7 Things I Would Bring to a 'Pokemon Yellow' Remake

I got into Pokemon back in its early days—yep, I am OT. An original trainer. The first game I played was Pokemon Red, but it often frustrated me that you could not obtain all the Pokemon in-game. Specifically, I wanted to obtain all the starters without having to go through the hassle of using a trade cable with a friend.

It took me several years, but I finally played through Pokemon Yellow and loved it. I thought it was a fun twist on the original games that made it one of the more unique entries into the franchise. You can imagine my disappointment when I learned that it would not be remade along with Pokemon Red and Pokemon Green.

Recently I began wondering what a modern remake of Pokemon Yellow would be like and things I would like to see in it. After thinking it over for a few weeks and drafting several lists of changes and additions I would like to it, I finally settled on this list.

Before you get into the list please keep in mind these are things that I would like added or changed in the game. This list may not cover what you want, but that is fine. We all have different opinions, so please be respectful if you do not agree with everything on the list.

With that out of the way, let's get into the list!

Okay, this came up a lot when this article was first published so I wanted to clarify that I do know that Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee are Pokemon Yellow remakes. But, as the title of this article states, this article is what I WOULD BRING TO A Pokemon Yellow REMAKE.

This article is not going to be a critique of Let's Go nor will it comment on them. That was not my intention when I set out writing this article as I wanted to list things I wanted to see in a Pokemon Yellow remake.

Now, with this being the first talking point of this article, let's see how many people comment on the article stating "Let's Go IS THE Pokemon Yellow remake!!".

The day/night cycle, weather, & seasons would come to Kanto.

At the start of the game, the player will have to input the time, day of the week, and date. The seasons will last a week to make it so the player can play through each during their adventure. Certain events will take place and specific Pokemon will appear at different times of the day during each season. The weather will return and will not be static—it would change depending on the season and time of day.

The seasons, weather, and day/night cycle would follow a week-long schedule that would be:

Spring

• Days 1 & 2: Overcast or rain, the remaining snow melts away. 10 hours of daylight, 14 hours of night.

• Days 3, 4, & 5: Clear weather or rain showers, fog around sunrise, the ground becomes muddy. Equinox: 12 hours daylight, 12 hours of night.

• Days 6 & 7: Clear weather, the ground dries, the leaves, flowers, and plants all come into bloom. 14 hours of daylight, 10 hours of night.

Summer

• Days 1 & 2: Clear weather. 16 hours of daylight, 8 hours of night.

• Days 3, 4, & 5: Harsh sunlight, chance of thunderstorms, hazy nights. Summer Solstice: 18 hours of daylight, 6 hours of night.

• Days 6 & 7: Clear weather or rain. 16 hours of daylight, 8 hours of night.

Autumn

• Days 1 & 2: Clear weather or rain, fog around sunrise, the leaves begin to change color, flowers wilt. 14 hours of daylight, 10 hours of night.

• Days 3, 4, & 5: Overcast or rain, the leaves reach their peak. Autumn Equinox: 12 hours daylight, 12 hours of night.

• Days 6 & 7: Overcast or rain, the remaining leaves fall, chance of snow showers. 10 hours of daylight, 14 hours of night.

Winter

• Days 1 & 2: Overcast, the fallen leaves disappear, chance of snow showers. 8 hours of daylight, 16 hours of night.

• Days 3, 4, & 5: Snow showers, chance of blizzard, the snow begins to accumulate, paths can have deep snow or be icy. Winter Solstice: 6 hours of daylight, 18 hours of night.

• Days 6 & 7: Clear weather or snow shower, the snow begins to melt away. 8 hours of daylight, 16 hours of night.

New locations will be added to Kanto.

Kanto, the original Pokemon region. It was the first region I explored and have much affection for. I remember spending countless hours exploring the region, capturing as many Pokemon as I could, and trying to become Pokemon Master. I know, I know, what a nerd—I was 7 at the time, okay!!

While I did love playing through the Kanto games when I was little, I do admit there are areas where I wish were altered or expanded upon. The new/altered areas will include:

• Mt. Moon Mine will be a new mine opened by Brock after he sees the fossils the player and the Super Nerd battle over. Like the Sinnoh Underground, you will be able to dig for fossils, stones, and other items.

• Celadon Meadow will be added between Route 7 and Celadon City. It is a sprawling meadow full of plants and patches of tall grass. In spring and summer, it is covered with flowers. There are also honey trees that the player can have a Pokémon Headbutt to check for wild Pokémon.

