I never knew some people have beef with LeafGreen/FireRed. I thought it did what it needed to do, bring gen 1 to gen 3. HeartGold/SoulSilver did set a new standard for Pokemon remakes, but that was after these games, so I can't complain about that. The only thing I wished from these games was if we had done a reverse of gen 2 and gone to Johto in the post game instead of the Sevii Isle.
It's often Gen 2 fans having that complaint, whether or not those games were flawed with bonus content. You had enough of both regions up to Gen 4, and FR/LG had its own issue distributing Johto and Hoenn Pokemon. I am perfectly fine with a stable Kanto playthrough, nevermind the VS Seeker making it fun to revisit trainer battles.
Honestly, i've come to learn that after this much distance from the games release, people now basically treat them like one of the worst games to be released. At the time they were amazing, and honestly gave Gen 1 a huge breath of life and certainly take the cake as my favourite entries, but it's far from the norm now
HGSS wasn't a good remake. Not in the slightest. Didn't fix the level curve. Gen 2 pokemon still found only in kanto. Gym leaders and Elite Four not promoting enough of the gen 2 pokemon. Kanto and Johto dragged each other down and made each other feel barren with Kanto feeling more empty. It was not a good standard for remakes and I stand by that opinion.
@@JamiePokemonTrainer idk I loved HGSS I just got done with the elite 4 round 2 and Red. The level curl is a bit ridiculous but I had good time going back to Kanto with gen 4 graphics
Fire Red rom was very fun to play around with modding, you could do all sorts of fun stuff to tweak the game with limited knowledge, it was peak Pokemon for me.
Messy games especially compared to what comes later in emerald that basically nearly mastered the third game meta with battle frontier being an unlimited replay game
@@ivanbluecool Firered and Leafgreen add more to characters such as Giovanni, make him even more intimidating through more depthful dialog, the islands add a whole new area of Kanto to explore and give it more character, The cave and dungeon designs are actually intricately made and make for good exploration and gameplay with well thought out and easily solveable puzzles like all good RPG games should have. Blue is one of THE BEST rivals of the wntire series and has a great character development across the games, and the physical/special upgrade, mechanic improvements, and implementation of these makes it fantastic. Its hailed as a great game by most of the fandom for a reason. Its weird to see someone who loves gen 3 hate FRLG, truly. I think they go hand in hand quite well.
I really like the art style of Pokemons gens 3 & 4. Kanto and the other regions look awesome also I find the Sevii Islands very interesting. (Also I played Let's Go Eevee and I don't like the art style very much)
As someone whose favourite game is Leaf Green, I definitely agree with the Lavender town opinion. The games are simply too bright to fit Lavender town, it also is an issue somewhat with no Day/Night cycle in gen 3, because they could have used the screen darkening specifically to make Lavender darker if it did have it. The Cycling road anime thing is eh, but it would have been nice if they carried over Ruby/Sapphires weather too. But I think what they were going for is a purer gen 1 experience, and i'm okay with that, as someone who grew up with a lot of gen 1, 2 and 3. As for the difficulty shake up because of Types/Abilities/Natures, the change was fully welcomed by pretty much everyone at the time of release
I mean, considering I got Blue and a gameboy for christmas on the year it released in the States? Leaf Green felt like coming home, in a way I can't quite describe. It was comfy. Maybe Sapphire was more complex, maybe Hoenn was a better province; but... Kanto is where I grew up. That's where I belong.
i love that frlg are straight REMAKES of the original. some of the most faithful of any game ive seen, and for that i love em. i respect your take though
I would say it’s not even necessarily that handheld gaming moves so quickly in those five years, it’s more like it was stifled for the previous 10. The Game Boy color was a quick fix for how the virtual boy failed. It was basically outdated when it was released.
Gen 3 is definitely one I came back to over and over. Recently decided to complete the dex best I can. Maybe it's nostalgia but Leaf green & Fire red are some of the best. The few quality of life aspects really shine. Though I'll always be a gen one'er lol.
Once I'm finally caught up with all my other projects, FireRed/LeafGreen are the games I plan on trying first. It seems like a really good balance of a region I know very well and more modern mechanics with which I'm mostly unfamiliar.
This is more so a comment relating to Red Blue and its remake, but I’ve gone back to play the GB versions and it was a bit jarring not having the running shoes, Dark and Steel types (and Fairy types), and the fact that crits are a bit broken if pokemon have a high speed stat. I feel like Fire Red and Leaf Green are decent remakes, but also felt like a way to polish the games (that and also to make an excuse to add a lot of the Johto pokemon into something other than Hoenn)
These remakes were highly needed especially since the broken mess of the original kanto was not good to go back and play. These games refined the games for the better while also adding new content in the Sevii Islands (and its why i find it better than lets go). Kanto is a bit of a boring region and still is. They were also highly necessary since a lot of kanto pokemon were stuck in gen 1 and 2 where you couldnt transfer them any further and there was only so many kanto pokemon in the hoenn games. I do wish there were more johto pokemon in the gen 3 games but until Colosseum and XD came around you could not complete the national dex
Looking back, this was my first experience with Kanto, and it’ll always have a special place in my heart. And honestly, I think these games are the best Kanto experience. Red and Blue have a lot of buggy issues, while the Let’s Go games were both too easy and a remake of Yellow. So it wasn’t the original Kanto experience.
To be honest, I feel no need to revisit these games. I enjoyed them the first time, but I think the originals have more charm. The games would have been great if they'd included some gen 2 Pokémon. Umbreon/ Espeon, Crobat etc, and the gen 2 Pokémon that show up in postgamr Kanto like Houndour. I think this alone would have enhanced the experience a lot. The decision to only use the original Pokémon until the national dex isn't my favorite. The originals have so many quirks that they feel more unique and some Pokémon play much differently there. Kanto also is bare bones. I excuse it for this because it's the first game, but yeah, I think they should have added more. I do enjoy the postgame Sevii Islands, though, and the League rematches.
