Kanto - Pikachu

[Sheep]

You get a starter Pikachu in Yellow as well as Let's Go Pikachu!.

What did you think of your starter, and did you use it?

 

[Zeostar]

I always use it in Yellow. Feels wrong boxing it.

On the other hand, you can walk with it in Let's Go and interact without actually boxing it. So I was okay with letting it sit out of battles.

 

[Devalue]

Used it in Yellow (maybe twice). Remembers too little about the very first time, two decades ago. Accomplished very little in the recent playthrough. Soloed Brock (as the only one on the team), died to Surge's Raichu, and finished off Lorelei's Lapras. Did not really use setup strategies on the other Pokemon. Made Pikachu's setup support (Thunder Wave + Light Screen) kind of useless.

Was a pain to grind too. Pretty much forces you into either Victory Road (full of Gravelers and some Golbats) or the Pokemon Mansion (Raticates with Super Fang + Quick Attack) to prepare for the Elite Four.

 

[Janp]

The only reason why I return to Yellow is to use Pikachu. I always use it on my team in that game. As Zeostar said, it feels wrong not to use it.

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

I always have a Pikachu on my Kanto team, but I prefer Red & Blue or preferably FRLG. Let me explain.

The reason I don't like Yellow is as follows: We all enjoy the idea of having all three starters, but when I play Yellow, I feel like 2/3 of my team is decided for me. I have to use Pikachu because it feels wrong boxing it. Like, so much of the appeal of Pokemon is picking your own team, so I feel the idea that we all had to choose from three available starter Pokemon is special to me.

It's also subpar compared to Raichu... and also not as cute as Raichu in part because they redid the adorable chubby Pikachu design from Red & Blue. Also, Gen 1 doesn't have hold items, so without the light ball, it is inferior to Raichu in an (almost) objective way. I'm glad they at least fixed the dumb way Pikachu doesn't learn Thunderbolt by level up in Yellow.

I like that Pikachu follows you around, but I wish I could just have a Raichu.

It honestly bothers me that they (presumably) made Yellow canon in Gen II and Gen IV despite Oak's grandson's team 100% being almost the same team from RB or FRLG, but maybe I shouldn't get into that.

 

[Explorer of Time]

I've only played Yellow once* and I never so much as touched Pikachu in it. I've never cared much about following Pokemon one way or the other, and I don't like keeping around NFE Pokemon, so Yellow is paradoxically the game where I'm least likely to use Pikachu at all. Having a Pokemon around that I can't evolve just doesn't feel right, like it's being left behind by my other party members. And I never really feel bad about boxing my starter; I permabox it ASAP half the time even in games where the starters are ones I actually like.

(I've never used Pikachu or Raichu in any mainline game either. I have used it as my main character in three Mystery Dungeon games, though, since it's actually quite good there, but I've switched to other Pokemon after completing the main story.)

*As part of a solo challenge spotlight event thing where I soloed the whole thing with Gengar. It was boring.

 

[giradialkia]

Absolutely.

Yellow was my first Pokemon game. I kinda took a break from it, played Silver and finished it, and a year or two later got back to Yellow. It took quite a while to get through it, and Pikachu was by my side the whole way.

I remember the rare occasion I met a kid with Yellow and we did some trading and battling, and I noticed that his Pikachu wasn't in his party. Just looked/felt so weird to me, not to have Pikachu following the player in Yellow lol.

I think my original boi's moveset was Thunder, Thunderbolt, Pay Day and perhaps Quick Attack. I didn't believe in Double Team/Agility back then lol, and it was always fun to pick up ¥32 at the end of a battle

 

[ReKoil]

Pretty sure I had Pikachu on my team the entire time during my one playthrough of Yellow many many years ago.

I never played Let's Go Pikachu, but I did not have a Pikachu on my team at all in Let's Go Eevee (the superior title choice of the two, for obvious reasons =P)

 

[Palamon]

Yeah, I used it, a little, I guess, in Yellow. But immediately upon getting a Mankey it became my main teammate because it was better.

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

Pretty sure I had Pikachu on my team the entire time during my one playthrough of Yellow many many years ago.

I never played Let's Go Pikachu, but I did not have a Pikachu on my team at all in Let's Go Eevee (the superior title choice of the two, for obvious reasons =P)

I deeply regret not picking Let's Go Eevee over Let's Go Pikachu. I thought "it won't be so bad having a Pikachu instead of a Raichu," but I didn't realize you had choices in what special "partner" moves you could teach to Eevee. I didn't even know Pikachu had special "partner Pikachu" moves when I bought it. Yes, they're OP as anything, but I just would've clicked better if I could pick and choose which OP moves I'd get. I don't plan on picking up the other Let's Go game because I don't enjoy Let's Go that much, so it feels like I'd be wasting money.

Side note: My pen pal jokingly said I let him down cuz I couldn't get him the version exclusive Pokemon when he got LGP also. I'm not mad at my friend who was just joking, but NGL that kind of stung.

 

[Lapis_Laz95]

On Red i caught a Pikachu and evolved to Raichu

Raichu stayed on my party since then for Thunder Wave.