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Description

Note: Please do not harass the original author or anyone who makes content related to this pasta. This review was simply made for entertainment purposes only. This is all based on MY OPINION as well.

SHOUTOUT:

WELCOME BACK TO SAUCEZ REVIEWZ: POKEPASTAS SERIES.

"What a second, Saucez. You already covered Pokémon Dead Channel, so what gives?"

This is a re-evaluation of the pasta and a critique of my original review of it as well.

Here's my original review for context.

Pasta Name: Pokémon Dead Channel
Publish Date: November 6th, 2010
Synopsis: After the protagonist had a long period of time of fun with their virtual Pikachu best friend named BRVR on the GameCube game Pokémon Channel for most of their childhood, they went on to go do other things in life with a new best friend for a few years. But eventually came back to the game after having some troubles in life and was greeted with a questionable reunion with BRVR.
Fun Fact: According to the author, BRVR is short for brother.
Highlight: The textbox dialogue
Quote: "BRVR made this world to please you." -Game Textbox

This is going to be a very long review, well, re-evaluation. So, here's the order:

1 – Talk about my re-evaluation thoughts and summaries first.
2 – Briefly go through and critique the story better and call out some of the things I said in the original review.
3 – Give my further thoughts if needed.

Underlined text = quoted from my original review
Bold text = my current thoughts/critique towards pasta or original review
No changes = Story summary/other thoughts

Thoughts:
So, I’m back to take on you again, BRVR! And this time, I’m going to break down your story more in-depth this time. My original review was made back when my reviews were shorter, and I was actually summarizing the stories. And looking back at it, I was so harsh on this pasta. Some people thought this re-evaluation is pointless because they agreed with everything I said, and that the pasta isn’t very good. Well, that’s not what I’m here for because I don’t think Pokémon Dead Channel will rise up from being considered a SPOILED PASTA. I don’t think the pasta is as terrible anymore. It’s more like a poorly-aged pasta at that. I’m not satisfied with my original review to be honest, and I will explain why as I go through with this. For example, I skipped a lot of elements in the story that would’ve been important for the story and the sequel even. Or the elements help with showcasing the horror that the protagonist is feeling from her once best friend. Let’s talk about BRVR as well. If anything, I think BRVR is a bit of a misunderstood character. I feel like people think of BRVR as this sinister-smiling killer Pikachu, when he is just an emotionally weak and broken, yandere Pikachu who took out all of his anger from abandonment and replacement with killing and wanting to destroy the world he lives in because he couldn’t be without his owner and felt replaced.

I think one thing that the pasta does a good job with that some people don’t give it credit for is when you think about the pasta in your perspective as the reader, it seems like cliched garbage. However, when you think about it in the protagonist’s perspective, it can actually be creepy knowing what your former best virtual friend has become. BRVR was the protagonist’s best friend many years ago and I think people in real life would feel creeped out when a people they have known for a while and made close connections with has become this psychotic serial killer. BRVR became psychotic because he felt replaced by a new best friend. I feel like it kind of worked in a way because there are plenty of pastas, especially gaming pastas, that involve the player getting the game and the creepy factors occur right away without any rhyme or reason. But this one builds up to the creepy factors unexpectedly. It seems like it starts off as a normal game. But the game changed years later and arguably that can add onto the creepiness because it makes you think about how did that logically happen? Was the game cursed/haunted to begin with and did it rely on the protagonist dedicating their lives to BRVR?

Disturbing Fact: pets have been known to kill themselves because of abandonment from their owners. So, I know this is a stretch, but I wonder if that fact applies to this pasta. Again, I’m not sure if it was the author’s intent. It could explain why BRVR wrote “Why can’t I die?” assuming that BRVR attempted to kill himself but couldn’t, which makes me wonder if the reason why BRVR can’t die is he is the mascot of the game Pokémon Channel. BRVR was breaking the fourth wall and became self-aware that he was in a game. He wanted to destroy the world out of his anger from his abandonment and replacement by his owner.

Another thing since I played the original game thanks to a friend of mine that let me borrow a copy of the game to help me with understand the original source material better for this re-evaluation, I give this pasta credit for is I think Pokémon Channel is one of the more fitting games to have a yandere Pokémon because the game revolves around interacting with Pikachu and doing fun things together. It’s like one of those Tamagotchi things, where you play around in a simulation with Pikachu and growing plants and feeding him and deciding on what to do with him. Pikachu stares at you, the player, as it is in a first-person perspective camera view. It’s eyes follow the cursor and Pikachu does often turn around to give you an expression. So, I think some of the factors like BRVR looking at the player in this pasta here works because it’s all apart of the original game mechanics. Speaking of which, I think the pasta does a better job with staying consistent with the game mechanics too as stated within the pasta compared to many other gaming pastas out there, which gives it some positive points. There are plenty of pastas that go out of their ways to make stretches in things that don’t happen in the original games. Example: Samus ripping off both of her legs when she tried to do the Morph Ball. I’m not saying that can’t work, but just be careful with how you write stuff like that because it can be a risky thing to write in pastas if you do. And you were right about these things about the original game, sparklingdemon.

Also, this was made back in 2010. Can we really call the following tropes clichés if it was one of the first ones to do them? Like I asked in the Forever Mine review, when should the exact point be to consider the tropes as clichés? So, should we be “Blood and Gore Bad” for this pasta review like we were in the original review? No. Let’s give BRVR a better shot. Besides, is the blood and gore in this pasta really that bad? Well, not really. I’ve read worse descriptions in other pastas. And it has a purpose than what my original review counterpart seemingly gave it credit for. I think the pasta is decently written plot-wise with the emotional traits involved with the connections between the protagonist and BRVR. BRVR’s character is kind of deeper than I remembered it being too. But that’s what this pasta feels like: an emotional, toxic reunion with best friends through a virtual game with a virtual pet with mixed emotions of regret, sadness, anger, and happiness that gets buried with tons of cheesy and poorly-aged things in the mix.

The Story:
One thing I really hate about my original review. I barely said anything about the beginning parts of it, like it was only one flippin’ sentence.

“Well it starts off with the author being an introvert at first with gaming but made some friends in high school abandoning her old games include Pokémon Channel.”

That’s all I said about the outside world and buildup of the creepy factors of the pasta. So, let me do a better job of explaining the beginning.

So it talks about how the protagonist developed an interest in video games late in their childhood. It was Christmas 2003 when they got a GameCube of their own with the games Super Mario Sunshine, Pac-Man World 2, and Pokémon Channel. Well, it didn't do the whole trope of going to a yard sale or what not to get the haunted cartridge. Well, it didn't do the whole trope of going to a yard sale or what not to get the haunted cartridge.

The protag had trouble with the first two games, so they eventually got to Pokémon Channel and they met Pikachu as it was their first Pokémon game. She named the Pikachu BRVR after Brother. They never understand why they spelt it like that but they went with it anyway. They played tic-tac-toe, watch TV, fishing, grow a garden, interact with other Pokémon, etc. She went like she was best friends with BRVR despite being a virtual being. She was overly addicted to the game. She was all caught up in her own fantasy with BRVR, becoming oblivious to reality. She was aware that BRVR was just a pile of programming codes but he seemed real to her, which helped with their connection and friendship.
As a person who did played the vanilla game, I can actually see that happening with a younger audience.
Whenever the player felt sad, BRVR would act depressed too, whenever the player felt angry, BRVR expressed rage too, etc. If the player needed cheering up, BRVR would act silly and leap and do idiotic things to amuse the player.

The protag got older and moved onto other games, but still made sure to visit Pokémon Channel every once in a while to stay in contact with BRVR. She grew wiser, but it was all just their imagination and it was still fun to pretend at this point for her. Eventually, she changed schools from a Christian school to a public school and her eyes opened to reality as the people at her new public school seemed nicer. And she was able to get a new best friend that was flesh and blood this time and it was in real life too. That's when Pokémon Channel was forgotten about. Her new best friend was funny and someone she could get used to school with and was someone to talk to while they started to get into their body and mind and wake up to reality. BRVR was pretty much replaced. The next couple of years for the protag were golden with her best friend getting into drawing, music, etc. but good things never last.
They had to move again. She protested to stop this but it was no use. She still remained in contact with her best friend with sleepovers and movies. She tried to make new friends but nothing could replace her best friend. But, her best friend was caught doing something terrible that her parents cut out all contact with them. Sounds like my parents.

So the protagonist went back to isolating themselves with video games again. They found their dusty, old Pokémon Channel disc case and they put it in the console to check up on BRVR. So does this make more sense on why BRVR felt replaced compared to what I said in the original review?

Anyway, I think the build up is a bit decent. Also, they're not playing just for the heck of nostalgia (well she kind of is but) she's going to check up on her virtual best friend. The game starts off normally. The Delibird comes in to deliver the packages from the Squirtle N' Shop because of the player's last purchase in which they have forgotten about.
I know that feeling for Animal Crossing. It always through me off after months and come back to see a bunch of mail with packages to see what I got from purchasing from the Nook shop and all and I'm like "I bought that?" Also, knowing that there are dead corpses outside of the house, I'm surprised Delibird stopped by. But that's looking too deep and I give the pasta credit for going along with the actual in-game mechanic. Or that's a lot of dedication that the Delibird has. Not even dead corpses can stop a delivery.

