Pokémon: FireRed and LeafGreen Versions (GBA) Retrospective | Polished to a Fault

[@ShaftCommander]

This video is like….90% complaining and nitpicking at best. Other than the annoying fact that a lot of evolutions can’t be accessed until the National dex is unlocked, a lot of the complaints can be summed up as someone who clearly lacks patience and doesn’t play a lot of RPG’s. The internet is a wonderful tool, as it gives everyone a voice. But it’s almost a double edged sword. Essays like this prove not everyone has something worthwhile to say. Just the same rehashed, half-baked “points” the other average joes have.

[@ntmaproductions]

I play plenty of RPGs homie. That's how I know Pokèmon has a lot of issues. The patience one is pretty silly too given I did living dex in both ;). I don't like to be negarive and ocerwhelmingly don't think I was, and this ain't a cinema sins ding plothole video, it's a direct comparison to the prior entry in the series and my issues with how it comes together. I appreciate you giving it a chance even though you didn't like it

[@otto2280]

This comment is like.... 90% complaining and nitpicking at best. Other than the annoying fact that a lot of commentors don't watch the entire video, a lot of complaints can be summed up as someone who clearly lacks critical thought and takes offense at criticism towards their beloved franchise. The internet is a wonderful tool, as it gives everyone a voice. But it's almost a double edged sword. Comments like this prove not everyone has something worthwhile to say. Just the same rehashed, half-baked “points” the other pokemon bootlickers have.

[@ShaftCommander]

@@ntmaproductions Fair points. I wouldn’t say I didn’t like it, just a lot of it I don’t agree with. My words come off as harsher, only to add a punch to my points, not necessarily something I truly believe. But that’s the point, we don’t have to agree, and that kind of back and forth is something I strive/live for. So while I don’t agree with a lot you say, I will respect your opinions regardless. If anything, you’ve made me think.

[@ShaftCommander]

@@otto2280 Gotta start thinking for yourself, buddy.

[@otto2280]

@@ShaftCommander yeah the comment spoofer and not the person doggedly defending a corporation and repeating reddit talking points needs to start thinking for himself.

[@XANSEM]

Bro what would have made these games legendary would be if the post game was Johto!

[@1olpoorboy]

Along with the Sevii Islands, man hell yea

[@TheAzulmagia]

I still can't believe there's no Kanto game that has done this yet. It's always just straight Kanto.

[@Orangeninja5000]

Ill never understand why it wasn't. We KNOW its east, just over a mountain.

[@SoonDS007]

I do get the idea but it would feel like a reverse Gold/Silver Don’t you think? It would be fun but it would feel recycled. It probably why they never did it

[@Orangeninja5000]

@@SoonDS007 That'd be great though. They can't keep ignoring Johto for superficial reasons. It makes the world feel hollow and lesser when you KNOW there's another region right next door that you just...can't get to.

[@wallyallen7169]

Probably my favorite pokemon games outside of Conquest. I'm so glad I get to end the year with amazing videos like this one. Thank you for the massive effort you put into these retrospectives, looking forward to this one

[@ntmaproductions]

Conquest is wonderful. I hope you enjoy egen if I'm a bit more mixed of FRLG ;)

[@GrantTheHierophant]

I think they did their jobs well enough. Sure there were a few problems still present like the lack of the physical/special move split, the weird islands that get in the way of progress, locking away berries, and keeping certain evolutions to the post game, but these games were great jumping in points for younger players. Plus it was cool to see these games on new hardware, even if it meant having to sacrifice the dock on Cinnabar.

[@ntmaproductions]

there's nothing inherently wrong about them. they're fine, they're just also not very good. all the negatives gen 1 had without the broken charm. ill play them again and have fin but they're just so limited. hgss much more strongly broke away from gsc with its own stuff and gsc was baseline a better game anyway

[@wangchung2157]

I love these games but the trading block was the stupidest shit ever I remember as a kid it genuinely upset me I couldnt get a trade evolution even one like Machamp that was in yellow version

[@ntmaproductions]

you can between frlg but yeah locking off trade to rse is just a headache

[@symphomaniac]

Ive also soured on FRLG a bit. Some of the changes weren't really thought out very well

[@mynameisNeo369]

You just made my day that much better, love this series!!! Thank you so much ✌️

[@celowein]

Great video! I liked the walkthrough of all changes as you'd encounter them in a "typical" playthrough. First video of yours that I've seen, so excited to watch more!

