Often claimed by many to be "one of the worst Pokemon games", the experience I had playing this game was quite surprising in a lot of ways. It is certainly a game where you watch T.V. with Pikachu, and to be honest it's not too bad of a time. Watching a quiz show hosted by Wobbuffet that goes on for slightly too long, all the while Pikachu reacts and looks at you while watching, or just changes the channel because he's bored, there's definitely something to it. The TV programs are all definitely a little baffling, because they are all hosted by Pokemon and subtitled with English, it's honestly very entertaining in how strange it is. In fact, that's the case with a lot of this game, it's so strange in concept and in execution I ended up getting enjoyment out of it. I could also totally imagine a kid psyched to play this every day.
The Pichu Bros short that is the main thing you'll be watching in this game is also very cute and fun. As a kid the Pikachu shorts at the beginning of most of the Pokemon movies were my favorite parts of the movie, and I always loved episodes that focused on the Pokemon instead of the humans. It is a little silly that they make you watch it twice in order to finish the game, but that just adds to the "I can't believe they made something like this" factor of playing it.
Also, it can't be denied Pikachu is very cute in this. He has a lot of really good animation and reactions to stuff in the game as well as the stuff that plays on T.V, and I very quickly found myself talking to him like I would a cat. It's a virtual pet with no actual pet caring basically, and a lot of kids who loves Pikachu would gladly watch Pichu Bros five times a week with him. There would also be a lot kids who would immediately get bored of this and regret having their parents buy it at full price instead of a more exciting game though, so I understand the reputation this game has. But as an adult Pokemon fan emulating it and playing it for half an hour every day until finishing it? Not a bad way to pass the time. I just can't hate it, it's too weird and fascinating to me.
A couple extra notes: 1) At some point the game just gives you the Japanese version of the short, untranslated, which feels very weird in an officially localized Pokemon game, but neat. They even give you a version narrated by Misty's Japanese VA, and it feels very odd they didn't do one with her dub VA, but my guess is they didn't have a lot to work with for localizing this.
2) At the end of the Pichu Bros short you see what seems like a finished version of the Meowth's Party tech demo that real Gamecube-heads will know, and it seems to be a recording of someone playing it but a playable version was never released. This would drive me insane as a kid, it looks so much more fun than the parts of this game that aren't watching T.V.
3) Here's some of my screenshots https://twitter.com/BansheeNeet/status/1361892376978092032?s=20
The Pichu Bros short that is the main thing you'll be watching in this game is also very cute and fun. As a kid the Pikachu shorts at the beginning of most of the Pokemon movies were my favorite parts of the movie, and I always loved episodes that focused on the Pokemon instead of the humans. It is a little silly that they make you watch it twice in order to finish the game, but that just adds to the "I can't believe they made something like this" factor of playing it.
Also, it can't be denied Pikachu is very cute in this. He has a lot of really good animation and reactions to stuff in the game as well as the stuff that plays on T.V, and I very quickly found myself talking to him like I would a cat. It's a virtual pet with no actual pet caring basically, and a lot of kids who loves Pikachu would gladly watch Pichu Bros five times a week with him. There would also be a lot kids who would immediately get bored of this and regret having their parents buy it at full price instead of a more exciting game though, so I understand the reputation this game has. But as an adult Pokemon fan emulating it and playing it for half an hour every day until finishing it? Not a bad way to pass the time. I just can't hate it, it's too weird and fascinating to me.
A couple extra notes: 1) At some point the game just gives you the Japanese version of the short, untranslated, which feels very weird in an officially localized Pokemon game, but neat. They even give you a version narrated by Misty's Japanese VA, and it feels very odd they didn't do one with her dub VA, but my guess is they didn't have a lot to work with for localizing this.
2) At the end of the Pichu Bros short you see what seems like a finished version of the Meowth's Party tech demo that real Gamecube-heads will know, and it seems to be a recording of someone playing it but a playable version was never released. This would drive me insane as a kid, it looks so much more fun than the parts of this game that aren't watching T.V.
3) Here's some of my screenshots https://twitter.com/BansheeNeet/status/1361892376978092032?s=20