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|---|---|
 North American box art for thePlayer's Choice release ofPokémon FireRed andPokémon LeafGreen, depictingCharizard andVenusaur respectively | |
| Developer | Game Freak |
| Publishers | |
| Director | Junichi Masuda |
| Producers |
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| Designers | Junichi Masuda Shigeru Ohmori |
| Programmer | Tetsuya Watanabe |
| Artist | Ken Sugimori |
| Writers |
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| Composers |
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| Series | Pokémon |
| Platform | Game Boy Advance |
| Release | |
| Genre | Role-playing |
| Modes | Single-player,multiplayer |
Pokémon FireRed Version[a] andPokémon LeafGreen Version[b] are 2004remakes of the 1996role-playing video gamesPokémon Red andBlue. They were developed byGame Freak and published byThe Pokémon Company andNintendo for theGame Boy Advance.FireRed andLeafGreen were first released in Japan in January 2004 and in North America and Europe in September and October 2004 respectively. The games are part of the third generation of thePokémon video game series and hold the distinction of being the first enhanced remakes of previous games within the franchise.
As in previous games, the player controlstheir character from anoverhead perspective and participates inturn-based battles. Throughout the games, the playercaptures and raises Pokémon for use in battle. Based in the Kanto region, new features include a contextual help menu and a new area (Sevii Islands) the player may access after defeating the Elite Four and Champion. The games have compatibility with theGame Boy Advance Wireless Adapter, which originally came bundled with the games.
The games received mostly positive reviews, obtaining an aggregate score of 81 percent onMetacritic. Most critics praised the fact that the games introduced new features while still maintaining the traditional gameplay of the series. Reception of the graphics and audio was more mixed, with some reviewers complaining that they were too simplistic and lacked improvement compared to the previous games,Pokémon Ruby andSapphire.FireRed andLeafGreen were commercial successes, selling a total of around 12 million copies worldwide. Nearly two years after their original release, Nintendo re-marketed them asPlayer's Choice titles.
As with almost allPokémon role-playing games released forhandheld consoles,FireRed andLeafGreen are in athird-person,overhead perspective. The main screen is anoverworld, in which the player navigates the protagonist.[2] Here, a menu interface may be accessed, in which the player may configure their Pokémon, items, and gameplay settings.[3] When the playerencounters a wild Pokémon or is challenged by a trainer, the screen switches to aturn-based battle screen that displays the player's Pokémon and the engaged Pokémon. During a battle, the player may select amove for their Pokémon to perform, use an item, switch their active Pokémon, or attempt to flee (in wild battles only). All Pokémon moves have power points (PP); when a Pokémon tries to perform a move while awake, the move's PP is reduced by 1. When the PP of a move hits zero the Pokémon is not able to use that move. All Pokémon havehit points (HP); when a Pokémon's HP is reduced to zero, it faints and can no longer battle until it is revived. Once an opponent's Pokémon faints, all of the player's Pokémon involved in the battle receive a certain number ofexperience points (EXP). After accumulating enough EXP, a Pokémon willlevel up.[4]
Capturing Pokémon is another essential element of the gameplay. During a battle with a wild Pokémon, the player may throw aPoké Ball at it. If the Pokémon is successfully caught, it will come under the ownership of the player. Factors in the success rate of capture include the HP of the target Pokémon and the type of Poké Ball used: the lower the target's HP and the stronger the Poké Ball, the higher the success rate of capture.[5]
WhileFireRed andLeafGreen are remakes ofRed andGreen (Pokémon Green was only released in Japan, whereas the international variant wasBlue), they contain usability enhancements such as a contextual tutorial feature which allows players to look up data at any point in the game, by pressing theselect button. Additionally, when continuing asaved game, players are shown the last four actions they performed, aiding in remembering what they were previously doing.[6]
