The breaking news from the world of Pokémon today confirmed a recent rumor that had been circulating online. Next week’s Pokémon Presents would include a re-release of Pokémon Fire Red and Pokémon Leaf Green to the Nintendo Switch consoles. The games are up for pre-order on the Switch Online right now at $19.99 a pop. And these aren’t remakes of those games either, these are straight ports of the Game Boy Advance games. It’s nice to have access to these titles outside of their original handheld consoles, but we deserve better on multiple levels.
First, let’s talk about the release strategy here. This is part of the 30th anniversary of Pokémon as a franchise. The series hit North American shelves in 1998, but the Japanese release was in 1996. Those games were Pokémon Red & Green, for the original Game Boy, and would later include the updated Blue version. That altered and less buggy version is the one that formed the basis for the American games. Still, those aren’t the games we’re getting. We’re getting the Game Boy Advance remakes of those titles.
On the one hand, these are definitely the better versions of those games. As nostalgic as Red and Blue are, Generation 1 Pokémon games are horribly broken and unbalanced. From the overpowered Psychic types to the overabundance of Poison types, broken moves, bizarre move sets, the list goes on. I mean we’re talking about a generation where Sandshrew, a Ground-type Pokémon, doesn’t learn any Ground moves by level-up. That’s how bizarre that generation is. So yeah, Fire Red and Leaf Green are superior; but nostalgia and anniversary’s are not about what’s better.
What Fans Really Wanted for Pokémon’s 30th Anniversary
What we should be getting is Pokémon Red and Blue for the Game Boy with compatibility with Pokémon Stadium and Stadium 2 on the Switch Online service. That would allow players to play those Nintendo 64 games as intended. The point of those titles was to import your Pokémon from the Game Boy games, into the Nintendo 64 to battle instead of using the rental Pokémon the game gives you. That would’ve been a fantastic celebration of the 30th anniversary.
Instead we have Fire Red and Leaf Green for $19.99 a piece. It’s not too bad of a price point, I’ll give it that. I would suggest however that a better release strategy would have been to offer them as part of the Nintendo Switch Online collection with an option to buy them. This would have rewarded Nintendo’s online subscribers by giving them another Game Boy Advance game to enjoy but also given them (and everyone else the option) to buy these games to have them separate from the service. The same could’ve been done with Pokémon Blue and Red if they had wanted to re-release those titles instead.
Why These Games Still Feel Outdated
Above all though, if we really wanted to celebrate the origins of Pokémon, then we deserve a full-on remake of these games. Yes, Pokémon Let’s Go: Eevee and Pikachu were remakes of these games, technically. But it was done in a much different style that’s far removed from what a traditional Pokémon experience is. And I’m sorry to say this, but Fire Red and Leaf Green are also unbalanced and clunky messes compared to what we have in more modern generations.
Fire Red and Leaf Green are Generation 3 titles that are held back by archaic design choices that Game Freak would iron out in the generations to come. For example, these pre-date the Generation 4 physical/special split. That is to say, prior to Gen 4, each move was classified as physical or special entirely by its type. So all fire moves were classified as special and governed by a Pokemon’s special attack stat.
Alternatively, all Ghost type moves were classified as physical moves and governed by a Pokémon’s attack stat. This ultimately made for idiotic combination of Pokémon types and stats. Gengar for example, is a Ghost/Poison type with a high special attack stat. Yet all of its potential Ghost moves have power based on its much lower attack stat. Meanwhile, Hitmonchan has a high attack stat but its elemental punches, Ice Punch, Elec Punch, etc., would be impacted by it’s terrible special attack stat. Generation 3 is subject to this lunacy. Its one big reason why these games deserve to be remade with more modern mechanics.
Modern Pokémon Features Missing From These Ports
This isn’t even counting other additions and refinements like reusable TM’s introduced in Gen 5, the Fairy type introduced in Gen 6, the general shifting away from HM usage taking up move slots or the conveniences of move re-learning and deletion from the most recent generations. In hindsight, it’s almost as if Fire Red and Leaf Green were half-measures towards getting the original games up to par. They were vast improvements at the time, but still pale in comparison to how much better the mechanics work today.
Maybe one day the Kanto region will get the full remake that it deserves to have. Until then, I’ll probably still pick up Leaf Green upon release. I wish this anniversary were handled differently but at least this gives me an option to revisit these games without having to break out my GBA or Nintendo DS with the GBA slot. The preservationist in me can appreciate this but the Pokémon fan in me knows that we all deserve better.
