Review - Pokemon: LeafGreen Version
"Your very own Pokémon legend is about to unfold! A world of dreams and adventures with Pokémon awaits!"
Pokemon: LeafGreen Version
Nintendo, The Pokemon Company / GBA, NSW
Played on Nintendo Switch 2
Story & Lore
Pokémon: LeafGreen and its other companion, FireRed, are remakes of the original Pokémon: Fire and Green Version that originally launched the massive franchise. You know the deal - you are tasked, despite being a child (there are a lot of jokes about this I can make), to go on a journey and collect, battle, and document Pokémon in the region of Kanto by a local town scientist, Professor Oak. Oak’s grandson is your rival who focuses on battling almost exclusively and wants to be the greatest Pokémon trainer. You get a choice to pick your first Pokémon between Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle - the greatest decision in all of gaming that you will make. From there, you visit the region to take on Gym Leaders, who give you badges to qualify for the Pokémon Indigo League. You may even encounter some legendary Pokemon along the way.
For my part, I chose the girl character (canonically known as Leaf) and named her after my daughter, with the idea that I could share this with her and that she was the one on this journey. While she did lose interest after making the pick of Squirtle (which was the pick I made when I played Blue Version!), I still shared updates with her, which was a cool experience. Even though I had experience playing Pokémon in the past, the last time I played through a whole game was Silver Version, and I had never played these remakes. The overall story and moments were the same, but they added a new endgame and new islands that did make for new experiences. The story format is timeless, even if the setup is simple. I felt a lot of nostalgia while playing it, especially during the major moments.
Characters & Writing
Revisiting this game reminded me how strong the character ensemble is. You have your rival, who’s not a bad kid per se, just overconfident. The Gym leaders do a good job feeling like a big deal, and this time around the Elite Four feel even more epic than the original. There are numerous side characters like Bill, who make a good impression despite small moments. Team Rocket, the villains of the game, are a much stronger villain than I remembered. These guys do some really messed-up stuff, and it shows that the Jesse and James versions, as iconic as they are, dumb down just how evil this group is. It’s not Game of the Year type of writing or character arcs, but they are so memorable, and you understand why they left such an impression for so many kids at the time.
Gameplay & Mechanics
Pokémon is a typical turn-based RPG, as your Pokémon battle other Pokémon to win battles. You’ll face trainers, Team Rocket, wild Pokémon, and Gym Leaders. Each Pokémon has its own moves and special attacks, based on its elemental types. This is where the battles really shine for me, as the power and element types do matter. If you have a fire Pokémon, you’re going to get destroyed by a water Pokémon. There are other effects like poison, paralyze, and sleep. In this remake, they added new effects that weren’t in the original, bringing the battles up to the level of the games released in 2004 in the series. Most of the fights are fair, with the exception of the Elite Four, who, in my opinion, had big power level spikes and had way too many healing items, which came off unfair.
Pokémon get stronger as they earn experience points and evolve into stronger forms. Some Pokémon require special conditions to evolve, such as stones and trading. Quick point - I HATE the trade evolutions; I’ve always felt that was a dumb mechanic decision by the developers. Training your Pokémon is based on battles and encounters with wild Pokémon. You can also have Pokémon learn new moves as they get stronger, and you can use what are called TMs and HMs to give them special moves, which can also be used in some cases to open up new areas and travel the map. While leveling up your Pokemon isn’t too bad, if you want a five to six Pokemon team, it does get tricky to balance focusing on each one to level up, which did catch up with me towards the final hours of the game and did become a bit of a nuisance.
Catching Pokemon requires using the Poke Balls at the right time, and there are a few versions to help you along the way. I do have to complain here, though, that catching the legendary Pokemon was insanely hard. I do not remember it being that hard to get them. It feels like a giant game of luck, and I just think it’s a broken design. I understand these guys are the big ones to get, but I shouldn’t have to rely on good luck and throwing a thousand Ultra Balls to get the job done. I just think that was horribly done.
World & Level Design
Pokémon’s world and how to get around it are easy to understand. It technically opens up as you keep progressing, but it’s sort of hidden well that it’s a linear game for the most part. I did feel like the game’s pacing was slower than I remembered, which got annoying at times, but big props to the quality-of-life upgrade they made by giving you running shoes to walk faster, since it takes a while to get a bicycle. You’ll also have to use your Pokémon to travel to parts of the map using Surf to traverse water, or Cut to open new paths.
