Revisit your memories with this excellent remake of Pokemon Red & Blue.
There's no doubt Red & Blue are the most memorable games ever to be released on handheld, up there with the handheld Zelda's as some of the bona fide best portable games ever. And with Leaf Green, Nintendo have spiced those adventures up and made them beefier. It's a splendid remake, but now it seems that all Pokemon games are remakes and I'm getting a bit fed up of it - and to top it all I'm forced to get a DS to experience further golden Pokemon adventures.
Leaf Green may be just a remake, but it's a fine one at that. It's been made somewhat more user-friendly in this one, evening out the learning curve, giving you a helpful information screen, and giving you more instructions than the ancient originals. And of course, this being almost a decade on, the graphics have been given a heavy dose of improvement, instead of the generic all-one-colour originals. Here it is technicolor fever, with colourful, lovable Pokemon sprites, slightly more interesting environments, and better character models. It's got a strong liking for basic and primary colours, it's all very basic, but you can't deny Leaf Green's sense of style. It's just like you can't deny that the music industry is dying.
The tunes are more sophisticated this time, instead of the basic ones on the old clunky Game Boy. And they are still as hummable and recognizable as ever. But the familiar "clink" sound as you scroll through dialogue and accept options will really really really get on your nerves. There's nothing outstanding here though, there's better on the GBA. Remixed
The gameplay is, thankfully, just as addictive and fantastic as ever; exactly the same formula that made Pokemon so golden all those years ago. Catch, battle... it's all the same, but even more polished and feature-packed than ever. It's a very addicting blend of battling, puzzling, thought and exploration, simply a very good, imaginative RPG that's rarely seen. All the Pokemon are memorable, all the battles are memorable, all the elements are memorable. And all the new additions - wireless adaptor compatibility, new multiplayer elements, seven new islands, the National Pokedex: all of them add even more value to one of the longest-lasting games on the GBA. It will last days, weeks, months, possibly years.
Yes, if you liked the first two Pokemon games, and are a fan of Pokemon in general, buy this game. If you liked anything remotely similar to Pokemon, buy this game. If you want a good, intricate, memorable game on GBA, buy this game. No... if you own a GBA, buy this game, it's as simple as that. A great remake of one of the greatest handheld games ever.