From the mind of a Pokemon Addict

I'm sure the usual crowd that reads my stuff is getting a kick out of this one. You go from a ton of finance reviews, to a ton of wrestling video opinions, to Pokemon?? Well, sadly I must admit that, at age 19, I am a Pokemaniac. I can actually feel the reader's respect level of me dropping as I type. Sad, but true. This will probably be the first of many Pokemon reviews I'm going to do. But I'm sure you all really care about that right now. So let's get to it.

Pokemon Yellow is one of a trifecta of Gameboy games that are based on the popular television series. The other two games, as everyone reading this must know, are the Pokemon Red and the Pokemon Blue games. Together, these three games have to be one of the greatest marketing ploys ever launched by a video game company. Creating a game that you have to have all three cartridges to complete is sheer genius. I salute you Nintendo, you dastardly bunch.

These three games are all role playing games, where you basically fight other Pokemon and other trainers, collect items to be used later, and talk to various characters, all in pursuit of the main goal of the game, to be the greatest Pokemon master of all time. While I'm sure that these games were made for younger children, I can definitely see the appeal to the older crowd as well.

"But John, what's the difference between the three games?" The answer to that is not much, and a whole lot, all wrapped up into one. "Great answer John, time to move on to the next epinion." Well, hold on a second and let me explain. These games have a lot of similarities, and the anti-Pokemon protesters out there jump right on them. Here is a list of the a few of them:

1.) All three games have the same setup, background, and game play. The playing area in each game is identical to the other two games.
2.) Most of the same characters appear in all three of the games, if not in the same places in the games.
3.) All the same rules apply in all the games. You can play one version, switch to the next version, and not have to learn one new thing. It's a big turnoff to people who like originality.

But for all of it's downfalls, there are enough differences in the different versions to make it worthwhile to own them all (if you have that kind of money to throw around). "But John, you just finished telling me the games are basically the same. What gives?" Well, here are a few of the different aspects of the game that make the Yellow game unique compared to the other two.

1.) Pikachu. If you didn't notice it, you have a yellow rodent following you around in this version that doesn't show up behind you in the other two. While you can capture Pikachu's in the wild in the first two editions, they will not follow you around in those games. Also, you get to look at Pikachu's expressions to see what kind of mood he is in. Dumb you might say? Well, I'm easily amused, so deal with it.
2.) As with each of the different versions, there are certain Pokemon that you can only capture in this edition. Since you are trying to get all 151, it makes you have to buy all three games (or trick one of your friends into buying it and trading with them).
3.) There are also a few games and options that can only be played through the Yellow versions. While they aren't important to the main game, they are still fun nonetheless.

Basically, it's a toss up on which of the games is considered the best. If you have an affinity towards the yellow mouse that will follow you forever, than Yellow is the version for you. If you aren't a Pikachu fan, you probably want to look elsewhere towards the Red or Blue editions. No matter which of the games you take, you will end up a winner.