Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen
Encyclopedia
are enhanced remake
s of the original Pokémon Red and Blue
video games, which were released in 1996. The new titles were developed by Game Freak
and published by Nintendo
for the Game Boy Advance
and have compatibility with the Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter
, which originally came bundled with the games. FireRed and LeafGreen 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.
FireRed and LeafGreen are members of the Pokémon series of role-playing games. As in previous games, the player controls the player character
from an overhead perspective, and participates in turn-based combat encounters. However, new features such as a contextual help menu and a new region the player may access have also been added. Throughout the games, the player captures and raises Pokémon for use in battle.
The games received mostly positive reviews, obtaining an aggregate score of 81 percent on Metacritic
. 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 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.
As with all Pokémon role-playing games released for handheld consoles
, FireRed and LeafGreen are in third-person, overhead perspective. The main screen is an overworld
, in which the player navigates the protagonist. Here a menu interface may be accessed, in which the player may configure his or her Pokémon, items, and gameplay settings. 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 player's Pokémon and the engaged Pokémon. During battle, the player may select a move for his or her Pokémon to perform, use an item, switch his or 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 point
s (EXP). After accumulating enough EXP, a Pokémon may level up
.
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.
While FireRed and LeafGreen are remakes of Red and Blue, they contain usability enhancements such as a contextual tutorial feature which allows players to look up data at any point in the game. Additionally, when continuing a saved game
, players are shown the last four actions they performed, allowing them to remember what they were doing.
The games support linked communications via the Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable through which connected players may trade or battle. Players may also connect with Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire
, and Pokémon Colosseum
, which allows them to obtain over 350 Pokémon. FireRed and LeafGreen 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 Pokémon may be used for battle or transferred over to the GameCube. FireRed and LeafGreen are also the first games in the series to be made compatible with the Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter
, which comes prepackaged with the games. The adapter can be plugged into the link port of a Game Boy Advance system and allows players within a 30 to 50 ft (9.1 to 15.2 m) radius to wirelessly interact with each other. In addition, as many as 30 players at a time may join a special room called the "Union Room" where they can trade, battle, or chat. Nintendo set up "JoySpots" at Japanese retail locations for this purpose.
of seven islands that contain Pokémon normally exclusive to the Johto region. There are also some after game missions to complete in the Sevii Islands. After the mission on the Sevii Islands is completed, trading to the Hoenn Region becomes available.
. The player and the rival are both instructed to select a starter Pokémon for their travels. The rival then challenges the player 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 his laboratory, the player is presented with a Pokédex, a high-tech encyclopedia that record the entries of any Pokémon that are encountered. Oak 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 called Gyms. Inside these buildings are Gym Leaders, each of whom the player must defeat in a Pokémon battle to obtain a Gym Badge. Once a total of eight 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 battles the Elite Four. Also throughout the game, the player has to fight against the forces of Team 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 the player defeats 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. Once more, the protagonist must thwart the 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 communicate, battle, trade, etc., with games other than FireRed or LeafGreen.
FireRed and LeafGreen were first announced in September 2003 as upcoming remakes of the original Pocket Monsters Red and Green
games that were released in Japan in 1996. Game director Junichi Masuda
stated the new titles would be developed around the idea of simplicity, as the game engine was a slightly modified version of the one used in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire
. As a result, FireRed and LeafGreen were made fully backward compatible
with Ruby and Sapphire, allowing players to trade Pokémon between games.
FireRed and LeafGreens connectivity with the Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter
was heralded by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata
as being able "to enhance head-to-head battles, exchange of information, and communication with others." 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. President of The Pokémon Company
Tsunekazu Ishiharu 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.
The music used in the titles was derived from the classic game consoles, and arranged by Go Ichinuse. Masuda and Ichinose decided not to change the reused music from the basic background sounds used in the originals, and instead updated them by adding additional sounds. A two-disc set of the 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.
The exclusive Japanese production run for FireRed and LeafGreen was limited to half a thousand copies, despite the success of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. 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. The east American versions of FireRed and LeafGreen were secondly indirectly announced at DICE
in 2004. Although the original games were released as Red and Blue in North America, the remakes retained the Japanese names of "Red" and "Green". 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. Although this did sever the appeal to memory connection between the originals and new games for the US market.
in that time period, but IGN
reasoned that the smaller sales were due to the new titles being remakes. In the first half of August before FireRed and LeafGreen were released in the U.S., the games received over 150,000 pre-order
s, over twice the amount that Ruby and Sapphire received. Nintendo's Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communication George Harrison
remarked, "This pre-sell indicates more than twice the player interest!" Over one million copies of FireRed and LeafGreen were sold in the US less than one month after their release in that region. As of March 31, 2008, the games had sold 11.82 million copies worldwide. The games later entered Nintendo's Player'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
.
