Pokémon FireRed on Switch: The Ultimate Nostalgia Trip

I've always been grateful for growing up in the time when I did. I think being a kid in the 90s and early 2000s was a great time to be alive. We had the best of both worlds (the time before and after the internet became a worldwide phenomenon).

One of the games that stands out like a jewel in my childhood memories is Pokémon Crystal, but so are the other games that came before it like Pokémon Yellow, Red, Blue, and Green. All of them were amazing, and I was lucky enough to play them all on the Game Boy and later the Game Boy Color, just like Pokémon Silver and Pokémon Gold. Now, honestly speaking, I was playing other games too, but a lot of the Nintendo games we used to play as kids weren't always on actual Game Boys. Instead, we played a good portion of them on a PC via an emulator. We were just kids, and living in a post war country like Croatia didn't make life easy for anyone's parents. Asking for money for a new game that would cost a third of a parent's salary simply wasn't an option.

I was still fortunate enough to have some of them on my Game Boy Color, and now that I'm older, I'm very happy that I can buy them on the Nintendo Switch. (So yes Nintendo, I want to buy Pokémon Crystal on the Switch too, so please make it happen!)

That brings me to Pokémon FireRed on the Switch, which is what I want to write about today.

Let's start with the price. I believe that the 20€ price tag is reasonable and fair for this game. While some people think this title should have been part of the subscription that includes all the older retro consoles, I stay reserved on that. It wouldn't hurt, sure, but if you really mind paying 20€ for a game, then maybe you shouldn't buy it at all. Therefore, you shouldn't play it. That is a rather simple and obvious choice to me.

When I started the game, I was honestly so filled with nostalgia and emotions that I'm almost ashamed to admit an adult can feel this way over a decades old Pokémon game, but it is what it is. I was incredibly hyped. But then I got this sudden feeling that the game didn't look like it had been properly remade for the Switch at all. It looks exactly like the old game. I actually had to Google it to see if there were any differences between this version and the one we played on older hardware (or in my case, on an emulator, since I only ever played the original FireRed on a console). The funny thing is, there isn't much to talk about in terms of new content because they really didn't add anything.

Crazy, right? But then again, I thought to myself, how do you add something to a twenty year old game without making the hardcore fans feel like you did something unholy? It wouldn't really work. People would get angry and complain about how the game was better before. Well, now they are complaining that the game is exactly the same as it used to be while simultaneously arguing that they wanted to see changes, which just leaves me confused. I wouldn't want to be in the developers' shoes nowadays because you can never make people happy.

Well, let me tell you something, I'm playing it right now and I'm having an absolute blast. It is exactly as I remember it, and the more I play it, the more I love it. Compared to the modern Pokémon games made specifically for the Switch, this one is light years ahead of them. These old Pokémon designs were the best. They actually looked like animals and creatures rather than looking way too alien, if that makes sense. I loved the idea that they were just animalistic monsters, which was simple yet incredibly effective.

Going through the first few arenas, getting your first gym badges, and fighting Brock and Misty feels amazing. It's like every step you take is another step back into the depths of your brain, picking up all the childhood memories you left behind. I even remembered where some of the hidden items were after all these years.

However, I did face some problems that I think really should have been fixed for this edition. Take Kadabra, for example. Two of my favorite Pokémon are Alakazam and Gengar, but in the older games, you can only get them by trading. When I was a kid, we used to use a link cable to trade with each other. We would restart our games a few times just to get all the starter Pokémon and trade them to one main cartridge so we could have all three starters from the very beginning. Abra was always one of my favorite quick pickups. But this time around, there is no Alakazam for me, and no Gengar, which makes me feel a little bit sad. I truly believe Nintendo could have fixed this by updating how trading works.

You can still go to the upper floor of any Pokémon Center and trade just like in the good old days, but you need another person with a Switch and a copy of the game to be sitting in the exact same room as you. That feels pretty crazy to me. I refuse to believe it would be too much trouble for the developers to allow us to connect with random players online to trade. It would solve everything, and adding online Pokémon battles would be amazing too. Why not? Would it break the game in any way for people who just want to play solo without trading or fighting others? Absolutely not. No harm would be done, and it would only increase the quality of life within the game.

Another point is the resolution. I'm not saying this because I dislike the visual style, but I believe a full screen option with upscaled resolution would look great. Right now, the game doesn't even run in full screen on the Switch. I think that's a massive missed opportunity to make the game more approachable for younger audiences who aren't used to the pixelated graphics of the original 2004 edition.

Then again, it doesn't bother me personally. I grew up with much worse, and for me, this is the exact nostalgia trip I've dreamed about ever since I bought my Switch. I just originally wanted it to be Yellow or Crystal, but I'm still incredibly happy to finally have these classic games on the console.

So in conclusion, is this game worth the price? The answer depends entirely on one question: have you ever played this game or any of the classic Pokémon generations before? If the answer is yes, then absolutely pay for it. If not, then I'd suggest checking out some videos and screenshots first to make sure you are okay with how it looks. If you are fine with the retro style, go for it. I believe that any Pokémon lover who is willing to give this game a proper chance will fall in love with it, though of course, it isn't for everyone. Nintendo definitely missed an opportunity to make it more appealing to a wider modern audience, but for an old school fan like me, it is practically perfect just the way it is. Some changes would have been nice to see, but not having them doesn't bother me all that much.