Pokémon Channel is a spinoff of the rather popular
Pokémon video game series. It's the
Spiritual Successor of
Hey You Pikachu, and with its own
Spiritual Successor in
PokéPark Wii, it would appear the 'cute Pikachu' games - Pokémon spinoffs geared for younger players in which the main draw is Pikachu running around acting all cute - is officially a subseries.
It is a simulation/virtual pet game that is about watching TV with a wild Pikachu and unlocking new channels every real day you watch. You can also go outside the house and have the Pikachu talk with other wild Pokémon to get collectible cards.
And that is pretty much it.
It was and still is wildly criticized for lacking gameplay and just being a blatant cash-in on
Pokémon's popularity. In Europe, it was the only way to get a Jirachi, since you got one each time you beat the game. On the other hand, it is
painfully cute, and approached on its own merits can be a mindlessly enjoyable endeavor. It also debuted the Pichu Bros. short "The Pichu Brothers in Party Panic", and if you ever wondered where the game Meowth's Party from the Spaceworld tech demo that unveiled the Gamecube went, it's here.
The game as a whole exhibits examples of:
- A Boy and His X: Or girl, the gender isn't specified.
- Armor Is Useless: Averted with an item called "Pikacream" (sometimes found in crates). When interacted with, Pikachu will rub the cream all over his cheeks. Pikachu will then ask the player "if he applied the cream well". However, there appear to be no changes to Pikachu's cheek textures once so ever.
- Asleep In Class: Averted, Pikachu will fall asleep in front of the Snorlax doll if interacted with.
- Balloonacy: Cleffa balloons can sometimes be found in crates, and then float up into the sky. This makes it the only item that can't be interacted with.
- Banana Peel: Pikachu can slip on one in the backyard.
- Companion Cube:
Pikachu is saying "hello" to the Lapras doll.
- Constellations: The game has a camp the player can stargaze from, with multiple Pokemon constellations viewable. These constellations also showed up in the credits of Pokémon: Jirachi Wishmaker.
- Cosmetic Award: The quote-unquote "achievements" in the Poképad.
- Couch Gag: A little cutscene depicting Pikachu in the player's bedroom plays every time the player loads the save file. The couch gag? They're always different animations, from Pikachu doing a ballet to finding him sleeping in the storage closet.
- Dark Fic: The rather infamous Creepypasta Pokemon Dead Channel
manages to turn an extremely cute game into something that gives the likes of other Creepypastas a run for their money. - Everything Is Online: Its a bit of a stretch, but it still counts. The official website for this game is one of the mini-sites Nintendo made back in the GameCube era. Most of the GameCube sites now redirect to Nintendo's websites, but this is one of the many surviving sites, and boy does it show its age! Fittingly, its URL suffix is .tv which was sometimes used for offical websites for TV shows.
- Extreme Omnivore:
Pikachu wants to eat the Charmander Doll.
The Charmander Doll wasn't very tasty!
- Fishing Minigame: ...and then the fish Pokémon ask you trivia questions about themselves.
- From My Own Personal Garden: Pikachu and the player can plant berries in the garden. With proper watering, they will grow into berries and Pokémon will come to the garden to eat with Pikachu.
- Gesundheit: Sometimes while watching TV, Pikachu will go "ka-chu!" and move his head in a sneezing motion. The game will then reply with "Pikachu sneezed". The first time Pikachu sneezes, the player earns a quote-unquote "achievement" in the Poképad named "Bless you"
- Getting Crap Past the Radar: Pressing B on a plant in the garden that's turned brown, the description will say "This plant has died"
- Grail In The Garbage:
Pikachu is digging in the trash can.
Pikachu found nothing worthwile.
- Guide Dang It: You get the Pokémon cards by answering Pokémon trivia. The game can fall into this if you haven't kept up with the main games' flavour text.
- Loyal Animal Companion
- Military Salute: Pikachu sometimes does this before leaving a room.
- Mythology Gag: Once you unlock the full Pichu Bros. short and watch it on a projector, the game's main story ends on the "End of Day" jingle from Hey You Pikachu.
- Prop Recycling: All over the place.
- Regional Bonus: Only Europeans could unlock Jirachi by beating the main story. He still visits Pikachu and the player in the other versions, but it's only a cameo. (Americans got Jirachi through Pokemon Colosseum, so it kind of evens out. At least outside Japan.)
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Pikachu, of course!
- Scenery as You Go: In Cobalt Coast there is an island in the background (which is most likely Cobalt Island from Hey You, Pikachu!). Although there is no way to get to it, Pikachu will sometimes try to swim to it but almost drowns.
- Shout Out: Plenty
- If Azurill is on Meowth's on the Scene Interview, it'll say "My ears are long. Just don't try to tie them in a knot." This is a reference to a line in the song "Do your ears hang low?".
- If Togepi's nice card is collected, the next day it'll come by the player's house and bring the "Kasumi Channel", which is the "Pichu Brothers: In Party Panic" Japanese dub with Misty as the narrator. Togepi is most known for being one of Misty's Pokémon in the animé.
- Pikachu will sometimes try to jump into the TV.
- The sunglasses Spencer Squirtle wears is the same pair worn by the leader of the Squirtle Squad (Ash's Squirtle) in the animé
- Sizeshifter: The Wobbuffet spray (sometimes found in crates) will cause Pikachu to temporarily shrink in size, complete with Helium Speech.
- Surfer Dude: The Surfing Pikachu doll.
- Sweet Dreams Fuel: Oh my, yes.
- Tic Tac Toe: This can be seen and played at Colbalt Coast during the daytime, albiet using black and white stones. If you win, Pikachu will do the same animation when you say PlayStation in Hey You Pikachu.
- Videogame Settings
The game also features several channels for the player and Pikachu to enjoy together.
"The Pichu Bros. in Party Panic!" provides examples of:
Pokémon News Flash provides examples of:
Shopping With Squirtle provides examples of:
Smoochum Shape Up provides examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Pikachu pretty much embarrasses himself by excersising with the Smoochums. It's worth quite a laugh for some.
- Same Face, Different Name: Averted, the exercises are real, but have different names. For example: The "Leg Kicking Exercise" is actually leg lifts. Most notably the "Stress Relief Exercise" is actually jumping jacks.
Quiz Wobbuffet provides examples of:
Smergle's Art Study provides examples of:
Slowpoke's Weather Report provides examples of:
The Fortune Channel provides examples of:
The Eggzamination Channel provides examples of:
- Captain Obvious: It's pretty easy to know what Pokémon is in the egg. Just look at the egg's pattern.
- Overly Long Gag: It can take a very long time for the egg to hatch, ranging from 5 minutes to 24 hours. Better make sure your GameCube's fan is working...
Mareep Farm provides examples of:
Odd One Out provides examples of:
- Punny Name: The first Pokémon you see are Oddish. Get it? Oddish? Odd one out?
Chum Chum Ranking provides examples of:
- Guilt-Based Gaming: The show's final segment only exists to make the player feel guilty for not playing the game enough.
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