Isn’t it amazing how Nintendo can introduce something that’s been an industry standard for decades and make it seem like a revelation? Last week’s first ever Nintendo Switch 2 Direct revealed that the new handheld will include, wait for it… a microphone. What will those mad geniuses down at Nintendo think of next? Achievements?
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It sounds ridiculous now, but during the presentation, I sat there slack-jawed and clapping like a seal just like the rest of you. Did you see how the guy didn’t even have to wear a headset? And then when the blender turned on, he just talked over it! If the Switch 2’s microphone works as well as Nintendo says it will (press X to doubt), then I think we all know what that means: It’s time for Hey you, Pikachu! 2!
You Better Listen To Me This Time, You Little Rat
As I’m sure everyone is well aware, Hey You, Pikachu! is one of video games’ biggest disasters of all time. The N64’s Pokemon pet simulator didn’t exactly meet expectations when it launched in 2000, and 25 years later, it’s only ever remembered as a meme.
If you somehow don’t know this game, it has a pretty simple premise. The Pokemon spin-off came with a microphone you would plug into the controller port on your N64, and the entire game was played by speaking to an on-screen Pikachu. Or at least, that’s how it was supposed to be played. In reality, everyone who played Hey you, Pikachu! Spent about 15 minutes yelling into the microphone while Pika completely ignored them before turning the game off and never playing it again.
“Thunderbolt the tree, Pikachu! Pikachu, use Thunderbolt! THUNDERBOLT! I HATE YOU, PIKACHU!!”
It’s a trash game that never worked the way it was supposed to, but that doesn’t mean it was a bad idea. A Pokemon pet simulator that lets you talk to your Pokemon is actually a great concept, it was just too ahead of its time. With 25 years of technological advancements, this might be the best time to revisit the concept of Hey you, Pikachu!
For example, Hey you, Pikachu! was able to recognize around 200 words (supposedly), but voice recognition is significantly more sophisticated these days. You can have full conversations with the AI baked into your cell phone these days, and it’s able to discern context and syntax in your sentences as if you were talking to a real person. It’s not perfect, but heck, it’s at least as smart as a Pokemon.
Who Wants A New Hey, You?
Typically, a 25-year-old game that scored a 57 on Metacritic and sold fewer than two million copies wouldn’t be the kind of game anyone is in a rush to remake. But this is Pokemon we’re talking about. The franchise doesn’t abide by the rules of logic or economics. If it did, a half-baked disaster like Scarlet & Violet wouldn’t have been the best-selling Pokemon game of all time.
But back to my pitch for a sequel to another disastrous Pokemon game: I think the well for a Pokemon pet sim remains largely untapped, and the tech in the Switch 2 puts it in a great position to fulfill that potential. Imagine how it would be if you could choose between a bunch of different partner Pokemon, or even raise multiple Pokemon at the same time, each one responding to their own name?
With the Switch 2 camera and the new chat features, there’s a lot of opportunity to add some social features to the formula as well. When taking your Pokemon to the park for a play date, you could see and interact with your friends while you watch your Poke-pal play. Maybe even battle? The sky’s the limit.
Hey You, Pikachu! was a glorified tech demo – and not a very good one – but there’s still a demand out there for games that let you build your relationship with Pokemon. You can see it in the popular AR mode in Pokemon Go and in the influx of new pet sim games like Tamagotchi Plaza and Roblox’s Pet Simulator 99. The people want more Hey you, Pikachu!, Nintendo. They’re begging to be ignored while they yell “THUNDERBOLT” at Pikachu just one more time.
Hey You, Pikachu!
- Released
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December 6, 2000
- ESRB
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