend. Don’t forget to stop by for Motivational Mondays with Trisha!