The protagonist went over to the door, only to be greeted by moans of a Pikachu. There was a marked Pikachu crawling out of the bed. "Hey Brother, it's me." they whispered even if he couldn't hear her. The protagonist knew BRVR wasn't real and in my original review, I made it seem like she was ignorant of knowing reality vs. fantasy.
Instead of a happy welcome back look, BRVR gave an infuriated look mixed in with anger and depression. The protagonist was understandably confused by this. But they continued to go to the packages delivered to them. This is when they get the Pikachu TV Z with blood on it, Pikachu Wallpaper Z which had sinister smiling Pikachu on them, and multiple Pikachu Doll Z's. The TV had fangs and it replaced the usually Voltorb TV. Weird. When I played it, I had a Hoothoot TV. Well, you are able to pick out a theme for your TV.

The textboxes would display these messages: "You got a Pikachu TV Z! The Pikachu TV Z has been displayed." "You got Red Wallpaper Z! The wallpaper has been displayed." "You got Pikachu Doll Z! The doll has been displayed." The Pikachu plushs had morbid smiles on them and they had claws and fangs too. The dolls continued to fill up the room. BRVR goes to the new, bloody Pikachu TV Z and turns the channels. He went to the fortune channel first.

so BRVR turns on the tv which starts dripping out BLOOD and it plays the fortune channel which goes nowhere with the chansey laughing. Not true about Chansey laughing hysterically going nowhere. Chansey is laughing at the fortune without stating what it is. Chansey is laughing at the fate of the protagonist pretty much.

"then, it plays the relaxation channel which is the one channel that has the game counting mareep jumping over the fence, only the pikachu doll Z's replaced the mareeps instead. Okay then...?" Well, I do agree that's kind of cheesy if I do say so myself. I mean, those morbid dolls are jumping over a fence? That's kind of silly honestly.
Also nice grammar, past self, with Mareeps. If it's referring to more than one sheep, then it doesn't need the "S" at the end.

Again, this is an example of why it's important for me not to skip over things in the story like I did in the original review. It has the player looking at a painting of a Jirachi as she walked away from the TV, BRVR usually signals you to return to the TV, but he didn't this time. Eventually, the textbox says BRVR is staring at the painting too which scared the player. The Jirachi painting was so beautiful to the player though.

SEQUEL SPOILER: the Jirachi will be significant for the sequel.

BRVR turned around and the textbox stated, "BRVR wants to know if you still love him." There were a yes and no option. O for yes and X for no. The player selected yes. BRVR laughed and the text said "BRVR knows when you are lying." as BRVR glared with a wicked smile. I still think that's a bit unsettling.

if only the pasta emphasized more on that, that would be better.
While I still think that, the pasta does do it more times than my original review displayed, which I will show later on.

"BRVR wants to go outside." The textbox message appeared saying that. The player was forced to go outside with BRVR and what was awaiting the player was tragic. "Now, the pasta doesn't really seem that bad right? Well, here's when it REALLY goes downhill." Sigh. So does my original review at this point because I was like "blood and gore bad" the whole time without understanding the context and purpose of it.
So there is a bloody mess of dead Pokémon corpses everywhere. The sky was blood red with even darker red clouds swirling in it. The player commented on how they couldn't tell who they were because most of their limbs were torn off, their faces shredded, entrails everywhere.
Nitpick: what do you mean you couldn't tell who was who? Some Pokémon are pretty recognizable based on their appearances. Unless all of their fur, skin, etc. was really ripped off, I guess you couldn't tell.

It's when BRVR goes outside of the house and the player was forced to follow them and outside of the house were BLOODY CORPSES of Pokémon. That just ruined the pasta right there.
See? This is an example of why I'm unsatisfied with my original review and I don't go into further depth about how it ruins the pasta either. I guess having the bloody corpses there is cheesy and generic for a pasta, but again, you got to think in the protagonist's perspective, this could catch anyone who had this game as a big part of their childhood off because they are not used to seeing these types of events. Also, remember that the game wasn't bought at a yard sale or flea market of any sort, so it couldn't have easily been a bootleg, in which makes you think about where the game came from and what caused it to become this way. I know this is probably looking too deep but I still think it's interesting to think about. However, I do think an excess amount of blood and gore can kill off the momentum a bit. I think it is too much on the blood and gore part and was complete overkill too, so I do think my original criticism was a bit reasonable.

"BRVR wants to know if you like what he's done to the place?" The author selected "no" for this question, but it caused BRVR to smile wider.

Author says no rather than you know, turn off the game.
Okay, I'm going to be completely honest with you guys since I know I used the "you could just turn off the game" criticism in my earlier reviews. Looking back at it, it's a pretty weak criticism because if the protagonist did turn off the game right away after encountering said conflict in the game, then the conflict of the story would end so abruptly. In other words, we would then be criticizing the pasta with how abrupt the climax/conflict ended because there wouldn't have been much of a story involved. This can work like if the protagonist of a gaming pasta really felt like they were in any sort of danger. Or if the protagonist got traumatized by the gaming experience as they turned off the game and had terrors following them afterwards as cheesy as it sounds, but I think it depends on the execution. I'm saying sometimes these "clichés" can work if executed correctly. And I do think the "you could just stop playing" can apply for some pastas like Blood Whistle for example. You as a reader get a bit infuriated with the protagonist continuing to play the game despite them feeling suicidal from playing it, even though he was trying to do it with a blog. What I'm saying is it's very situational.

Speaking of which, one thing I never brought up in the original review is how the protagonist did attempt to reset the game but it apparently failed as it said in-game that "the game cannot be reset at the moment." So, she did try to do something about the game, but it just failed. "Might as well see where this goes..." said the protagonist. So, that's why she stayed.

So BRVR does cannibalism on a Skitty corpses and throws it at the camera.
Unless I read a different or edited version of the pasta, I don't know where I got that from because BRVR does not try to eat Skitty's corpses. I think I accidentally mixed it up with the shrooms and Pikachu head flowers BRVR ate.

BRVR wanders off to the garden with two plants that had Pikachu heads and eats them both. Even though I'm being a little more positive with this pasta now, I won't deny the amount of cheesy aspects it has. This is a great example of its cheesy aspects. Pikachu heads coming from plants instead of fruits? That just sounds weird and silly than disturbing. Unless the Pikachu Heads had screaming expressions on them then I guess that could be a little unsettling. The eating process was allegedly gruesome according to the protagonist. BRVR gave another wicked smile at the player after he was done eating. She was forced to follow him again with the camera perspective. So they go back into the house and out the back door this time as their were no corpses in the backyard. They went to go to the Viridian forest bus.

OKAY, FIRST OF ALL, WHO'S DRIVING THE BUSES?! And why would they drive them to a bloody field of corpses? That goes back to delibird, why would he deliver to a house with bloody corpses around it? I'd nope on out of there. Okay, first of all, original review, that's just looking way too deep into things. Second, you clearly misread this part back then as they went out to a different yard with no corpses.

They got on the bus without the player's consent. The transition was normal but when they got to their destination, the forest was on fire with charred dead bodies. BRVR went to eat three mushrooms that were bleeding for some reason. He gave a satisfied nod afterwards after eating.

I still think the bleeding mushrooms are cheesy. It doesn't clarify if they were Shroomish or from Paras either. It goes up to generation 3, so Foongus didn't exist at the time of the vanilla game either. BRVR ran over to the bell that starts the concert. He was surrounded by morbid pikachu dolls instead of Clefairies. Nah, the Clefairies just used Substitute.

They played a haunting tune - it sounded so beautiful and horrifying at the same time. It was high pitched that it made the protag's ears ached but they couldn't think to turn the volume down. No, literally, it said that in the actual pasta.

BRVR headed back to the bus to go home seemingly satisfied.

You see what I mean by this pasta is a mess? it's very inconsistent at times or things happen out of the blue. That's literally how the actual vanilla game goes: your Pikachu goes around to do random things and you usually go along with them. I know this after playing the vanilla game for this re-evaluation.

The player in-game was forced to be outside the house awaiting for the bus to Cobalt Beach. I thought it was Cobalt Coast in my original review. I think Cobalt Coast sounds better because of the alliteration. Same peaceful transition, but horrifying destination. Then they go to cobalt coast (the beach area) and take a guess guys. what's the setting like at the beach? If you guessed blood water with floating corpses, you're correct. Yeah... the ocean looking like blood with floating corpses is also cheesy and overkill. I mean, there was enough blood to fill up or cover up the surface of the ocean? Not even BP could do that much damage with their oil spill.
So they play tic-tac-toe but instead of rocks, it was with internal organs. Wouldn't the rocks be rock-type's organs though, especially Onix? or should you say a "kidney stone"? The protag lost because they used entrails as O's and X's which couldn't make her think straight to win.