Reviews of FireRed and LeafGreen were mostly positive, and the games currently hold an aggregate score of 81 percent on MetaCritic
. 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 "limited" and "basic". 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." 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.
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" original Red and Blue 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. 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."
Enhanced remake
A video game remake is a game closely adapted from an earlier title, usually for the purpose of modernizing a game for newer hardware and contemporary audiences. Typically, a remake shares essentially the same title, fundamental gameplay concepts, and story elements of the original game...
s of the original Pokémon Red and Blue
Pokémon Red and Blue
Pokémon Red Version and Blue Version, originally released in Japan as , are role-playing games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy. They are the first installments to the Pokémon series. They were first released in Japan in 1996 as Red and Green, with Blue being...
video games, which were released in 1996. The new titles were developed by Game Freak
Game Freak
is a Japanese video game developer that currently creates games exclusively for Nintendo. It has developed the Pokémon series of role-playing games and several other games.-History:...
and published by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
for the Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
and have compatibility with the Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter
Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter
The Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter is an accessory for the Game Boy Advance, and was released by Nintendo in 2004. It provides an alternative to the Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable but does not enjoy the same popularity due to a number of issues...
, which originally came bundled with the games. FireRed and LeafGreen 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
Player's Choice
Nintendo Selects is a marketing label used by Nintendo to promote video games on Nintendo game consoles which have sold well; Nintendo Selects titles are sold at a lower price point than other games...
titles.
FireRed and LeafGreen are members of the Pokémon series of role-playing games. As in previous games, the player controls the player character
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
from an overhead perspective, and participates in turn-based combat encounters. However, new features such as a contextual help menu and a new region the player may access have also been added. Throughout the games, the player captures and raises Pokémon for use in battle.
The games received mostly positive reviews, obtaining an aggregate score of 81 percent on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. 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 not much of an improvement over the previous games, Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire
Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire
are the third installments of the Pokémon series of role-playing games, developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. The games were first released in Japan in late 2002 and later released to the rest of the world in 2003 . Pokémon Emerald, a special edition version,...
. FireRed and LeafGreen were commercial successes, selling a total of around 12 million copies worldwide.
Gameplay
Handheld game console
A handheld game console is a lightweight, portable electronic device with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are run on machines of small size allowing people to carry them and play them at any time or place...
, FireRed and LeafGreen are in third-person, overhead perspective. The main screen is an overworld
Overworld
An overworld is, in a broad sense, an area within a video game that interconnects all its levels or locations. They are mostly common in role-playing games, though this does not exclude other video game genres....
, in which the player navigates the protagonist. Here a menu interface may be accessed, in which the player may configure his or her Pokémon, items, and gameplay settings. When the player encounters a wild Pokémon
Random encounter
A random encounter is a feature commonly used in various role-playing games whereby encounters with non-player character enemies or other dangers occur sporadically and at random...
or is challenged by a trainer, the screen switches to a turn-based battle screen that displays the player's Pokémon and the engaged Pokémon. During battle, the player may select a move for his or her Pokémon to perform, use an item, switch his or her active Pokémon, or attempt to flee. All Pokémon have hit points
Health (gaming)
Health is a game mechanic used in role-playing, computer and video games to give value to characters, enemies, NPCs, and related objects. This value can either be numerical, semi-numerical as in hit/health points, or arbitrary as in a life bar....
(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 point
Experience point
An experience point is a unit of measurement used in many role-playing games and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's progression through the game...
s (EXP). After accumulating enough EXP, a Pokémon may level up
Level Up
Level Up was a UK children's TV programme that was broadcast on CBBC. It was launched on the 3rd April 2006, replacing Xchange. The show was an hour long and during the school year broadcasting from 7:30am until 8:30am...
.
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.