LeafGreen was my first and it's the one I'm doing a living dex on. I was lucky enough coming into it back in 2004 with little to no knowledge of previous Pokemon games, so the new mechanics were just mechanics. I played LeafGreen first, then Emerald, which I feel like was a great order to experience Gen 3. It is a little sad that the Kanto remakes didn't get ALL of the cool changes for Hoenn, but hey, at least I don't ever need to change the battery in the cartridge.
FRLG I agree is the definitive way to play Kanto, as Gen 1 is actually painful, and Let's Go has gimmicky catching mechanics that completely separate it from the other titles and the worst generational gimmick yet (Megas, yes I said what I said and I'm standing on it). However, I still haven't played FRLG in like 15 years, and that's because ultimately *it is still boring* because they didn't expand Kanto, they just updated it mechanically and visually. Kanto suffers from being the first generation and being forced to be incredibly simple, however, when given the chance to actually change that and upgrade the region, story, and characters, they refused to do so. I don't want Kanto to be unrecognisable, but I want it to have grown up alongside the series, not be that one cousin who still hasn't let go of the personality they had when they were 11.
I actually developed a new appreciation for RBY after playing the VC I started the series with LG for reference. RBY forced me to be much more deliberate in my moves than LG did
"I don't really know what they added to the kanto experience other than the graphic enhancements" except for Physical/Special split, dozens of more items, Held items, breeding, Post game, dozens of more moves, improved movesets, natures, EV system change, all QoL improvements, national dex, additional evolutions, ability to trade with RSE.......... the list goes on Sorry this video was a VERY bad take with the only real valid argument being "this remake is too close to the original and should have changed kanto more" like... it's a remake not a sequel.
Great review. Agree with a lot of what you said. The whole remake phenomenon, that game freak went through - I understand it, it’s primary purpose was to allow players to keep “catching ‘em all” and transfer the older Gen Pokémon, especially the starters, into the newest game/region - but I hate what the remakes have done to the Pokémon fan base. And I hate having to decide what game to play to experience kanto, johto, Hoenn, And sinnoh. I really hope that Nintendo, Pokémon company, and game freak end this remake cycle. The new ‘legends’ approach is better. Thanks again for your thoughts on gen 3 Kanto looking forward to your thoughts on the orange islands
While I agree with a lot of your points, I'd argue that FRLG struck a perfect balance for what they needed to be at the time. They were designed close enough to the original games so that old players could have their nostalgia trip, but the added mechanics made them different enough to the point where it wasn't just a straight up repeat, which would be boring. You also need to remember that this was the 1st and only game that you couldn't trade up your Pokemon from the previous generation, and people were very upset about that. So this game was also meant to solve that problem by providing an opportunity to grant you access to a lot of Kanto and Johto Pokemon that weren't present in RSE. Lastly, I wish they did more to spruce up some key locations like you mentioned, but I'd imagine they were just trying to get this game out there as fast as possible to subdue the upset people coming from Gen 2. I remember being very unhappy when I realized that I couldn't trade up any of my Pokemon from OR go back to Kanto/Johto when I finally beat Sapphire, and LeafGreen was a welcomed relief to 13 year old Nic.
I think theyre some of the best games in the franchise. They deserve praise and love and Kanto's story has some of the best plot twists and one of the best rivals. Gen 1 isnt that good, but these did it justice. 2D Pokemon is the only Pokemon one needs
@@marinagaleotti Nah, Its very impactful cosndierign everything objectively. Giovanni is the head of Team Rocket; one of the best and most well-written evil teams in Pokemon and msot fans agree with that statement as well. You fight him twice once during a whole hsotage situation in which you save the company, and another inside the base of Team Rocket after they start a srot of black market in Celadon City. You don't expect him to be the last gym leader. Then the plot twist with Blue as champion is impactful because he has always been a step ahead of you and filling out his dex at the same time as you, only to end up being a surprise.
@@marinagaleotti Pokemon needs GOOD 3D. Most of the 3D games are sadly not good and are disappointment after disappointment. The games lack good exploration that Johto, Sinnoh, Hoenn, Unova, and Kalos and Kanto (to a lesser extent) had, lack fleshing out or folklore/mythology like the aforementioned regions had (minus Kanto this time) that gave it life, lack actual locations to set towns and cities apart, and just simply don't have the same amount of care or effort put into them and the negatives far outweigh the positives. Also as for what you said; theres quite a lot of people that love this game but aren't fans of the original gen 1, so you don't need to like the originals to appreciate this game which is commonly listed as one of the best remakes of the series. I think 3D pokemon could be great. Legends: Arceus existed after all alongside X/Y and Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, but every other 3D game has been lacking and mediocre cookie-cutter experiences. There's a reason most Pokemon fans prefer the 2D era and list Gens 2-5 (or 3-5 more commonly) as their favorite games. Newgenners are just as bad as Genwunners; they do the same thing Genwunners do, only the opposite in terms of hating all the old games for no good reason and spreading toxicity and vile hate over them
Also, even though Charmander has Metal claw for the first gym, Brock is much more difficult opponent than in Red and Blue because he also has much better movesets. In Red and Blue Brock has zero rock type moves so he couldn't hit you with a super effective move. Now he has Rock Tomb.
Gen 1 was iconic but when you take off your rose-tinted glasses, the game mechanics have aged like milk. FireRed & LeafGreen are still old and don't yet have the physical-special split or fairy type but they are MUCH more playable. Held items, abilities, breeding, dark & steel types, vaguely modern move pools & not suffering from all of the glitches, bugs, dumb AI & broken mechanics of Gen 1 does so much to modernize the game. I would love for Kanto to get the Legends treatment. I would love it if they'd let us revisit the region in the distant past or perhaps set in the far future with a different story and maybe a more open and explorable environment.
