Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen
North American box art for Pokémon FireRed
Developer(s)	Game Freak
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Designer(s)	Satoshi Tajiri (executive director) Junichi Masuda (director)
Artist(s)	Ken Sugimori
Series	Pokémon series
Engine	Heavily modified Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire engine
Platform(s)	Game Boy Advance
Release date(s)	JP January 29, 2004[1] NA September 7, 2004[1] EU October 1, 2004[1] AUS September 23, 2004
Genre(s)	Console role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: E OFLC: G8+ PEGI: 3+
Media	128-megabit cartridge

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 Green video games, and members 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.

The gameplay remains mostly unchanged from the previous games; the player controls the protagonist from an overhead perspective, which switches to a turn-based battle scene during combat. However, new features such as a contextual help menu and a new region the player may access have also been added. The main objectives of the games are to obtain all of the available Pokémon and to defeat a group of elite Pokémon trainers to become the new Champion. A subplot involves the main character defeating a criminal organization that abuses Pokémon.

FireRed and LeafGreen received mostly positive reviews, obtaining an aggregate score of 81% on MetaCritic. Most critics praised the fact that the games introduced new features while still maintaining the tradition gameplay of the series. Reception of the graphics and audio was more mixed, with some reviewers complaining that they were too simplistic and not much of an improvement over the previous games, Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. FireRed and LeafGreen 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 role-playing games released for handheld 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;^[2] a side-view battle screen;^[3] and a menu interface, in which the player configures his/her Pokémon, items, or gameplay settings.^[4]

The player can use his/her Pokémon to battle other Pokémon. When the player encounters a wild Pokémon or is challenged by a trainer, the screen switches to a turn-based battle screen that displays the engaged Pokémon. During battle, the player may select a move for her/her Pokémon to perform, use an item, switch his/her active Pokémon, or attempt to flee. All Pokémon have hit points (HP); when a Pokémon's HP is reduced to zero, it faints and can no longer battle until it is revived. Once an enemy Pokémon faints, all of the player's Pokémon involved in the battle receive a certain amount of experience points (EXP). After accumulating enough EXP, a Pokémon may level up.^[5]

Capturing Pokémon is another essential element of the gameplay. During battle with a wild Pokémon, the player may throw a Poké 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.^[3]

FireRed and LeafGreen are not exact remakes of Red and Blue, as while most features were retained, new usability features were also added. Players will be able to access a contextual "Help" feature allows them to look up data at almost any point in the game. Additionally, when continuing a saved game, players are shown the last four significant events prior to saving, allowing them to remember what they were doing last.^[6]

Connectivity with other devices

FireRed and LeafGreen, like its predecessors, support linked communications via the Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable in which connected players may trade or battle.^[7] Players may connect with all Game Boy Advance Pokémon games, including Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald; allowing the player to obtain all 386 available Pokémon.^[8] In addition, when connected to FireRed or LeafGreen, owners of Ruby or Sapphire will receive a patch that remedies a problem within the games.^[9] The games also have the ability to connect to the Nintendo GameCube and interact with Pokémon Box: Ruby and Sapphire and Pokémon Colosseum. In Box the player may organize and view his or her collected Pokémon, and in Colosseum the Pokémon may be used for battle or transferred over to the GameCube.^[10]

The games are also the first to be made 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 a Game Boy Advance system and allows players within a 30-100 foot radius to wirelessly interact with each other.^[11] 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.^[12]

Synopsis

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen take place mostly in the fictional region of Kanto. This is one distinct region of many in the Pokémon world, with different geographical habitats for the existing Pokémon species, along with human-populated towns and cities, and Routes connecting locations to one another. Some areas are only accessible once the player learns a special ability or gains a special item.^[13] Near the end of the plot, the protagonist will be able to venture to the Sevii Islands, a new area not available in the original Red or Blue games. It consists of an archipelago of seven islands that contain Pokémon normally exclusive to the Johto region.^[14]

The silent protagonist of FireRed and LeafGreen is a child who lives in Pallet Town. After venturing alone into deep grass, a voice warns the player to stop. Professor Oak, a famous Pokémon researcher, explains to the player that wild Pokémon may be living there, and encountering them alone can be very dangerous. He takes the player to his laboratory where the player meets Oak's grandson, another aspiring Pokémon Trainer. The player and the rival are both instructed to select a starter Pokémon for their travels.^[15] The rival will then challenge the player to a Pokémon battle with their newly obtained Pokémon, and will continue to battle the player at certain points throughout the games.

While visiting the region's cities, the player will encounter special establishments called Gyms. Inside these buildings are Gym Leaders, each of whom the player must defeat in a Pokémon battle to obtain a total of eight Gym Badges.^[16] Once all of the badges are acquired, the player is given permission to enter the Pokémon League, which consists of the best Pokémon trainers in the region. There the player will battle the Elite Four and finally the Champion: the player's rival.^[14] Also throughout the game, the player will have to battle against the forces of Team Rocket, a criminal organization that abuses Pokémon. They devise numerous plans for stealing rare Pokémon, all of which the player must foil.

Development

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen (bottom) are graphically superior to Pokémon Red and Blue (top) due to the increased power of the Game Boy Advance over the original Game Boy.

FireRed and LeafGreen were first announced to be in development in September 2003, as remakes of the original Pocket Monsters Red and Green games that were released in Japan in 1996. The remakes would be developed around the idea of simplicity^[17] and built off of the same design mechanics that were already used to create Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, released late in 2002. The new games would be fully compatible with Ruby and Sapphire, thus enabling players to capture all available Pokémon at the time.^[18][19]

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".^[20] 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 contextual in-game help system could aid lost or confused players during their journey.^[21] The president of The Pokémon Company, Tsunekazu Ishiharam, said he did not view the titles as remakes, but rather as new games with innovative wireless technology, referring to the bundled wireless adapter.^[22]

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.^[23] The North American versions of FireRed and LeafGreen were first indirectly announced at DICE in 2004.^[24] Despite the original games being released as Red and Blue in the region, the remakes' names kept the original "Red" and "Green".^[25] 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.^[17]

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.^[26] 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.^[27] A two-disc set of this music entitled GBA 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—"Teach Me! Elder Brother" sung by Hironobu Yoshida, and "Memory P" sung by Yumi Senka.^[26]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 82.14% (based on 37 reviews)[29] Metacritic 81/100 (based on 38 reviews)[28]
Review scores Publication Score Game Informer 8/10[30] GameSpot 8.4/10[31] GameSpy [32] IGN 9.0/10[8] Nintendo Power [33]

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.^[34] As of March 31, 2008, the games have sold 11.82 million copies worldwide.^[35] 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.^[36]

Reviews of FireRed and LeafGreen were mostly positive, and the games currently hold an aggregate score of 81% on MetaCritic.^[28] 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".^[8] 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."^[31]

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."^[32] Nintendo Power, which gave the games a 4.5 out of 5 average, stated "[t]here's a great game hiding under all the Pikachu cuteness, and you have to play it for only a bit to find yourself addicted."^[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.^[30]

References

External links

• Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen