If you had the option to play Pokemon Red or Pokemon FireRed, which would you take?

[PCN24454]

I always found it jarring that people liked Pokemon RGB over Pokemon FRLG because I feel as though Red and Blue are both dated AND glitchy. It feels like nostalgia is fueling the favoritism over the remakes.

What are some of your reasons for choosing one over the other?

 

[BladeSabre]

As a kid I played Red, Yellow, Gold and Sapphire. I replayed them recently plus FireRed and SoulSilver. FireRed doesn't do it for me at all - it seems like the same not-really-that-great game but missing the old feeling that made it fun. In contrast, SoulSilver is a nicely-done upgrade, and nails the nostalgia factor too.

 

[Vaioumon]

I skipped Gen III because it was the time where got out of Pokemon. I came back in with Gen IV, so going back to play Gen III felt super weird and I've never liked those games for that reason. I'd rather just go with the nostalgia of R/B, tbh. Plus the easy Mew is nice and if I dig out my N64, I can do stuff with Stadium.

 

[PCN24454]

As a kid I played Red, Yellow, Gold and Sapphire. I replayed them recently plus FireRed and SoulSilver. FireRed doesn't do it for me at all - it seems like the same not-really-that-great game but missing the old feeling that made it fun. In contrast, SoulSilver is a nicely-done upgrade, and nails the nostalgia factor too.

Are you saying that both games weren't really that great or just FireRed?

 

[Muur]

FireRed is the same game but with more content. The main reason to get Red would be to get it on 3DS, so you can transfer Pokemon directly into gen 7, rather than gen 3 to 4 to 5 to 6 to 7

 

[AquaVersus]

I mean, I'm playing Blue right now on the 3DS VC and I would much rather play RBY over FRLG. I'm really enjoying it so far. I don't have anything against FRLG and I think the expanded content is really cool, but I'm nostalgic for the old artwork, the old music/sounds, the general atmosphere of it all. I feel that atmosphere is different in FRLG.

Sure, it's fueled by nostalgia, like you said -- but why is that a bad thing?

 

[PCN24454]

Sure, it's fueled by nostalgia, like you said -- but why is that a bad thing?

Just that it feels like saying that you would rather live in the middle ages, as though it was like a fantasy RPG. I feel like nostalgia is nostalgia because it's bad. While I prefer Emerald over ORAS, it's because there lots of features that I liked in RSE were taken out or not implemented well.

 

[AquaVersus]

But doesn’t something similar hold true for RBY and FRLG? There were things changed in FRLG — the sprites, the artwork, additional Pokémon, more content, expanded story — and that’s not the game I played for hundreds of hours as a kid. It’s not a bad new experience. FRLG is great. But wanting to relive your childhood memories isn’t always a bad thing just because a better version of that thing exists.

People’s memories and cherished thoughts aren’t always assuaged by new features etc. I don’t think it’s that simple.

I’m not sure how old you are (I’m on mobile so if you’ve shared your age it’s not showing for me) but do you have anything you’re nostalgic about?

 

[Muur]

Literally nothing was removed from RB in FRLG. I played RB as a kid and let me tell you, FRLG are better in every way. Just because someone played it as a kid doesn't make it better than the enhanced version. They fixed the ridiculous amount of glitches and Psychic isn't broken, Ghost, Bug and Poison type had errors (admitted by them), speed and crits broken. Nearly everything in the game doesn't work right and they fixed most of them in gen 2.

Also, FRLG are 15 years old. I literlaly played both gen 1 and FRLG as a little kid. So nostalgia would hold for both.

 

[AquaVersus]

I didn’t say anything was removed from RB, I was just saying they’re not the same games as FRLG. I also didn’t say they were better than FRLG.

You might have nostalgia for both FRLG and RB but I was just answering the OP’s question, or trying to anyway, from my own perspective which has nothing to do with being nostalgic for FRLG.

People are allowed to prefer “worse” games even if they know better versions exist. As long as it doesn’t get out of hand, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying something out of nostalgia.

TLDR: FRLG are the better games. I still prefer RBY out of nostalgia. And I actually like GSC more than RBY.

