Well, the long-awaited Pokemon Fire Red and Pokemon Leaf Green have finally been released in N. America. They came out on Sept. 7, having been out since Jan. 29 in Japan. For those of you who live in Europe, they'll be there Oct 1st. So I picked this up, and started playing and I was blown away. It still has that charm of Pokemon Red/Blue (Green), but with the updated graphics, they become amazing (not to mention you get the running shoes at the beginning of the game).
 | Another big reason to get one of these games is the link. You can either link up with other Fire Red/Leaf Green cartridges via the Wireless Adapter, or using the Link Cable. This means that you can trade the old pokemon back into your Ruby/Sapphire cartridge. Not to mention that linking up will fix the Berry/Time Glitch if it has occured. This glitch occurs for this reason: once a year has passed since the cartridge has been activated, time pretty much freezes in the game. A berry, when planted in the ground, will never grow, no matter how many times it's watered. The lottery can only the picked once, and then for the rest of the time, even the next day, it will be as if you have already picked a number. Tides don't change in the Shoal Cave and daily berry givers don't give berries daily. Basically, the game is stuck on the same time. Nintendo has offered a patch for this, and they have incorporated it into Fire Red/Leaf Green. When you link up with Ruby/Sapphire, it updates the "Berry Program" and the glitch is fixed. |
There's not much difference to the gameplay then to Red/Blue. Unfortunately, the TMs are the same as Ru/Sa as opposed to Red/Blue. Of course, the pokemon can learn the new moves, such as Rock Tomb, etc. Battle animations are the same as Ruby/Sapphire. And now you don't have to wait until Vermillion to travel faster than walking speed (yay!). Now you only have to wait until you defeat Brock (first badge). The font is also smaller than Ruby/Sapphire, and it's not so squished.
Now, some changes from Red/Blue. Obviously, the graphics, but also the metagame. The moves from Ruby/Sapphire have come in, and now, you can use 4 new moves that were only in Ruby/Sapphire by sharking. These are Blast Burn, Frenzy Plant, Hydro Cannon and Icicle Spear. The first three are elemental Hyper Beams, taught to your starter by a woman on one of the islands near the end of the game. Icicle Spear is like an Ice-type fury attack.
There are also plot changes from Red/Blue. Most are minor, but one big one is the addition of 9 new islands. More islands become accessible as one progresses through the game, but 8 and 9, holding two legendary pokemon, are only reached using the Mystic and the Aurora ticket (much like the Eon Ticket of R/S).
Another nice addition is Move Tutors throughout the world map. For example, in Celadon City, the man who used to give you TM 41 (Softboiled), instead now himself teaches Softboiled to one of your pokemon. There's one who teaches Thunder Wave north of Cerulean, and Mega Punch/Kick just outside of Mt. Moon. The one negative side is that they only teach the move once.
With the Wireless Adapter, two games can now be linked without that annoying cord. You can go into what's called a Union Room. Here, you can chat (it goes rather slowly; you have to choose the letters with the D-pad), trade and even battle, all over a wireless connection. Of course, you can still link with the cable. You can link to R/S after beating the E4 and the islands. You'll have to use the cable then.
Screenshots:
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|  Pallet |  Viridian |
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 Pidgey! |  Bubble Attack |
|  Map |
 How to catch |
 Viridian Forest |  Viridian Forest |  First Trainer |