• Frozen Island will be a new island located northwest of Bill's cabin. It will have a small village at the southern end of the island, a snow-covered forest in the center, and at the northern end will be a deserted town and dilapidated castle which Articuno will appear in.

• The Deepsea Reef will be an underwater Dive location between Cinnabar Island and the Seafoam Islands. The player will be able to encounter Water-Type Pokémon, find items, and explore the reef.

• Cinnabar Island will actually have its volcano which will be explorable after the player defeats Blaine. It will feature a maze of tunnels and caverns where wild Fire, Ground, Rock, and Steel Pokemon can be found. At the heart of the volcano will be the magma chamber where Moltres will appear.

• Remote Island will be a tropical, jungle-covered island far to the south of the Kanto mainland where the player can encounter Mew.

• Victory Road will not be a cave—instead, it’ll be an arid mountainside the player will have to hike through. Inside the gate is a dessert that has sand traps, fallen statues, and can have sandstorms raging. The next area will be the mountain with steep ledges, trees, and patches of grass. There will be a few small caves, rivers and waterfalls the player will have to traverse before they reach the top of Indigo Plateau and the Pokémon League.

New locations will also be added to enable the Pokemon who need to be leveled up in specific locations to evolve to evolve into their final evolution: A Moss Rock will be added in the middle of Viridian Forest to allow Eevee to evolve into Leafeon, an Ice Rock will be placed at the center of the snow-covered forest on Frozen Island for Eevee to evolve into Glaceon, and a Malfunctioning Generator will be running inside the Power Plant for Magneton to evolve into Magnezone.

The Evolutionary Stones will be available at Pewter Museum & in Mt. Moon Mine.

Instead of having the stones for sale in Celadon Department Store, all of them will be available for sale in the Pewter Museum. This would make sense from a story perspective while providing a reliable way to obtain all the stones. It would not just be the elemental stones for sale—the Moon, Sun, Dawn, Dusk & Ice Stones would all also be for sale.

In addition to being able to purchase them, the stones would also spawn in the overworld in specific locations:

• Leaf Stone; Viridian Forest
• Fire Stone; Cinnabar Volcano
• Water Stone; Seafoam Islands
• Thunder Stone; Power Plant
• Moon Stone; Mt. Moon
• Sun Stone; Celadon Meadow
• Dawn Stone; Pokemon League Gate
• Dusk Stone; Pokemon Tower
• Ice Stone; Frozen Island

Mega Stones

Once you have collected all eight badges & return to Pewter Museum, you will find a woman on the second floor of the museum. She will introduce herself as a world traveler from the Kalos region and will take an interest in any Pokemon you have that can Mega Evolve. If that Pokemon has maximum happiness, she will give you the Mega Stone for that Pokemon.

Professor Oak's Aides will help with trade evolutions.

To ensure all members of the 151's evolution families are accessible, I would have Professor Oak’s Aides help with trade evolutions. They would tell the player they’re studying Pokémon that evolve by trading and would trade a player for the same Pokémon but with an Everstone.

You and the Aides will watch your Pokémon evolve. They’ll take some measurements/calculations then trade your Pokémon back to you for their Pokémon. This would all be in a short cutscene that’d be skippable, but would still end with you getting your evolved Pokémon back.

Also, all evolutionary items will be available for the player before the Pokemon League. They will be found in locations that tie in with their evolutions or backstory:

• Dragon Scale (evolves Seadra into Kingdra); Safari Zone

• Dubious Disk (evolves Porygon2 into Porygon-Z); Silph Co.

• Electirizer (evolves Electabuzz into Electivire); Power Plant

• King's Rock (evolves Poliwhirl into Politoed & Slowpoke into Slowking); Pewter Museum & Seafoam Island

• Magmarizer (evolves Magmar into Magmortar); Cinnabar Volcano

• Metal Coat (evolves Onix into Steelix & Scyther into Scizor); Pokemon Mansion & Rock Tunnel

• Oval Stone (evolves Happiny into Chansey); Safari Zone

• Protector (evolves Rhydon into Rhyperior); Pokemon Mansion

• Up-Grade (evolves Porygon into Porygon2); Game Corner

The Gym Leaders will actually participate in the plot.

I never liked how little the leaders actually participate in the story of the games. To help address this, I thought they would be involved first with the main plot of Team Rocket's various crimes throughout the region. Some of the leaders will team up with the player while others take care of Team Rocket by themselves.

