Like everyone who grew up with Pokémon, I wished they were real and also my friends. This was the fantasy the anime sold so effectively; Ash, Misty, and Brock often had their favorite creatures by their side as they adventured. Even the dastardly Team Rocket had Pokémon friends, with Meowth aiding in their schemes. Wobuffet was there, too, but that was just because it refused to stay in its ball. The games rarely let you see your Pokemon outside of their balls — unless you were in a battle, of course.
My favorite games were the exceptions to the rule. Pokémon Yellow was my preferred version of Red’s journey through Kanto thanks to a feature that allowed Pikachu to follow behind you. You could even turn around to see their expression. Gold and Silver added the daycare system, which let you see your pals out in the wild, adding another dimension to raising them.
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Let us take a moment to ponder the orb.
But the games that best nailed the feeling of being friends with your Pokémon weren’t the mainline handheld games. Instead, we got those moments from a pair of console games that were focused on serving up slice of life fun.
Chillin’ With My Homie Pika
The first, Hey You, Pikachu! was a pet sim — not unlike a Tomagotchi but with 3D graphics — in which you communicated with Pokémon’s most iconic creature using a microphone peripheral. It was kinda janky — I always had trouble making progress in the game because Pikachu just wouldn’t listen — but it sold the idea that Pikachu was a real animal that you could have a relationship with (albeit, a very limited one that mostly consisted of yelling ever more loudly into a flimsy microphone).
I liked Hey You, Pikachu!, but I loved its pseudo-sequel Pokemon Channel. Like HYP, Pokemon Channel gave you a pet Pikachu that you could hang out with. Unlike HYP, the main thing you did with that Pikachu was watch TV. At the beginning of the game, a TV is delivered to your house and, from there, you mostly just channel surf.
You and Pikachu become beta testers for a Pokémon-centric television network that Professor Oak is developing, and so your main responsibility is to watch all the shows that will feature on that network — which are spread out across multiple channels. There’s a shopping channel where you can buy new TV sets and tickets to visit other locations, an anime starring Pichu, and a news channel anchored by Psyduck, among others.
Not Great Games, But Great For Me
It’s a fairly simple game and neither Pokémon Channel nor Hey You, Pikachu! earned great reviews at launch. But, these games satisfied a certain itch for me — the same itch that slice of life anime or a long-running sitcom scratches. They all make you feel like you’re hanging out with your pals, it’s just that, in this case, your pals are Pokémon.
As we anticipate the Switch 2’s arrival later this year, I’m hoping that this is the kind of out-of-left-field revival that Nintendo makes for its launch. A new Pokémon Snap game seemed like a long shot until Nintendo released one in 2021. Maybe Nintendo can modernize it, and the player and Pikachu will watch Twitch streams or become participants in a harrowing Mr. Beast video. I don’t care. Just let me hang out with Pikachu one more time.
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