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

 

[supershadow64ds]

also officially announced now

Lol... I like how in the video they try to make capturing the legendary super suspenseful and impactful like "will it catch? wont it catch?" but theyre using a masterball so.... lol

 

[Viri]

How about putting the Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow/Gold/Silver/Crystal on the eshop for 5 bux each, and let us use Pokemon Stadium 1/2 features with them?

 

[DeadSkullzJr]

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.

Not being dishonest, most of my experience with virtual console was on the 3DS, since I didn't buy very many on the Wii or Wii U. On the 3DS, you did have access to different language versions, and even when you bought one version, you still didn't get the rest. The 3DS was also region locked, yet the design philosophy didn't stop individual multi-language releases from appearing there. See here:

 

[BlusterBong]

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

Its called noticing, and its the same pattern twice over between this and the new Tamagachi Life, people making the claim that "If Nintendo did x, y, and z, they'll make infinity billion dollars!"

Then Nintendo does the thing in thier usual Nintendo ways and those same people cry out "NOOOOO!, NOT LIKE THAT!!" while the consumer (including the "savy" ones) doesn't give a fuck and buys the game because buying games has still largely been "heres this game you can pay $X amount for, take it or leave it"

Nobody but nerds like most people on this forum will care and it'll be forgotten short of the people who will use it as another thing to put in thier perverbial Book of Grudges against a company that never cared in the first place. It will stop being your problem when you learn to laugh and Ignore what the company does.

 

[Retrojunkies]

So these are coming directly to the eShop rather than to their NSO GBA app?
That would make them the first "Virtual Console" titles, right?
Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 don't count imho as they are remasters and got a new main menu and stuff.

Anyways:
1. I'm not paying 20 bucks for such old games (lol).
2. I'm not playing the vanilla games when there's a thousand better romhacks, even vanilla enhancements (if you're not looking into the likes of Unbound, Radical Red and such).

So no, thanks, Nintendo.
PKMN Home support for those fanboys of yours is nice though I guess.

Heck no

Its nintendo.... anything decent wont ever be given as part of itd subscription service.

Or its premium version.

 

[SuffahBish]

It's the first (and best one).

Best Pokemon designs? Maybe but gen 2 has some great designs too. Best region? Lol. No.

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.

Maybe I expect a bit more from the biggest media franchise on the planet. It can't be that hard to ship a feature that every single unofficial GBA emulator has had for 20 years.

 

[skawo]

Its called noticing, and its the same pattern twice over between this and the new Tamagachi Life, people making the claim that "If Nintendo did x, y, and z, they'll make infinity billion dollars!"

Then Nintendo does the thing in thier usual Nintendo ways and those same people cry out "NOOOOO!, NOT LIKE THAT!!" while the consumer (including the "savy" ones) doesn't give a fuck and buys the game because buying games has still largely been "heres this game you can pay $X amount for, take it or leave it"

Nobody but nerds like most people on this forum will care and it'll be forgotten short of the people who will use it as another thing to put in thier perverbial Book of Grudges against a company that never cared in the first place. It will stop being your problem when you learn to laugh and Ignore what the company does.

What are you talking about? I haven't said a thing about the new Tomodachi Life anywhere? You do realize that everyone is not a hive mind and different people separately talk about separate things?

I never said that doing something else would make them a billion dollars, either, I just said this, specifically, was greedy.

 

[Bladexdsl]

here sheeple come pay $20 for roms!

 

[Space_Goddess_Samus_Aran]

nah i rather play the romhacks on my Anbernic RG35XXSP. But still i loved the Champions theme. That one was the best off all.

 

[CoolMe]

in an ideal world, where Nintendo would actually price these ports reasonably, and also give us a launcher-like experience with all the romhacks available for these games, i would more than gladly pay for them even if i don't have to..

 

[Silterpy]

$20 is just greedy of Nintendo, especially when you could buy GBA games on Wii U for $7. They are probably hoping that people will pay $20 for a digital copy, especially when a real physical copy of the game can cost over $100.

 

[Bladexdsl]

Lmao now finally a Pokémon game appears on the Switch as a real Virtual Console, so not behind an online sub and people still aren't happy.

they are charging $20 for fucking OLD roms!

 

[LusoPlayer]

Best Pokemon designs? Maybe but gen 2 has some great designs too. Best region? Lol. No.

It's the first remake and sure, it does have the best region, designs, etc. It's the classic, quintessential Pokémon experience.

But sure, I'll give Gen 2 the second spot. Unlike all the other games, it still follows the same artistic sensibilities.

 

[Gozaburo]

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.

I doesn't make a difference between NSO subscription or VC release. It's almost the same junk.
Once they shut down the server with VC titles what they do for sure at some point you won't be able to redownload the game other than having the whole game on cart. I own all the genuine pokemon games and surprise they still working.
However, I do not play them for reasons of preservation and a download remains a download with temporary access.

 

[mizorechan]

In my region will be released for 120BRL, which is more than $19,90 in a direct currency conversion. No wonder people in latam go to "jack sparrow land" to get their games. It's already expensive, but Nintendo put more nails in the coffin charging more than usa price.

I paid less than this for my copy of Nier Automata for PS4 years ago.

 

[namename11]

They would have to pay me $19.99 (/hour) to play this shit.

 

[CobaltMN]

Its called noticing,... people making the claim that "If Nintendo did x, y, and z, they'll make infinity billion dollars!"

Then Nintendo does the thing in thier usual Nintendo ways and those same people cry out "NOOOOO!, NOT LIKE THAT!!" while the consumer (including the "savy" ones) doesn't give a fuck and buys the game because buying games has still largely been "heres this game you can pay $X amount for, take it or leave it"

OH MY GOD you're right, The amount of times i have heard pokéfans (and Nintendo fans in general) bitch and cry about wanting a re release of the classic games and then get pissed when Nintendo doesn't do it the right way is maddening. I understand seeing it here but seeing even the Pokémon centered forums elsewhere complain is something else.

I still not sold on this being worth $20. Seems to me that the main feature you're getting is Pokémon HOME integration (something I have another axe to grind over), but getting mons from emulated saves isn't that hard if you have a 3DS. Hopefully they try to actually sweeten the deal with multiplayer support or event mons. I will wait and see.

 

[Wolfy]

If nothing else, I'm happy to see Virtual Console games being available(especially Pokemon) as strictly standalone on the eShop without having to pay a subscription.

In other news, I finally fixed up the battery and bad connections on my Pokemon Crystal so I'll be finally able to play that on my Gameboy Advance!

 

[icegod]

I don't get the "why do you have to pay for each language" comments. Like really, who would even use multiple languages?

Yes it's a basic rom and emulator bundle, yes it's expensive, yes it will sell a lot.

I have the original games here, but will still get these. Let people enjoy the things they like. If you think it's too expensive, want to pirate it, or whatever, great, that's your choice.

There have been games I was interested in, but didn't buy for whatever personal reason, but I'm excited for these. Means I have one week to finish my Emerald run.

 

[Marc_LFD]

Are you kidding me, I thought it'd be part of the NSO sub, but $20? Nintendo, GFY.