Pokémon: Fire Red
Overview: Once Upon Time...
Pokémon as a series is one that has always grabbed my interest. A world where children of 10 years old are kicked out of their houses to catch and train wild animals while being encouraged to fight each other to have the best and most powerful wild animals of all. I am shocked that the Pokémon world doesn't have more dictator villains hell bent on world domination as it does! You would have thought that everyone would be a bit more assertive, agreesive and evil in their grab for power at the top of the Elite 4!
Anyway, Fire Red and Leaf Green were released in 2004 and are the 9th and 10th Pokémon games to be released for the franchise [not including spin off titles]. They are re-releases of the world famous Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow games and were marketed as Nintendo Selects (formerly Player's Choice at the time) games.
It should be pointed out that my first attempt to get hold of a copy of Fire Red resulted in buying a counterfeit copy. These are evident by the fact that they wipe your save every time you turn the DS/GBA off which, after playing for a good couple of hours only to have my save wiped, was very frustrating. There are plenty of helpful articles a Google search away to guide you towards getting a genuine copy. After reading one of these it is evident that eBay is full of counterfeit titles!
Story: There's a Story?
Times have changed in the Pokémon world of Fire Red, instead of fighting your way to the top of the pile using steadily increasing levels of bad guys with your party of Pokémon and being annoyed constantly by Team Rocket, you are armed with an assault rifle and are ordered to take out Team Rocket once and for all. Or maybe that was I was hoping would happen... Seriously, why are Jessie and James not under lock and key for crimes untold and why haven't a SWAT team descended on Geovanni yet?
Other than that the Story gives an reassuring sense of déjà vu in that everything is the same as Pokémon Red/Blue. Being that these are remakes and not sequels then that can be forgiven. You have 8 gyms and the Pokémon league to conquer after choosing your starter Pokémon and setting out on your journey.
Gameplay: It's Time to... Duel?
But the story is not what we are here for is it? We're here to kick ass with our favourite pocket monsters in increasingly humiliating ways for our opponents. Fans of the series should be well aware of how Pokémon works by now, and if you haven't then what canyon have you been thrown down? Pokémon is a 3rd person, top down, turn based, RPG, strategy game wherein you and your opponent take turns attacking each other until one Pokémon falls through the floor like the worlds most useless no-clipper [watch the animation next time you're playing].
After abusing the 'enter you rival's name' function by naming the idiot "Pillock", the idea of the game is to level up in your team to take on new challenges. They get stronger and learn snazzy new moves with varying degrees of usefulness. Seriously, why does Zapdos need Light Screen at level 73 when I have Drill Peck, Fly, Thunder and Hyper Beam to take down a good selection of enemies that cross my path?
There are literally so many gameplay elements that describing them all would probably take the next couple of weeks. TMs, HMs, stat boosters, hold items, trading, training, types, moves, abilities, double battles (a welcome addition since Red/Blue), key items, Poké balls, Pokédex, shiney Pokémon, trading, breeding, Mystery Gifts and so much more.
Several years ago in my youth I thought that this was all there was to Pokémon, which it turns out there isn't. There's EV training, breeding, IVs, abilities, natures, stats, happiness, males and females, leveling, hold items, trading and several other ways that I can't recall to get the best Pokémon in the land. This is where the RPG elements fall on you like a oversized boulder. You can ignore all this and still win the game [which does raise a massive question mark over the point of it all] but if you ever want to fight online then you will need absolutely any and all advantages you can get.
Multiplayer: Glorified Single Player
The multiplayer elements of Pokémon haven't changed very much since the series began. Once you have an opponent to fight then it's just a glorified single player battle where you can't use items. Multiplayer matches in Fire Red and Leaf Green are few and far between due to the GBA nature of the game unfortunately.
Presentation: Colours are Cool!
The game itself is refreshingly colourful and friendly, welcoming to young and old fans. The soundtrack is a refreshed port of the 8-bit tracks from the original games and are easily recognisable and full of instant nostalgia when walking through Lavender Town!
That said, until you gain the ability to fly and/or a bike, slogging back and forth from one town to another if you have forgotten something can be a chore, or if you are stuck in the middle of a wild Pokémon infested area with a near dead team and no way out and every 2 feet wild encounters happen can get irritating.
Something that seemed to get kicked out of the original games for this port seemed to be the visual effectiveness of attacks. By which I mean how attacks look on screen. One that sticks out to me is the attack "Blizzard", in Pokémon Red, the attack came raining down from the sky, attacking the enemy while violent sound effects were played and the whole screen shook. Attacks are no where near as satisfying to use in Fire Red unfortunately. The screen does not shake to the whim of world shattering attacks like 'Blizzard' or 'Hyper Beam' and while an attack like that can reduce health bars to nothing, there's no weight behind any of the attacks and it looks like the designers cared more about them being colourful to look at than satisfying to use. It's kind of hard to explain without a video to compare, but if you have played Red and Fire Red then hopefully you will have a good idea of what I mean.
Conclusion: Why Do You Not Own This Yet?
On the whole the game is very tight, easy to get into and satisfying to master in the end. There is plenty to do after the credits and as always you can attempt to "Catch them All"! Or do what I'm doing and porting anything useful to my Pokémon White game! The soundtrack is top notch and more than anything else, the game focuses on Generation 1 [the best generation before all this ice cream cone/Vanilluxe business]. Here's hoping for a 3DS remake!
Hey, I can still dream right?
Recommendation: Buy it!
If you are a fan of the series then Fire Red/Leaf Green does not disappoint, improved graphics, [generally] improved gameplay and soundtrack outweighs my complains about the visuals and foot slogging. It will definitely give you your moneys worth as at present, I'm up to 28 hours and have only just beaten the Elite 4!
Fire Red's Story is non-existent, elements of the gameplay are so deep you need several strategy guides and parts of the presentation make me sad, but it all fits very well together to the point where I can forgive it's flaws.
Play this game if you like: Pokémon, Turn based combat, Ridiculous amounts of RPG elements, are a completionist.
Expect: Not much new since Red/Blue/Yellow bar updated graphics, but that is not a bad thing.
Played through on a DS Lite using my favourite Pokémon choices rather than Legendary powerhouses to make the game harder.
Pokémon Fire Red and Leaf Green are out now on Game Boy Advance/DS Lite in Europe, America, Japan and pretty much any country eBay can ship to.
First play through Elite Four winning team consisted of;
Beedrill LV53
Butterfree LV55
Pigeotto LV59
Pikachu LV51
Graveller LV51
Charizard LV58
Several frayed nerves.
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