#11. Pokemon Yellow (GB)
The placement of Pokemon Yellow on this list will infuriate at least as many people as the placement of Ruby and Sapphire surely did- many people stopped playing Pokemon at Yellow, and to them, the game represents one of their fondest held memories as far as video games go.
And yes, Yellow was great. There really isn’t a whole lot to complain about here (apart from, of course, the fact that it’s an older game, and aspects of it haven’t aged as well; or the fact that it isn’t compatible with modern Pokemon games, though that is a given with all pre-Ruby/Sapphire Pokemon games). It was a retelling of Pokemon Red and Blue, re-interpreted to better follow the Pokemon anime that made the games so popular in the first place.
Players had their very own Pikachu, that followed them around, that had its own mood and expressions, that was properly voiced (the last time in the franchise a Pokemon would be voiced until X and Y, fourteen years later). Yellow was also the first game in the franchise that let players gain access to all starters (apart from Pikachu, you could also get a Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle, in questlines that followed the events of the show), and the first game to introduce the now all important Happiness stat, albeit in a very limited capacity.
It was a great, charming game, and unlike the games that have featured on this list so far, is also the first game that, in spite of its age, I would still recommend that you track down and play. Yes, it’s old, and its age shows in a lot of ways, but it’s charming, and fundamentally still great game design.
