How to get Pikachu as your starter Pokemon in Pokemon Go

It’s the classic dilemma that’s plagued Pokemon fans since the dawn of Red and Blue – do you pick Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle as your first starter Pokemon? Answer: Charmander, always. However, what if you could go back to those Pokemon Yellow glory days in Pokemon Go and have Pikachu as your number one Poke-companion instead? Well, you’re in luck, as there is a way to get Pikachu as your starter Pokemon in Pokemon Go. As originally reported by Polygon, you’ll need to employ a few simple tricks before Pikachu appears.

After what seems like an eternity, UK fans have finally got their hands on Pokemon Go. Up until this point, people outside of Australia and the US had to perform a bit of a workaround in order to download it, with separate guides for both Android and iOS owners. Thankfully, you can now download it from official sources, with Pokemon Go popping up on both the Google Play Store and App Store respectively. The UK version was previously delayed, thanks to frequent server crashes due to an abundance of people playing it. The game is a hit, so expect to see more people walking around clutching their phones in the street.

Once you’ve got the app installed on your phone, open it up and get to the part where Professor Willow asks you to choose your first starter Pokemon. You’ll then see Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle appear on your map, and tapping one of them will start a battle to make them become your first Pokemon.

However, if you just start walking away from them without tapping on any of them, you can eventually get Pikachu to appear with them instead. When you walk away from them, they’ll briefly disappear before respawning on your map somewhere. Walk away from them again – reports vary between four and five times – and they’ll eventually come back with Pikachu in tow as well. Once Pikachu appears on your map, you can then tap it and start a battle like normal.

Whether you think it’s worth all the effort is another matter entirely, but it’s a neat trick nonetheless and one that’s sure to please diehard Pokemon fans who want to make their Pokemon Go journey a bit more personal.

Pokemon Go has only just launched in the UK, and if you’ve always dreamed of going on a real life Pokemon adventure, then this is as close as you’re going to get to living out your lifelong ambition of becoming a Pokemon Master.