Pokemon FireRed And LeafGreen Coming To Switch Feb 27

"The arrival of these two 22-year-old versions of a 30-year-old game as a paid download, and not as new entries in the GBA section of Nintendo's Online subscription package, is a bizarre and pretty shocking choice. Some might say a mercenary one. There surely was the potential that they could have been made available for free to celebrate the franchise's 30th birthday, and given how ancient they are and how appropriate it would be...that's obviously not happening."

"The GBA versions of these two games had sold a combined total of 11.82 million copies in their first four years on sale. That's over $400 million. They kinda made their money back. Nintendo could so easily celebrate this huge anniversary by having these be available for free, gain so much good will, and get nostalgic players hyped for Poke9mon again ahead of the release of the new game this winter. Gah. Twenty sodding dollars."

Poke9mon FireRed and LeafGreen, the Game Boy Advance remakes of the original English-language Poke9mon games, will release on Switch and Switch 2 on February 27, 2026 as downloadable titles available immediately after the 30th anniversary Poke9mon Direct. Each game costs $20 and will not support online features. Nintendo opted to sell these 22-year-old versions as paid downloads rather than include them in the GBA section of the Nintendo Online subscription. The original GBA releases sold a combined 11.82 million copies in their first four years, generating over $400 million, prompting criticism that a free release would have been a stronger goodwill gesture.

Read at Kotaku