Pokemon Firered & Leafgreen being released... not on Switch Online

[DarthGohan1]

Initial excitement turned quickly to disappointment today when I saw the announcement that Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen are coming to Switch. Nintendo is releasing them each as $20 standalone games, no physical version, and they are not on Switch online. I've subscribed to Switch online for years hoping the original Pokemon games would be released at some point. Gen 1, 2 and 3 should all be on there. Instead they're releasing straight up ports (not even remasters in any way) for $20 each. And no collectible value with a physical release. Just feels like a slap in the face from Nintendo. In the past it really felt like they put their fans above pure profits (while still making plenty of $$ by putting out such amazing products). Feels like they're squeezing fans for every penny they can get lately. This at least has me considering not renewing my Switch online subscription.

Anyone planning on getting these? Or also disappointed they won't be included in switch online?

 

[-Apples-]

I don’t plan on getting them. But it sounds like Nintendo is continuing to make bad decision. They keep this up, they will become the worst company on the planet.

I hope they at least release Red/Blue/Yellow and Gold/Silver/Crystal on NSO. And not exclusive to the Switch 2.

 

[S.J.]

The price is a bit disappointing! I already have a long backlog of games to play, so it's not on my list for the immediate future. It's possible I'll buy LeafGreen at some point.

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

Hmm, it is strange that its not part of Switch online since its not even a remaster... but I might end up buying it anyway because I would love to play an older gen pokemon game on the switch. I miss the older graphics so much

 

[Rykertimee]

DANG IT NINTENDO.

I SUBSCRIBE TO YOUR NSO EXPANSION PACK AND YOU SABOTAGE ME LIKE THIS? WHY?

Now I have to pay 20 dollars for something I should've been able to play with my Expansion Pack that I paid 50 bucks for. Seriously thinking about canceling that expansion.

 

[BakaRina]

My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined after seeing the price tag and the fact that you would have to pay for different languages too. I’m pretty sure the event stuff isn’t included but I could be wrong? I dunno.

 

[SkyKnight03]

I'm excited.

I've wanted an official rerelease of these for a long time.

Particularly, Pokemon isn't something I want to be held behind a digital subscription service. I'd rather purchase these digitally and keep them.

I strongly preference virtual console with invidiual purchases over a paid pre picked selection anyways.

 

[Suguri]

I will not be getting this so I'm neutral on the release. But I will say that I'm at least grateful that you don't have to pay a subscription to continue playing them.

Additionally I read in another discussion that the reason why they are not on NSO might be because of cloud saves, save states, and rewinding; Game Freak (the actual devs, since Nintendo just publishes their games) probably doesn't want anyone to cheat or develop exploits using those features. So something to keep in mind.

 

[DarthGohan1]

I will not be getting this so I'm neutral on the release. But I will say that I'm at least grateful that you don't have to pay a subscription to continue playing them.

Additionally I read in another discussion that the reason why they are not on NSO might be because of cloud saves, save states, and rewinding; Game Freak (the actual devs, since Nintendo just publishes their games) probably doesn't want anyone to cheat or develop exploits using those features. So something to keep in mind.

a lot of people are saying that.... but that would be very easy for them to disable for specific games. pretty sure the reason for these being standalone purchases is $$$$

 

[Suguri]

a lot of people are saying that.... but that would be very easy for them to disable for specific games. pretty sure the reason for these being standalone purchases is $$$$

I'm basically playing devil's advocate at this point but with the hundreds of retro games already on NSO, they'll probably take forever to pick out which games should have these features removed and which to keep intact.

I will not respond to any further replies.

 

[toxapex]

Price could be better and I'm not buying it but I guess it's nice that these games are on there for those don't... own an official copy of the original games...

 

[Giddy]

Wait, I was a bit confused of this part.
There's the Nintendo Online that you need to use to play multiplayer to even play some of the games, and then there's the costly subscribtion, and that one is the one you need to even play these games?