I agree on Lavender Town being too bright in FRLG, but I wish you would've showed what Pokemon Yellow's Lavender Town looked like on a Gameboy Color instead of showing a black & white Lavender Town. It was a good Lavender color that fit the spookiness IMO.
The main complaint I have is that they restrict you from trading over pokemon from RSE until you complete the game and sevii islands. There is nothin left to really do by that point other than complete your dex. There is no reason to add a johto or hoenn Pokemon to your team. It really kneecaps replay ability. I prefer just to play gen 1 for this reason. The nostalgia isn’t there for the remakes and I can’t do anything new in the remakes anyway so there is no reason for me to play them.
As someone who was playing pokemon within the first months of it coming out stateside, I honestly didnt care for fr/lg when it came out. The look didnt wow me compared to ruby/sapphire and with the journey being so much the same as the original I didnt feel the draw there. Plus this on the heels of the original dex cut really felt like Nintendo wanting 30 dollars to get back the original pokemon in the newer games. As time goes on though i like it as much as the original set but each have their own ways to make fun. And despite the go games being way easier, I adore the art direction. All three releases live on their own islands in my mind.
FR/LG are my absolute favorite remakes. I like that they remained faithful to the original Red/Blue/Green and saved the changes for the postgame. This may be a controversial take, but I didn't like HG/SS because of how many changes they made. They didn't feel like modern Gold/Silver, they felt like new games that simply reference gen 2 sometimes.
I currently play Blue for the first time ever and I'm nearly 17 hours in and currently have 7 badges. Just because it is so slow. No running shoes and the Game itself is so slow. But I really enjoy it so far. I always was scared of trying Gen 1 on Virtual Console just because I thought there is no way it will be fun, But it actually is a lot of fun. I have never played FRLG, so it will be next and I'm really interested in finding out if it will be an actual Upgrade or not
I agree the biggest sin of this game was being too faithful. This is a small detail, but you can really see it in caves. Like, in Hoenn (and the Sevii Islands), caves have layers and an intricate orography; while in Kanto, they're mostly big dumb empty spaces with huge boulders around, making the whole thing feel fake with GBA graphics. Which is a shame, because the tileset is much better than Hoenn's.
I enjoy FRLG for what they are but I'd agree that Kanto and by extension most regions need a reimagining. 6 regions are grid based (it's less noticeable in Kalos but it is mostly a grid) while 7 and onward are more natural looking as far as layout. Obviously this has everything to do with older limitations but looking at the anime that's not necessarily reflective of how they truly imagined the pokemon world. That being said the limitations also add to some charm of older games because when modern NPCs move like they are still on the GBA it's jarring... And game freak just isn't good at optimization... So I'm not sure these hypothetical reimaginings would do justice
I love how there isnt much you want to say, as you have no attachment or desire to explore Kanto as is. That you found it boring....yet it still stumped you with its route layouts. HG/SS spoiled fans into wanting remakes full of new side content...hence the backlash of Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl. The remakes have to be basically new games to be accepted.
Remakes don't need to be new games. They are remakes. And using HGSS is not a good argument as it is one of the worst remakes in the franchise. Didn't fix a lot of the issues from the original Gold and Silver. Not to mention that two regions didn't work for it as both regions dragged each other down. I rather play FRLG and BDSP over HGSS and ORAS.
I’ve been playing since rby. I’ve replayed those games several times since receiving blue in 98. I’m currently replaying firered since it came out 20 years ago to see if it holds up. I like the updated battle mechanics and exploring the new Sevii islands. I still prefer the original since Kanto feels so barren and the limitations of the gameboy suit it. Let’s go was okay but too gimmicky
I remember getting Leaf Green back in 2004 and loving it, since i'm more of a Bulbasaur fan than a Charmander fan although you could only find the Growlithe line in Fire Red. Nowadays like most of the gen 3 games i have to play them on 2x to 4x speed on emulator since they feel slow to me.
It's just so empty as a remake. Sure it adds abilities and replay trainers plus new moves but so much empty air in the world like the sebii islands that could have been cool to have gym leaders fight rematches to see how truly strong they are Emerald did this best
@@ivanbluecool Nah. Gen one is not great. Firered and Leafgreen are objectively pretty great games. Funny to pull the "genwunner" card simply because I dont like the sloggy messes of the 3D games which are lacking in depth, exploration, and fleshing out that the 2D games have. Gen 5 is my favorite gen actually followed by 3 and 4 for actually having great characters, good exploration and regions with a lot of character and lore. 6 and 2 are both up there for me as well for similar reasons plus great gameplay despite 6 having basically zero difficulty.
@@ivanbluecool Also Newgenners are even more infuriating; they go and call people genwunners for no reason and then also hate on the older games for weak, easily debatable rudimentary reasons and act EXTREMELY toxic towards other fans and people in general. They also don't appreciate anything to do with older games despite laying the foundation for the franchise or try to ruin reputation of older games. This; the EXACT same way that genwunners do that towards the new games.
I thought the remakes that divide opinion most were the Sinnoh games, the amount of unnecessary hate they get is ridiculous where as FireRed and LeafGreen as well as HeartGold and SoulSilver are pretty much accepted as the blueprint for remakes.
HGSS isn't the blueprint of remakes. People overpraised that terrible remake. Keeps most Gold and Silver issues while inheriting problems from the gen 4 games. Who asked for Rock Climb being added to the game? Why are gen 2 pokemon still locked behind kanto? Why is the gen 2 pokemon not promoted enough by the gym leaders and elite four? Honestly Johto needed a reboot without Kanto involved.
