Review No. 55 Pokémon FireRed - GBA (3+)

Strong Points:
Hours of content
A massively updated version of the original games
Pokémon from Kanto to Hoenn
Great music
Lots of legendries
Lots to do after the main game
One of the only good rivals
Habitat mode on Pokédex is nice
Great storyline

Weak Points:
Trading system is terrible
You can't catch any of the Hoenn Pokémon (except Wynut) and many Johto aren't catchable either so a lot of trading is required
There aren't any mini games (that don't require wireless) like contests, Pokéstar studios etc.

In-depth Review:

Release Dates:
Japan: January 29, 2004
North America: September 9, 2004
Europe: October 1, 2004
Australia: September 23, 2004

Controls:
D- Pad: move
A: select command
B (hold): run
Start: menu

I wanted to start the Pokémon reviews with the originals, Red, Blue or Green, maybe even Yellow but sadly I have not played these. So, instead, I have the next best thing, the remakes of these games! Hooray!

Pokémon FireRed was the first Pokémon game I ever owned and it was amazing.

In this game, you start as a kid who has just gotten one of three Pokémon from Professor Oak and has set out to find the rest of the 386 monsters while getting all eight gym badges and winning the Pokémon League. All this while defeating Team Rocket and a sarcastic rival? Pretty good for a ten-year-old.

But... that's it. I don't know if it's just that I'm used to having contests to compete in or movies to make but I do miss these aspects of the later games and wish something like that could have been included but oh well. Without these aspects, though, it is a lot cleaner and more simplistic version of Pokémon. That's not to say that the game is short or simple as, even when you have completed the game there are another seven islands to explore as well as a battle tower and the Pokédex of course.

But it does have its problems although this is more to do with the Gameboy's capabilities more than anything. One of the main problems is trading as it requires you to have two link up cables as well as two Gameboys and games to use. The other problem is wi-fi events and, although this is still implemented in the later main series games, without the ability to easily trade it means, once the events finish, you can never finish the game.

Overall this game is a great and updated version of the original two and I can't wait to see what Game Freak could do if they made a remake of it.

Rating: 95%

Goodbye for now, Harry