While FireRed and LeafGreen are remakes of Red and Blue, they contain usability enhancements such as a contextual tutorial feature which allows players to look up data at any point in the game. Additionally, when continuing a saved game
Saved game
A saved game is a piece of digitally stored information about the progress of a player in a video game. This saved game can be reloaded later, so the player can continue where he or she had stopped...
, players are shown the last four actions they performed, allowing them to remember what they were doing.
The games support linked communications via the Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable through which connected players may trade or battle. Players may also connect with Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire
Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire
are the third installments of the Pokémon series of role-playing games, developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. The games were first released in Japan in late 2002 and later released to the rest of the world in 2003 . Pokémon Emerald, a special edition version,...
, and Pokémon Colosseum
Pokémon Colosseum
is a role-playing video game developed by Genius Sonority and published by Nintendo as part of the Pokémon series. It was released exclusively for the Nintendo GameCube on November 21, 2003 in Japan; March 22, 2004 in North America; and May 14, 2004 in Europe...
, which allows them to obtain over 350 Pokémon. FireRed and LeafGreen also have the ability to connect to the Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
and interact with Pokémon Box: Ruby and Sapphire and Pokémon Colosseum
Pokémon Colosseum
is a role-playing video game developed by Genius Sonority and published by Nintendo as part of the Pokémon series. It was released exclusively for the Nintendo GameCube on November 21, 2003 in Japan; March 22, 2004 in North America; and May 14, 2004 in Europe...
. In Box the player may organize and view his or her collected Pokémon, and in Colosseum Pokémon may be used for battle or transferred over to the GameCube. FireRed and LeafGreen are also the first games in the series to be made compatible with the Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter
Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter
The Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter is an accessory for the Game Boy Advance, and was released by Nintendo in 2004. It provides an alternative to the Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable but does not enjoy the same popularity due to a number of issues...
, which comes prepackaged with the games. The adapter can be plugged into the link port of a Game Boy Advance system and allows players within a 30 to 50 ft (9.1 to 15.2 m) radius to wirelessly interact with each other. In addition, as many as 30 players at a time may join a special room called the "Union Room" where they can trade, battle, or chat. Nintendo set up "JoySpots" at Japanese retail locations for this purpose.
Setting
Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen take place mostly in the fictional region of Kanto. This is one distinct region of many in the Pokémon 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 the player acquires a special item or one of the player's Pokémon learns a special ability. Near the end of the plot, the protagonist is able to venture to the Sevii Islands, a new area not available in the original Red or Blue games. It consists of an archipelagoArchipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...
of seven islands that contain Pokémon normally exclusive to the Johto region. There are also some after game missions to complete in the Sevii Islands. After the mission on the Sevii Islands is completed, trading to the Hoenn Region becomes available.
Synopsis
The silent protagonist of FireRed and LeafGreen is a child who lives in a small town. After players start a journey and venture alone into deep grass, a voice warns them to stop. Professor Oak, a famous Pokémon researcher, explains to the player 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 the player meets Oak's grandson, another aspiring Pokémon TrainerPokémon trainer
People with at least one Pokémon creature can be considered a Pokémon Trainer. In this sense, people in related Pokémon occupations, such as Pokémon coordinators or Pokémon breeders, can also be considered to be Pokémon Trainers....
. The player and the rival are both instructed to select a starter Pokémon for their travels. The rival then challenges the player 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 his laboratory, the player is presented with a Pokédex, a high-tech encyclopedia that record the entries of any Pokémon that are encountered. Oak 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 called Gyms. Inside these buildings are Gym Leaders, each of whom the player must defeat in a Pokémon battle to obtain a Gym Badge. Once a total of eight 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 battles the Elite Four. Also throughout the game, the player has to fight against the forces of Team 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 the player defeats 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. Once more, the protagonist must thwart the 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 communicate, battle, trade, etc., with games other than FireRed or LeafGreen.
Development
Pokémon Red and Blue
Pokémon Red Version and Blue Version, originally released in Japan as , are role-playing games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy. They are the first installments to the Pokémon series. They were first released in Japan in 1996 as Red and Green, with Blue being...
games that were released in Japan in 1996. Game director Junichi Masuda
Junichi Masuda
is a video game composer, director, designer, producer, and programmer best known for his work on the Pokémon franchise. He is a member of the Game Freak board of directors, and has worked at the company since 1989. He helped compose the music for games like Mendel Palace and Smart Ball before...
stated the new titles would be developed around the idea of simplicity, as the game engine was a slightly modified version of the one used in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire
Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire
are the third installments of the Pokémon series of role-playing games, developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. The games were first released in Japan in late 2002 and later released to the rest of the world in 2003 . Pokémon Emerald, a special edition version,...