Trust me, I'm just summarize it because these scenes drag on for so long and it's a story. reading is supposed to be detailed with its story at times to make the reading experience interesting but the details here in this pasta don't make it interesting which is the issue. Not really. I believe the pacing of the pasta is decent at best. I guess this was from my bias since it was my first long pokepasta review that made me assume that at the time because now I'm used to reading and reviewing longer pastas now. I agree with my peers on Discord that it's hard not to be a bit bothered by how long it takes describing the surroundings to advance to the story. That's why I said the pacing was decent at best. It's far from perfect pacing though.
After the game of tic-tac-toe, BRVR laughed because of his triumph in winning. But then for a brief moment, BRVR started to show a feeling of regret and sadness. The protagonist wanted to comfort BRVR so they moved the cursor to reach out and pet him, but before the cursor got to him, he gave an infuriated look at the player and then ran off to the fishing area. So BRVR got on top of their rock on where they go finishing. BRVR gave a menacing glare at the camera as if the player was supposed to be helping him with something. That's just retail store consumers for you. She remembered the bait was what BRVR needed, but instead of a chocolate glazed donut, it was a moldy brain. I did joke around in my original review about how the donut get all soggy in the water. That also seems cheesy for the vanilla game. I get they didn't want to use worms because you know, no carnivores in the Pokémon universe (Pokédex entries aside)? But even the moldy brain no better in not being cheesy too.

I like how in my original review: I had a graphic warning for the next scene, but I put said scene in the re-evaluation's cover art. BRVR caught and reeled in an oversized, dark purple Magikarp with acidic green dripping down from it, it's foaming from the mouth, and it has scales scrapped off with rib bones sticking out and exposed muscles as it made a bunch of gurgling sounds. I knew Magikarps were hardy but to live with that is something else. And I have to still agree with my past self that that seems a little too graphic and detailed for a game with somewhat mediocre and early CGi-like graphics. Pokemon Channel has graphics that would easily make it confused as an N64 game. It's like shoving in hyper-realism without directly saying hyper-realistic in the pasta. The protagonist screamed at the horrifying scene, what made it worse when BRVR turned towards her as if he heard her scream and grinned sinisterly. BRVR had the poor Magikarp suffer out of water and then ate them alive. The protagonist could not look at their TV screen any longer from that gruesome scene. Therefore, once BRVR was finished eating, he gave a playful smile. The protag couldn't believe this monster was once her close virtual friend that she would look forward to seeing after school on a daily basis. BRVR cheerfully skipped along the beach to bus stop singing. His merriment made this situation more horrifying.

While waiting for the bus to Mt. Snowfall, BRVR stared at the player emotionless. "Why are you doing this?" the player whispered with a tear rolling down her cheek, even though he couldn't hear her. "BRVR made this world to please you." the textbox message popped up as if it was a direct response to her. The protagonist's blood turned to ice after reading that message. That would catch me off guard too. See what I mean by how the pasta works better when you think about it in the protagonist's perspective? So they went to Mt. Snowfall.

Another commentary note: this is one of the "iconic" pokepastas out there, how? I don't know. also, unlike sonic.exe (it's still a terrible pasta and one of the worst overall) where it at least had some effort put into showing visuals and a playable rom hack, this one doesn't. I've even tried to search for a fan animation based on this pasta since it's so "popular" to try to see if it's better off shown visually and I have found nothing. I get it's a 3d pokemon game, but there's not even like an SFM animation of the pasta either. The closest thing I could find to a fan animation is one in that one stereotypical art style that a lot early teens seem to have, but it only covers part of the pasta.
And I still think sonic.exe is one of the worst pastas overall. The rom hack game is still terrible for Sonic.exe. Also, really? Calling the animations stereotypical early teen art style? That's not very nice to say especially because there are early teens out there who are able to make some very good animations for their age. Also, there is one animation involving BRVR which is sparklingdemon's PMV for Pokémon Dead Channel which is very well-done. Pokémon Dead Channel is better than Sonic.exe by a longshot. One more thing, I'm still surprised there were no SFM animations on this pasta considering its popularity. I mean, BRVR was featured in various ERB-fanmade battles, one being BRVR vs Petscop (Thanks Dovey for showing me)

So, they made it to Mt. Snowfall and there were frostbitten carcasses lay strewn and half buried in the snow. It was a sad atmosphere looking at the sight for the protagonist. BRVR slowly walked over to where Jigglypuff and Kecleon would usually sing. They were dead and buried in the snow. Again, a bit cheesy for my taste but go on... Also, since Jigglypuff is sometimes depicted as a balloon, wouldn't they be flat in the snow?

Don't worry, there's a pokepasta involving a snowy mountain and frostbite that's a lot better than this trainwreck. Okay, I said that in the original review to foreshadow my Snow on Mt. Silver review and while I agree Snow on Mt. Silver is way better, that wasn't very constructive of me to call this pasta a train wreck. It's my goal to be as constructive as possible with these reviews. Sure, there were worse pastas that I have reviewed out there even though I tried my best to be constructive with them as much as possible even if it was hard to do so like Leaf Green Beta Scene.

BRVR then sang the most beautiful and sorrowful song ever. His harmonious voice sounded like violins playing the most tear jerking tune the protagonist has ever heard. He sounded depressed, sorrowful, yet had a focused expression too while singing. The protagonist's face was flooded with tears. When BRVR was finished singing, he had a sorrowful, depressed, and hopeless expression on his face. Protagonist wanted to hold him to comfort him, but BRVR turned away to go to the Ruins of Truth as BRVR did look back at the player with deep meaningful eyes then ran inside. It was jet black inside and BRVR lit up the electric flowers to light up the ruins.

So when the ruins were light up by Pikachu's thunderbolt on the electric flowers, there were a bunch of words on the wall written in blood, "No TV, no beer makes Homer go crazy" Oh, oops, wrong one. "Help me" "Why?" "I must die" "KILL ME" "It's so cold" "I'm so lonely" "Where is she?" "Come back" "Why can't I die?" The fact that he wrote "Why can't I die?" is disturbing the more you think about how everyone else is dead except for BRVR, you know he tried and is aware everyone else is dead, but he can't die. Like I said earlier, he's the main pokemon, the mascot of the game, so he can't die whenever he wants to.
“Not gonna lie, I did think having those sentences written on the walls and ceilings did work at first, but did it have to be written in blood though? Why not have it be just paint? Well this whole pasta has been about blood, so why not add more blood? xP” Where was I even going with this? This is definitely me being “Blood and Gore Bad”. I think the fact that BRVR wrote that in other Pokemon’s blood is arguably a bit unsettling and that he took the time to do that is impressive and shows how much psychopathic he’s gotten.

So the true or false tablet pulls up towards the player. The question is asked: "BRVR was abandoned by his best friend years ago to be replaced by a new best friend and was left to rot alone in this virtual world? True or False?" The fact that the game is aware it's in a virtual world is arguably unsettling too.
The protagonist was tearing up out of regret after reading the question because it is true. But eventually slapped herself in the face, reminding herself that BRVR wasn't real and Pokemon Channel was just a game. But, it just felt too real for them, so they selected "O" for yes to the question. Instead of the tablet turning green for approval, it faded into black. In fact, everything except BRVR faded into black. "BRVR feels the same way about you." She knew what the words on the walls have meant. She has abandoned her best friend, BRVR. But, she reminds herself he's not real and it's just a game because she couldn't dedicate her whole life to him.

The messages that appeared from the textboxes didn't shock the protagonist anymore as she expected them to show up now and knew what the context of them would be like. The player and BRVR just stared at each other for a while. The player started to lose it and asked more one question to BRVR, "What are you going to do with me now?!" The game responded with one more textbox message: "BRVR wants you to suffer the same way he did. "BRVR then gave the biggest and widest sinister smile who has ever done in the whole game as it then cuts to black and cut to the title screen. The continue button was now gone. The player sighed in relief as it was a good opportunity to get away from the game.

When she got up and turned away, right behind them, sitting on their desk... was a Pikachu Doll Z. The End.

Aaaand I still think that is a major stretch with how cheesy it is and the most bizarre part of the whole part. I mean the Pikachu Doll Z came to live and was sitting behind them? I feel like it would've worked better if the player had a Pikachu plushie in their early years while playing with BRVR and when they saw their old Pikachu doll, it reminded them to check up on BRVR after all those years and see what's up, they set the doll on their desk before replaying Pokémon Channel, and at the end, there's changes to the doll when they turn around after the experience. It's kind of like the Shaymin plushie in Forever Mine, except the Shaymin plushie didn't really do much beside accidentally trip over the protagonist. Also, this was before Sonic.exe. So if anything, Sonic.exe ripped off of Pokémon Dead Channel because it came a year before Sonic.exe.

“Now, get ready for one of the most ridiculous and bizarre endings in creepypasta history... The author turned away and sitting on their desk... was a PIKACHU DOLL Z. SHOCK ENDING... NOT! And that's what that Pikachu plush in the cover art is a reference to, the ending. And surprisingly sonic.exe didn't do that ending first. this was written in 2010 while sonic.exe was written in 2011 but they both end in the same way with a bloody plush being right behind the author at the end.”
Yeah, I still think the ending is pretty bizarre for its standards. And a message for my past self, you put a Pikachu Doll Z over the actual featured Pokepastamon in the original review’s cover art. Good job.