Once the player has defeated them and returned to talk to them, the Gym Leaders will help the player in different ways:

Brock

After the player obtains the Boulder Badge and makes it to Mt. Moon, Brock will appear and warn them that Team Rocket has been seen inside. He enters the cave before you and will reappear after you find Team Rocket and they threaten you. Together you fight through the grunts and defeat the "Rocket Trio," causing Team Rocket to flee the cave.

Later in the game, Brock will tell the player about the Mt. Moon mine where they can dig for fossils, stones, and other items.

Misty

The player will first encounter Misty the same way as they did in the Kanto games—they will accidentally disturb a date between she and Bill. Unlike the Kanto games, upon disturbing the date, the player will tell her of Team Rocket's presence in the town. She will return to Cerulean with you and help you track down the Team Rocket recruiter and the grunt who broke into the house to steal the TM for Dig. Misty will watch you take on the grunt who stole the TM and will invite you to challenge her at the gym.

If the player visits her at Bill's Cabin after they obtained the Cascade Badge with a Blastoise with maximum happiness, she will teach it Hydro Cannon.

Lt. Surge

Lt. Surge will appear in Vermilion Port when the player arrives to board the S.S. Anne. A group of Team Rocket grunts and the Rocket Trio have stormed the docks in an attempt to coerce the passengers of the S.S. Anne into handing over their Pokemon. Lt. Surge will dispatch Team Rocket by himself before heading back to the gym.

When the player challenges him at his gym he will berate them for not evolving their Pikachu before the battle starts. Upon defeating him he will lament evolving his Pikachu too early and will envy the player. In addition to the Thunder Badge and his signature TM, he will give the player a Light Ball for their Pikachu.

If the player visits him in Vermilion Port after they obtained the Thunder Badge when their starter Pikachu has maximum happiness, he will teach it Volt Tackle.

Erika

Upon entering Celadon Meadow, the player will find Erika confronting a group of Rocket Grunts. After the battle, she tells the player she knows they have a base in the city before leaving to look for it. When the player discovers the Rocket HQ under the Game Corner, she will appear and help the player traverse it by healing their Pokemon at certain spots.

If the player visits her in Celadon Meadow after they obtained the Rainbow Badge with a Venusaur with maximum happiness, she will teach it Frenzy Plant.

Koga

As the player enters Fuchsia City, a cutscene will show them Team Rocket has invaded the city. The Rocket Trio will order the residents to go in their homes and not interfere with their plans to plunder the Safari Zone. A voice comes out of nowhere and tells Team Rocket to leave the city and not come back. The Trio demand to know who spoke so Koga and his ninjas appear and surround Team Rocket. The player gets caught up in the battle and has to bad several grunts and the Trio in a row. After the player beats all of them, Team Rocket will leave Fuchsia. Koga will notice the player and thank them for their help before he returns to the gym.

After the player defeats him, Koga will allow them to visit his ninja school. The school will be full of mini-games & trainers to battle, including Koga’s daughter Janine.

Sabrina

Once the player defeats Team Rocket in Fuchsia and obtains the Soul Badge, they will return to Saffron City to find Sabrina confronting Team Rocket in front of Silph. She will sense the player's potential and ask for them to assist her in stopping Team Rocket. She will help the player as they progress through Silph by healing their Pokemon and helping them with the gates and teleport pads. Once they are defeated, she will return to the gym to wait for the player.

After the player defeats Team Rocket in Saffron and obtains the Marsh Badge, they will be able to return to the Silph Chairman's office where they walk in on a meeting between the chairman, Sabrina, and a man. Sabrina will introduce the player to the man and reveal he is a traveler from the distant Galar. Sabrina walks the player and man to the elevator and excuses herself when they get to the lobby.

The man would then explain that he traveled to Kanto to study the Pokemon that are different in appearance than the ones in Galar. If the player has a Pokemon in their party that has a regional variant in Galar, he will take interest and offer to trade your Pokemon for its Galarian counterpart. If you accept the trade he will trade you the Galarian variant which will be at the same level as yours with moves it would have learned up to that level.

Blaine

When the player arrives on Cinnabar Island, they witness the Rocket Trio and several grunts trying to capture Pokemon from Cinnabar Volcano to use in their schemes but Blaine is blocking them from entering. They threaten him, but he responds by sending out his Magmar and sending them blasting off. He spots the player and tells that the show is over and if they are there to challenge him to come to the gym.

