Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green are nintendo's latest installments to the pokemon series. I will be talking about the Fire Red version since that is the one i play most frequently.

This game is made to be mostly a remake of the original Pokemon Red/Blue games that were very popular around 1998-1999 and were the start of the huge fad we know as pokemon today. As you may expect there are new addtions to this game, it basically starts off as the same game as in red/blue, however the first difference you will notice is you get to choose to play as either a male or a female. Also you will notice that they do not give you a list of names to choose from this time, you have to put in your own name, a trivial feature but it will help with everyone choosing the same name.

There is so much to say about the gameplay of pokemon that i possibly could not cover it in one review. The basic premise of the game is you are a young pokemon trainer and you have to travel around the world of pokemon (called Kanto) and capture and raise wild pokemon to beat gym leaders in order to progress in the game. There are also many side quests and puzzles that need to be solved, some new ones included in this version, that have to be completed in order to progress in the game.

The biggest change in the game is probably the addition of the new sevii islands chain, accessible after you beat the gym on cinnibar island, more islands become accessible later in the game. Basically it features seven small islands that include various side quests and puzzles that need to be completed, often you will get a nice rare item for either completing a quest or access to a new area after completing a puzzle.

Another change is the fact that you have to get the network machine up and running in order to trade with other versions of pokemon on the gameboy advance. This game, like ruby and sapphire is not able to trade with the older games for gameboy color, such as crystal and silver, and trading with the older games most likely will never happen. You are also not able to trade with ruby/sapphire and colloseum right away in this game, but you will be able to trade with them after getting the network machine(on one island)up and running, thus allowing the capture of all 386 pokemon barring certain legendary pokemon on one pokemon advance game pak. I should also mention that once you obtain the national dex on this game, if you link the game to sapphire or ruby for anything, it will unlock the national dex on ruby and sapphire.

But as far as the changes, you won't start discovering them until you beat the cinnibar island gym. Up to that point the game plays just like the original red and blue games for game boy.

These are just the major changes, there are lots of little things you will discover along your journey especially if you have played the original red and blue games. One other change is the addition of the trainer tower which is near the seventh island. Also the graphics are way better than the originals, they are not choppy or bland, and of course they are in color! The pokemon also have a little bit of animation.

However a lot of things have been removed from this game that were in ruby and sapphire such as the ability to grow berries, secret bases, and pokemon contests entirely. In general i feel that pokemon sapphire and ruby were much better games than fire red and leaf green because there is just more stuff to do. If you buy fire red you will probably find yourself transferring pokemon over to sapphire after you have beaten the game so that you can still battle in secret bases if you have collected any from other players in your game, continue to grow berries, and continue to compete in pokemon contests. I have maxxed out my hours on pokemon sapphire, the game will not register any more hours but it still plays fine, but i still have not completed every objective in the entire game.

Now i must comment on the union room system, which is what the wireless adaptor is essentially for. Now nintendo claims that in the pocket trainer guide that was received with preorders of this game that you can plug in your wireless adaptor in a public place and check the union room and there might be random players to battle. This is what i was hoping this game would bring, every time i went to a mall or a public place, i would be able to pull out the gba in the food court or a place with a lot of people, and be able to detect at least one other player to trade and battle with via the union room system. There is not a problem with the wireless adaptor, it works just fine. However not once have i gotten a random person in my union room and i have had this game since release date, and i have been trying to pick up random people literatly every place i go where its crowded. I am pretty dissapointed because i thought this would at least help to bring an end to the problem of finding people to battle and trade pokemon with. The union room feature is not all it is set out to be.

In closing, if you are going to buy a pokemon game for the gba for someone who doesnt yet own one, get either sapphire or ruby because it is a much longer game, with many more objectives to achieve. If you are going to buy a pokemon game for a person who already has sapphire and ruby just wait for pokemon emerald which is already out in japan and will probably hit the USA soon. Skip over fire red and leaf green since and just wait for emerald since it is promised to have all the features of pokemon sapphire and ruby plus even more added features!

Recommended: Yes