Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 06/Mar 04:24

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen – Review

What can we say about Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen that hasn’t been said already? The Switch 2 arrival of these classic GBA titles marks the re-release of a pair of remakes of games that you can already play in the guise of a completely different pair of remakes on the same platform. It stands to reason then, that if you’re a Pokémon fan, you’ve already played these games in one form or another. Still, even though we can’t count the number of times we’ve beaten the Elite Four anymore, we’re somehow still excited to set out on our journey as a Pokémon Trainer once again. Story For millions of gamers, the Kanto region is where their Pokémon adventure started. Many of them, ourselves included, know every story beat of that original journey. It isn’t so that FireRed and LeafGreen have a compelling or complicated overarching story, but the games are filled with countless memorable moments, from the old man catching a Weedle in Viridian City to waking up the Snorlax blocking the road. At this point, we’d say that Pokémon’s original journey is part of gamers’ collective memories, but if you’re one of the few people for whom it’s the first time venturing into Kanto, let’s quickly recap: FireRed and LeafGreen see you take on the role of a budding Pokémon trainer. After receiving your first Pokémon from Professor Oak, he sends you out into the world to fulfill his dream of completing the Pokédex, an encyclopedia detailing every Pokémon inhabiting the region. Of course, your real goal is to defeat the region’s eight gym leaders and crown yourself the champion of the Pokémon League. There’s also your rival to deal with, as well as the notorious crime syndicate known as Team Rocket. In addition to the original story of Pokémon Red and Blue, FireRed and LeafGreen also add an entirely new region known as the Sevii Islands, where you can find even more Pokémon, not native to the Kanto region. Truly, this is an adventure that goes beyond what you’d expect for a Game Boy game. Graphics There is a timeless quality to Pokémon’s GBA-era pixel art. Strictly speaking, later games in the series are more graphically advanced from a technical perspective (although the Switch games in particular are notorious for underperforming visually) but the bright colours and detailed sprites really capture the magic of the series in a unique way. By current-day standards, these are very lightweight games, coming in at around 33 MB each (no, really) so there are of course no performance issues whatsoever here. Sound Junichi Masuda’s compositions for the original Game Boy games received quite the glow-up at the time, owing to the improved GBA hardware. Twenty-plus years down the line, the music remains as memorable as ever, although now it sounds pleasingly retro rather than state-of-the-art. It’s fantastic that these tunes have held up so well, especially given the absence of voice acting, something that plagues the series to this day. In the same vein, sound effects are only sparsely used outside of battle, and Pokémon cries haven’t evolved either. Gameplay Maybe it’s because two decades have passed since we last played GBA-era Pokémon games, but returning to the gameplay roots of the series felt like a breath of fresh air compared to more recent games like Scarlet and Violet or Legends Z-A. This is the foundation that those modern titles were built on, but if you strip away gimmicks like Terrastalization or Mega Evolution and remove the unnecessary handholding, you can clearly see just how strong that foundation is. At its core, the Pokémon series is all about catching and building a team of the titular creatures, and using them to overcome the challenges the world throws at you. These are deceptively simple RPGs, built around a robust turn-based battle system. While there definitely is railroading going on, it doesn’t feel like it. Artificial roadblocks like path-blocking trees or NPCs requiring help simply come across like being nudged, rather than forced, in the right direction. By the time FireRed and LeafGreen were released, the Pokémon series was already in its third generation. Although the remakes stuck with the very same core formula of those original games, many of the new familiar mechanics from Ruby and Sapphire were implemented here, like abilities and Pokémon breeding. While these games are undoubtedly a step up compared to the originals in terms of gameplay, FireRed and LeafGreen are still a product of their time. There is a certain clunkiness to things like managing Pokémon storage or trading Pokémon in the Union Room. We’d chalk that up to the game’s age, although we’ll be the first ones to admit that some of the QoL features we’ve gotten to know and love through Nintendo Switch Online’s GBA games, like save states and a rewind feature, would have been welcome here, as would online functionality for trading and battling. That said, FireRed and LeafGreen aren’t presented exactly as they were. One of the first changes that was found was that Nintendo implemented a swear filter so you can’t give your rival a derogatory name. On a more positive note, when you beat the game, you’re automatically given special tickets that used to be limited to real-life events. These tickets let you access new locations where you can catch the legendary Pokémon Lugia, Deoxys and Ho-oh. Perhaps the most controversial thing about these rereleases of FireRed and LeafGreen is their price. €19.99 each for what is essentially a pair of two-decade-old ROMs seems a tad excessive, especially given that Nintendo already offers a plethora of GBA titles through their Switch Online subscription service. Granted, these are one-time purchases, and then they’re yours to keep. The inclusion of the event-exclusive tickets, being able to trade, and upcoming support for Pokémon HOME do soften the blow a bit. We won’t say that the games aren’t overpriced, but that has less to do with their quality and more with what we’ve come to expect from retro re-releases as a whole. If you can get over the price, you’ve got a fantastic pair of games waiting for you. Well, we say pair, but we recommend just getting the one whose version-exclusive monsters appeal more to you, and then finding a friend with the opposite version to trade with. Conclusion Most Pokémon fans will already know exactly what to expect from these re-releases, so we won’t need to convince them to pick these games up. If you’re new to these games though, then FireRed and LeafGreen are the definitive versions of the original Pokémon journey, even more so than the later Let’s Go remakes. The games are definitely showing their age here and there, but we still feel like the lightning-in-a-bottle formula has stood the test of time surprisingly well. These are essential additions to any gamer’s Switch library.