Just a Grown-Up Playing Yellow
For my birthday this year my husband got me a 3DS XL. It’s shiny and new and came with a gift card to buy some games so I could actually use the system. Naturally I went straight for Harvest Moon and, having some left over, took a look at the Pokemon selection. Originally, Logan had intended to get me the new Pokemon game to go with the DS but since it doesn’t actually come out until November, the gift card had to substitute. Apparently the 3DS has an emulator for older games on it so the original Pokemon games, Red, Blue and Yellow, were up for grabs. I decided to go with Yellow.
I was probably eight when Blue and Red were out. My brother had Red, I believe, and then Yellow and I did try to play both with no real success. I didn’t really understand what I was supposed to do, as simple as it was, and I never got past the first gym or even the bug forest as I kept losing to people in shorts. I was not at all very good at video games as a child, as much as I wanted to be. Not enough patience to learn how to effectively do anything and no resources to look them up. Now as an adult with a greater attention span and powers of strategy and with the internet by my side, I am ready to try again!
I just recently got through Mt. Moon and it kind of sucked, but I made it. The most frustrating part about going through the mountain is that nowhere is safe. You cannot walk anywhere without risking an encounter. I thought the red parts were okay. They were not. My whole trip consisted of exploring a portion for a while then heading very slowly back so that I could heal up my Pokemon and not get eating by a cave monster due to lack of protection. What super sucked was when my fighting Pokemon were both down and I kept running into Geodudes.
Playing through the first part of the game reminded me why I gave up so quickly as a child. It’s super tedious to get through the first Gym. Not because the Gym is terribly hard, or anything, but because you can’t move on to fight higher level Pokemon until you beat it and that makes training rather slow as your lvl 9 Pokemon fights a bunch of lvl 3 Pokemon trying desperately to level up. It’s no wonder I didn’t make it as an eight-year-old. Once you get past that, though, it gets easier. The whole traveling through Zubat infested caves is a good way to gain experience.
This time around I’m actually applying my limited knowledge of the types of Pokemon and to what they are strong and weak. It’s involved a lot of google searches. I will occasionally take a wild guess without looking and sometimes it works out. Other times not so much, but you know how it goes. Trying to figure out which Pokemon I need and where to find them and who to train with is a bit more difficult, though, now that I’m thinking about it. My strategy thus far has been catch all the Pokemon and then just kind of guess who will be useful until I figure out otherwise. I’ve just reached Misty’s Gym so I’m probably going to look for some grass types. I don’t know if I can find grass types around, but I’ve got my Pikachu, so that helps right there. One Pikachu does not a victory make, though, so I’ll need some back up.
The last thing I did while playing yesterday was to defeat my rival for the third time. I haven’t actually played any of the other games since high school so I don’t know if the rival gets better at any point, but why did they feel the need to make him such a butt? Every time he shows up is a total pain and I don’t want to fight him. I’m sure it’s meant to make you look better by comparison, but really, was it necessary? He’s not even a real antagonist, he’s just obnoxious. The internet tells me they did get better, in theory, or at least not as rude at some point. I shall look forward to that in future play-throughs.
Overall I am enjoying Pokemon Yellow as an adult. I appreciate it more for what it is now that I know what I’m doing and have the perseverance to push through the slow beginning. I know it doesn’t actually get more exciting as I go on, but that’s okay, it’s great for long car rides while listening to podcasts and quick entertainment that I don’t have to think too much about. I am super looking forward to the new games, though. The starters include an owl with a bow tie and a fire-breathing kitten. I don’t know how I’m going to choose between the two!
Have a lovely day, my friends.
‹ Cool Weather Chill The Sound of Rain ›