POKeMON Fire Red and Leaf Green Review

Release Date: January 29, 2004 (JP) | September 9, 2004 (US) | October 1, 2004 (EU)

Developers: Gamefreak

Publishers: Nintendo

Platforms: Gameboy Advanced

Genre: RPG

Players: Up to five players

Rating: E for Everyone (ESRB)

Synopsis
Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green are remakes of the original Pokemon Blue and Red, so the story is the same.

After venturing alone into deep grass, a voice warns the player to stop. Professor Oak, a famous Pokemon researcher, explains to the player that wild Pokemon 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, a rival aspiring Pokemon Trainer. The player and the rival are both instructed to select a starter Pokemon for their travels out of Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander. Oak's Grandson will always choose the Pokemon which is strongest against the player's starting Pokemon. He will then challenge the player to a Pokemon battle with their newly obtained Pokemon, 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 Pokemon battle to obtain a total of eight Gym Badges. Once the badges are acquired, the player is given permission to enter the Pokemon League, which consists of the best Pokemon trainers in the region. There the player will battle the Elite Four and finally the new Champion: the player's rival. Also, throughout the game the player will have to battle against the forces of Team Rocket, a criminal organization that abuses Pokemon. They devise numerous plans for stealing rare Pokemon, which the player must foil.

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Story
These two games took the original feel of Pokemon Blue and Red and amplified it, not with major changes, but with revamps and minor improvements all around. They contain the same basic story Pokemon always does, but even better.

Gameplay - 8/10

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Gameplay [Single & Multiplayer]
Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green has severely better gameplay than that of it's relatives Pokemon Blue and Red, in the way that errors have been fixed and battles have been made more smooth. An example of a small error that has been fixed was the type error, certain moves like Gust which are Flying-Type attacks were simple Normal-Type attacks in the original Pokemon Blue and Red. This helped to improve battles were type advantages were key to success.

Gameplay - 8.9/10

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Graphics
Graphics are probably the most noticeable difference in the original Pokemon and Fire Red/Leaf Green. For one, there's color! You can finally see what was meant to be in Pokemon Blue and Red, the detail is stunning compared to the originals and graphics have been changed. Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green took a step ahead in this category.
Graphics - 8.5/10

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Controls
Controls, controls, controls. They were still very simple seeing as the GameBoy Advance did not had a large amount of buttons just like it's predecessor. If you played this game off of the GBA you could customize controls, otherwise you were stuck with the simple layout. This layout made it easy for everyone to learn and use the controls the game provided.

Controls - 8/10

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Rating: 8.4/10