SPOILER ALERT for the sequel: the protagonist turns out to be alive and well at the end of the sequel, making this scene seem, well, kind of pointless in my opinion. Like, what was even the point of the Pikachu Doll Z in real life at the end if it didn’t end up killing the protagonist? It makes me question if the doll's point was to kill the protagonist, in which you can assume because BRVR wanted her to suffer the same way as him. Well, there is a theory I do have on this, but I’ll have to save it for the sequel’s review though in order for the context to make sense for it. The same Pikachu Doll Z wasn't really brought up in the sequel either, unless I'm just missing something. Well, we'll have to find out when I do an in-depth analysis of the sequel next time.

Further Thoughts:

I feel like I said a lot of my thoughts in the before reading thoughts section, but yeah, I don't think it's necessarily cliched, just poorly aged with its cheesiness. But I respect what the author was trying to do with the bonding and toxic relationship with BRVR and the protagonist. It makes you think BRVR represents an actual portrayal of a serial killer and psychotic from the mood swings and constant wicked smiles and looks of sadness and anger. I think the part that was on point was the writings in the walls, you could see BRVR's mind going downhill and fast due the desperation of being replaced.

However, even looking at it in a more positive perspective, do I think Pokémon Dead Channel deserves to be risen from the spoiled pasta rating?
X Yes O No

Wellllll.... I'm afraid I'm going to have to say no on this. Even with the nice details and lore behind the pasta and what BRVR and his relationship represents, it still has the layers of cheesiness and stuff that was overkill in various areas. Just like with how I feel about characters like Jeff the Killer and Laughing Jack, where I can appreciate their characters even though their stories aren't the best, it's the same way with BRVR. A character with potential, but not a very good pasta. I do appreciate what it did with following the mechanics of the vanilla game. Just the stuff with the Pikachu heads, the bleeding mushrooms and TV, the blood ocean, the real life Pikachu doll Z are just cheesy and kind of don't help with the creepy factors. I still think how the textbox messages are used for BRVR to communicate are clever. I will admit that the first reading experience won't be that great but you start to slowly enjoy it the more understand the context and details of the pasta. While the lore improves the story pacing it just can't justify the excessive use of blood/gore or the doll coming out of nowhere. I feel like I had to inference the story to understand some of the lore even. Not saying that's a bad thing, but for the average reader, it can be a bit of a problem.

But, I'm going to go over my further thoughts on the original review because I disagree with a lot of it.

“First of all, let me mention how overused the pasta's formula is with pokepasta with the whole "pokemon becomes insane/depressed/desperate after a conflict or abandonment of their owner" and vice versa. there are so many pokepastas with this formula it's ridiculous I won't leave you (Loneliness the Eevee), Forever Mine (Skye the Shaymin), EEeEE, Tommy Boy the Flygon, PMD: Explorers Of Death, and so many more. Yeah it was one of the first pasta to do this formula, but that doesn't make it any better though.”
Well, that didn’t age well especially when Forever Mine got the good rating twice. Confession: I didn’t actually look deep into those pastas listed but I was told about how the follow a similar trope, even though that’s not exactly true though. You can kind of tell since I said the names of the MurderMons for some of them instead of the title name. Also, everything I said about these tropes in the Forever Mine reviews were said much better. The pastas may follow similar tropes but just because they do doesn’t mean they are bad, especially when they are executed in different fashions.
Second of all, no those pastas don’t necessarily follow these tropes exactly.
Tommy Boy – refused to listen to the protagonist over their sister because she caught him as a Shiny Trapinch despite the game belonging to the older sibling (protagonist). Flygon goes insane because the protagonist separated him with the protagonist’s younger sister which Tommy Boy refers to as mommy.
I won’t leave you – Loneliness falls apart because Tyrin couldn’t protect himself from calling out Loneliness despite promising to protect him.
PMD: Explorers of Death – there are many versions of this pasta, but from what all I’ve read, the protagonist isn’t really much involved with Myra, Shadow, or Squirtle, and the conflicts happen between the Murdermons within the game.

“Second, I really don't like how much BRVR goes between moods so abruptly like they have mood swings so badly, like angry, sad, smug, psychotic, bloodlust, and depressed. I honestly think their mood swings are like a slot machine and it randomizes what emotion BRVR should be in.”
I wasn't much of a fan of the mood swings back then, but looking back, I think the mood swings can arguably add onto the psychopathy of BRVR.

“I honestly gotten more scared of my favorite villagers in the original animal crossing game scolding me for being gone for years than this pasta.”
Come on, you’re just exaggerating at this point.

"Not only was my biggest problem with pokemon dead channel was there was way too much blood and gore to the point where it feels more like a gore porn like Cupcakes, but it drags on in some parts for way too long. also it goes back and forth with being bloody and just depressing."
I think sparklingdemon put it best about the comparison I made with Cupcakes back then: The comparison with Cupcakes is a bit unfair. "Cupcakes' story in its entirety focuses on the perversion and possible fetishism of torturing one innocent individual to the point of them vomiting and soiling themselves. It was clearly written by an adult who wanted to corrupt a young girls' cartoon and its characters for the sick joke of it. The author supposedly admitted they wrote the story for kicks, trying to spark controversy within the MLP fanbase. Describing bodies as torn and shredded with organs hanging out is a brief and amateur statement compared to the elaborate torture scenes described in Cupcakes." I agree with that. Sweet Apple Massacre was obviously the same way too. Oh god, I can't believe I'm bringing that insulting and scummy pasta again. Again, I think it wasn't the gore that brought the pasta down, it was just how the story executed the blood and gore that brought it down. Pokémon Dead Channel uses it for aesthetic purposes on the background to pop up the killing streak BRVR had done in his insanity, even though it overuses it too much it just feels like the story circles around the gore rather than why BRVR went insane.

I think the pasta really could've focused more on why BRVR went insane, even though the reasons are obvious. It should show more of the textbox messages and stuff to show how insane BRVR has gotten because if I'm being honestly, I would get chills everything the textbox messages appeared on the screen because they had some bone chilling things to say for them. Again, I think the story works better when you think about it in the protagonist's protagonist compared to as a perspective of the reader. I'm not saying that they should remove the blood and gore entirely because the blood and gore are there to show the insanity of distressed mess BRVR has become with killing all of the others out of anger.

I heard that the original author, star-byte, said that the original draft wasn't supposed to have as much blood and gore as it did, but someone came up to them and told them to add more of it. It kind of feels like the Sam Raimi Trilogy with all the peer pressure Sam Raimi got into adding Venom in the third movie when they didn't exactly need to be there. Also, one more thing, I think my version of the pasta in my original review is all right but nothing too special and kind of missed the point of the pasta in some areas.

So to conclude and sadly even after this re-evaluation, it's still going to stay a SPOILED PASTA. I am so sorry about this, star-byte. I hope you at least enjoyed this version of my review of your work better though. But will it move it up or down from the list? Well, no. I think it's still the same. Abandon Lonliness is still better as far as symbolisms and all, just a poor pacing and repetition, but it's not as forgettable and lackluster in content as Milotic's Revenge though. And Prevention of Evolution just went too abrupt with its pacing for my tastes. The list still remains the same.

My rankings for the reviewed PokéPastas so far (from best to worst, top to bottom):
1. Easter Egg - Snow on Mt. Silver – Fresh
2. Forever Mine (RMK) - Fresh
3. Absol (Reaper) - Fresh
4. La Condena de Milotic – Fresh
5. Hypno's Lullaby – Fresh
6. Forever Mine (ORG) - Fresh
7. Strangled Red – Dried
8. Zombreon - Dried
9. Lost Silver – Dried
10. Creepy Black – Dried
11. Abandon Lonliness - Spoiled
12. Pokémon Dead Channel – Spoiled
13. Prevention of Evolution (ORG) - Spoiled
14. Milotic's Revenge – Spoiled
15. Leaf Green Beta Scene - Spoiled

6 Fresh Pastas | 4 Dried Pastas | 5 Spoiled Pastas

I think this pasta should get a remake if anything, because I think BRVR has a lot of potential and I'd hate for it all to go to waste. Sparklingdemon, I know you're reading this and I'm aware that you have the desire to remake some of star-byte's work, I would love to see how you would re-imagine this one. I've skimmed through your version of PMD: Explorers of Death and from my first impressions, it looks very good and promising. Just going to do an in-depth analysis on it. I will need to review the original first. Trust me, I would not end this review series without reviewing the PMD: Explorers of Death pastas (especially when people have been request them to me), even if they have to be the review series finale.

And if you are reading this, star-byte, please know that I appreciate the potential that BRVR and this pasta has.

A couple fun facts about the cover art:
-It took me almost two weeks to finish.
-There are throwbacks to some of the previous pastamons in the cover art.
-I made it seem like BRVR came back and killed them
-Skye remains unharmed in the cover art because Skye is already dead.
-If you look closely, you see a transparent, crying BRVR as a reference to how emotionally weak BRVR is and it's transparent unlike sinister-smiling BRVR as a reference to how slightly misunderstood BRVR is because most people generalize him as a killer, sinister-smiling Pikachu, when he's really an emotionally weak Pikachu.

Thanks for reading! But don't go anywhere yet, well you can for now until I finish the next review which is going to be on the SEQUEL as promised.