After the player defeats Giovanni and returns to Cinnabar they will find Blaine speaking to a woman in front of his gym. When the player approaches Blaine will notice them and introduce the player to the woman. She introduces herself as a researcher from Alola who was visiting Kanto and wanted to visit Cinnabar because it reminds her of home. Blaine will excuse himself as he needed to check on the volcano. Like the Galarian visitor, the woman will trade the player Alolan variants for their Kanto counterparts.

If the player visits Blaine in Cinnabar Volcano after they obtained the Volcano Badge with a Charizard with maximum happiness, he will teach it Blast Burn.

Giovanni

Giovanni will be unchanged from the Kanto games. He will be the leader of Team Rocket and you will encounter/battle him in the same locations as the original games. Upon defeating him at his gym he will disband Team Rocket.

When the player exits the Viridian Gym they will see Giovanni speaking with Silver who is pleading with his father not to leave. Giovanni tells Silver that he must leave and that he will leave Silver with his mother before leaving. Silver will see the player eavesdropping and will take off.

If the player returns to Viridian after they defeat the Elite Four they will find that Giovanni's wife, Gaia, has taken over the gym. She will accept a challenge from the player, but will warn them since they are the champion she will use her full power. Her team for this match will be Dugtrio, Rhyperior, Steelix, Alolan Marowak, Galarian Weezing & Mega Kangaskhan.

The Elite Four depart from the Indigo Plateau early in the game & appear during the main story.

After the player gets the Pokédex and returns to Viridian, they will find the path blocked by the cranky old man. Their rival finds them and tells them something is happening at the Indigo Plateau and they should check it out.

There the player will discover the Elite Four talking to the guards in front of the entrance to Victory Road. The Elite Four informs the guards that a vicious sandstorm is raging on Victory Road and no challenger is allowed to enter until it subsides. While the Indigo Plateau is closed they will be out exploring the region and will return once it’s safe.

Once the meeting is over, the other E4 members leave but Lance notices the player and senses great potential. He tells the player to take the Gym Leader Challenge and to head to the Gym at Pewter City before he leaves. This causes the rival to become jealous and leads into the second rival battle of the game.

The Quest for The Elite Four

The Sandstorm will rage until the player acquires all eight gym badges, but even then they will not be able to enter. They first must encounter the Elite Four during their journey, causing each to return to the Indigo Plateau. The guards will give clues as to where each Elite Four member went to so the player can locate them.

Lorelei

The player can find Lorelei in Vermilion Port after they get the Thunder Badge. She books a boat to Frozen Island and spots the player who she introduces herself to. The player will ask if they can go with her to which she says no due to it not being safe for a new trainer. She explains it is a remote island surrounded by turbulent seas you cannot Surf on with winds too strong to Fly through.

The player looks sad, causing her to tell the captain once the player can beat him in a battle to bring them to the island. After the player beats the captain, he will take them to Frozen Island and the player will find Lorelei finishing her training inside the old castle at the far end of the island. She will remark that the player has become stronger and looks forward to when they meet at the Indigo Plateau before she leaves.

Bruno

When the player first passes through Cerulean, they can see that Cerulean Cave is unguarded. Once they have the ability to Surf, they can return and attempt to enter it but will be stopped by Bruno who is exiting the cave with a group of people. He tells the player that the cave is home to powerful Pokemon and several trainers were injured recently in the cave.

He orders it closed to the public and for guards to be posted outside it to ensure no one enters. One member of his group offers to take the first watch so Bruno and the others can leave. Bruno will remark that the player has guts for trying to enter the cave and he looks forward to battling them at the Pokémon League. The guard blocks the entrance as Bruno and his group leave.

Agatha

If the player travels to Lavender Town before they defeat Team Rocket in their secret base in Celadon they will find a grunt blocking the entrance to Pokemon Tower. Once Team Rocket has been defeated in Celadon and the player returns to Lavender and talks to Mr. Fuji, he will take off on his quest to rid the tower of Team Rocket.

He will scare off the grunt guarding the entrance to the tower allowing the player to enter. From here, the game progresses much like the original Kanto games; the player encounters unidentifiable ghosts and Ghost-Type Pokemon during their climb, battles mediums who reside in the tower, encounters their rival near the top of the tower, and encounters a powerful ghost at the staircase to the top floor.

The ghost scares them, causing them to turn back, but on the ground floor, they encounter Agatha who came to check on the tower but cannot climb the stairs. She gives the player the Silph Scope so they can identify the ghosts and make it past them to defeat Team Rocket. She then leaves to return to the Indigo Plateau.

