Hey You, Pikachu!
Hey You, Pikachu! is a virtual pet video game developed by Ambrella and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. A spin-off in the Pokémon franchise, it was released in Japan on December 12, 1998, and in North America on November 6, 2000. The player is asked to help Professor Oak test the PokéHelper, a device that lets humans communicate with Pokémon. The game is set in the Kanto region between Pewter City and Viridian City, where the player is introduced to a wild Pikachu. The player is able to communicate with a 256-word database through the Voice Recognition Unit (VRU), a Nintendo 64 hardware accessory that, when paired with a microphone, can comprehend and analyze human speech. Along with speaking with Pikachu, the VRU allows the player to move around and gather items.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA, read 5 September 2026.
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- Released
- 1998
- Developer
- Ambrella
- Platforms
- 1 systems
- Critics
- Not scored
- Steam Deck
- Unknown
- Download
- Not stated
The record
| First released | 12 December 1998 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Ambrella |
| Publisher | Nintendo |
| Platforms | Nintendo 64 |
| Genres | Simulation |
Source. Catalogue facts from Wikidata Q2525984, seeded 30 August 2026.
How long is Hey You, Pikachu!? How long to beat it
Total play time for Hey You, Pikachu! is about 14 hours to do everything, and around 6.2 hours to reach the end of the main story. These are player-submitted times from HowLongToBeat, not our own, shown with the number of players behind each.
| How you play | Hours | Players logged |
|---|---|---|
| Just the main story: straight through the critical path | 6.2h | 9 |
| Main + the extras: story plus the side content most people do | 8.9h | 8 |
| Completionist: everything: 100% the game | 14h | 2 |
Source: HowLongToBeat community submissions, read 2026-10-19.
Where Hey You, Pikachu! sits on the grid
The grid places every game in the catalogue on measured axes rather than on an opinion. This is where Hey You, Pikachu! lands on each map it has the data for, with the share of the catalogue it beats on each axis.
- Year
- 56ahead of 11% of the catalogue
- Reach
- 25ahead of 69% of the catalogue
Percentiles are against the games that carry a reading on that axis, not the whole catalogue: counting a game with no figure as a zero would flatter everything that has one. How the grid works.
What readers say about Hey You, Pikachu!
Reviews written by people who have played it. These are separate from the GamingPickz Score and are never averaged into it: that score comes from thousands of Steam reviews with a sample-size correction, and a handful of unverified ratings would distort it rather than improve it.
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Where Hey You, Pikachu! appears
The ranked lists and finder pages Hey You, Pikachu! qualifies for, from its own genre and platform to what it takes to run.
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Common questions about Hey You, Pikachu!
What platforms is Hey You, Pikachu! on?
Hey You, Pikachu! is available on Nintendo 64. It first released in 1998.
Who made Hey You, Pikachu!?
Hey You, Pikachu! was developed by Ambrella and published by Nintendo.
How long does it take to beat Hey You, Pikachu!?
about 6.2 hours for the main story, 8.9 hours with the main extras, 14 hours to complete everything, from HowLongToBeat's player-submitted times. These are community medians, so your own run may be shorter or longer.