The player's goal is to help Professor Oak refine and promote his TV network through watching broadcasts with the mouse-like Pikachu.

It was first showcased at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2003 and later through a month-long series of promotional events in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.

Pokémon Channel is difficult to categorize into a genre,[1][2] as it incorporates elements of adventure,[3] simulation,[1] and digital pet games.

On a channel called Shop 'n Squirtle, the player uses the game's currency, "Poké", to purchase bus passes to travel among the game's locations, as well as non-essential items like Pokémon dolls, new television sets in various styles, and other decorations, all delivered by Delibird (a bird-like Pokémon that carries various items in its satchel).

[4] The player then hears Pokémon cries from outside, which turns out to belong to the mouse-like Pikachu, the reptilian Treecko and the avian Torchic.

Undaunted, Oak gives the player a replacement television the next morning while remarking their viewership has brought life to the network and helped spawn new shows.

The player then finds a bus stop and visits Viridian Forest, a location that first appeared in Pokémon Red and Blue.

On the morning of the fifth day, a disc containing the unaired fifth episode of Pichu Brothers was dropped and lost by the delivery Magnemite on their way to the show's broadcasting studio.

Eastward are the Ruins of Truth, where the stubborn Ghost-type Pokémon Gengar blocks the player's path until the lamp scares it away.

The player hands it back to Magnemite, who is waiting sheepishly outside, and heads home to watch the last episode, along with a video called Meowth's Party.

It was created both to serve as a spiritual successor to Hey You, Pikachu!—a similar digital pet-type game wherein the player plays with a Pikachu—and to promote the Nintendo e-Reader peripheral device.

IGN writer Anoop Gantayat praised this effect's implementation, although he did note some minor graphical issues visible in the transition from distanced to full-screen viewing.

[15] The game was showcased on its Japanese release date at the Sapporo, Hokkaido, location of Pokémon Fest 2003 (ポケモンフェスタ2003, Pokemon Festa 2003), a series of promotional events that extended across Japan and lasted about a month.

"[20] Reviewers complained about the game's low level of interactivity due to most of the gameplay time being spent watching television with Pikachu.

Summarizing the gameplay in general as "weak", GameSpot's Ricardo Torres argued that the game's promising ideas were fundamentally deadened by "the gimmick of having to 'virtually' watch television programs" and the long stretches of time this entails.

[3] Leeper claimed that Pikachu "will be content much longer than you will" and decried the channels' non-interactive nature while praising the unlockable status of a few.

[6] Tokyo Drifter found its low interactivity and slow pace to be the two biggest barriers for Pokémon fan enjoyment, and gave the game a 3.0 on a five-point scale.

[6] Tokyo Drifter found the environments "bright and colorful" while wholeheartedly praising the smooth and "adorable" Pokémon animations.

[3] Tokyo Drifter thought similarly, calling the collecting aspects "a prominent part of the gaming experience".