LeafGreen was the first Pokémon game I ever played (on an emulator), but I personally prefer Let's Go as Kanto games. These games are not bad, though, even if the faithfulness results in a lot of repetitive Pokémon teams. One reason why these games were made was to make all the Kanto Pokémon available in Generation III, as the jump from Game Boy to GBA had left all the Pokémon from the first two generations stranded in the previous consoles.
I actually wished that Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen were released before Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire. Just so that all generation 3 Pokemon core/ mainline games would be able to use the wireless adapter. =/
Fun fact: The girl was named Lostelle in English because her Japanese name was “Mayo” which is an actual name that sounds like the word “Mayoi” (lost).
Kanto was already great with FR/Lg. I hate Lets Go for giving all of Red's canonical achievements to randoms, removing one of the best rivals in the series and relegating him to being a side character and replacing him with one of the worst. Plus they FINALLY made Green canon and shoved her aside as an NPC
@@JW-dp4we I disagree with that. There's no indication within the game itself of that being the case. Especially since now we have games like Legends Arceus which had a different catching style as well as not including "Pocket Monsters" in the Japanese title... Plus if you look at the animations done a couple years back where they redid scenes from various games in the series, Lets' Go was used for Kanto. We also now now it can work with SM timeline wise since Red and Blue have been confirmed to be 20 in SM, so Mina's age now fits perfectly being around 10 in LG and around 19 in Alola. At the very least, Let's Go is as canon as as any alternate version is. However frankly I do consider it as the canon Kanto version at least as far as the Mega Timeline is considered.
@@JW-dp4we Its still irritating relegating multiple beloved characters to the side, and having a rival thats more often annoying than endearing. The catching mechanics are way too easy and feel like Pokémon Go levels of easy rather than being intricately designed like every other game up to this point; most of the game just feels like you dont have to try at all or work towards actually raising your team. People complain about X and Y for the same reasons but this does it even worse. They changed virtually nothing, took away a lot of the improvements to flesh out characters and locations and the region in general that FR/LG did and its just depressing. I already found Gen 7 to be a letdown, this just solidified it as a non-enjoyable one in my book. The switch era as a whole only has had one game so far, that being Legends Arceus
@shewolfcub3 Blue is still in the game though... and sorry no you clearly did not play X and Y if you thought it was harder 💀💀💀 The portable box is fucking awesome. You can switch out your team on the fly and the game honestly stayschallenging if you're constantly swapping around to evolve for the pokedex. Also on Red... that bothered me until I realized you can literally just rename the protagonist to Red and it's close enough. In a Johto remake, if we ever get one, I don't think we really do, but even a port of HGSS this would be super based, if Red actually was just replaced on Mt Silver with a player based on your LGPE savedata. Would be based.
Are FRLG perfect? no. No game is. But I prefer this than to that messier HGSS which is arguably the worst remake in the franchise. Followed by ORAS who couldn't stay faithful to the originals and add too much. FRLG and BDSP were the best remakes in the franchise. Lets Go is alright but the Go mechanics and mega evolution was not needed.
I can’t give you a like because you said you needed a guide to get past victory Road… Come on man… It’s a children’s game that I beat when I was like five years old and couldn’t even read
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I think we need a Kanto / Johto / Sevii Islands game
when you said there is only 5 years between the OG and the remakes, that hit me in an unexpected way
@@colleengrantt lol its crazy huh!!! It seemed so much longer back then, time is nutz!
Bro's trying to make me feel old 😭
I was too young for the originals, but I did play the remakes...
@@colleengrantt Its actually an 8 year gap, but it took a while for pokemon to get out of Japan.
Same. I was in elementary when I played Gen 1 and then these games came out when I was in high school…
@@KillerAndMX you're right same with DBZ we got that trash ps1 game in 2003 but it was released in Japan way back in 1995
I never knew some people have beef with LeafGreen/FireRed. I thought it did what it needed to do, bring gen 1 to gen 3. HeartGold/SoulSilver did set a new standard for Pokemon remakes, but that was after these games, so I can't complain about that.
The only thing I wished from these games was if we had done a reverse of gen 2 and gone to Johto in the post game instead of the Sevii Isle.
It's often Gen 2 fans having that complaint, whether or not those games were flawed with bonus content. You had enough of both regions up to Gen 4, and FR/LG had its own issue distributing Johto and Hoenn Pokemon.
I am perfectly fine with a stable Kanto playthrough, nevermind the VS Seeker making it fun to revisit trainer battles.
Honestly, i've come to learn that after this much distance from the games release, people now basically treat them like one of the worst games to be released.
At the time they were amazing, and honestly gave Gen 1 a huge breath of life and certainly take the cake as my favourite entries, but it's far from the norm now
HGSS wasn't a good remake. Not in the slightest. Didn't fix the level curve. Gen 2 pokemon still found only in kanto. Gym leaders and Elite Four not promoting enough of the gen 2 pokemon. Kanto and Johto dragged each other down and made each other feel barren with Kanto feeling more empty. It was not a good standard for remakes and I stand by that opinion.
@@JamiePokemonTrainer idk I loved HGSS I just got done with the elite 4 round 2 and Red. The level curl is a bit ridiculous but I had good time going back to Kanto with gen 4 graphics
Fire Red rom was very fun to play around with modding, you could do all sorts of fun stuff to tweak the game with limited knowledge, it was peak Pokemon for me.
FRLG is still the best way to play kanto bc its very simple. It captures the feelings of it being the first gen of the franchise
I can’t believe this game is 20 years now damn
I just felt my knees crack that little louder LOL
Still waiting for Pokémon WaterBlue 😢
😂. Would also love to see a return to the starter being the box art monster
Messy games especially compared to what comes later in emerald that basically nearly mastered the third game meta with battle frontier being an unlimited replay game
I think theyre quite great overall despite the few shortcomings
@shewolfcub3 example doko?
