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The minigame's brief introductory screen

Pikachu's Beach (Japanese: ピカチュウのサマービーチ Pikachu's Summer Beach) is a minigame exclusive to Pokémon Yellow that requires a Surfing Pikachu (Game Boy) or the starter Pikachu (Virtual Console). It is played at Summer Beach House (Japanese: うみのいえ Sea House) on Route 19, where the Surfin' Dude (Japanese: なみのりオヤジ Surfing Old Man) lives. The anime episode The Pi-Kahuna features this minigame.

The only legitimate ways to obtain a Surfing Pikachu in Yellow are through Pokémon Stadium or an event distribution.

Gameplay

The goal of the minigame is to score as many points as possible. The player controls Pikachu using the Game Boy's 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.

The scoring system, measured in "Radness", is as follows:

One flip = 50 points

Two flips in the same direction = 150 points

Two flips in different directions = 180 points

Three flips in the same direction = 350 points

Three flips not all in the same direction = 500 points

The HP counter (not to be confused with the HP stat of Pokémon) in the lower right corner acts as a timer and is constantly decreasing from 6000 HP. On the opposite side of this counter is a progress bar that shows how far Pikachu is from the shore. The game will finish once Pikachu reaches the shore. "Radness" along with remaining HP is then 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. If the player runs out of HP before reaching the shore, the player loses.

Hi-score

A hi-score

When the game is over, Pikachu is scored based on the remaining HP and "Radness". The hi-score is saved and can be recalled anytime by checking the printer in Summer Beach House and declining the game's request to issue a print. In the Game Boy releases, accepting the request will print a black-and-white copy of the hi-score through the Game Boy Printer.



Regional differences

If the game is played on a Super Game Boy or Game Boy Color, Pikachu's cheeks appear blue due to the limited color palette of these consoles. In the Japanese Yellow, Game Boy Color mode only applies a yellow and red palette to the graphics in a similar fashion to the other Generation I games, whereas the localizations use palettes with more saturated colors than those of Super Game Boy mode. As a result, Pikachu's cheeks are depicted properly in the Game Boy Color mode of the Japanese version.

Western Yellow (Super Game Boy mode)

Japanese Yellow (Super Game Boy mode)

Western Yellow (Game Boy Color mode)

Japanese Yellow (Game Boy Color mode)

Trivia

The unused bonus



