Pokémon Channel

Enjoy watching TV with Pikachu and having fun with many Pokémon!

JP release: 18th July 2003
NA release: 1st December 2003
EU release: 2nd April 2004
Developer: Ambrella
Publisher: Nintendo
NGC Magazine Score: 24%
Mods Used: None

A game which shares similarities with Hey You, Pikachu! You have to test a new object from Professor Oak and a wild Pikachu enters your home, curious about the new invention. However, instead of talking Pikachu and forming a friendship with him, you get him addicted to TV. Pokémon Channel is a cosy little game of watching some Pokémon shows with a curious Pikachu.

These channels are limited at first, but you get more over additional days. Luckily, it doesn’t matter what time of day you start watching, as this is a futuristic TV that can stream shows whenever you want – imagine if that ever became possible? No more tuning at certain times or setting up a VCR, just choose what you want to watch.

The main attraction is a short Pichu Brothers film – Pichu Bros. in Party Panic. This is part of the anime that has only ever been released in Pokémon Channel. It’s split into five parts, with a new part becoming available on each new day. It’s an anime episode of the show with no humans seen (although you do hear a couple of recognisable voices) where Meowth is setting up a party and the Pichu possie are trying to get invitations.

The fifth part is a little bit different. First, you have to hunt to find the disc by travelling to different areas, and once Meowth’s performance starts, it switches to 3D graphics, and is based on the Meowth’s Party GameCube tech demo. I was confuses as to why it was 3D, but each time you watch, Meowth will interact with different Pokémon as it’s not actually pre-rendered. On my second watch, Meowth even struggled to jump back onto the stage at once point in a way clearly not intended.

The rest of the channels are amusing for like 30 seconds or so, but wear thin quickly. The shopping channel will be used the most, where you can buy things. It takes ages to wait for the buy screen and there’s only three items a day, so it’s a pain to get everything. There’s a few quiz channels for guessing Pokémon, a news one with a few amusing little storis and just nonsense like counting Mareep, watching eggs hatch and a statistics channel.

Your Pikachu friend will react to stuff happening on the TV, which is adorable. He’ll start exercising to the fitness show, gasping at the Pichu Bros film and try fiddling with the TV’s settings. Over time, you’ll be able to get him to interact with objects both in and out of the house.

While out an about, Pikachu can talk to Pokémon and you can answer a question about them to get a lithographic card from them. There’s a few things to interact with and watch, and you can play a little fishing minigame. There’s really not much, but it’s nice and calming at the same time – the whole game is rather chill.

Hidden in a box under your bed is a Pokémon Mini, which you can collect games for and play. They’re all simple minigames, but I don’t think I’m ever going to talk about them again, so I may as well go through them now. It’s a pain to unlock them all and the Japanese version had a lot more, so I ended up playing some via an emulator (it also makes for more reasonable screenshots of the games).

Snorlax’s Lunch Time

Press A to eat food, don’t press anything when a Pichu shows up. Surprisingly addictive, especially as you get extra points for being quick. Exclusive to Pokémon Channel.

Chansey’s Dribble

Move left and right to kick a football, more difficult than it initially looks.

Hoppip Jump

Charge a jump and let go at the right time try and get the greatest height. Japan exclusive.

Magby Hot Air Balloon

Press A to make a hot air balloon hover for the right amount of time to reach a target. Japan exclusive.

Pikachu’s Rocket Start

Ready set…. go. Wait for the word Go and hit a button as fast as possible to beat the CPU. Not available in Japan

Pokémon Pinball Petit

A demo of the Pinball game, with 10 stages form the quest where you bash a Pokéball around as a diglet.

Pokémon Race Mini Petit

A demo of the main game, with one course. It’s a fun 2D platformer where you race another Pokémon. Japan exclusive.

Puzzle Collection Petit

Another demo, this time of a boring puzzle game with sliding and block pushing minigames.

Skateboard Pichu

An autorunner. Press a button at the right time to make Pichu go over ramps. Japan exclusive.

Slowking Judge

A tennis ball bounces near a line, you have to quickly determine if it’s in or out

Togepi’s Petit Adventure

Roll Togepi round like a ball around mazes. Simple but fun, but just another demo. Japan exclusive.

They’re all simple games, but most are enjoyable in short bursts. It’s a shame that some are limited demos, and I wouldn’t mind seeing an official Pokémon Mini collection.

After you’ve finished the main story, a rare mythical Pokémon called a Jirachi appears (essentially Mew for Ruby/Sapphire). In the European version of the game, you can actually transfer this Jirachi to the main Pokémon games, which was apparently a big deal at the time. The other versions came with some e-Reader cards instead.

While Pokémon Channel got ridiculed in reviews, I quite enjoyed it. Sure, there’s not much to it but it’s nice and cosy and is an interesting way to release a new Pokémon short. This really would work a lot better now, as the game’s biggest weakness is that there’s not that much to watch in it – now they could add more stuff over time.

Fun

Why not just flip between the cartoon channels on Sky, pausing every 30 seconds to punch yourself in the face and flush a pound coin down the toilet?
Martin Kitts, NGC Magazine #92

Remake or remaster?

It would be cute to see again, especially with more to watch.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to get Pokémon Channel.