Back in February, The Pokemon Company announced plenty of upcoming releases, merchandise, and events poised to mark the franchise’s 30th anniversary in style. First came news that Game Boy Advance titles Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen would be coming to Nintendo Switch. The surprise launch of arguably the series’ best ever games was huge, even if its price point proved a smidge steep.
FireRed & LeafGreen’s launch coincided with Pokemon Day, where a livestream announced the upcoming tenth generation. Here, we met Pokemon Winds & Waves, coming exclusively to Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027. While everyone was busy choosing between the beloved Kanto starters once more, fans around the world simultaneously fell in love with the new trio – angry Grass bird Browt, immediately beloved Fire puppy Pombon, and also there is Water gecko Gecqua.
Pokemon Dataminer Finds Evidence That Nintendo May Be Working On Gen 3 Ports After FireRed And LeafGreen
FireRed and LeafGreen might just be the beginning of Nintendo’s plans to bring back classic Pokemon games.
Naturally, Pokemon fans pored through the trailer frame-by-frame to find out as much information as they could about the upcoming open world and any potential new Pokemon. The hype around the announcement has been roaring ever since. A big part of this excitement comes from a sentiment I’ve heard echoed quite a lot over the years: the hope that we’ll finally get a ‘good’ Pokemon game on the Nintendo Switch.
It’s true, Pokemon games are no longer the top of the class on modern machinery the way they once were on Nintendo’s handhelds. But in the rush for Winds & Waves, we’re kind of forgetting the whole point of an anniversary: pausing and appreciating where we’ve been. That’s why FireRed & LeafGreen matter.
The Mainline Pokemon Titles On Switch Were Lackluster
I could never make excuses for The Pokemon Company and Game Freak when it comes to the mainline titles released on the original Nintendo Switch. Generation eight’s Sword & Shield were some of the most forgettable games yet, no matter how much I adored Leon.
While people do remember the ninth generation’s Scarlet & Violet far more, it’s not exactly for the right reasons: the games were plagued by framerate issues and poor overall design that made them both unpleasant experiences. A Switch 2 patch would improve visuals and performance after three long years of clipping our way through Paldea, but even then, they still kinda suck.
I don’t own a Switch 2 yet, but I’m hoping to before the launch of Pokemon Winds & Waves next year, because it’ll thankfully be a console-exclusive. The machine will be two years old by then, so hopefully first-party developers will shift their resources entirely to take advantage of superior visuals and performance, The Pokemon Company very much included. The fact that they’re not quite there yet on the first Switch, though, has me nervous.
Games in the series had already begun dipping in quality before hitting the Switch, and the mainline ones haven’t gotten much better since. X & Y were the first to feel like a big leap for the series, showing us just what the 3DS could do. Soon after, Sun & Moon on the same console left much to be desired, with Pokemon fans not really loving their island-hopping gimmick that brought a significantly more hand-holdy experience.
The comparison we’ve already seen between multiple generations of Pokemon games is the water quality, and it seems to be the graphical litmus test even this long later. Fans the internet over have been comparing wave textures between Paldea and the upcoming region. Some argue that you can’t hold the limitations of the console against Pokemon, but others (like me, who hath eyes) point out that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was a launch title for the console and looked incredible back in 2017, so there are few excuses.
The Zora have long left their flat, lifeless seas behind and have been enjoying the more realistic realms of the Switch for a decade now, and plenty of indies have come along that pushed its limits to beautiful heights – so why is Pokemon so far behind?
Looking Forward By Looking Back
While Pokemon fans have endured plenty of hiccups on the original Switch, we’ve had some pretty good times as well, even if those mostly come in the form of spin-off titles. I began playing Pokemon LeafGreen immediately after putting down Pokemon Legends: Z-A, which offered months of fun. While it’s not a true mainline game, there are plenty of things I’d love to see adopted by the core series.
Legends Z-A’s aesthetic is cartoonish, fun, and filled with personality, while its gameplay offers plenty of side quests and optional tasks to keep trainers busy. The compelling changes to the battle system resulted in some of the most fun I’ve ever had with Pokemon, so much so that going back to older games now is incredibly jarring. In these ways, the Kalos we got in the title about Gen six’s forgotten legendary felt almost like what they wanted Sun & Moon to feel like a decade ago.
In fact, many of the highest-rated Pokemon games for the original Switch have been spin-offs. The closed-open world of Legends: Z-A that shook up the core gameplay mechanic in a new and refreshing way, New Pokemon Snap brought us back in time to the original Nintendo 64 with more mechanics to engage with than ever, while Pokken Tournament offered a fighting game that felt pulled straight from bustling Japanese arcades. Finally, there was Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, which lovingly created Pokemon’s best attempt at roguelite, plus plenty more original ways to approach the series.
Even without such spin-offs, other favorite Pokemon titles for the first Switch have been either remakes or remasters of older games. We got games that took us back to Kanto in refreshing ways like Let’s Go Pikachu & Let’s Go Eevee, Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl in chibi style, and now the ports of FireRed & LeafGreen that have brought us back to Kanto yet again.
While I hate the stereotype we’ve garnered over the years, I’m a tried-and-true Genwunner kid when it comes to Pokemon. I was the target demographic when the franchise first came to the West back in the late 1990s, a grade school child who’d rush off the bus to watch the anime with her brother before spending all evening on our copies of Pokemon Red & Blue. It was through these classic games that I first established my love for Pokemon, and it’s a feeling that’s stayed with me for decades now.
Jumping back in time so starkly, going from one of the most recent titles to one of the oldest back-to-back like I did, has given me the most beautiful whiplash, since I’ve been part of the franchise’s journey since its very earliest days. I know I’m not the only old-head loving the dive back into my childhood with pixelated Pokemon that take hours to grind for levels, but I also loved a 3D sprite running behind her Pokemon partner just as much.
They’ll never make everyone happy at once, but as someone who’s been around from the start, it’s been really fun to spend the last week or so looking at where the series has been, where it is today (for better or worse), and where it’s going next. I’ve been along for the ride pretty much the whole time, and though I’m loving my time back in an improved version of my first Pokemon game, I can’t wait to see what’s coming for me next when Pokemon Winds & Waves launches in 2027.
- Created by
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Satoshi Tajiri
- First Film
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Pokemon: The First Movie
- Latest Film
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Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle
- First Episode Air Date
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April 1, 1997
- Video Game(s)
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Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, Pokemon Legends Arceus, Pokemon Sword and Shield, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, Pokemon Sun and Moon, Pokemon Black and White, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, Pokémon GO, Pokemon Snap, Pokémon Unite, New Pokémon Snap, Pokémon Masters EX, Pokemon TCG Live
