Just as insiders had heavily teased, the rumors of a release of Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen onto the Nintendo Switch 2 have finally been confirmed. Quietly appearing on the Nintendo eShop were separate listings for both Pokemon FireRed and Pokemon LeafGreen, originally released for the Game Boy Advance. Support for Pokemon Home will be included in this digital re-release as well. Both games will launch on February 27, 2026. Each game will be priced at $19.99.

Celebrate 30 years of Pokémon™ with this Nintendo Switch™ version* of the Pokémon FireRed Version game originally released on the Game Boy™ Advance system! Explore the Kanto region, discover wild Pokémon around every corner, and aim to complete your Pokédex as you battle your way to success. Earn badges as you develop winning strategies to use against each experienced Gym Leader, and uncover amazing secrets in your quest to be the best Trainer.

This digital exclusive contains the Sevii islands, where even more Pokémon await. You can also visit the Pokémon Wireless Club to trade, battle, and chat with other players via local wireless**!

Support for Pokémon HOME is coming soon

You’ll be able to bring the Pokémon you catch and train to the place where all Pokémon gather—support for Pokémon HOME is coming to Pokémon FireRed Version!

Source

 

[DeadSkullzJr]

Oh, not to worry, I definitely won't buy it.

Are you implying that a discussion forum should only contain praise?

No, I'm implying that if people are going to complain, make it make sense, rather than being anal sticklers about every little thing imaginable just for the hell of it, and ignoring the way things were handled in previous console eras. It's not much of a discussion if the points made are pretty baseless.

No, no it wouldn't. You make a menu that loads the localized ROM in question. Or, do what the Switch eshop allows you to do - allow downloads of all the versions with a single purchase.

What Nintendo did here is literally no different from what they did on the Wii, 3DS, and Wii U. When you bought a specific language version of a title, you weren't just handed ALL of the language versions, you were given the specific language version you purchased. I still distinctly remember this design philosophy, especially with the first and second generation Pokémon games on the 3DS. They aren't doing anything here that's out of the ordinary for these older games. You just expected more than you needed.

 

[Chary]

Which QOL hacks would you recommend? I wanna try em

FireRed/LeafGreen+ stay true to the originals but add in aspects from Gen V onward that make the games feel less dated. Radical Red is a huge overhaul that adds in like, every Pokemon ever but also adds a lot of challenge, and recharged Yellow that adds HGSS following, day/night, and really changes a lot of the tilesets to look nicer.

 

[LusoPlayer]

I'm going to be honest, I don't understand a lot of these complaints.

1. The original MSRP of these games for the Game Boy Advance were $39.99 USD. Obviously price varies between different regions, but the point is, it's $19.99 USD in the eShop. That's HALF the price you paid back then for these games. It's infinitely better than paying $100+ for a used copy, and whatever stupid absurdities for a new old stock copy. It's still better than paying hundreds if not thousands collectively through subscription, for mere temporary access.

The price is a fair complaint. 10 years ago, the originals were released on the eShop for $10. The price should have been the same now.

FireRed/LeafGreen+ stay true to the originals but add in aspects from Gen V onward that make the games feel less dated. Radical Red is a huge overhaul that adds in like, every Pokemon ever but also adds a lot of challenge, and recharged Yellow that adds HGSS following, day/night, and really changes a lot of the tilesets to look nicer.

There's no branch of FRLG+ exclusively with bugfixes, is there?

 

[skawo]

~

You haven't even noticed who I was replying to,

What Nintendo did here is literally no different from what they did on the Wii, 3DS, and Wii U. When you bought a specific language version of a title, you weren't just handed ALL of the language versions, you were given the specific language version you purchased. I still distinctly remember this design philosophy, especially with the first and second generation Pokémon games on the 3DS. They aren't doing anything here that's out of the ordinary for these older games. You just expected more than you needed.

Yes, they did. And now they have the infrastructure in place to do it right, so they should be using it. There is literally no reason for them not to.

 

[The Catboy]

FireRed/LeafGreen+ stay true to the originals but add in aspects from Gen V onward that make the games feel less dated. Radical Red is a huge overhaul that adds in like, every Pokemon ever but also adds a lot of challenge, and recharged Yellow that adds HGSS following, day/night, and really changes a lot of the tilesets to look nicer.

Thanks! I shall check them out!

 

[DeadSkullzJr]

The price is a fair complaint. 10 years ago, the originals were released on the eShop for $10. The price should have been the same now.