Description

Note: Please do not harass the original author or anyone who makes content related to this pasta. This review was simply made for entertainment purposes only. This is all based on MY OPINION as well.

SHOUTOUT:

WELCOME BACK TO SAUCEZ REVIEWZ: POKEPASTAS SERIES.

"What a second, Saucez. You already covered Pokémon Dead Channel, so what gives?"

This is a re-evaluation of the pasta and a critique of my original review of it as well.

Here's my original review for context.

Pasta Name: Pokémon Dead Channel
Publish Date: November 6th, 2010
Synopsis: After the protagonist had a long period of time of fun with their virtual Pikachu best friend named BRVR on the GameCube game Pokémon Channel for most of their childhood, they went on to go do other things in life with a new best friend for a few years. But eventually came back to the game after having some troubles in life and was greeted with a questionable reunion with BRVR.
Fun Fact: According to the author, BRVR is short for brother.
Highlight: The textbox dialogue
Quote: "BRVR made this world to please you." -Game Textbox

This is going to be a very long review, well, re-evaluation. So, here's the order:

1 – Talk about my re-evaluation thoughts and summaries first.
2 – Briefly go through and critique the story better and call out some of the things I said in the original review.
3 – Give my further thoughts if needed.

Underlined text = quoted from my original review
Bold text = my current thoughts/critique towards pasta or original review
No changes = Story summary/other thoughts

Thoughts:
So, I’m back to take on you again, BRVR! And this time, I’m going to break down your story more in-depth this time. My original review was made back when my reviews were shorter, and I was actually summarizing the stories. And looking back at it, I was so harsh on this pasta. Some people thought this re-evaluation is pointless because they agreed with everything I said, and that the pasta isn’t very good. Well, that’s not what I’m here for because I don’t think Pokémon Dead Channel will rise up from being considered a SPOILED PASTA. I don’t think the pasta is as terrible anymore. It’s more like a poorly-aged pasta at that. I’m not satisfied with my original review to be honest, and I will explain why as I go through with this. For example, I skipped a lot of elements in the story that would’ve been important for the story and the sequel even. Or the elements help with showcasing the horror that the protagonist is feeling from her once best friend. Let’s talk about BRVR as well. If anything, I think BRVR is a bit of a misunderstood character. I feel like people think of BRVR as this sinister-smiling killer Pikachu, when he is just an emotionally weak and broken, yandere Pikachu who took out all of his anger from abandonment and replacement with killing and wanting to destroy the world he lives in because he couldn’t be without his owner and felt replaced.

I think one thing that the pasta does a good job with that some people don’t give it credit for is when you think about the pasta in your perspective as the reader, it seems like cliched garbage. However, when you think about it in the protagonist’s perspective, it can actually be creepy knowing what your former best virtual friend has become. BRVR was the protagonist’s best friend many years ago and I think people in real life would feel creeped out when a people they have known for a while and made close connections with has become this psychotic serial killer. BRVR became psychotic because he felt replaced by a new best friend. I feel like it kind of worked in a way because there are plenty of pastas, especially gaming pastas, that involve the player getting the game and the creepy factors occur right away without any rhyme or reason. But this one builds up to the creepy factors unexpectedly. It seems like it starts off as a normal game. But the game changed years later and arguably that can add onto the creepiness because it makes you think about how did that logically happen? Was the game cursed/haunted to begin with and did it rely on the protagonist dedicating their lives to BRVR?

Disturbing Fact: pets have been known to kill themselves because of abandonment from their owners. So, I know this is a stretch, but I wonder if that fact applies to this pasta. Again, I’m not sure if it was the author’s intent. It could explain why BRVR wrote “Why can’t I die?” assuming that BRVR attempted to kill himself but couldn’t, which makes me wonder if the reason why BRVR can’t die is he is the mascot of the game Pokémon Channel. BRVR was breaking the fourth wall and became self-aware that he was in a game. He wanted to destroy the world out of his anger from his abandonment and replacement by his owner.

Another thing since I played the original game thanks to a friend of mine that let me borrow a copy of the game to help me with understand the original source material better for this re-evaluation, I give this pasta credit for is I think Pokémon Channel is one of the more fitting games to have a yandere Pokémon because the game revolves around interacting with Pikachu and doing fun things together. It’s like one of those Tamagotchi things, where you play around in a simulation with Pikachu and growing plants and feeding him and deciding on what to do with him. Pikachu stares at you, the player, as it is in a first-person perspective camera view. It’s eyes follow the cursor and Pikachu does often turn around to give you an expression. So, I think some of the factors like BRVR looking at the player in this pasta here works because it’s all apart of the original game mechanics. Speaking of which, I think the pasta does a better job with staying consistent with the game mechanics too as stated within the pasta compared to many other gaming pastas out there, which gives it some positive points. There are plenty of pastas that go out of their ways to make stretches in things that don’t happen in the original games. Example: Samus ripping off both of her legs when she tried to do the Morph Ball. I’m not saying that can’t work, but just be careful with how you write stuff like that because it can be a risky thing to write in pastas if you do. And you were right about these things about the original game, sparklingdemon.

Also, this was made back in 2010. Can we really call the following tropes clichés if it was one of the first ones to do them? Like I asked in the Forever Mine review, when should the exact point be to consider the tropes as clichés? So, should we be “Blood and Gore Bad” for this pasta review like we were in the original review? No. Let’s give BRVR a better shot. Besides, is the blood and gore in this pasta really that bad? Well, not really. I’ve read worse descriptions in other pastas. And it has a purpose than what my original review counterpart seemingly gave it credit for. I think the pasta is decently written plot-wise with the emotional traits involved with the connections between the protagonist and BRVR. BRVR’s character is kind of deeper than I remembered it being too. But that’s what this pasta feels like: an emotional, toxic reunion with best friends through a virtual game with a virtual pet with mixed emotions of regret, sadness, anger, and happiness that gets buried with tons of cheesy and poorly-aged things in the mix.

The Story:
One thing I really hate about my original review. I barely said anything about the beginning parts of it, like it was only one flippin’ sentence.

“Well it starts off with the author being an introvert at first with gaming but made some friends in high school abandoning her old games include Pokémon Channel.”

That’s all I said about the outside world and buildup of the creepy factors of the pasta. So, let me do a better job of explaining the beginning.

So it talks about how the protagonist developed an interest in video games late in their childhood. It was Christmas 2003 when they got a GameCube of their own with the games Super Mario Sunshine, Pac-Man World 2, and Pokémon Channel. Well, it didn't do the whole trope of going to a yard sale or what not to get the haunted cartridge. Well, it didn't do the whole trope of going to a yard sale or what not to get the haunted cartridge.

The protag had trouble with the first two games, so they eventually got to Pokémon Channel and they met Pikachu as it was their first Pokémon game. She named the Pikachu BRVR after Brother. They never understand why they spelt it like that but they went with it anyway. They played tic-tac-toe, watch TV, fishing, grow a garden, interact with other Pokémon, etc. She went like she was best friends with BRVR despite being a virtual being. She was overly addicted to the game. She was all caught up in her own fantasy with BRVR, becoming oblivious to reality. She was aware that BRVR was just a pile of programming codes but he seemed real to her, which helped with their connection and friendship.
As a person who did played the vanilla game, I can actually see that happening with a younger audience.
Whenever the player felt sad, BRVR would act depressed too, whenever the player felt angry, BRVR expressed rage too, etc. If the player needed cheering up, BRVR would act silly and leap and do idiotic things to amuse the player.

The protag got older and moved onto other games, but still made sure to visit Pokémon Channel every once in a while to stay in contact with BRVR. She grew wiser, but it was all just their imagination and it was still fun to pretend at this point for her. Eventually, she changed schools from a Christian school to a public school and her eyes opened to reality as the people at her new public school seemed nicer. And she was able to get a new best friend that was flesh and blood this time and it was in real life too. That's when Pokémon Channel was forgotten about. Her new best friend was funny and someone she could get used to school with and was someone to talk to while they started to get into their body and mind and wake up to reality. BRVR was pretty much replaced. The next couple of years for the protag were golden with her best friend getting into drawing, music, etc. but good things never last.
They had to move again. She protested to stop this but it was no use. She still remained in contact with her best friend with sleepovers and movies. She tried to make new friends but nothing could replace her best friend. But, her best friend was caught doing something terrible that her parents cut out all contact with them. Sounds like my parents.

So the protagonist went back to isolating themselves with video games again. They found their dusty, old Pokémon Channel disc case and they put it in the console to check up on BRVR. So does this make more sense on why BRVR felt replaced compared to what I said in the original review?

Anyway, I think the build up is a bit decent. Also, they're not playing just for the heck of nostalgia (well she kind of is but) she's going to check up on her virtual best friend. The game starts off normally. The Delibird comes in to deliver the packages from the Squirtle N' Shop because of the player's last purchase in which they have forgotten about.
I know that feeling for Animal Crossing. It always through me off after months and come back to see a bunch of mail with packages to see what I got from purchasing from the Nook shop and all and I'm like "I bought that?" Also, knowing that there are dead corpses outside of the house, I'm surprised Delibird stopped by. But that's looking too deep and I give the pasta credit for going along with the actual in-game mechanic. Or that's a lot of dedication that the Delibird has. Not even dead corpses can stop a delivery.