The games support theGame Boy Advance Game Link Cable, through which connected players may trade or battle.[7] Players may also connect withPokémon Ruby andSapphire, as well as withPokémon Colosseum, allowing them to obtain over 350 Pokémon.[8]FireRed andLeafGreen also have the ability to connect to theGameCube and interact withPokémon Box: Ruby and Sapphire. InPokémon Box, the player may organize and view their collected Pokémon, and inColosseum, Pokémon may be used in battle.[9]FireRed andLeafGreen are also the first games in the series to be compatible with the Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter, which comes prepackaged with the games.[8] The adapter can be plugged into the link port of the Game Boy Advance system and allows players within a radius of 30–50 feet (9.1–15.2 m) to wirelessly interact with each other.[6] In addition, as many as 30 players at a time may join a special location called the "Union Room", where they can trade, battle, or chat.[8] Nintendo set up "JoySpots" at Japanese retail locations for this purpose.[6]
Pokémon FireRed andLeafGreen takes place mostly in the fictional region ofKanto. This is one distinct region of many in thePokémon world, which includes varied geographical habitats for the Pokémon species, human-populated towns and cities, and routes between locations. Some areas are only accessible once players acquire a special item or one of their Pokémon learns a special ability.[10] Near the end of the plot, the protagonist is able to venture to the Sevii Islands, a new area not present in the originalRed andBlue games. The Sevii Islands are anarchipelago of seven islands and contain Pokémon normally exclusive to the Johto region, as well as several post-game missions. After the aforementioned missions on the Sevii Islands are completed, the ability to trade withRuby andSapphire for Hoenn-exclusive Pokémon becomes available.
Thesilent protagonist ofFireRed andLeafGreen is a child who lives in a small town named Pallet Town in the Kanto region. After players start a journey and venture alone into tall grass, a voice warns them to stop.Professor Samuel Oak, a famous Pokémon Researcher, explains to the player that such grass is often the habitat of wild Pokémon, and encountering them alone can be very dangerous. He takes the player to his laboratory where they meet Oak's grandson, another aspiringPokémon Trainer. The player and their rival are both instructed to select astarter Pokémon for their travels. The rival then challenges them to a Pokémon battle with their newly obtained Pokémon and continues to battle the player at certain points throughout the games.
After reaching the next city, the player is asked to deliver a parcel to Professor Oak. Upon returning to the laboratory, they are presented with aPokédex, a high-tech encyclopedia that records the entries of any Pokémon that are captured.[11] Oak then asks the player to fulfill his dream of compiling a comprehensive list of every Pokémon in the game.
While visiting the region's cities, the player encounters special establishments calledPokémon Gyms. Inside these buildings are Gym Leaders, each of whom the player must defeat in a Pokémon battle to obtain a Gym Badge.[12] Once a total of eight badges are acquired, the player is given permission to enter the Kanto League in the Indigo Plateau, which consists of the best Pokémon Trainers in the region. There the player battles theElite Four as well as the Kanto League Champion: their rival. Also throughout the game, the player has to fight against the forces ofTeam Rocket, a criminal organization that abuses Pokémon. They devise numerous plans to steal rare Pokémon, all of which the player must foil, meeting and defeating the organization boss Giovanni.
After the first time players defeat the Elite Four, one of the members, Lorelei, disappears. After gaining access to the Sevii Islands, an entirely new region, the player discovers Lorelei in her house and convinces her to come back with them. Once more, the protagonist must thwart Team Rocket's plans on several occasions, recover two artifacts, the Ruby and the Sapphire, and put them in the main computer at One Island. After that, the player can trade withRuby,Sapphire,Emerald,Colosseum, andXD.