@@ivanbluecool Firered and Leafgreen add more to characters such as Giovanni, make him even more intimidating through more depthful dialog, the islands add a whole new area of Kanto to explore and give it more character, The cave and dungeon designs are actually intricately made and make for good exploration and gameplay with well thought out and easily solveable puzzles like all good RPG games should have.
Blue is one of THE BEST rivals of the wntire series and has a great character development across the games, and the physical/special upgrade, mechanic improvements, and implementation of these makes it fantastic. Its hailed as a great game by most of the fandom for a reason. Its weird to see someone who loves gen 3 hate FRLG, truly. I think they go hand in hand quite well.
@@shewolfcub3 what do you mean by physical/special upgrade?
@@ivanbluecool The battle frontier is so lame, you gotta be obsessed with this shit to want that over just more endgame/story content.
I really like the art style of Pokemons gens 3 & 4. Kanto and the other regions look awesome also I find the Sevii Islands very interesting. (Also I played Let's Go Eevee and I don't like the art style very much)
As someone whose favourite game is Leaf Green, I definitely agree with the Lavender town opinion. The games are simply too bright to fit Lavender town, it also is an issue somewhat with no Day/Night cycle in gen 3, because they could have used the screen darkening specifically to make Lavender darker if it did have it.
The Cycling road anime thing is eh, but it would have been nice if they carried over Ruby/Sapphires weather too. But I think what they were going for is a purer gen 1 experience, and i'm okay with that, as someone who grew up with a lot of gen 1, 2 and 3.
As for the difficulty shake up because of Types/Abilities/Natures, the change was fully welcomed by pretty much everyone at the time of release
I mean, considering I got Blue and a gameboy for christmas on the year it released in the States? Leaf Green felt like coming home, in a way I can't quite describe. It was comfy. Maybe Sapphire was more complex, maybe Hoenn was a better province; but... Kanto is where I grew up. That's where I belong.
I just would be happy if there wasn't a cutscene every time I used an item out of battle. That really stacks up.
You can skip those though
If only instead of LGPE we got Jolt Yellow & Mist Blue {w/a 360 dex at least}
You gotta go to the Sevii Islands! It’s a ton of fun tho I wish they had gyms or sudo gyms on the islands
i love that frlg are straight REMAKES of the original. some of the most faithful of any game ive seen, and for that i love em. i respect your take though
I would say it’s not even necessarily that handheld gaming moves so quickly in those five years, it’s more like it was stifled for the previous 10. The Game Boy color was a quick fix for how the virtual boy failed. It was basically outdated when it was released.
I play through FRLG once a year or so but I prefer Red and Blue as the sevii islands are too much of a departure from the originals.
i love that you play them annually.
keep the dream alive ❤
Gen 3 is definitely one I came back to over and over. Recently decided to complete the dex best I can. Maybe it's nostalgia but Leaf green & Fire red are some of the best. The few quality of life aspects really shine. Though I'll always be a gen one'er lol.
Really enjoying your look back into the GB/GBC/GBA Pokemon games. Can't wait for the postgame video and you're look back at HG/SS. Thank You!
i loved HG+SS
Once I'm finally caught up with all my other projects, FireRed/LeafGreen are the games I plan on trying first. It seems like a really good balance of a region I know very well and more modern mechanics with which I'm mostly unfamiliar.
This is more so a comment relating to Red Blue and its remake, but I’ve gone back to play the GB versions and it was a bit jarring not having the running shoes, Dark and Steel types (and Fairy types), and the fact that crits are a bit broken if pokemon have a high speed stat.
I feel like Fire Red and Leaf Green are decent remakes, but also felt like a way to polish the games (that and also to make an excuse to add a lot of the Johto pokemon into something other than Hoenn)
Think that started all for some of us, thank you for the video
Note to the movesets: they got kinda pick and choose there, a fine example is Sabrina's Venomoth even losing its status moves for... Gust.
These remakes were highly needed especially since the broken mess of the original kanto was not good to go back and play. These games refined the games for the better while also adding new content in the Sevii Islands (and its why i find it better than lets go).
Kanto is a bit of a boring region and still is. They were also highly necessary since a lot of kanto pokemon were stuck in gen 1 and 2 where you couldnt transfer them any further and there was only so many kanto pokemon in the hoenn games. I do wish there were more johto pokemon in the gen 3 games but until Colosseum and XD came around you could not complete the national dex
the postgame is the best part about frlg and you never played it? x_x
Hope there are some rom hack creators sat here making notes 👀
Looking back, this was my first experience with Kanto, and it’ll always have a special place in my heart. And honestly, I think these games are the best Kanto experience. Red and Blue have a lot of buggy issues, while the Let’s Go games were both too easy and a remake of Yellow. So it wasn’t the original Kanto experience.
To be honest, I feel no need to revisit these games. I enjoyed them the first time, but I think the originals have more charm.
The games would have been great if they'd included some gen 2 Pokémon. Umbreon/ Espeon, Crobat etc, and the gen 2 Pokémon that show up in postgamr Kanto like Houndour. I think this alone would have enhanced the experience a lot. The decision to only use the original Pokémon until the national dex isn't my favorite. The originals have so many quirks that they feel more unique and some Pokémon play much differently there.
Kanto also is bare bones. I excuse it for this because it's the first game, but yeah, I think they should have added more. I do enjoy the postgame Sevii Islands, though, and the League rematches.
So like, fire red and leaf green 2? That'd b amazing! And fire red was my first pokemon game ever :3
that would be cool 😎
Craig thank you for all the content you put out we really appreciate it and I hope you get the views to reflect that!