Lance

Lance will be found training inside the Cinnabar Volcano after the player encountered the other Elite Four members. He will explain to the player that after they last spoke he spent some time in Mt. Moon where he discovered a fossil. He traveled to Cinnabar to have the scientists revive the Pokemon which he brought to the volcano to train.

If the player does not yet have the Earth Badge, they inform Lance about the Team Rocket incidents, leading him to wonder why Viridian had not been affected. He tells them to go to Viridian to get their last badge while he returns to Indigo Plateau to wait for their arrival. If the player has all the badges he will say he sees they are ready to challenge him and he will meet that at the Pokémon League. He uses an Escape Rope and leaves the volcano.

The post-game will feature actual gameplay.

In the original Kanto games, Pokemon Green, Pokemon Red, Pokemon Blue, & Pokemon Yellow, the gameplay was all but over when you defeated your rival and you take their place as champion. The only thing to do in the post-game is to go into Cerulean Cave to capture Mewtwo.

The remakes, Pokemon FireRed and Pokemon LeafGreen, made some attempt at making a post-game by introducing the Sevii Islands, but even they came up lacking in substance and come off as more an afterthought.

The Pokemon Yellow remake will introduce several plotlines for the post-game. These will include:

The Legendary Birds

The player will be able to see every non-Legendary Pokemon in the game by challenging every trainer in the game. Once you have seen all the non-legendary Pokemon in the game and have become champion, Oak will let you know that there are strange weather patterns forming in various parts of the region.

He will tell you that a blizzard is battering Frozen Island, a thunderstorm has formed over the Power Plant, and the Cinnabar Volcano is stirring. This will be a sign that the Legendary Birds have appeared for the player to catch. Moltres will appear inside the lava chamber at the heart of Cinnabar Volcano, Zapdos inside the generator room in the Power Plant, and Articuno inside the throne room in the old castle on Frozen Island.

The "Rocket Trio" will assume command of Team Rocket & lead a Team Rocket resurgence.

With a power vacuum in Team Rocket from Giovanni's departure and a power vacuum in the Pokemon League from the rival defeating Lance and the player defeating their rival, the Team Rocket trio seized the opportunity and reassembled the remnants of Team Rocket. They lead an assault of the Indigo Plateau to try to forcefully seize the position of Champion.

The player will meet with the Elite Four and their rival at the entrance of the Pokemon League. Together, you will fight your way through Victory Road, Route 22, and Viridian to get to Viridian Gym to confront the new leaders of Team Rocket, the Team Rocket trio.

Once the trio is defeated, the Elite Four will ask your rival to remain at the gym to act as an interim Gym Leader and to ensure Team Rocket will not be able to use the gym as their base again. Your rival will agree and will go inside the gym where you can challenge them.

Mewtwo & Mew

After you catch all the non-legendary Pokemon and the Legendary Birds, Oak will call and ask you to come to his lab. When the player arrives, they will find Oak, the Elite Four, and the gym leaders gathered inside. Oak will ask the player to join them and inform the player that their rival was recently injured in Cerulean Cave when he encountered a powerful Pokemon while training inside the cave.

The leaders and E4 agree that something must be done and ask the player to go to the cave to catch the Pokemon so it will not injure anyone else. Lance will give the player permission to enter the cave, allowing them to explore it and capture Mewtwo.

Upon leaving Cerulean Cave after you capture Mewtwo, a cutscene would start showing Mew appearing before the player. It teleports away leaving a photo of Mr. Fuji and a research team on a jungle island behind. When you bring the photo to Mr. Fuji, he will explain its significance. He laments his actions and wishes he was like the player. He arranges a ship to take the player from Vermilion Port to Remote Island, a tropical island where you can catch Mew.

New challengers will appear in the fighting dojo.

Your reign as champion will not go unchallenged. While the player did step down as champion after they defeated their rival in the Pokemon League, trainers will seek out the player to challenge them. This will be started when the player revisits the Fighting Dojo after they captured Mewtwo.

Inside they will find their rival training who challenges the player to a rematch. Once the player defeats their rival, the Karate Master asks the player if they would like him to put the word out that they are accepting challenges at the Dojo. If the player accepts he will begin making calls and each time the player returns to the Dojo there will be new challengers for them to face.

The challengers will include trainers the player previously battled, Gym Leaders, the rival, Elite Four members, and even reformed Team Rocket members. They will range in level and difficulty and will give a good challenge for the player.