Even though this game isn't much different than the original game it was based off of, it is still very fun to play.

User Rating: 8.5 | Pokemon FireRed Version GBA
By Suti64 | Review Date:
Pokémon FireRed and Pokémon LeafGreen, released in 2004, were the first in the franchise to be remakes of a previous entry in the series. Both of these games are remakes of the original Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue video games from 1996. So the big question regarding these remakes is… 'Are they worth adding to your game collection?'. Even though today I think this series is getting old, my answer is yes. If anything, it is really nice to have a remake of a classic game. I myself never owned the original Red or Blue games so to have, at the time this game came out, a modern day version of the classic Game Boy games is very satisfying. An interesting thing to note to those of you who don't follow this series is that there was another version of Red and Blue, Pokémon Green, which was only released in Japan and basically LeafGreen is the remake of Green. I guess they decided not to release a game called Pokémon WaterBlue.

So of course being that this is a remake of the original Red/Blue, I don't need to go through the entire story of this game. In short, you play a trainer in the region of Kanto and after receiving a Pokémon from Professor Oak, you embark on a journey through the area hoping to become the best trainer in the world and to catch them all.

(Check my past reviews of previous Pokémon games to see descriptions of gameplay)

So what's new in this game? Well believe it or not, there's not much to talk about really. All this game really is the same kind of game from Red/Blue. The only difference from other games is that when you reopen a saved game, it shows you the last four things you did in the game and that's pretty nice if you forgot what you did the last time you saved the game.

Introduced with these games is the Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter. Before, you could only connect to other players' games by attaching both of your Game Boys to a cable. Here, as the name 'Wireless' suggests, you don't need to have a cable to connect with other trainers all over the world. So I guess it's time to talk about another element of this franchise which I never talked about in my past reviews. That is the trading system which has evolved from the cable I just mentioned earlier to today with Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection. Here in FireRed, you can use this system to trade Pokémon with other trainers as well as battle them.

While this game is just a remake of the original game and compared to the previous titles in the series there's nothing new added here, it is very nice to have a more modern version of that game. Many have generally criticized the graphics, but I think for a 2004 Game Boy Advance title they were okay. One thing that helps this game over the original is when you have to go through the Rock Tunnel leading to Lavender Town. In the original game, when you went into the tunnel, you can really only see your trainer on the screen. You really needed the HM Flash otherwise you could spend hours in there. In today's installments of the franchise, when you go into a dark cave you at least are able to see a small patch of the area.

Other Helpful Reviews for Pokemon FireRed Version

  • Rating:9.4

    FireRed

    By Danny_Bullit | Review Date: Mar 21, 2006 | GBA

    This is a really cool remake of the original. Packed with new Pokemon, moves, battles and areas. Typically an old school game getting an extreme makeover. the controls are simple and familiar, graphics are beautiful, hou... Read Full Review

    5 of 5 users found the following review helpful
  • Rating:10

    Just when you thought Pokemon were dead.

    By Neo9898_98 | Review Date: Feb 04, 2007 | GBA

    Pokemon Red and Blue on the original Game Boy were released way before their times. The hardware could barley support the game itself and the game was so bugged up because of it. 6 years later comes FireRed and LeafGreen... Read Full Review

    3 of 3 users found the following review helpful
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