We Finally Know Why Pikachu Ignored You In Hey You, Pikachu!
Pokemon fans of a certain age (or who enjoy a bit of janky retro gaming) are likely familiar with the infamous bomb that was "Hey You, Pikachu!" Released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998, this Pokemon pet sim seemed like a surefire hit. It came with a microphone peripheral that allowed you to talk to your very own virtual Pikachu, allowing players to come closer to being Ash Ketchum than ever before. There was just one problem: the darn thing never really worked.
Pikachu would often misinterpret players' commands or ignore them entirely, just kind of doing its own thing, like an electric honey badger. To say the least, "Hey You, Pikachu!" was not the immersive experience that many Pokemaniacs had hoped for. Now one fan has finally discovered why, and the results are genuinely kind of hilarious.
As explained by ResetEra user Maya Fey, they were curious to find out what kind of quality the "Hey You, Pikachu!" mic really brought to the table, so they plugged it into a Presonus Audio Interface and recorded their voice through that. The resulting audio sounds like Tom Hardy's Bane trapped in a rainstorm. Though Maya Fey wasn't sure if their particular mic was broken somehow, they said it was "no wonder [Pikachu's] p***ed off and shocking people all the time, since he hears the sound of hell when you call him."
Out of curiosity, Maya Fey decided to mix things up with a nicer microphone — which is when things got really interesting.
Pikachu is finally listening in Hey You, Pikachu!
After fiddling with a series of cables and converters, Maya Fey was able to get their Electrovoice RE-20 microphone to work with "Hey You, Pikachu!" To their surprise, Pikachu was instantly more responsive to their commands.
Although Maya Fey's specific commands were still a bit on the aggressive side, Pikachu didn't seem to mind, running over whenever the player called upon it. May Frey wrote, "I swear Pikachu would do whatever I told him to instantly. So if you ever got frustrated at this game, maybe you should have tried a better mic before blaming the devs?"
In other words, Maya Fey was able to get a game that's over two decades old to work better than it ever has. Fans in the ResetEra forums were floored by this revelation. Some commenters are already trying to figure out other solutions for the problem, like using a GameCube microphone. Others were just glad to know that their theories regarding the original mic's quality had finally been confirmed.
If you've got the time and necessary equipment, now might be the time to revisit "Hey You, Pikachu!" and its virtual electric mouse. He might be much more agreeable than you remember.