Why Do People Hate Pikachu Based Games?

[Dark Young Link]

By this I'm referring to mainly Hey You Pikachu and Pokemon Channel. Everyone always says they're terrible and I fail to see why. I'm fully aware that the voice commands in Hey You Pikachu is clunky and Pikachu wouldn't listen and all that, but when Pikachu would respond, the game was fun. Think of what would happen if they remade the game on the 3DS. They rarely use the mic feature and the game would be a perfect use for it.

Then there's Pokemon Channel, which is just a tv watching simulator, but I remember it being great. Plus it wasn't just all watching tv. You were able to go outside to various locations and meet new Pokemon. It was Hey You Pikachu with no speaking commands and a tv.

I just want to know why people think these are bad games. I mean I can see the problems with both games. Pokemon Channel gets boring after a long time and Hey You Pikachu didn't work well with the mic technology of the late 90's/early 00's.

 

[Brunn]

I don't think people disliked them because they're Pikachu based games, I believe it was because the games were somewhat awful for the time. Mind you, I haven't played them personally, but I've read about them in the past and all the reviews complained about awful controls, poor and limited voice recognition, difficult camera, and somewhat boring, repetitive gameplay. They were games designed primarily for children, so of course adults weren't likely to find the story exactly thrilling, but the general gameplay sounded like it was sloppy and boring.

I'd thought about trying to get my hands on a copy of Hey You, Pikachu! but decided agaisnt it after reading the reviews. I mean, it just doesn't sound good. Yeah, I can take Pikachu fishing, but I feel like that would get boring pretty quickly- and then tacking on awkward and limited voice controls just doesn't sound like it would improve things much.

 

[Dark Young Link]

Well I'm not saying people don't like them because they're Pikachu based. I just didn't know what to call them. Unless I'm mistaking, they're the only two games where you're in a first person view playing with Pikachu.

From what I remember, some stages had bad controls in Hey You Pikachu because you had to look at Pikachu the whole time. Though as the game progressed, it gave you a free range. Like I said, Hey You Pikachu would be a great game to be remade for the 3DS or have a game with the same concept, but different. Like obviously there's more Pokemon than there were back when the game was made and there could be endless possibilities.

Actually, as I typed that last paragraph, I just remembered Pokepark had the same concept. Befriending Pikachu and meeting a variety of Pokemon. I played the game for a few days because I borrowed it, I still own it because the person didn't want it back, but I never beat it. Maybe I could go back and play it, but from what I remember it didn't have the same charm.

Then again maybe I'm suffering from nostalgia and it's why I feel like one of the only few people who thinks the game is amazing.

 

[SonicvMarioSvM]

I'd say it's not because of the games per se but about how Pikachu is so overexposed that people just started hating anything associated with him

I would also recommend beating Pokepark it's a good enough game but could have been better with an analogue stick

 

[Lord Regal]

As an owner of Pokemon Channel, I can say it wasn't Pikachu being central to the plot that bothered me, it was that everything revolved around watching these TV shows…when I'm going to play a game, I want to actually play a game, not sit there and watch a virtual TV.  Yes you could go outside, but that didn't unlock anything and was a sidebar to the main event, which was watching TV.  Even as someone young enough to enjoy (most) of the channels they offered, I was bored within a week because of the repetitiveness of it.

I can't say about Hey You Pikachu because I never played it.

 

[Artisan Vistra]

Nintendogs was bad and Hey You Pikachu! was bad. Why? It wasn't the creature you played games with, it was just virtual reality seems like a gimmick and you don't have any true physical or mental connection to the being. A Hey You Pikachu! port for the 3DS would be fine as long as you could get exclusive Pokemon out of it. Should Pokepark (or others like Dash) be considered a Pikachu based game if you play as him?

 

[CM30]

Most of the time, because the games themselves were awful. They pretty much had no real gameplay so to speak of.

And yes, then there's also general hatred of Pikachu (due to him being used as the series mascot). But that usually affects the game marketing, or maybe the anime... more than these things.