Forget the Switch 2's power – its latest game proves the GBA era still holds sway

Depending on what side of the aisle you sit on, Pokémon played a bit of an interesting hand for its 30th anniversary last week. On Pokémon Day, it gave us a fairly chunky presentation full of announcements, culminating in unveiling Winds and Waves, the next mainline games.

I think they look fairly brilliant from the limited amount we've seen, but they're not going to come out until some time in 2027, meaning there's a bit of a void in the Pokémon world until then. In a couple of days, people will be able to jump into Pokopia, a new spinoff that's more chilled-out, but it's not exactly a traditional Pokémon game.

Luckily, we already knew that Pokémon Day would also bring two long-awaited re-releases, in the form of FireRed and LeafGreen, one of the most beloved generations of the whole series from back in the glory days of the Game Boy Advance.

They're now available on the Switch and Switch 2 eShops, and I've been playing FireRed again while working remotely from MWC this weekend in Barcelona. It's been quite a treat for my fairly limited slices of free time, since I vividly remember playing FireRed back when it came out in 2004, as a nine-year-old (to date myself).

Back then I might have been a little reliant on cheat cartridges to speed up subsequen runs through the game, since it does require a little more grinding and training than later entries, but the core of its journey through Kanto remains seared into my memories, and I'm having a brilliant time sprinting through it again.

Pokémon FireRed Version and Pokémon LeafGreen Version on Nintendo Switch - YouTube

Watch On

It's also a timely reminder that the Pokémon series hasn't always been as technically ropey as its last few releases have made it seem. FireRed looked brilliant for a GBA game, especially since the GBA SP had already brought a backlight to the table when it came out.

Even now, its pixel-art holds up brilliantly, albeit with fewer animations than I'd like, and its environments are vivid and clearly delineated. When you layer on one of the most iconic chiptune soundtracks of all time, you get a game that has no right to look this charming while using (presumably) a tiny fraction of the Switch 2's actual processing and graphical power.

I'm enthused about the visuals of Winds and Waves, almost despite myself, but if you offered me the chance for Nintendo to make another pixel-graphic Pokémon game, I'd honestly grab it with both hands. Maybe I'm just in the flush of nostalgia now that FireRed and LeafGreen are back, but it's got me feeling old-school.