The protagonist went over to the door, only to be greeted by moans of a Pikachu. There was a marked Pikachu crawling out of the bed. "Hey Brother, it's me." they whispered even if he couldn't hear her. The protagonist knew BRVR wasn't real and in my original review, I made it seem like she was ignorant of knowing reality vs. fantasy.
Instead of a happy welcome back look, BRVR gave an infuriated look mixed in with anger and depression. The protagonist was understandably confused by this. But they continued to go to the packages delivered to them. This is when they get the Pikachu TV Z with blood on it, Pikachu Wallpaper Z which had sinister smiling Pikachu on them, and multiple Pikachu Doll Z's. The TV had fangs and it replaced the usually Voltorb TV. Weird. When I played it, I had a Hoothoot TV. Well, you are able to pick out a theme for your TV.

The textboxes would display these messages: "You got a Pikachu TV Z! The Pikachu TV Z has been displayed." "You got Red Wallpaper Z! The wallpaper has been displayed." "You got Pikachu Doll Z! The doll has been displayed." The Pikachu plushs had morbid smiles on them and they had claws and fangs too. The dolls continued to fill up the room. BRVR goes to the new, bloody Pikachu TV Z and turns the channels. He went to the fortune channel first.

so BRVR turns on the tv which starts dripping out BLOOD and it plays the fortune channel which goes nowhere with the chansey laughing. Not true about Chansey laughing hysterically going nowhere. Chansey is laughing at the fortune without stating what it is. Chansey is laughing at the fate of the protagonist pretty much.

"then, it plays the relaxation channel which is the one channel that has the game counting mareep jumping over the fence, only the pikachu doll Z's replaced the mareeps instead. Okay then...?" Well, I do agree that's kind of cheesy if I do say so myself. I mean, those morbid dolls are jumping over a fence? That's kind of silly honestly.
Also nice grammar, past self, with Mareeps. If it's referring to more than one sheep, then it doesn't need the "S" at the end.

Again, this is an example of why it's important for me not to skip over things in the story like I did in the original review. It has the player looking at a painting of a Jirachi as she walked away from the TV, BRVR usually signals you to return to the TV, but he didn't this time. Eventually, the textbox says BRVR is staring at the painting too which scared the player. The Jirachi painting was so beautiful to the player though.

SEQUEL SPOILER: the Jirachi will be significant for the sequel.

BRVR turned around and the textbox stated, "BRVR wants to know if you still love him." There were a yes and no option. O for yes and X for no. The player selected yes. BRVR laughed and the text said "BRVR knows when you are lying." as BRVR glared with a wicked smile. I still think that's a bit unsettling.

if only the pasta emphasized more on that, that would be better.
While I still think that, the pasta does do it more times than my original review displayed, which I will show later on.

"BRVR wants to go outside." The textbox message appeared saying that. The player was forced to go outside with BRVR and what was awaiting the player was tragic. "Now, the pasta doesn't really seem that bad right? Well, here's when it REALLY goes downhill." Sigh. So does my original review at this point because I was like "blood and gore bad" the whole time without understanding the context and purpose of it.
So there is a bloody mess of dead Pokémon corpses everywhere. The sky was blood red with even darker red clouds swirling in it. The player commented on how they couldn't tell who they were because most of their limbs were torn off, their faces shredded, entrails everywhere.
Nitpick: what do you mean you couldn't tell who was who? Some Pokémon are pretty recognizable based on their appearances. Unless all of their fur, skin, etc. was really ripped off, I guess you couldn't tell.

It's when BRVR goes outside of the house and the player was forced to follow them and outside of the house were BLOODY CORPSES of Pokémon. That just ruined the pasta right there.
See? This is an example of why I'm unsatisfied with my original review and I don't go into further depth about how it ruins the pasta either. I guess having the bloody corpses there is cheesy and generic for a pasta, but again, you got to think in the protagonist's perspective, this could catch anyone who had this game as a big part of their childhood off because they are not used to seeing these types of events. Also, remember that the game wasn't bought at a yard sale or flea market of any sort, so it couldn't have easily been a bootleg, in which makes you think about where the game came from and what caused it to become this way. I know this is probably looking too deep but I still think it's interesting to think about. However, I do think an excess amount of blood and gore can kill off the momentum a bit. I think it is too much on the blood and gore part and was complete overkill too, so I do think my original criticism was a bit reasonable.

"BRVR wants to know if you like what he's done to the place?" The author selected "no" for this question, but it caused BRVR to smile wider.

Author says no rather than you know, turn off the game.
Okay, I'm going to be completely honest with you guys since I know I used the "you could just turn off the game" criticism in my earlier reviews. Looking back at it, it's a pretty weak criticism because if the protagonist did turn off the game right away after encountering said conflict in the game, then the conflict of the story would end so abruptly. In other words, we would then be criticizing the pasta with how abrupt the climax/conflict ended because there wouldn't have been much of a story involved. This can work like if the protagonist of a gaming pasta really felt like they were in any sort of danger. Or if the protagonist got traumatized by the gaming experience as they turned off the game and had terrors following them afterwards as cheesy as it sounds, but I think it depends on the execution. I'm saying sometimes these "clichés" can work if executed correctly. And I do think the "you could just stop playing" can apply for some pastas like Blood Whistle for example. You as a reader get a bit infuriated with the protagonist continuing to play the game despite them feeling suicidal from playing it, even though he was trying to do it with a blog. What I'm saying is it's very situational.

Speaking of which, one thing I never brought up in the original review is how the protagonist did attempt to reset the game but it apparently failed as it said in-game that "the game cannot be reset at the moment." So, she did try to do something about the game, but it just failed. "Might as well see where this goes..." said the protagonist. So, that's why she stayed.

So BRVR does cannibalism on a Skitty corpses and throws it at the camera.
Unless I read a different or edited version of the pasta, I don't know where I got that from because BRVR does not try to eat Skitty's corpses. I think I accidentally mixed it up with the shrooms and Pikachu head flowers BRVR ate.

BRVR wanders off to the garden with two plants that had Pikachu heads and eats them both. Even though I'm being a little more positive with this pasta now, I won't deny the amount of cheesy aspects it has. This is a great example of its cheesy aspects. Pikachu heads coming from plants instead of fruits? That just sounds weird and silly than disturbing. Unless the Pikachu Heads had screaming expressions on them then I guess that could be a little unsettling. The eating process was allegedly gruesome according to the protagonist. BRVR gave another wicked smile at the player after he was done eating. She was forced to follow him again with the camera perspective. So they go back into the house and out the back door this time as their were no corpses in the backyard. They went to go to the Viridian forest bus.

OKAY, FIRST OF ALL, WHO'S DRIVING THE BUSES?! And why would they drive them to a bloody field of corpses? That goes back to delibird, why would he deliver to a house with bloody corpses around it? I'd nope on out of there. Okay, first of all, original review, that's just looking way too deep into things. Second, you clearly misread this part back then as they went out to a different yard with no corpses.

They got on the bus without the player's consent. The transition was normal but when they got to their destination, the forest was on fire with charred dead bodies. BRVR went to eat three mushrooms that were bleeding for some reason. He gave a satisfied nod afterwards after eating.

I still think the bleeding mushrooms are cheesy. It doesn't clarify if they were Shroomish or from Paras either. It goes up to generation 3, so Foongus didn't exist at the time of the vanilla game either. BRVR ran over to the bell that starts the concert. He was surrounded by morbid pikachu dolls instead of Clefairies. Nah, the Clefairies just used Substitute.

They played a haunting tune - it sounded so beautiful and horrifying at the same time. It was high pitched that it made the protag's ears ached but they couldn't think to turn the volume down. No, literally, it said that in the actual pasta.

BRVR headed back to the bus to go home seemingly satisfied.

You see what I mean by this pasta is a mess? it's very inconsistent at times or things happen out of the blue. That's literally how the actual vanilla game goes: your Pikachu goes around to do random things and you usually go along with them. I know this after playing the vanilla game for this re-evaluation.

The player in-game was forced to be outside the house awaiting for the bus to Cobalt Beach. I thought it was Cobalt Coast in my original review. I think Cobalt Coast sounds better because of the alliteration. Same peaceful transition, but horrifying destination. Then they go to cobalt coast (the beach area) and take a guess guys. what's the setting like at the beach? If you guessed blood water with floating corpses, you're correct. Yeah... the ocean looking like blood with floating corpses is also cheesy and overkill. I mean, there was enough blood to fill up or cover up the surface of the ocean? Not even BP could do that much damage with their oil spill.
So they play tic-tac-toe but instead of rocks, it was with internal organs. Wouldn't the rocks be rock-type's organs though, especially Onix? or should you say a "kidney stone"? The protag lost because they used entrails as O's and X's which couldn't make her think straight to win.