Uh... Unless I somehow missed something, Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, or really any of the main line Game Boy Advance Pokémon games for that matter, never made it to the eShop on the Wii, 3DS, or Wii U. We had the first two generations come out, that was it. So I don't even know where that price point came from. The Wii never had GBA virtual console titles, the GBA virtual console titles on the 3DS were ambassador program only, meaning you couldn't buy GBA virtual console titles at all in the 3DS eShop. The Wii U was the only platform you could buy them from, and there were no third generation Pokémon games there.

 

[Scarlet]

FireRed/LeafGreen+ stay true to the originals but add in aspects from Gen V onward that make the games feel less dated. Radical Red is a huge overhaul that adds in like, every Pokemon ever but also adds a lot of challenge, and recharged Yellow that adds HGSS following, day/night, and really changes a lot of the tilesets to look nicer.

I will just add as an amusing fact that Recharged Yellow is an Emerald hack, not an FRLG hack lol. The Emerald engine is just so good.

 

[LusoPlayer]

Uh... Unless I somehow missed something, Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, or really any of the main line Game Boy Advance Pokémon games for that matter, never made it to the eShop on the Wii, 3DS, or Wii U. We had the first two generations come out, that was it.

I specifically said "the originals", that's RGBY.

 

[smilodon]

Piracy and rom hacks have commoditized original games so much they aren't worth anything anymore in gamers mind.

 

[DeadSkullzJr]

You haven't even noticed who I was replying to,

Misread, I apologize.

Yes, they did. And now they have the infrastructure in place to do it right, so they should be using it. There is literally no reason for them not to.

The problem here is, you are advocating that we basically be handed every language version for free, just because we bought ONE specific language version. Why? Who says that's supposed to be the standard? You can't base it off other Nintendo releases because those games were built with multi-language in mind. Most games from the 3DS and Wii U era onwards were like this. Game Boy Advance games were not like that. I don't understand the expectancy here. If you don't even speak most of the other languages anyways, what's the problem? If someone who speaks Spanish pays $20 for the Spanish version, and you pay $20 for the English version.... What's the problem?

Post automatically merged: Feb 20, 2026

I specifically said "the originals", that's RGBY.

Nobody is going to gather "the originals" as Red, Green, Blue, or Yellow, in a thread dedicated to the FireRed and LeafGreen. When you say "the originals," it's pretty easy for that to imply the original FireRed and LeafGreen releases. Knowing what you meant now though, it doesn't make much sense, are FireRed and LeafGreen not original games lol? Are we talking original cartridge releases?

 

[LusoPlayer]

Nobody is going to gather "the originals" as Red, Green, Blue, or Yellow, in a thread dedicated to the FireRed and LeafGreen. When you say "the originals," it's pretty easy for that to imply the original FireRed and LeafGreen releases. Knowing what you meant now though, it doesn't make much sense, are FireRed and LeafGreen not original games lol? Are we talking original cartridge releases?

Are you playing dumb on purpose or something? You do know FRLG are remakes of the originals, don't you? And you clearly know that those originals were released on the eShop a decade ago, so the context itself makes it clear what I'm referring to.

No need to be pedantic.

 

[VinsCool]

I will just add as an amusing fact that Recharged Yellow is an Emerald hack, not an FRLG hack lol. The Emerald engine is just so good.

To be fair they all used the same engine more or less, it's just that Emerald was the biggest game of the bunch coming with additional features and bugfixes, so it makes perfect sense to use it as the base for creating ROMhacks.

 

[skawo]

If someone who speaks Spanish pays $20 for the Spanish version, and you pay $20 for the English version.... What's the problem?

Post automatically merged: Feb 20, 2026

The problem, again, is that they have the infrastructure to do it, and don't, despite the premium price.

I actually expect the reason they didn't, is because it would allow you to load the other language's version on another switch and trade with it. God forbid people get their Alazakams in 20 year old games without buying two of them.

 

[Exnor]

Pokemon is biggest cash cow in the history of entertainment. And Nintendo knows how to milk this big fat cow.

(no really just search for the most profitable and valuable entertainment IP's in history)

 

[DeadSkullzJr]

Are you playing dumb on purpose or something? You do know FRLG are remakes of the originals, don't you? And you clearly know that those originals were released on the eShop a decade ago, so the context itself makes it clear what I'm referring to.

No need to be pedantic.

I know they are remakes, but when I think "the originals," I'm thinking of the context of releases of FireRed and LeafGreen. The way you worded it, you made it sound as if we had FireRed and LeafGreen on the eShop prior. I apologize for misunderstanding.

 

[SuffahBish]

I'm going to be honest, I don't understand a lot of these complaints.

