February closed out with a Pokémon Presents stream celebrating 30 years of the franchise and looking ahead to what’s next, like Pokémon Winds and Waves and their adorable starters. As part of the celebration, the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 got their first taste of classic Pokémon, in the form of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen ports in (almost) all their glory.
Replaying LeafGreen for the first time in 20 years (goodness) is reminding me just how grindy classic Pokémon used to be, and how much the newer games do to sand off some of the gameplay’s rougher edges. Recent games like Pokémon Scarlet and Violet and Pokémon Legends: Z-A have spoiled me.
Of course, raising Pokémon from single-digit levels into a powerhouse team of level 55s is a long and repetitive process in any Pokémon game. But recent entries have so many quality-of-life changes to ensure it’s not too much of an annoyance, the biggest improvement being that your whole team of six Pokémon gain experience points upon defeating another trainer’s Pokémon, or a wild one. Even better is the experience you get for catching wild Pokémon, encouraging you to catch ‘em all instead of knocking ‘em all unconscious.
There’s no such ease in classic Pokémon. Take the level 5 Magikarp you can purchase for 500… Pokébucks? early in the game. (Admit it, you don’t know what Pokémon currency is called either.) To train that sucker up to Gyarados — meaning get it to level 20 to evolve — you’ll have to do the tried-and-true method of having it be your lead Pokémon and swapping it out first thing in battle for a ‘mon that can actually do something other than flopping around listlessly.
Training that stupid fish takes ohmygodforever, and even longer if you’re also trying to level up other, more functional Pokémon on your team. Even acquiring the Exp. Share item later in the game is a small step forward; it only splits experience points between the Pokémon in battle on the one holding the item, a far cry from how your entire team gets experience in the later games.
Shared experience isn’t the only quality-of-life feature the OG games lack. Instead of being able to swap Pokémon between your team and boxes on the fly, like in later games, I’m limited to only accessing Bill’s PC from computers at Pokémon Centers and elsewhere in FireRed and LeafGreen. Without the ability to easily change your team, you’re stuck training the same six Pocket Monsters on trainer-filled routes. While I do appreciate the challenge limitations pose, I also miss how swapping out Pokémon at will lets me train dozens of Pokémon with ease in newer games.
There are other QOL updates that have spoiled me in newer games, too. Being able to change your Pokémon’s nickname at any point is always appreciated, as are changing their moves with ease. Seeing Pokémon in the overworld doesn’t just help with immersion, it also helps give you some control of how you encounter Pokémon in the wild, as opposed to just trying to walk through a cave as goddamn Zubats interrupt you every two steps.
On the other hand, I do appreciate the simplified move list during battles in LeafGreen. Later games will straight up tell you how effective your Pokémon’s moves are against an opponent (if you’ve encountered it before). I much prefer having to think through my moves and recalling an opposing Pokémon’s type during battle, rather than the game spoonfeeding me that information.
I’m still enjoying replaying through LeafGreen again as much as I’ve enjoyed any Pokémon game. I’m also realizing how the series has spoiled me as a trainer, and how grinding in games hits different as an adult — instead of a kid who has all the time in the world to spend leveling up a Magikarp without a care.