Trust me, I'm just summarize it because these scenes drag on for so long and it's a story. reading is supposed to be detailed with its story at times to make the reading experience interesting but the details here in this pasta don't make it interesting which is the issue. Not really. I believe the pacing of the pasta is decent at best. I guess this was from my bias since it was my first long pokepasta review that made me assume that at the time because now I'm used to reading and reviewing longer pastas now. I agree with my peers on Discord that it's hard not to be a bit bothered by how long it takes describing the surroundings to advance to the story. That's why I said the pacing was decent at best. It's far from perfect pacing though.
After the game of tic-tac-toe, BRVR laughed because of his triumph in winning. But then for a brief moment, BRVR started to show a feeling of regret and sadness. The protagonist wanted to comfort BRVR so they moved the cursor to reach out and pet him, but before the cursor got to him, he gave an infuriated look at the player and then ran off to the fishing area. So BRVR got on top of their rock on where they go finishing. BRVR gave a menacing glare at the camera as if the player was supposed to be helping him with something. That's just retail store consumers for you. She remembered the bait was what BRVR needed, but instead of a chocolate glazed donut, it was a moldy brain. I did joke around in my original review about how the donut get all soggy in the water. That also seems cheesy for the vanilla game. I get they didn't want to use worms because you know, no carnivores in the Pokémon universe (Pokédex entries aside)? But even the moldy brain no better in not being cheesy too.

I like how in my original review: I had a graphic warning for the next scene, but I put said scene in the re-evaluation's cover art. BRVR caught and reeled in an oversized, dark purple Magikarp with acidic green dripping down from it, it's foaming from the mouth, and it has scales scrapped off with rib bones sticking out and exposed muscles as it made a bunch of gurgling sounds. I knew Magikarps were hardy but to live with that is something else. And I have to still agree with my past self that that seems a little too graphic and detailed for a game with somewhat mediocre and early CGi-like graphics. Pokemon Channel has graphics that would easily make it confused as an N64 game. It's like shoving in hyper-realism without directly saying hyper-realistic in the pasta. The protagonist screamed at the horrifying scene, what made it worse when BRVR turned towards her as if he heard her scream and grinned sinisterly. BRVR had the poor Magikarp suffer out of water and then ate them alive. The protagonist could not look at their TV screen any longer from that gruesome scene. Therefore, once BRVR was finished eating, he gave a playful smile. The protag couldn't believe this monster was once her close virtual friend that she would look forward to seeing after school on a daily basis. BRVR cheerfully skipped along the beach to bus stop singing. His merriment made this situation more horrifying.

While waiting for the bus to Mt. Snowfall, BRVR stared at the player emotionless. "Why are you doing this?" the player whispered with a tear rolling down her cheek, even though he couldn't hear her. "BRVR made this world to please you." the textbox message popped up as if it was a direct response to her. The protagonist's blood turned to ice after reading that message. That would catch me off guard too. See what I mean by how the pasta works better when you think about it in the protagonist's perspective? So they went to Mt. Snowfall.

Another commentary note: this is one of the "iconic" pokepastas out there, how? I don't know. also, unlike sonic.exe (it's still a terrible pasta and one of the worst overall) where it at least had some effort put into showing visuals and a playable rom hack, this one doesn't. I've even tried to search for a fan animation based on this pasta since it's so "popular" to try to see if it's better off shown visually and I have found nothing. I get it's a 3d pokemon game, but there's not even like an SFM animation of the pasta either. The closest thing I could find to a fan animation is one in that one stereotypical art style that a lot early teens seem to have, but it only covers part of the pasta.
And I still think sonic.exe is one of the worst pastas overall. The rom hack game is still terrible for Sonic.exe. Also, really? Calling the animations stereotypical early teen art style? That's not very nice to say especially because there are early teens out there who are able to make some very good animations for their age. Also, there is one animation involving BRVR which is sparklingdemon's PMV for Pokémon Dead Channel which is very well-done. Pokémon Dead Channel is better than Sonic.exe by a longshot. One more thing, I'm still surprised there were no SFM animations on this pasta considering its popularity. I mean, BRVR was featured in various ERB-fanmade battles, one being BRVR vs Petscop (Thanks Dovey for showing me)

So, they made it to Mt. Snowfall and there were frostbitten carcasses lay strewn and half buried in the snow. It was a sad atmosphere looking at the sight for the protagonist. BRVR slowly walked over to where Jigglypuff and Kecleon would usually sing. They were dead and buried in the snow. Again, a bit cheesy for my taste but go on... Also, since Jigglypuff is sometimes depicted as a balloon, wouldn't they be flat in the snow?

Don't worry, there's a pokepasta involving a snowy mountain and frostbite that's a lot better than this trainwreck. Okay, I said that in the original review to foreshadow my Snow on Mt. Silver review and while I agree Snow on Mt. Silver is way better, that wasn't very constructive of me to call this pasta a train wreck. It's my goal to be as constructive as possible with these reviews. Sure, there were worse pastas that I have reviewed out there even though I tried my best to be constructive with them as much as possible even if it was hard to do so like Leaf Green Beta Scene.

BRVR then sang the most beautiful and sorrowful song ever. His harmonious voice sounded like violins playing the most tear jerking tune the protagonist has ever heard. He sounded depressed, sorrowful, yet had a focused expression too while singing. The protagonist's face was flooded with tears. When BRVR was finished singing, he had a sorrowful, depressed, and hopeless expression on his face. Protagonist wanted to hold him to comfort him, but BRVR turned away to go to the Ruins of Truth as BRVR did look back at the player with deep meaningful eyes then ran inside. It was jet black inside and BRVR lit up the electric flowers to light up the ruins.

So when the ruins were light up by Pikachu's thunderbolt on the electric flowers, there were a bunch of words on the wall written in blood, "No TV, no beer makes Homer go crazy" Oh, oops, wrong one. "Help me" "Why?" "I must die" "KILL ME" "It's so cold" "I'm so lonely" "Where is she?" "Come back" "Why can't I die?" The fact that he wrote "Why can't I die?" is disturbing the more you think about how everyone else is dead except for BRVR, you know he tried and is aware everyone else is dead, but he can't die. Like I said earlier, he's the main pokemon, the mascot of the game, so he can't die whenever he wants to.
“Not gonna lie, I did think having those sentences written on the walls and ceilings did work at first, but did it have to be written in blood though? Why not have it be just paint? Well this whole pasta has been about blood, so why not add more blood? xP” Where was I even going with this? This is definitely me being “Blood and Gore Bad”. I think the fact that BRVR wrote that in other Pokemon’s blood is arguably a bit unsettling and that he took the time to do that is impressive and shows how much psychopathic he’s gotten.

So the true or false tablet pulls up towards the player. The question is asked: "BRVR was abandoned by his best friend years ago to be replaced by a new best friend and was left to rot alone in this virtual world? True or False?" The fact that the game is aware it's in a virtual world is arguably unsettling too.
The protagonist was tearing up out of regret after reading the question because it is true. But eventually slapped herself in the face, reminding herself that BRVR wasn't real and Pokemon Channel was just a game. But, it just felt too real for them, so they selected "O" for yes to the question. Instead of the tablet turning green for approval, it faded into black. In fact, everything except BRVR faded into black. "BRVR feels the same way about you." She knew what the words on the walls have meant. She has abandoned her best friend, BRVR. But, she reminds herself he's not real and it's just a game because she couldn't dedicate her whole life to him.

The messages that appeared from the textboxes didn't shock the protagonist anymore as she expected them to show up now and knew what the context of them would be like. The player and BRVR just stared at each other for a while. The player started to lose it and asked more one question to BRVR, "What are you going to do with me now?!" The game responded with one more textbox message: "BRVR wants you to suffer the same way he did. "BRVR then gave the biggest and widest sinister smile who has ever done in the whole game as it then cuts to black and cut to the title screen. The continue button was now gone. The player sighed in relief as it was a good opportunity to get away from the game.

When she got up and turned away, right behind them, sitting on their desk... was a Pikachu Doll Z. The End.

Aaaand I still think that is a major stretch with how cheesy it is and the most bizarre part of the whole part. I mean the Pikachu Doll Z came to live and was sitting behind them? I feel like it would've worked better if the player had a Pikachu plushie in their early years while playing with BRVR and when they saw their old Pikachu doll, it reminded them to check up on BRVR after all those years and see what's up, they set the doll on their desk before replaying Pokémon Channel, and at the end, there's changes to the doll when they turn around after the experience. It's kind of like the Shaymin plushie in Forever Mine, except the Shaymin plushie didn't really do much beside accidentally trip over the protagonist. Also, this was before Sonic.exe. So if anything, Sonic.exe ripped off of Pokémon Dead Channel because it came a year before Sonic.exe.

“Now, get ready for one of the most ridiculous and bizarre endings in creepypasta history... The author turned away and sitting on their desk... was a PIKACHU DOLL Z. SHOCK ENDING... NOT! And that's what that Pikachu plush in the cover art is a reference to, the ending. And surprisingly sonic.exe didn't do that ending first. this was written in 2010 while sonic.exe was written in 2011 but they both end in the same way with a bloody plush being right behind the author at the end.”
Yeah, I still think the ending is pretty bizarre for its standards. And a message for my past self, you put a Pikachu Doll Z over the actual featured Pokepastamon in the original review’s cover art. Good job.