1. The original MSRP of these games for the Game Boy Advance were $39.99 USD. Obviously price varies between different regions, but the point is, it's $19.99 USD in the eShop. That's HALF the price you paid back then for these games. It's infinitely better than paying $100+ for a used copy, and whatever stupid absurdities for a new old stock copy. It's still better than paying hundreds if not thousands collectively through subscription, for mere temporary access.

2. Separate language releases makes sense here, as the original games were NOT released with all the languages in one game cartridge. Each regional release had languages dedicated to that specific region, if you wanted a language version outside the normal languages of your specific region, you purchased and imported another version outside of your country. That's how it was back then. We didn't see true to form "World" multi-language releases until the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. So the fact anyone here is somehow off put by the fact the languages are separate, shows you don't know your history, assuming you were even alive to know this. It's not like you need to own every version with every language anyways, just like you didn't back then. Buy the version according to the language(s) you speak or prefer. These are emulated, not native ports. It wouldn't have made sense for them to recompile the games with all the languages crammed into one version anyways, considering that would require a rework of what the emulator supports and understands.

3. Virtual console generally wasn't something you got to own physically in majority of instances. Nintendo would have made a massive killing with physical rereleases for sure, but it's the principle of the matter. Anyone complaining about the lack of physical releases here, yea it sucks, but that's been the design philosophy since the Wii's virtual console stuff. Unless Limited Run or others like that company does something, you expected something that was never a standard to begin with. This is coming from someone who is a total advocate for physical media, I don't normally do digital if I can help it. Again, it's still better than the alternative of being stuck behind a Nintendo online membership, meaning you wouldn't even get to make a one time purchase, instead you dump hundreds if not thousands collectively over time only to have temporary access. You should be complaining about that, not a one time digital purchase.

Tons of people want Nintendo to make these things accessible to purchase.... Especially the Pokémon games... They just started doing this, and it's STILL not good enough. The heck is wrong with everyone, should they crawl across broken glass, bleeding out too? I'm no boot licker here, but Nintendo just did something decent than what they have been doing, and you guys are torching them for it.

I'm sure it would've killed them to add online link cable functionality for your Switch friends list... in their $20 barebones ROM and emulator bundle. And of course it's Kanto. A region they've milked so hard. Is this the fourth or fifth Kanto remaster/remake/re-release?

 

[DeadSkullzJr]

The problem, again, is that they have the infrastructure to do it, and don't, despite the premium price.

I actually expect the reason they didn't, is because it would allow you to load the other language's version on another switch and trade with it. God forbid people get their Alazakams in 20 year old games without buying two of them.

Not sure on exact reasons, but with the way the original games are on the Game Boy Advance, I feel like that's more of a reason than the sort of blind shot of "be damned if you trade with a second copy on another system free."

 

[LusoPlayer]

And of course it's Kanto. A region they've milked so hard. Is this the fourth or fifth Kanto remaster/remake/re-release?

It's the first (and best one).

 

[DeadSkullzJr]

I'm sure it would've killed them to add online link cable functionality for your Switch friends list... in their $20 barebones ROM and emulator bundle. And of course it's Kanto. A region they've milked so hard. Is this the fourth or fifth Kanto remaster/remake/re-release?

Wishful thinking, but I have to lean on the fact that we didn't have that with the older generation virtual console releases either. It was wireless and local only. Which made sense considering the original games were local only capable anyways. I don't expect Nintendo to make them Wi-Fi compatible, never did, it's a neat bonus luxury if anything. I focus more on the accessibility of the games themselves.

 

[NinStar]

What Nintendo did here is literally no different from what they did on the Wii, 3DS, and Wii U. When you bought a specific language version of a title, you weren't just handed ALL of the language versions, you were given the specific language version you purchased. I still distinctly remember this design philosophy, especially with the first and second generation Pokémon games on the 3DS. They aren't doing anything here that's out of the ordinary for these older games. You just expected more than you needed.

Don't know if you being intentionally dishonest or what, but the Wii and Wii U were region locked, sure you wouldn't get all language options for the entire world on a single package, but the rule pretty much was that it would at the very least include all languages for the region you bought it for, so if you bought a game in the Americas it would generally include English, Spanish (one or more variations), French and sometimes Portuguese. If you bought it in Europe it would include those plus other languages, while in Japan it generally would only include Japanese and English.

Since the Switch is not region locked, the vast majority of Nintendo releases does include the languages for ALL supported regions on the same package of the game regardless of where you buy it, so them (and TPC) doing this in 2026 for a Pokémon re-release is just insane.