 

[SharpeBB]

If I'm going to choose one over the other, it has to come down to which I enjoyed more on the initial, and subsequent playthroughs. Which means the winner is far and away, the original RB games. While FRLG did obviously fix a lot of problems and looked sleeker, nothing about playing those games stands out for me. They didn't do enough to capture (or recapture) my imagination and joy. I still have many memories of playing Red for the first time almost 20 years ago, while I have practically no memories of Fire-Red. So since in my mind they are virtually the same game, if I'm going to replay one of them, I'm obviously going to play the one I had a better time with.

Also, while it's not the original question, I always preferred having my GBC than the Advance/SP. Obviously the latter two were better devices, but I liked the feel of the GBC more. So that also influences my decision. Even though now of course I would be replaying on the 3DS.

 

[DontStopPataPata]

I always found it jarring that people liked Pokemon RGB over Pokemon FRLG because I feel as though Red and Blue are both dated AND glitchy. It feels like nostalgia is fueling the favoritism over the remakes.

What are some of your reasons for choosing one over the other?

I prefer RBY over FRLG because the remakes are just the originals with a new coat of paint and the gen 3 engine.The only thing the remakes really have over the original is updates in technology as expected.

Now HGSS? THAT’S how you remake a game and make it better.

I didn’t say anything was removed from RB, I was just saying they’re not the same games as FRLG. I also didn’t say they were better than FRLG.

You might have nostalgia for both FRLG and RB but I was just answering the OP’s question, or trying to anyway, from my own perspective which has nothing to do with being nostalgic for FRLG.

People are allowed to prefer “worse” games even if they know better versions exist. As long as it doesn’t get out of hand, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying something out of nostalgia.

TLDR: FRLG are the better games. I still prefer RBY out of nostalgia. And I actually like GSC more than RBY.

It’s kind of like how some people prefer the Dragon Ball Z dub over Dragon Ball Z Kai even though Kai’s dub has objectively better voice acting over all and the dialog is less asinine. That and Kai of course removed all the horrid filler that only existed to stall for time. But Z is what they grew up on with Toonami so....

 

[BladeSabre]

As a kid I played Red, Yellow, Gold and Sapphire. I replayed them recently plus FireRed and SoulSilver. FireRed doesn't do it for me at all - it seems like the same not-really-that-great game but missing the old feeling that made it fun. In contrast, SoulSilver is a nicely-done upgrade, and nails the nostalgia factor too.

Are you saying that both games weren't really that great or just FireRed?

I imagine I probably wouldn't enjoy Red now if I hadn't played it as a kid. So, sure, it's nostalgia, but there's nothing wrong with that!

What would even be the point of FRLG if they weren't aiming for nostalgia there? Well, they missed the mark for me, and sounds like a lot of other people too. (I brought up SoulSilver to illustrate that I have nothing against remakes if done well.)

 

[DontStopPataPata]

As a kid I played Red, Yellow, Gold and Sapphire. I replayed them recently plus FireRed and SoulSilver. FireRed doesn't do it for me at all - it seems like the same not-really-that-great game but missing the old feeling that made it fun. In contrast, SoulSilver is a nicely-done upgrade, and nails the nostalgia factor too.

Are you saying that both games weren't really that great or just FireRed?

I imagine I probably wouldn't enjoy Red now if I hadn't played it as a kid. So, sure, it's nostalgia, but there's nothing wrong with that!

What would even be the point of FRLG if they weren't aiming for nostalgia there? Well, they missed the mark for me, and sounds like a lot of other people too. (I brought up SoulSilver to illustrate that I have nothing against remakes if done well.)

FRLG were not aiming for
nostalgia though.

For one the gap wasnt nearly long enough between games. It was clearly meant for a younger generation to experience the Kanto region and to allow players to complete the Pokedex. Given the amount of hand holding in FRLG pretty sure Gamefreak
thought the new target audience was zygotes

 

[BladeSabre]

FRLG were not aiming for nostalgia though.

For one the gap wasnt nearly long enough between games. It was clearly meant for a younger generation to experience the Kanto region and to allow players to complete the Pokedex.

That would make more sense. But then, it seemed like they were trying really hard to be similar to the originals rather than similar to RS, to the point of creating a worse gameplay experience.

 

[jaws_is_ra]

Its a hard choice for me. I started out on Red and been playing ever Gen. But I would have to say FireRed i found it with the extra addon's to be a lot more fun then the orignal red