Well, today I wanted to try something I hadn’t done in a while – play Pokemon Yellow. But I figured, why not try to play it online with friends? So, I did a little digging on how to do it. Turns out, it’s not as straightforward as I hoped, but it’s doable!
First, I had to find a way to connect with others. Apparently, the old-school way was using a “link cable.” But since I’m going for the online experience, I dug deeper. I found out that the game doesn’t have a built-in online mode, bummer. It was designed for local multiplayer only. Like, physically being in the same room as your friend.
Then I started looking into the Virtual Console versions on the Nintendo 3DS. It mentioned having upgraded trading and multiplayer battle features. Cool, right? But then I hit another roadblock. It seemed like even with these versions, you still had to be on the same network as your friend. So much for playing with my buddy across the country.
I almost gave up, but then I remembered reading about this thing called “Pokemon Showdown.” It’s not exactly playing Pokemon Yellow, but it lets you battle people online. Not what I originally wanted, but it sounded like a decent alternative for getting some Pokemon battles in.
I also stumbled upon something called “Pokemon Infinite Fusion,” which supposedly has a multiplayer mode. But I couldn’t figure out how that was. But this game is different from Pokemon Yellow anyway.
Finally, I saw someone mention just going to a Pokemon Center in the game, going to the top floor, finding the “Union Room,” and talking to a friend there to choose the “trade” option. But again, this seems like it’s for local play. They mentioned something about talking to a receptionist at the Cable Club Trade Center at the same time if you’re trading between Gold and Silver, or with Blue, Red, or Yellow. Still, no clear online solution.
So, after all this digging, here’s what I’ve gathered:
- Playing Pokemon Yellow online isn’t natively supported. The game was made for local multiplayer, using a link cable or being on the same network for the Virtual Console versions.
- Pokemon Showdown is an option for online battles, but it’s not the same as playing through Pokemon Yellow together.
- There might be fan-made solutions or workarounds, but I didn’t find any reliable or easy ones during my quick search.
In the end, I ended up just playing Pokemon Yellow by myself. It was still fun, bringing back all those nostalgic memories. But I’m still a bit bummed I couldn’t share the experience with friends online. Maybe one day there will be an official way to do it, but for now, it seems like a dream.