When you said you never played the post game of Fire red / Leaf green i was like whaaaaa 😮 lol
LeafGreen was my first and it's the one I'm doing a living dex on. I was lucky enough coming into it back in 2004 with little to no knowledge of previous Pokemon games, so the new mechanics were just mechanics. I played LeafGreen first, then Emerald, which I feel like was a great order to experience Gen 3. It is a little sad that the Kanto remakes didn't get ALL of the cool changes for Hoenn, but hey, at least I don't ever need to change the battery in the cartridge.
FRLG I agree is the definitive way to play Kanto, as Gen 1 is actually painful, and Let's Go has gimmicky catching mechanics that completely separate it from the other titles and the worst generational gimmick yet (Megas, yes I said what I said and I'm standing on it). However, I still haven't played FRLG in like 15 years, and that's because ultimately *it is still boring* because they didn't expand Kanto, they just updated it mechanically and visually. Kanto suffers from being the first generation and being forced to be incredibly simple, however, when given the chance to actually change that and upgrade the region, story, and characters, they refused to do so. I don't want Kanto to be unrecognisable, but I want it to have grown up alongside the series, not be that one cousin who still hasn't let go of the personality they had when they were 11.
I was mostly happy with it, but I can understand wanting a bit more.
I actually developed a new appreciation for RBY after playing the VC
I started the series with LG for reference.
RBY forced me to be much more deliberate in my moves than LG did
@@pn2294 What's VC?
@@MegaSpideyman Virtual Console
@@pn2294 Ah, I see. Thanks very much.
"I don't really know what they added to the kanto experience other than the graphic enhancements" except for Physical/Special split, dozens of more items, Held items, breeding, Post game, dozens of more moves, improved movesets, natures, EV system change, all QoL improvements, national dex, additional evolutions, ability to trade with RSE.......... the list goes on
Sorry this video was a VERY bad take with the only real valid argument being "this remake is too close to the original and should have changed kanto more" like... it's a remake not a sequel.
Great review. Agree with a lot of what you said. The whole remake phenomenon, that game freak went through - I understand it, it’s primary purpose was to allow players to keep “catching ‘em all” and transfer the older Gen Pokémon, especially the starters, into the newest game/region - but I hate what the remakes have done to the Pokémon fan base. And I hate having to decide what game to play to experience kanto, johto, Hoenn, And sinnoh. I really hope that Nintendo, Pokémon company, and game freak end this remake cycle. The new ‘legends’ approach is better. Thanks again for your thoughts on gen 3 Kanto looking forward to your thoughts on the orange islands
While I agree with a lot of your points, I'd argue that FRLG struck a perfect balance for what they needed to be at the time. They were designed close enough to the original games so that old players could have their nostalgia trip, but the added mechanics made them different enough to the point where it wasn't just a straight up repeat, which would be boring.
You also need to remember that this was the 1st and only game that you couldn't trade up your Pokemon from the previous generation, and people were very upset about that. So this game was also meant to solve that problem by providing an opportunity to grant you access to a lot of Kanto and Johto Pokemon that weren't present in RSE.
Lastly, I wish they did more to spruce up some key locations like you mentioned, but I'd imagine they were just trying to get this game out there as fast as possible to subdue the upset people coming from Gen 2. I remember being very unhappy when I realized that I couldn't trade up any of my Pokemon from OR go back to Kanto/Johto when I finally beat Sapphire, and LeafGreen was a welcomed relief to 13 year old Nic.
I played Yellow recently. I liked the burn
I think theyre some of the best games in the franchise. They deserve praise and love and Kanto's story has some of the best plot twists and one of the best rivals. Gen 1 isnt that good, but these did it justice. 2D Pokemon is the only Pokemon one needs
Giovanni being a gym leader isnt a good polt twist. Its on the same levl of lusamine's and ose's but less impactful.
Frlg is a better looking glicthless RBY, so if you dont like the latter idk how you can like the extremely faithful remake
Pokemon needs 3d, it cant stay old forever
@@marinagaleotti Nah, Its very impactful cosndierign everything objectively. Giovanni is the head of Team Rocket; one of the best and most well-written evil teams in Pokemon and msot fans agree with that statement as well. You fight him twice once during a whole hsotage situation in which you save the company, and another inside the base of Team Rocket after they start a srot of black market in Celadon City. You don't expect him to be the last gym leader. Then the plot twist with Blue as champion is impactful because he has always been a step ahead of you and filling out his dex at the same time as you, only to end up being a surprise.
@@marinagaleotti Pokemon needs GOOD 3D. Most of the 3D games are sadly not good and are disappointment after disappointment. The games lack good exploration that Johto, Sinnoh, Hoenn, Unova, and Kalos and Kanto (to a lesser extent) had, lack fleshing out or folklore/mythology like the aforementioned regions had (minus Kanto this time) that gave it life, lack actual locations to set towns and cities apart, and just simply don't have the same amount of care or effort put into them and the negatives far outweigh the positives.
Also as for what you said; theres quite a lot of people that love this game but aren't fans of the original gen 1, so you don't need to like the originals to appreciate this game which is commonly listed as one of the best remakes of the series. I think 3D pokemon could be great. Legends: Arceus existed after all alongside X/Y and Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, but every other 3D game has been lacking and mediocre cookie-cutter experiences. There's a reason most Pokemon fans prefer the 2D era and list Gens 2-5 (or 3-5 more commonly) as their favorite games.
Newgenners are just as bad as Genwunners; they do the same thing Genwunners do, only the opposite in terms of hating all the old games for no good reason and spreading toxicity and vile hate over them
FRLG and Gen 3 in general would have been better if the physical and special split would have existed
Also, even though Charmander has Metal claw for the first gym, Brock is much more difficult opponent than in Red and Blue because he also has much better movesets. In Red and Blue Brock has zero rock type moves so he couldn't hit you with a super effective move. Now he has Rock Tomb.
