iOS version of Pokémon Yellow an obvious fake

Odds are, anyone who likes to stay informed about video games (say, by reading news posts about them on sites like this one) probably knows that there are no Nintendo apps on Apple's App Store. Those are clearly not the people who have been being scammed by the fake Pokémon Yellow for the past few days.

It appeared without fanfare or warning on February 17th. A supposed 99 cent iPhone version of the Game Boy classic Pokémon Yellow. The fact that this version is by a company called "Home of Anime" and not, you know, Nintendo, should be an obvious red flag. The 1000+ one-star reviews and screenshots that aren't even from Pokémon Yellow but are actually from the GBA games Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen should be enough to turn most people away. There are also the fake quotes from unnamed press sites raving about how fantastic it is to have Pokémon on an iPhone.

It has 1680 reviews right now and a 1.5 star rating, no doubt inflated by planted reviews. Most of the reviews are one star, saying that the app doesn't even start. It's kind of amazing that people are still buying an app with such a low rating. A support link on the App Store leads to a page saying they are aware of the issue and working to fix it. If you are one of the poor souls who bought the app, don't hold your breath for a fix. (Seriously, don't hold your breath, you'll pass out. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, just like that. Keep going.)

Staff article by Rhody Tobin (February 20, 2012) Rhody likes to press the keys on his keyboard. Sometimes the resulting letters form strings of words that kind of make sense when you think about them for a moment. Most times they're just random gibberish that should be ignored. Ball-peen wobble glurk.