Pikachu's Beach
Pikachu's Beach is a minigame exclusive to Pokémon Yellow. If the player brings a Surfing Pikachu to the man in the only house on Route 19, Pikachu's Beach can be played. In all other Pokémon games, this house does not exist. A common way to obtain a Surfing Pikachu is to transfer one from Pokémon Stadium, though other methods exist.
The goal of the minigame is to score as many points as possible. The player controls Pikachu using the Control Pad. As Pikachu is launched over a wave, the left and right buttons can be pressed to cause Pikachu to flip. Bonus "rad" points may be granted for landing safely. One flip grants Pikachu 50 points, measured in "Radness", and two flips grant 150 points. Three flips grant Pikachu 350 points. More points are granted depending whether the player performed a flip in the opposite direction at least once in any number of flips; 180 points in a total of 2 flips and 500 points in a total of 3. The HP counter in the lower right corner acts as a timer and is constantly decreasing from 6000 HP. Opposite this is a progress bar that shows how far Pikachu is from the shore. The game will finish once Pikachu reaches the shore and "Radness" along with remaining HP is summed up to determine the final score.
The game scroll rate will increase the more flips Pikachu manages to pull off successfully, which consequently increases the rate at which Pikachu reaches the shore. The scroll rate drops if Pikachu fails a flip and falls underwater. When the game is over, Pikachu is scored based on the remaining HP and Radness. The high score is saved and can be recalled anytime by talking to the machine in the man's house on Route 19. The Game Boy Printer can be used to print out the high score as well.
Trivia
- This game was referenced in the anime episode The Pi-Kahuna.
- Pikachu's cheeks appear blue due to the limited color palette on the Super Game Boy.
- In Pokémon Snap a Pikachu on the Beach level can be seen on a surfboard.
- In Pokémon Battle Revolution, it is possible to obtain a Pikachu that knows Surf. When used in the game, Pikachu will utilize a surfboard.
- The music in Pikachu's Beach is stored in a soundbank which doesn't exist in Pokémon Red and Blue, along with the Jessie and James encounter theme, Printer Error music and an unused track.
- There is a seemingly unused 750 point Radness bonus. It isn't obtainable regardless of how many times the player flips and/or the player flipped in the opposite direction or not.
- The gameplay of this minigame is similar to the popular NES game, Excitebike.
- Although HP is used in this minigame, logically it is essentially just a timer because Pikachu won't lose HP after failing a flip.
