The game was released in Japan on September 12, 1998 and was simply known as Pocket Monsters Yellow Edition. It was released in North America on October 1, 1999 and was called Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition by Nintendo.
In both regions, the games were often referred to by fans as simply Pokémon Yellow or Pokémon Pikachu. It certainly is less of a mouthful than the North American name.
It was followed by Pokémon Gold and Silver for the Gameboy Color.
Pokémon Yellow was not one of the original Pokémon releases, but a new version created based upon the very popular Pokémon cartoon. In this game, like in the cartoon, the main character you controlled was given a Pikachu instead of given a choice of any of three Pokémon.
This made the game harder than the previous games, since Electric was a hard Pokémon type to start with since the first Gym was of Rock and/or Ground type, which Electric attacks can not even harm. This then made you go out and capture and train at least one Pokémon instead of trying to use the same Pokémon for every battle.
Like in the cartoon, Team Rocket members, Jesse and James make their appearances, along with their Pokémon. They attempt to get in your way, like they attempt in the cartoon. However, as long as you are strong enough, they will always fail, like in the cartoon. Their Pokémon would always be an Akans, Weezing, and the Meowth from the cartoon that is suppose to talk human.
Something unique to this game was that Pikachu remained outside of a Pokéball for most of the game, if you allowed it to. And when you entered certain buildings and rooms, Pikachu would react in some way. Often those reactions were funny. You could also easily tell the mood Pikachu was in by examining it. From the faces that would then pop up, you could tell if Pikachu was mad at you or if it was delighted to be with you. When you first start the game, Pikachu isn’t happy, just like Pikachu wasn’t happy at first to be with Ash in the cartoon.Game Information