Gen 1 was iconic but when you take off your rose-tinted glasses, the game mechanics have aged like milk. FireRed & LeafGreen are still old and don't yet have the physical-special split or fairy type but they are MUCH more playable. Held items, abilities, breeding, dark & steel types, vaguely modern move pools & not suffering from all of the glitches, bugs, dumb AI & broken mechanics of Gen 1 does so much to modernize the game.
I would love for Kanto to get the Legends treatment. I would love it if they'd let us revisit the region in the distant past or perhaps set in the far future with a different story and maybe a more open and explorable environment.
I'm looking forward to fighting into this. I have good memories of these games and often enjoy your brief, relaxed way of covering games.
I agree on Lavender Town being too bright in FRLG, but I wish you would've showed what Pokemon Yellow's Lavender Town looked like on a Gameboy Color instead of showing a black & white Lavender Town. It was a good Lavender color that fit the spookiness IMO.
The main complaint I have is that they restrict you from trading over pokemon from RSE until you complete the game and sevii islands. There is nothin left to really do by that point other than complete your dex. There is no reason to add a johto or hoenn Pokemon to your team. It really kneecaps replay ability. I prefer just to play gen 1 for this reason. The nostalgia isn’t there for the remakes and I can’t do anything new in the remakes anyway so there is no reason for me to play them.
As someone who was playing pokemon within the first months of it coming out stateside, I honestly didnt care for fr/lg when it came out. The look didnt wow me compared to ruby/sapphire and with the journey being so much the same as the original I didnt feel the draw there. Plus this on the heels of the original dex cut really felt like Nintendo wanting 30 dollars to get back the original pokemon in the newer games.
As time goes on though i like it as much as the original set but each have their own ways to make fun. And despite the go games being way easier, I adore the art direction. All three releases live on their own islands in my mind.
FR/LG are my absolute favorite remakes. I like that they remained faithful to the original Red/Blue/Green and saved the changes for the postgame. This may be a controversial take, but I didn't like HG/SS because of how many changes they made. They didn't feel like modern Gold/Silver, they felt like new games that simply reference gen 2 sometimes.
Messy? Sevii Islands, 'nuff said.
Looking forward to throwing myself into that next!
@@aokcraig You'll enjoy it. It's a shame they didn't put it in Let's Go.
Did you just recently play FRLG for the first time? Just wondering because you said that you have not played the post-game before.
I currently play Blue for the first time ever and I'm nearly 17 hours in and currently have 7 badges. Just because it is so slow. No running shoes and the Game itself is so slow.
But I really enjoy it so far. I always was scared of trying Gen 1 on Virtual Console just because I thought there is no way it will be fun, But it actually is a lot of fun.
I have never played FRLG, so it will be next and I'm really interested in finding out if it will be an actual Upgrade or not
I agree the biggest sin of this game was being too faithful. This is a small detail, but you can really see it in caves. Like, in Hoenn (and the Sevii Islands), caves have layers and an intricate orography; while in Kanto, they're mostly big dumb empty spaces with huge boulders around, making the whole thing feel fake with GBA graphics. Which is a shame, because the tileset is much better than Hoenn's.
I enjoy FRLG for what they are but I'd agree that Kanto and by extension most regions need a reimagining. 6 regions are grid based (it's less noticeable in Kalos but it is mostly a grid) while 7 and onward are more natural looking as far as layout. Obviously this has everything to do with older limitations but looking at the anime that's not necessarily reflective of how they truly imagined the pokemon world.
That being said the limitations also add to some charm of older games because when modern NPCs move like they are still on the GBA it's jarring... And game freak just isn't good at optimization... So I'm not sure these hypothetical reimaginings would do justice
Good analysis but I think it’s a slightly harsh take, for me fire red and leaf green are definitely the most iconic
3:08 honestly, I do like the art style, and wish BDSP had the same on the switch.
I mostly agree, though I would've preferred something a bit more like Alpha Sapphire. I loved how that looked.
@@MegaSpideyman I agree. I really liked the ORAS art style
I love how there isnt much you want to say, as you have no attachment or desire to explore Kanto as is. That you found it boring....yet it still stumped you with its route layouts.
HG/SS spoiled fans into wanting remakes full of new side content...hence the backlash of Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl. The remakes have to be basically new games to be accepted.
Remakes don't need to be new games. They are remakes. And using HGSS is not a good argument as it is one of the worst remakes in the franchise. Didn't fix a lot of the issues from the original Gold and Silver. Not to mention that two regions didn't work for it as both regions dragged each other down. I rather play FRLG and BDSP over HGSS and ORAS.
My team was all 3 starters, Pikachu,Snorlax and lapras
I’ve been playing since rby. I’ve replayed those games several times since receiving blue in 98. I’m currently replaying firered since it came out 20 years ago to see if it holds up. I like the updated battle mechanics and exploring the new Sevii islands. I still prefer the original since Kanto feels so barren and the limitations of the gameboy suit it. Let’s go was okay but too gimmicky
Did anyone else see a false E3 article saying this game had a magna train
I think to accurately review these games you have to include post game content. the post game is what puts it over the edge imo
Never thought I’d see a lvl 75 Fearow 🤣
Wish we would get a non let’s go style remake of gen 1. On modern hardware.
I honestly prefer fire red over emerald/ruby sapphire. I like the pokemon more. The gym leader are better as well as the region.
Emerald has better legendaries probably. Or just more of them. I am a stickler for mewtwo though but idk i really like groudon and Rayquaza too
I remember getting Leaf Green back in 2004 and loving it, since i'm more of a Bulbasaur fan than a Charmander fan although you could only find the Growlithe line in Fire Red. Nowadays like most of the gen 3 games i have to play them on 2x to 4x speed on emulator since they feel slow to me.