SPOILER ALERT for the sequel: the protagonist turns out to be alive and well at the end of the sequel, making this scene seem, well, kind of pointless in my opinion. Like, what was even the point of the Pikachu Doll Z in real life at the end if it didn’t end up killing the protagonist? It makes me question if the doll's point was to kill the protagonist, in which you can assume because BRVR wanted her to suffer the same way as him. Well, there is a theory I do have on this, but I’ll have to save it for the sequel’s review though in order for the context to make sense for it. The same Pikachu Doll Z wasn't really brought up in the sequel either, unless I'm just missing something. Well, we'll have to find out when I do an in-depth analysis of the sequel next time.

Further Thoughts:

I feel like I said a lot of my thoughts in the before reading thoughts section, but yeah, I don't think it's necessarily cliched, just poorly aged with its cheesiness. But I respect what the author was trying to do with the bonding and toxic relationship with BRVR and the protagonist. It makes you think BRVR represents an actual portrayal of a serial killer and psychotic from the mood swings and constant wicked smiles and looks of sadness and anger. I think the part that was on point was the writings in the walls, you could see BRVR's mind going downhill and fast due the desperation of being replaced.

However, even looking at it in a more positive perspective, do I think Pokémon Dead Channel deserves to be risen from the spoiled pasta rating?
X Yes O No

Wellllll.... I'm afraid I'm going to have to say no on this. Even with the nice details and lore behind the pasta and what BRVR and his relationship represents, it still has the layers of cheesiness and stuff that was overkill in various areas. Just like with how I feel about characters like Jeff the Killer and Laughing Jack, where I can appreciate their characters even though their stories aren't the best, it's the same way with BRVR. A character with potential, but not a very good pasta. I do appreciate what it did with following the mechanics of the vanilla game. Just the stuff with the Pikachu heads, the bleeding mushrooms and TV, the blood ocean, the real life Pikachu doll Z are just cheesy and kind of don't help with the creepy factors. I still think how the textbox messages are used for BRVR to communicate are clever. I will admit that the first reading experience won't be that great but you start to slowly enjoy it the more understand the context and details of the pasta. While the lore improves the story pacing it just can't justify the excessive use of blood/gore or the doll coming out of nowhere. I feel like I had to inference the story to understand some of the lore even. Not saying that's a bad thing, but for the average reader, it can be a bit of a problem.

But, I'm going to go over my further thoughts on the original review because I disagree with a lot of it.

“First of all, let me mention how overused the pasta's formula is with pokepasta with the whole "pokemon becomes insane/depressed/desperate after a conflict or abandonment of their owner" and vice versa. there are so many pokepastas with this formula it's ridiculous I won't leave you (Loneliness the Eevee), Forever Mine (Skye the Shaymin), EEeEE, Tommy Boy the Flygon, PMD: Explorers Of Death, and so many more. Yeah it was one of the first pasta to do this formula, but that doesn't make it any better though.”
Well, that didn’t age well especially when Forever Mine got the good rating twice. Confession: I didn’t actually look deep into those pastas listed but I was told about how the follow a similar trope, even though that’s not exactly true though. You can kind of tell since I said the names of the MurderMons for some of them instead of the title name. Also, everything I said about these tropes in the Forever Mine reviews were said much better. The pastas may follow similar tropes but just because they do doesn’t mean they are bad, especially when they are executed in different fashions.
Second of all, no those pastas don’t necessarily follow these tropes exactly.
Tommy Boy – refused to listen to the protagonist over their sister because she caught him as a Shiny Trapinch despite the game belonging to the older sibling (protagonist). Flygon goes insane because the protagonist separated him with the protagonist’s younger sister which Tommy Boy refers to as mommy.
I won’t leave you – Loneliness falls apart because Tyrin couldn’t protect himself from calling out Loneliness despite promising to protect him.
PMD: Explorers of Death – there are many versions of this pasta, but from what all I’ve read, the protagonist isn’t really much involved with Myra, Shadow, or Squirtle, and the conflicts happen between the Murdermons within the game.

“Second, I really don't like how much BRVR goes between moods so abruptly like they have mood swings so badly, like angry, sad, smug, psychotic, bloodlust, and depressed. I honestly think their mood swings are like a slot machine and it randomizes what emotion BRVR should be in.”
I wasn't much of a fan of the mood swings back then, but looking back, I think the mood swings can arguably add onto the psychopathy of BRVR.

“I honestly gotten more scared of my favorite villagers in the original animal crossing game scolding me for being gone for years than this pasta.”
Come on, you’re just exaggerating at this point.

"Not only was my biggest problem with pokemon dead channel was there was way too much blood and gore to the point where it feels more like a gore porn like Cupcakes, but it drags on in some parts for way too long. also it goes back and forth with being bloody and just depressing."
I think sparklingdemon put it best about the comparison I made with Cupcakes back then: The comparison with Cupcakes is a bit unfair. "Cupcakes' story in its entirety focuses on the perversion and possible fetishism of torturing one innocent individual to the point of them vomiting and soiling themselves. It was clearly written by an adult who wanted to corrupt a young girls' cartoon and its characters for the sick joke of it. The author supposedly admitted they wrote the story for kicks, trying to spark controversy within the MLP fanbase. Describing bodies as torn and shredded with organs hanging out is a brief and amateur statement compared to the elaborate torture scenes described in Cupcakes." I agree with that. Sweet Apple Massacre was obviously the same way too. Oh god, I can't believe I'm bringing that insulting and scummy pasta again. Again, I think it wasn't the gore that brought the pasta down, it was just how the story executed the blood and gore that brought it down. Pokémon Dead Channel uses it for aesthetic purposes on the background to pop up the killing streak BRVR had done in his insanity, even though it overuses it too much it just feels like the story circles around the gore rather than why BRVR went insane.

I think the pasta really could've focused more on why BRVR went insane, even though the reasons are obvious. It should show more of the textbox messages and stuff to show how insane BRVR has gotten because if I'm being honestly, I would get chills everything the textbox messages appeared on the screen because they had some bone chilling things to say for them. Again, I think the story works better when you think about it in the protagonist's protagonist compared to as a perspective of the reader. I'm not saying that they should remove the blood and gore entirely because the blood and gore are there to show the insanity of distressed mess BRVR has become with killing all of the others out of anger.

I heard that the original author, star-byte, said that the original draft wasn't supposed to have as much blood and gore as it did, but someone came up to them and told them to add more of it. It kind of feels like the Sam Raimi Trilogy with all the peer pressure Sam Raimi got into adding Venom in the third movie when they didn't exactly need to be there. Also, one more thing, I think my version of the pasta in my original review is all right but nothing too special and kind of missed the point of the pasta in some areas.

So to conclude and sadly even after this re-evaluation, it's still going to stay a SPOILED PASTA. I am so sorry about this, star-byte. I hope you at least enjoyed this version of my review of your work better though. But will it move it up or down from the list? Well, no. I think it's still the same. Abandon Lonliness is still better as far as symbolisms and all, just a poor pacing and repetition, but it's not as forgettable and lackluster in content as Milotic's Revenge though. And Prevention of Evolution just went too abrupt with its pacing for my tastes. The list still remains the same.

My rankings for the reviewed PokéPastas so far (from best to worst, top to bottom):
1. Easter Egg - Snow on Mt. Silver – Fresh
2. Forever Mine (RMK) - Fresh
3. Absol (Reaper) - Fresh
4. La Condena de Milotic – Fresh
5. Hypno's Lullaby – Fresh
6. Forever Mine (ORG) - Fresh
7. Strangled Red – Dried
8. Zombreon - Dried
9. Lost Silver – Dried
10. Creepy Black – Dried
11. Abandon Lonliness - Spoiled
12. Pokémon Dead Channel – Spoiled
13. Prevention of Evolution (ORG) - Spoiled
14. Milotic's Revenge – Spoiled
15. Leaf Green Beta Scene - Spoiled

6 Fresh Pastas | 4 Dried Pastas | 5 Spoiled Pastas

I think this pasta should get a remake if anything, because I think BRVR has a lot of potential and I'd hate for it all to go to waste. Sparklingdemon, I know you're reading this and I'm aware that you have the desire to remake some of star-byte's work, I would love to see how you would re-imagine this one. I've skimmed through your version of PMD: Explorers of Death and from my first impressions, it looks very good and promising. Just going to do an in-depth analysis on it. I will need to review the original first. Trust me, I would not end this review series without reviewing the PMD: Explorers of Death pastas (especially when people have been request them to me), even if they have to be the review series finale.

And if you are reading this, star-byte, please know that I appreciate the potential that BRVR and this pasta has.

A couple fun facts about the cover art:
-It took me almost two weeks to finish.
-There are throwbacks to some of the previous pastamons in the cover art.
-I made it seem like BRVR came back and killed them
-Skye remains unharmed in the cover art because Skye is already dead.
-If you look closely, you see a transparent, crying BRVR as a reference to how emotionally weak BRVR is and it's transparent unlike sinister-smiling BRVR as a reference to how slightly misunderstood BRVR is because most people generalize him as a killer, sinister-smiling Pikachu, when he's really an emotionally weak Pikachu.

Thanks for reading! But don't go anywhere yet, well you can for now until I finish the next review which is going to be on the SEQUEL as promised.