pokemon yellow walkthrough

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From my first experience with Pokémon Red and Blue to participating in trading card game tournaments and even attending the 10th anniversary event in 2006, I have countless fond memories with the series.

To celebrate this milestone, I decided to revisit Pokémon Yellow Version, using the official Trainer’s Guide from Nintendo Power. This guide, filled with Ken Sugimori’s iconic artwork and vintage Pokémon nostalgia, provides a perfect way to relive the Generation 1 experience.

A Look at the Nintendo Power Pokémon Yellow Guide

Flipping through the guide, it’s evident that it’s a product of the late 90s. Some key highlights include:

  • Classic Ken Sugimori artwork of Red, Blue, and Yellow Pokémon.
  • Nintendo Power ads, including one promoting Pokémon Snap, which is ironic since a new version was set to release soon for the Nintendo Switch.
  • A humorous “Trainer’s Manual” section, which provides a crash course on Pokémon battles, type matchups, and in-game mechanics.

One notable detail is the misconception that Pokémon Yellow’s protagonist is Ash Ketchum. The guide perpetuates this mistake, though in reality, you play as Red. It also refers to Professor Oak as “Dr. Oak”, calls Blue “Gary”, and mistakenly refers to abilities, even though they weren’t introduced until Generation 3.

Starting the Adventure in Pokémon Yellow

Following the guide, I set out on my intended journey, naming my character Ash and my rival Gary to match the guide’s references.

  1. Receiving Pikachu: Since Yellow Version follows the anime, my starter Pokémon is Pikachu, while my rival takes Eevee. The guide also informs me that my rival’s Eevee evolution depends on my battle performance.

    • Winning both battles → Jolteon
    • Losing one battle → Flareon
    • Losing both battles → Vaporeon (which happened to me, making my life easier later on).

  2. First Battles & Viridian City:

    • The guide describes Route 1’s Pokémon (Pidgey and Rattata) as living together “peacefully”—an amusing little detail.
    • After reaching Viridian City, I grab Oak’s parcel, receive the Pokédex, and pick up a town map before heading north.

The First Gym Battle: Brock & A Challenge

After navigating Viridian Forest, I arrive in Pewter City to challenge Brock.

  • The guide recommends Water, Grass, or Fighting-type Pokémon for this battle, but at this point, none are available.
  • However, I noticed that Nidoran learns Double Kick at Level 12, which is a Fighting-type move.
  • Strategy: I trained my Nidoran (which I named Arthur) to Level 12, allowing me to defeat Brock with Double Kick.

The first Gym badge was mine!

Exploring New Routes & Mount Moon

  • Route 3: I captured a Spearow (named Wing).
  • Mount Moon:
    • I navigated the Team Rocket hideout and collected a Moon Stone, which I used later to evolve Nidoran into Nidoking.
    • The guide includes a Jurassic Park reference, joking about fossil cloning being “a lot of Jurassic mumbo-jumbo.”
    • I picked the Helix Fossil, as chosen by the classic Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe method.

Misty’s Gym & Overcoming the Type Challenge

Upon reaching Cerulean City, I debated whether to:

  1. Challenge Misty first, as the guide suggests.
  2. Train by battling my rival and helping Bill first, which is my usual strategy.

I followed the guide and took on Misty first, but my Level 16 Pikachu struggled, leading to my first Gym loss.

  • Strategy Adjustment: After leveling up Pikachu a bit more, I returned and defeated Misty with Thunder Shock, earning the Cascade Badge.

Following this, I battled my rival and collected Charmander (Henry), which the guide amusingly describes as a Pokémon that will help me “zig when my rivals zag.”

Lieutenant Surge’s Gym: The Guide’s Best Advice Yet

  • The guide strongly recommends catching a Ground-type Pokémon before fighting Lt. Surge.
  • I ventured into Diglett’s Cave and caught a Dugtrio (Doug), which completely dominated Surge’s Raichu using Dig.
  • This proved to be one of the guide’s most helpful tips so far.

At this point, Doug was becoming my team’s MVP.

Sabrina’s Gym Battle: A Major Level Jump

After clearing Team Rocket’s Hideout, the guide prompted me to challenge Sabrina next, despite her level 50 Pokémon being far above my team’s level.

  • The guide recommended Psychic-types, so I caught a Drowzee (Rudy), which I used to put Abra to sleep.
  • Doug’s Earthquake spam saved the day again!

The Final Gyms & Elite Four

  • Koga’s Gym:

    • The guide incorrectly recommended Fire-types against his team.
    • Doug’s Ground-type moves destroyed the battle instead.

  • Blaine’s Gym:

    • The guide suggested Ground and Water-types, so I relied on Doug and Nidoking with Surf.
    • Another quick win!

  • Giovanni’s Gym:

    • Doug Trio continued to dominate, but I got caught off guard when Dugtrio’s Fissure OHKO’d my Nidoking.
    • Regardless, I earned the final badge.

Victory Road & The Elite Four

  • The Rival Battle before Victory Road:

    • The guide suggested Fire, Water, Electric, Ground, and Ice-types, all of which my team covered.

  • Victory Road:

    • The guide made it easy to navigate, but I accidentally fainted Moltres, just like I did earlier with Zapdos.

The Elite Four Battles

  1. Lorelei: Lost on the first attempt, but used a better strategy the second time.
  2. Bruno: Charizard dominated the fight.
  3. Agatha: Doug spammed Earthquake.
  4. Lance: Elsa (Articuno) destroyed his Dragon-types with Blizzard.

Final Rival Battle: Becoming the Champion

  • I followed the guide’s type-based strategy.
  • Doug swept most of Gary’s team.
  • For the final battle, Pikachu fought Vaporeon, but just like the first battle of the game, Pikachu lost.
  • Charizard finished the job, making me the Champion of Kanto!

Final Challenge: Mewtwo & Conclusion

  • The guide’s final section covered catching Mewtwo.
  • Unfortunately, I accidentally knocked it out instead.

This concluded my journey through Pokémon Yellow, as played as intended by the guide.

Final Thoughts

This playthrough was a nostalgic and fun experience, showing just how quirky Nintendo Power’s guide was. From misleading type matchups to weird terminology like “combat” and “duels”, it was fascinating to see how guides from the 90s approached Pokémon.

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