I actually just beat FireRed this weekend to enable trade with Ruby and Sapphire
Awesome, well done.
I prefer Pokemmo also for being harder and having the later ds game upgraded graphics for Kanto!
It's just so empty as a remake. Sure it adds abilities and replay trainers plus new moves but so much empty air in the world like the sebii islands that could have been cool to have gym leaders fight rematches to see how truly strong they are
Emerald did this best
@@ivanbluecool One of the ebst games in the franchise is FR/LG. It succeeds everywhere gen 1 didnt and I'll take it over any 3D game ever
@@shewolfcub3 gen wunner
@@ivanbluecool Nah. Gen one is not great. Firered and Leafgreen are objectively pretty great games. Funny to pull the "genwunner" card simply because I dont like the sloggy messes of the 3D games which are lacking in depth, exploration, and fleshing out that the 2D games have.
Gen 5 is my favorite gen actually followed by 3 and 4 for actually having great characters, good exploration and regions with a lot of character and lore. 6 and 2 are both up there for me as well for similar reasons plus great gameplay despite 6 having basically zero difficulty.
@@ivanbluecool Also Newgenners are even more infuriating; they go and call people genwunners for no reason and then also hate on the older games for weak, easily debatable rudimentary reasons and act EXTREMELY toxic towards other fans and people in general. They also don't appreciate anything to do with older games despite laying the foundation for the franchise or try to ruin reputation of older games.
This; the EXACT same way that genwunners do that towards the new games.
@@ivanbluecool Nothing else to add I see.
i love these however they seem unfinished with the lack of johto pokemon.
For some reason I thought there was a move deleter in gen 1 games too
I thought the remakes that divide opinion most were the Sinnoh games, the amount of unnecessary hate they get is ridiculous where as FireRed and LeafGreen as well as HeartGold and SoulSilver are pretty much accepted as the blueprint for remakes.
HGSS isn't the blueprint of remakes. People overpraised that terrible remake. Keeps most Gold and Silver issues while inheriting problems from the gen 4 games. Who asked for Rock Climb being added to the game? Why are gen 2 pokemon still locked behind kanto? Why is the gen 2 pokemon not promoted enough by the gym leaders and elite four? Honestly Johto needed a reboot without Kanto involved.
Agreed we need a new Kanto
I really enjoy fire red/leaf green. Besides HGSS it’s my favorite remake
LeafGreen was the first Pokémon game I ever played (on an emulator), but I personally prefer Let's Go as Kanto games. These games are not bad, though, even if the faithfulness results in a lot of repetitive Pokémon teams.
One reason why these games were made was to make all the Kanto Pokémon available in Generation III, as the jump from Game Boy to GBA had left all the Pokémon from the first two generations stranded in the previous consoles.
I actually wished that Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen were released before Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire. Just so that all generation 3 Pokemon core/ mainline games would be able to use the wireless adapter.
=/
Kanto is better than Johto
Fun fact: The girl was named Lostelle in English because her Japanese name was “Mayo” which is an actual name that sounds like the word “Mayoi” (lost).
uh bye bye a go go
People love to shit on lets go but honestly its the game that made me love Kanto. Glad they made it as Kanto needed it.
Kanto was already great with FR/Lg. I hate Lets Go for giving all of Red's canonical achievements to randoms, removing one of the best rivals in the series and relegating him to being a side character and replacing him with one of the worst. Plus they FINALLY made Green canon and shoved her aside as an NPC
LGPE isn’t part of the main canon timeline. It is its own continuity, so none of those complaints really matter much..
@@JW-dp4we I disagree with that. There's no indication within the game itself of that being the case. Especially since now we have games like Legends Arceus which had a different catching style as well as not including "Pocket Monsters" in the Japanese title...
Plus if you look at the animations done a couple years back where they redid scenes from various games in the series, Lets' Go was used for Kanto. We also now now it can work with SM timeline wise since Red and Blue have been confirmed to be 20 in SM, so Mina's age now fits perfectly being around 10 in LG and around 19 in Alola.
At the very least, Let's Go is as canon as as any alternate version is. However frankly I do consider it as the canon Kanto version at least as far as the Mega Timeline is considered.
@@JW-dp4we Its still irritating relegating multiple beloved characters to the side, and having a rival thats more often annoying than endearing. The catching mechanics are way too easy and feel like Pokémon Go levels of easy rather than being intricately designed like every other game up to this point; most of the game just feels like you dont have to try at all or work towards actually raising your team. People complain about X and Y for the same reasons but this does it even worse.
They changed virtually nothing, took away a lot of the improvements to flesh out characters and locations and the region in general that FR/LG did and its just depressing. I already found Gen 7 to be a letdown, this just solidified it as a non-enjoyable one in my book. The switch era as a whole only has had one game so far, that being Legends Arceus
@shewolfcub3 Blue is still in the game though... and sorry no you clearly did not play X and Y if you thought it was harder 💀💀💀
The portable box is fucking awesome. You can switch out your team on the fly and the game honestly stayschallenging if you're constantly swapping around to evolve for the pokedex.
Also on Red... that bothered me until I realized you can literally just rename the protagonist to Red and it's close enough.
In a Johto remake, if we ever get one, I don't think we really do, but even a port of HGSS this would be super based, if Red actually was just replaced on Mt Silver with a player based on your LGPE savedata. Would be based.
Platinum was the last great Pokemon game.
Are FRLG perfect? no. No game is. But I prefer this than to that messier HGSS which is arguably the worst remake in the franchise. Followed by ORAS who couldn't stay faithful to the originals and add too much. FRLG and BDSP were the best remakes in the franchise. Lets Go is alright but the Go mechanics and mega evolution was not needed.
I can’t give you a like because you said you needed a guide to get past victory Road… Come on man… It’s a children’s game that I beat when I was like five years old and couldn’t even read