FireRed andLeafGreen were first announced in September 2003 as upcoming remakes of the originalPocket Monsters Red andGreen games that were released in Japan in 1996.[13][14]Game directorJunichi Masuda stated the new titles would be developed around the idea of simplicity,[15] as the game engine was a slightly modified version of the one used inPokémon Ruby andSapphire. As a result,FireRed andLeafGreen were made fullybackward compatible withRuby andSapphire, allowing players totrade Pokémon between games.[16]
FireRed andLeafGreen's connectivity with the Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter was heralded by then-president of NintendoSatoru Iwata as being able "to enhance head-to-head battles, exchange of information, and communication with others."[17] An enhanced interface was created for the game to increase usability for new players, as well as a contextual in-game help system that could aid lost or confused players during their journey.[18] President of The Pokémon CompanyTsunekazu Ishihara noted, "We don't feel that this a remake at all. We feel that this is a new game, with wireless technology", referring to the bundled wireless adapter.[19]
The exclusive Japanese production run forFireRed andLeafGreen was limited to half a million copies, despite the success ofPokémon Ruby andSapphire.IGN speculated that Nintendo was expecting less demand for the new games, or that it was limited by the production of the bundled wireless adapter.[20] The North American versions ofFireRed andLeafGreen were indirectly announced atDICE in 2004.[21][22] Although the original games were released asRed andBlue in North America, the remakes retained the Japanese names of "Red" and "Green".[23] Masuda noted this as a 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.[15]
The music used in the games was derived from the classic game consoles, and arranged by Go Ichinose. Masuda and Ichinose decided not to change the reused music from the basic background sounds used inRed andBlue, and instead updated them by adding additional sounds. Some of the songs have additional key changes compared to the original soundtrack and some songs such as the Trainer Battle music are re-written inMIDI for the GBA and containpitch bends between notes.[24] A two-disc set of the music entitledGBA Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen Super Complete was released, with the first disc featuring all the music used normally in-game, while the second disc featured bonus tracks based on and inspired by the music in the games. Among these are two vocal tracks.[25]
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| GameRankings | 82.14% (FireRed) (based on 37 reviews)[26] |
| Metacritic | 81/100 (FireRed) (based on 38 reviews)[27] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Game Informer | 8/10[28] |
| GameSpot | 8.4/10 (FireRed)[29] |
| GameSpy |   (FireRed)[30] |
| IGN | 9.0/10 (FireRed)[8] |
| Nintendo Power |  [31] |
Reviews ofFireRed andLeafGreen were mostly positive, and the games currently hold an aggregate score of 81 percent onMetacritic.[27] Jon Minife of theNew Zealand Herald praised the game for resolving the connectivity issues thatRuby andSapphire had at the time, which would convince older players to get back into Pokémon.[32] Craig Harris ofIGN 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 asRuby andSapphire, but it's still incredibly satisfying." Harris was less positive about the games' graphics, which he thought were "limited" and "basic".[8]GameSpot's Greg Kasavin, who gave the games 8.4 out of 10, commented that "thoughPokémon could probably use a few new twists after all these years,FireRed andLeafGreen are great role-playing games on their own merits, filled with lots more content and more challenges than last year'sRuby andSapphire, 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."[29]GameSpot later namedLeafGreen the best Game Boy Advance game of September 2004.[33]Game Informer rated the games a "Very Good" 8/10 for being "a lot of fun", yet they saw the graphics as "utterly unremarkable" when compared to other handheld games.[28]
GameSpy reviewer Phil Theobald, who awarded the games four out of five stars, stated, "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." He justified the games' graphics by comparing them to the "ugly" originalRed andBlue versions. Additional praise was given to the new features such as the contextual tutorial, and flashbacks when loading a saved game, as well as the games' multiplayer capabilities via the Wireless Adapter.[30]
During its first week of release in Japan,FireRed andLeafGreen sold a combined total of 885,039 copies, which was less than the number sold byPokémon Ruby andSapphire in that time period, butIGN reasoned that the smaller sales were due to the new titles being remakes.[34] In the first half of August beforeFireRed andLeafGreen were released in the United States, the games received over 150,000pre-orders, over twice the numberRuby andSapphire received. Nintendo's Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communication George Harrison remarked, "This pre-sell indicates more than twice the player interest!"[35] Over one million copies ofFireRed andLeafGreen were sold in the US less than one month after their release in that region.[36][37][38] As of March 31, 2008, the games had sold 11.82 million copies worldwide.[39] The games later entered Nintendo'sPlayer's Choice line in North America and were re-marketed with a significantly lower retail price. However, unlike the original release, the Player's Choice edition games did not include a bundled Wireless Adapter.[40]
| Year | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Spike Video Game Awards | Best Handheld | Nominated |
| 2005 | British Academy Game Awards | Handheld | Nominated |
| 2005 | GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2005 | Best Game Boy Advance Game[41] | Nominated |
| 2005 | 8th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards | Wireless Game of the Year[42] | Nominated |
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