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Pokémon FireRed (ポケットモンスター ファイアレッド, Poketto Monsutā Faiareddo, Pocket Monsters Firered) and Pokémon LeafGreen (ポケットモンスター リーフグリーン, Poketto Monsutā Rīfugurīn, Pocket Monsters Leafgreen), are enhanced remakes of the original Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green video games, and are part of the Pokémon series of role-playing games, developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. They are compatible with the Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter which originally came bundled with the games. They were first released in Japan in January 2004 and released to North America and Europe in September and October respectively. Nearly two years after their original release, Nintendo re-marketed them as Player's Choice titles.

Being an enhanced remake of the first generation of games, FireRed and LeafGreen feature the first 151 Pokémon from the original Red and Blue versions, along with many others from later games in the series. The player controls the main character from an overhead perspective in a quest to master Pokémon battling. Both games are independent of each other but feature largely the same plot and, while both can be played separately, it is necessary to trade between the games and other Pokémon titles in order to fully complete the games' Pokédexes.

FireRed and LeafGreen received mostly positive reviews, holding an aggregate score of 81% on MetaCritic. Most critics praising the traditional gameplay and the inclusion of new features. Reception of the graphics and audio was more mixed, with some reviewers complaining that it was too simplistic and not much of an improvement over its predecessors, Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. The games were commercial successes, selling a total of around 12 million copies worldwide, which eliminated any concerns that growth in the franchise was slowing.

Gameplay

As with all Pokémon games for hand-held consoles, FireRed and LeafGreen are in third-person, overhead perspective and consist of three basic screens: an overworld, in which the player navigates the main character; a battle screen; and the menu, in which the player configures his party, items, or gameplay settings.

The player can use his or her Pokémon to battle other Pokémon. When the player encounters a wild Pokémon or is challenged by a trainer to a battle, the screen switches to a turn-based battle screen where the Pokémon fight. During battle, the player may fight, use an item, switch his/her active Pokémon, or flee (the last is not an option in battles against trainers). All Pokémon have hit points (HP); when a Pokémon's HP is reduced to zero, it faints and cannot battle until it is revived. If the player's Pokémon causes the opposing Pokémon to faint, it receives experience points. After accumulating enough experience points, it may level up.

Capturing Pokémon is another essential element of the gameplay. During battle with a wild Pokémon (other trainers' Pokémon cannot be captured), the player may use a Poké Ball on the wild Pokémon. If successful, the Pokémon will be added to the player's active party, or transferred to storage if the player's party already contains six Pokémon. Factors in the success rate of capture include the HP of the target Pokémon and the strength of the Poké Ball used: the lower the target's HP and the stronger the Poké Ball, the higher the success rate of capture.

FireRed and LeafGreen are not exact remakes of Red and Blue, in that most features have been retained, but new usability features have been added. Players will be able to access a contextual "Help" feature that has been added, allowing them to look up data at almost any point in the game. When continuing a saved game, players are shown the last four significant events prior to saving, allowing them to remember what they was doing last.

Connectivity with other devices

FireRed and LeafGreen, like its predecessors, support linked communications via the Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable. However, they are also the first to be made compatible with the Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter, which comes prepackaged with the games. The adapter can be plugged into the link port of a Game Boy Advance system and allows players within a 30-100 foot radius to wirelessly interact with each other. In addition, as many as thirty players at a time may join a special room called the "Union Room" where they can trade, battle, or chat. Nintendo has set up "JoySpots" at retail locations for this very purpose. The games are also compatible with Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, as well as Pokémon Colosseum, allowing the player to obtain all 386 available Pokémon.

Synopsis

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen take place in Kanto, the same fictional region as the original games. Kanto features a total of eight cities and two towns, along with different geographical locations and Routes connecting most locations to one another. Some areas are only accessible once the player learns a special ability or gains a special item; for instance, the player must acquire the HM Surf, which allows the character to ride certain Pokémon across the sea, in order to reach Cinnabar Island.

The silent protagonist of FireRed and LeafGreen is a young child who lives in Pallet Town. At the beginning of the games, the player may choose either Bulbasaur, Squirtle, or Charmander as a starter Pokémon from Professor Oak. His grandson, the protagonist's rival, has also become a Pokémon Trainer and will battle the player at certain points in the game.

The basic goal of the games is to become the best trainer in all of Kanto, which is done by raising Pokémon, defeating the eight Gym Leaders for Gym Badges, and eventually challenging the Elite Four and the Champion. Also throughout the games, the player will have to battle against the forces of Team Rocket, a criminal organization that abuses Pokémon, and its leader, Giovanni.

Near the end of the plot, the protagonist will be able to venture to the Sevii Islands, which is a new area not available in Red or Blue. It consists of an archipelago of seven islands that contain Pokémon normally exclusive to the Johto region. These islands hold a new subplot where the player must collect certain materials in order to power a trading link that can be used to trade between the other Advanced generation games; Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald.