. As a result, FireRed and LeafGreen were made fully backward compatible
Backward compatibility
In the context of telecommunications and computing, a device or technology is said to be backward or downward compatible if it can work with input generated by an older device...
with Ruby and Sapphire, allowing players to trade Pokémon between games.
FireRed and LeafGreens connectivity with the Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter
Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter
The Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter is an accessory for the Game Boy Advance, and was released by Nintendo in 2004. It provides an alternative to the Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable but does not enjoy the same popularity due to a number of issues...
was heralded by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata
Satoru Iwata
is the fourth president of Nintendo, succeeding the long-standing previous president of the company, Hiroshi Yamauchi in 2002. He was responsible in great part for defining Nintendo's strategy both before and during the release of its Nintendo GameCube video game console in 2001, a vision which...
as being able "to enhance head-to-head battles, exchange of information, and communication with others." 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. President of The Pokémon Company
The Pokémon Company
is a corporation responsible for marketing and licensing the Pokémon franchise and is affiliated and owned by Nintendo. It began operating in 1998 and adopted the moniker "Pokémon Ltd." in 2000. The company is headquartered in the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower in Roppongi Rokuchome, Minato, Tokyo...
Tsunekazu Ishiharu 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.
The music used in the titles was derived from the classic game consoles, and arranged by Go Ichinuse. Masuda and Ichinose decided not to change the reused music from the basic background sounds used in the originals, and instead updated them by adding additional sounds. A two-disc set of the 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.
The exclusive Japanese production run for FireRed and LeafGreen was limited to half a thousand copies, despite the success of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
speculated that Nintendo was expecting less demand for the new games, or that it was limited by the production of the bundled wireless adapter. The east American versions of FireRed and LeafGreen were secondly indirectly announced at DICE
D.I.C.E. Summit
D.I.C.E. Summit is an annual multi-day gathering of video game executives held in Las Vegas, Nevada. Established in 2002 by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the conference is host to the annual Entertainment Software Association's Interactive Achievement Awards...
in 2004. Although the original games were released as Red and Blue in North America, the remakes retained the Japanese names of "Red" and "Green". 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. Although this did sever the appeal to memory connection between the originals and new games for the US market.
Reception
During its first week of release in Japan, FireRed and LeafGreen sold a combined total of 885,039 copies, which was less than the amount sold by Pokémon Ruby and SapphirePokémon Ruby and Sapphire
are the third installments of the Pokémon series of role-playing games, developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. The games were first released in Japan in late 2002 and later released to the rest of the world in 2003 . Pokémon Emerald, a special edition version,...
in that time period, but IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
reasoned that the smaller sales were due to the new titles being remakes. In the first half of August before FireRed and LeafGreen were released in the U.S., the games received over 150,000 pre-order
Pre-order
A pre-order is an order placed for an item which has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came when people found it hard to get popular items in stores due to their popularity. Companies were then given the idea to allow people to reserve their own personal copy, before the release, ...
s, over twice the amount that Ruby and Sapphire received. Nintendo's Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communication George Harrison
George Harrison (executive)
George Harrison was the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communication at Nintendo of America when he left at the end of December 2007.-Education:...
remarked, "This pre-sell indicates more than twice the player interest!" Over one million copies of FireRed and LeafGreen were sold in the US less than one month after their release in that region. As of March 31, 2008, the games had sold 11.82 million copies worldwide. The games later entered Nintendo's Player's Choice
Player's Choice
Nintendo Selects is a marketing label used by Nintendo to promote video games on Nintendo game consoles which have sold well; Nintendo Selects titles are sold at a lower price point than other games...
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
Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter
The Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter is an accessory for the Game Boy Advance, and was released by Nintendo in 2004. It provides an alternative to the Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable but does not enjoy the same popularity due to a number of issues...
.
Reviews of FireRed and LeafGreen were mostly positive, and the games currently hold an aggregate score of 81 percent on MetaCritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. Craig Harris of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
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 "limited" and "basic". GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
'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." Game Informer
Game Informer
Game Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...
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.
GameSpy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
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" original Red and Blue 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. Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
, 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."