Many many years ago I got my first Pokemon game on the Gameboy Colour, Pokemon Yellow. I had a big Pokemon carrying case for the Gameboy and had a great time staying up until all hours of the night trying to Catch’em All. Perhaps my gaming experience peaked at that moment, or it’s just nostalgia for simpler times, but when it was announced that FireRed and LeafGreen were being released on the Nintendo Switch, I was unreasonably excited.
I’ve vaguely kept an eye on Pokemon over the years. I played Pokemon Go for a bit when it came out, but the newer stuff just doesn’t appeal. I don’t really enjoy the 3D route the games have gone down now and yearned for the classic top down pixelated experience. In an attempt to reconnect with that feeling I’ve tried to play the old Pokemon games on emulators etc, but it’s just not the same feeling as a console. So I made an exception to my general rule of not buying games on launch day and dived right in with Pokemon FireRed, and I am so happy I did.
Gameplay and Updates
FireRed and LeafGreen aren’t exactly what Pokemon Yellow was back in the day. They are enhanced versions that were first released on the Gameboy Advance, but that’s ok. They add a few touches, such as better graphics and colours (Unlike Red and Blue, Yellow did have a colour version for the Gameboy Colour), more Pokemon (Gen 1 + things that evolved from or would evolve into Gen 1), running shoes (thank god) and some other exciting nods to future titles (you’ll have to find out for yourself!).
All in all it gave me exactly what I wanted. I got to pick Charmander (obviously), and go on adventures fondly remembered in a well put together game that honestly has a lot more content than some modern games. ‘How long to beat’ has it as anywhere from 30-50 hours, and so far it’s not got boring at all. It’s mostly a linear path game, but once you can fly you can go back and forth to explore areas that might have been unavailable to you before. There are also always new Pokemon to discover in every new area you come across, and of course you’ll need to Catch’em All! The overall story is light, it’s mostly your own quest, but team rocket seem to be up to their usual tricks and it does a good job of keeping you immersed in the world.
Where do we go from here?
I am a good 4 Gym Badges into the game now and have plenty more to play. My roster of Pokemon is ok, but heavily slanted towards my Charizard so I need to get training with some of the others. It will be sad when it’s over, but honestly it’s a chill enough game I can easily see myself doing more playthroughs with different starter Pokemon and line-ups. I really hope Nintendo see’s how well this has done and continues to release older Pokemon games on the Switch. HeartGold and SoulSilver would be the next obvious choices, which were games I also played (probably more than Yellow actually), then OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire, which I think were the last I played. Until then, I wish all you fellow classic Pokemon fans a great adventure!