Because if so, sorry Nintendo I don't have money for that over priced subscribtion. Just because it's going to the costly one they're trying to get more people to buy for, isn't working for me. It's making me avoid it all together.

Besides, I literally have both physcial genuine copies of the games that I can play. I was actually in the middle of getting some Pokemon from Fire red to trade over so each game has each one of the pokemon via the pokedex.
(The only genuine game I don't have is Emerald which is a shame)

You should see the facebook comments, everyone fighting over wanting to get the games, to making fun of people who can't afford it, people arguing about having physical copies, to people saying they can get the emulator version for free. Madness.
But none really talking about Nintendo in this situation.

I guess I am a bit tired of seeing Kanto being the only region that we get to see all the time.
It would be interesting to see how trading works and how they can battle other people.

 

[LittleMissPanda]

It's clearly for the but fortunate for me, I bought FireRed at a store back in 2004 and to this day I still have that copy. It works perfectly and the cartridge is in great condition. I've taken good care of my precious throughout the years. The only thing I wish I still had was the box, but I still have the booklet, at least.

$39.99 USD well spent back in the day. Otherwise, I'd have to shell out hundreds for a copy, and even then I'd have to worry about whether or not it were an authentic copy. Lots of fake/bootleg copies floating in cyberspace. But mine is the real deal. I'm so glad 14-year-old me did the right thing with that birthday money lol

The best part is, I can pop it in and play whenever I want on either my Pikachu Edition GBA SP, original GBA hardware (good thing batteries are still a thing lol) or the GBA Player, so take THAT, Nintendo

 

[Ginny Potter]

I have the original Pokémon Yellow. Which my brother tried to take from me but didn't get it due to it's Pikachu.

 

[DarthGohan1]

Wait, I was a bit confused of this part.
There's the Nintendo Online that you need to use to play multiplayer to even play some of the games, and then there's the costly subscribtion, and that one is the one you need to even play these games?

Because if so, sorry Nintendo I don't have money for that over priced subscribtion. Just because it's going to the costly one they're trying to get more people to buy for, isn't working for me. It's making me avoid it all together.

Besides, I literally have both physcial genuine copies of the games that I can play. I was actually in the middle of getting some Pokemon from Fire red to trade over so each game has each one of the pokemon via the pokedex.
(The only genuine game I don't have is Emerald which is a shame)

You should see the facebook comments, everyone fighting over wanting to get the games, to making fun of people who can't afford it, people arguing about having physical copies, to people saying they can get the emulator version for free. Madness.
But none really talking about Nintendo in this situation.

I guess I am a bit tired of seeing Kanto being the only region that we get to see all the time.
It would be interesting to see how trading works and how they can battle other people.

So Switch Online (including GBA and N64 games, and Gamecube for Switch 2) is $50 / year. For reference, there are already 30 other GBA games available on Switch Online, with several hundred total classic games total.

Pokemon Home is another $16 / year, if you want to store more than 30 Pokemon.

Even if you're subscribed to both of those, you'll still need to pay $20 to download FireRed OR LeafGreen. And no online play. Home connection is rumored, but not available at this time with no official confirmation from Nintendo/Gamefreak.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I am getting both games. At least I can trade between my Switch consoles without needing to use different Nintendo accounts.

 

[Corrie]

This is the punishment we get for doing things legally.

 

[Neb]

This feels like the bare minimum for a rerelease. I wish GameFeak put them on both the NSO app and the eshop so people had the choice to choose how they played the game.

Charging money just to play in different languages is also aggravating. Being able to swap between languages in games is a basic free feature in nearly every game these days, even terrible games.

$20 is considerably cheaper than buying original copies from people off eBay, but it’s still steep for 22 year old games that are almost entirely unchanged. They could’ve at least made them widescreen or added backgrounds to fill up the screen.

I will likely buy these anyway since the games themselves are good and my only physical copy is an old bootleg, but I totally understand other people’s choice to not get them.