The world is special, especially for nostalgic players. In reality, this is a very simple-looking world, but it has a charm of the Game Boy era, with its sprites giving it a personality that stays with you. The towns feel small, and then open up when you reach places like Celadon City and Fuschia City. The cities have a familiar feel, but each still gives off its own lore and look. Each route, town, and cave is ready to be explored, unlocking all the characters and creatures that make your journey memorable. What else can I say? It's Pokémon; it’s a dream world that makes kids into heroes and leaves childhood memories.
Audio & Sound Design
The remake keeps the iconic soundtrack from the original games, but you can tell they took advantage of the better sound the GBA had over the Game Boy. All the classics and memorable tunes are here, and I quickly found my brain bobbing and going along with each one, bringing back my time spending the early 2000s obsessed with Blue Version. The Gym Leaders, battle themes, and especially the Elite Four, have some bangers that are easy to listen to for fun when doing work. The sound designs are limited by the GBA technology, and the beep sound when selecting anything from moves to items can get a little irritating when you hear it enough times, but I understand what system this originally came from. It’s the same nostalgic soundtrack I love, and it was awesome to experience it again.
Art Direction & Graphics
As I mentioned before, the graphics and layout of towns and environments are fairly simple, but the developers put time and thought into making each area still feel unique. The GBA 2D sprite graphics have aged better, and I do think this remake has MUCH better sprites and graphics than the original. Even though it was based on old technology, as someone who only played the original, it was cool to see Kanto with a graphics bump and much more color and detail.
Direction & Performances
Obviously, nothing to talk about in terms of performance, but the overall game direction is spot on. While the pacing is slower than I would like, they do a great job keeping moments to their assigned times, and even areas you can get away with seeing earlier don’t break the game’s story and arc. Pokémon are placed well, and as I said earlier, battles are mostly fair and the calmer moments come at the right time.
User Experience
Pokémon’s menu is based around your backpack. I did find this frustrating at times, specifically the speed. Your town map is confined to it, so I had to constantly pause, go to the bag, and then click the map to see it. You can assign an action like the map or bicycle to the select button, but once I got the bike, I had to do it the slow way to see the map. That also goes for using items and looking at your inventory; it all moves SO SLOW. I know this is more a sign of the time and the technology, but I was taken aback by how slow it all was. It’s probably the one area of the game that hasn't aged well at all. Outside of the pacing, however, it is at least organized nicely, and you won’t get lost looking for specific items.
Replay Value
There’s no doubt this is one of the more replayable games, depending on how much this was a big part of your childhood. There is a lot to do, especially post-game. I was taken aback by how much they added, including a longer path to get Moltres and Mewtwo. While it’s not Pokémon: Gold and Silver long in terms of post-game content, it’s enough. You can keep trying new Pokemon to add to the Hall of Fame, and you can try to complete the Pokedex as well. Nintendo games tend to be some of the easiest games to replay because they have a whimsical charm to them, especially when it's tied to your memories, and the game has it.
Recommendation
Pokémon is so well known that recommending it or not is easy. I will say that if you are a younger person who has never played this but has played the newer games, I do think, for historical reasons and to understand the franchise, this is a must play. It may have a few things that have aged worse over time, such as the pacing, but it’s still a solid time and a memorable Pokémon adventure. If you’re not into Pokémon, I obviously would tell you not to bother, but if you’re looking for a taste of nostalgia or want to try out the story that started it all, it’s a must-play.
B - Good
So this is an interesting grade I’m going to give this one, as I would put a small note to it. If I were reviewing this when it came out, or just for pure nostalgia, it is easily an A. However, I do think there are enough small things that irked me (difficulty spike with the Elite Four, balancing the team’s levels, pacing, and moving through the menu and items is SLOW) that I feel like this game has aged a bit. Now, this is still a good game, and if you’re looking for nostalgia and some good vibes in this crappy news world we are in right now, this is the game to get. Some will love this game more than I did, and maybe some will fall a little harder, but for me, it was a solid experience and a trip down memory lane. It was also a good warm-up since I do plan to get the new Pokémon Winds and Waves next year.
What an absolute gem of a game (fully biased opinion). Still, I'm so happy people still talk about these releases!