YMMV / Pokémon Channel

• Accidental Innuendo: "Pikachu noticed the Weed".
• Critical Dissonance: Absolutely savaged by critics due to lack of interactivity but very well beloved by fans and gamers, usually younger ones. Fans quickly point out that the entire point of this game is watching television.
• Fight Scene Failure: Pikachu will fight with the Gengar doll when interacted with. Afterwards, there's no visual damage to the toy.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • Many European players buy this game just for the Jirachi mystery gift. It's even a selling point on the box art in that region.
  • Pichu Bros. in Party Panic! is arguably the only show that people would even watch in this game considering it's a short anime exclusive to this game.
• Memetic Mutation: "The most expensive Pikachu short."^Explanation People like joking the entire game was just the Pichu brothers short film. While not entirely true, slowly unlocking more parts of the short is what could be considered the game's overarching plot. As such, people like to joke that it is the most expensive Pikachu short of Pokemon anime ever made due to the games price tag; especially since GameCube games have also exploded in resale price since the mid-2010s.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • In Cobalt Coast, Pikachu sometimes attempts to go to the faraway island. However, once he goes far off into the ocean, Pikachu cries out as he almost drowns.
  • The Ruins of Truth has rather unsettling music and visuals, especially on your first visit there. Also, when retrieving the Party Panic! Part 5 disc (or Golbat's Nice Card and 10 coins afterwards) from the Golbat statue, Pikachu will occasionally get stuck, forcing the player to rotate the Control Stick to free him.
  • Pikachu sometimes jumps at your face. Although it is somewhat cute, it can startle you, especially for the first time.
• Scrappy Mechanic:
  • Pikachu, at one point, would ask you to teach it how to change the channels and turn the television on and off. While this is a nice gesture, this also results in Pikachu randomly changing the channel at times when you are in the middle of watching a show or doing something. This can be particularly annoying if you're trying to purchase a rare item such as a Pokémon Mini from Shop N' Squirtle, only for Pikachu to suddenly change the channel on you without warning.
  • PNF can be an effective way of trying to find certain things such as crates or learning about the conditions to meet certain Pokémon. However, Psyduck has a habit of being asleep right at the beginning of the show or falling asleep right in the middle of it. This is often seen as a hindrance as one could be genuinely enjoying the reports Psyduck gives, only for it to end the show there due to being tired.
• So Okay, It's Average: Not one of the best Pokémon games, but sure, it has an interesting concept. It has its fans but even they'll agree that it's a pretty basic game.

---