Development

FireRed and LeafGreen were first announced to be in development in September 2003, as remakes of the original Pokémon Red and Green games that were released in Japan in 1996. The remakes would be built off of the same design mechanics that were already used to create Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire that were released late in 2002, and developed around the idea of simplicity. The new games would be fully compatible with Ruby and Sapphire, thus enabling players to capture all available Pokémon at the time.

During development, FireRed and LeafGreen were often discussed in conjunction with the Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter, which was heralded as being "capable of enhancing head-to-head battles, exchange of information, and communication with others". An enhanced interface, capable with the increased power from the Game Boy Advance, was created for the game, to make it easier for new users to play, as well as a text-based in-game help system that aided lost or confused players in their journey. President of The Pokémon Company, Tsunekazu Ishihara referred to FireRed and LeafGreen not as remakes, but rather a new game with wireless technology, referring to the bundled wireless adapter.

The initial Japanese production run for FireRed and LeafGreen was limited to half a million copies, despite the previous installments Ruby and Sapphire selling 1.2 million copies within the first three days of their release. Reasons for the low amount were never revealed by Nintendo, however many people speculated that Nintendo was expecting less demand for the new games, or that they were limited by the production of the bundled wireless adapter. The North American versions of FireRed and LeafGreen were first indirectly announced at DICE in 2004. Despite the original games being released as Red and Blue in that region, the remakes' names kept the original "Red" and "Green". Director Junichi Masuda noted this as choice on his part, stating the leaf represented a peaceful icon, in contrast to the alternative of water which he saw as suggesting conflict with the icon of fire used by the other game. In addition Masuda felt that while the comparison would not be as apparent to Japanese children, children overseas would understand the contrast.

The background music used in the titles was derived from the earlier Game Boy games, arranged and featuring new compositions by Go Ichinose and Morikazu Aoki. Ichinose and Masuda decided not to change the reused music from the basic background sounds used in the originals, and instead updated them by implementing additional sounds. A two-disc set of this music entitled GBA Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen Super Complete was released; the disc features all the music used normally in-game, while the second disc features bonus tracks based on and inspired by the music in the games. Among these are two vocal tracks—"Teach Me! Elder Brother" sung by Hironobu Yoshida, and "Memory P" sung by Yumi Senka.

Reception

Over one million copies of FireRed and LeafGreen were sold in the US less than one month after their release in that region, dispelling any concerns that growth of the Pokémon franchise was slowing. As of March 31, 2008, the games have sold 11.82 million copies worldwide. The games entered Nintendo's Player's Choice line almost two years after their original release in North America, and were re-marketed with updated box arts at a significantly lower retail price. However, unlike the original release, the Player's Choice edition games did not include a bundled Wireless Adapter.

Reviews of FireRed and LeafGreen were mostly positive, and the games currently hold an aggregate score of 81% on MetaCritic. Craig Harris of IGN gave the games an "Outstanding" 9.0/10 rating and praised the creators of the games for creating a game that "works extremely well for the handheld market. It doesn't have quite the same variety as Ruby/Sapphire, but it's still incredibly satisfying." Harris was less positive about the games' graphics, which he thought were too "limited" and "basic". GameSpot's Greg Kasavin, who gave the games 8.4 out of 10, commented that "though Pokémon could probably use a few new twists after all these years, FireRed and LeafGreen are great role-playing games on their own merits, filled with lots more content and more challenges than last year's Ruby and Sapphire, and offering up plenty of addictive gameplay that can be a lot of fun for players of all ages." Unlike Harris, Kasavin praised the games' graphics for their "colorful good looks and the endearing character designs that the series is known for."

GameSpy reviewer Phil Theobald, who awarded the games four out of five stars, justified the games' graphics by comparing them to the "ugly" original Red and Blue versions. Additional praise was given to the new features such as the contextual help menu and session recaps, as well as the games' extensive multiplayer capabilities, especially via the Wireless adapter. He also lauded the game's traditional appeal, commenting: "Before I knew it, I was hooked all over again. The engrossingly simple gameplay combined with the more-strategic-than-they-first-appear battles was just too much to resist. And yeah, the "gotta catch 'em all" gimmick is still effective, not to mention necessary to build a well balanced party. There's just something about tracking down, capturing, and training all those Pokémon that really draw you into the game's world."

References

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24. ^ Rubinshteyn, Dennis. Ichinose "GBA Pokémon Firered & Leafgreen Music Super Complete". RPGFan. Retrieved 2009-06-22. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
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31. McDonald, Leon (2004-10-01). "Pokémon Fire Red/Leaf hits the one million mark". PALGN. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
32. "Financial Results Briefing for Fiscal Year Ended March 2008" (PDF). Nintendo. 2008-04-25. p. 6. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
33. Harris, Craig (2006-07-26). "IGN: Player's Choice, Round Two". IGN. Retrieved 2009-06-23.

External links

• Pokémon Games FireRed LeafGreen page

• 2004 video games
• Game Boy Advance games
• Game Boy Advance-only games
• Game Freak games
• Pokémon RPGs
• Video game remakes