[@ntmaproductions]

We got a bunch of Pokemon videos in our Pokemon playlist, thanks! Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@fortunaa_]

i personally dont really agree that the games arent much better than gen 1 but i totally get all your points about it. i probably just like them so much because i grew up with them and because of all the nostalgia. great video either way though!

[@ntmaproductions]

Completely fair. I grew up with em too so I dedinitely have a lot of fondness for them as well.

[@tehandroidmaster]

This video just got recommended to me when I was watching some video from 2014 about the pros and cons with Gen 3. The first 5 minutes of this video alone brought back *all* the fucking frustration my kid self had with playing Pokemon on the GBA. Fucked up thing is, all the kids in my neighbourhood had GBAs and different copies of the game, but only *one* person had a friggin link cable... and it was the kid who still had a GameBoy Color and RBYGSC because his parents didn't buy him a GBA. Also, Emerald deserves a fair amount of criticism because it locks the Johto starters behind the completion of the Hoenn dex, which you *can't* complete without catching or trading (or migrating Colosseum Pokes over, but we don't talk about that). Oh man, FRLG really escaped my radar. Can't wait to watch the rest of this video mate. Cheers for the burst of nostalgic frustration over Gen 3.

[@TastySnax12]

The title alone condenses how I feel about FRLG. Gonna watch the rest and see how it goes.

[@BARBERSHOPP]

Was Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee polished to a fault? Will open-world Kanto inevitable remake be polished to a fault? Or should you just be thankful for these games ;)

[@ntmaproductions]

LGPE is polished to a fault as well, I'd say. Continuing to strip out elements to streamline an experience does that. Idt we'll see a Legends-Kanto for a long while although on that end I'd expect Gamefreak's signature lack of polish. I am thankful for these games, I think they're good, I just struggle with a lot of little issues and the thoughtless way they were implimented. Thesis wise that's wjat I aimed to show. I appreciate the comment regardless so ty for giving the video some kinda chance :)

[@andrewjackson6369]

I just finished the red blue review and said hope this would come out soon 😂

[@ntmaproductions]

LGPE shouldn't be excessively fsr off, although I do have a tendancy to get distracted 🤣

[@littleredInano]

I played this game as a kid when it originally came out. I think my memories of it have always made me handle it with different standards than other games. I don’t agree with some of your critiques, but it’s really refreshing to hear such grounded commentary! Thanks for the awesome series!

[@ntmaproductions]

I don't hate these games, and grew up with them myself. I understand the love and do love them myself, but they do make me wish they took a little more risk 😅

[@tylernicotra4337]

I love watching this indepth reviews while grinding nuzlockes I def look forward to future content. Review on sun and moon would be crazy

[@ntmaproductions]

LGPE will be out relatively soon :) after some amount of break I'll return to do more :)

[@douglasmolteni6579]

These games came with my first ever console to call my own so i qill always be biased towards these games, good video though i can see what you mean and the points you brought up! I just ingore them lol

[@ntmaproductions]

fair enough lmao

[@douglasmolteni6579]

@ntmaproductions maybe my opinions will change though I am doing a playthrough with my fiance, where we battle after each gym. Who knows maybe I will hate the game after this playthrough lol

[@ntmaproductions]

@@douglasmolteni6579 awww cute

[@Ometecuhtli13thGate]

This is the timeline the meteor that carried Deoxy's arrived on. Lol As RBY, FR/LG take place at the same time as RSE/OR/AS. Different universes tho.

[@Deoxys_Used_Mimic]

Weird to think that outside of the spinoff LGPE… Gen 1 is the only Generation that doesn’t have a mainline game with the Physical/Special-Split. Guess we need *another* Gen 1 remake, eh? Kill me.

[@ntmaproductions]

hahahaha I wouldn't put it past them.

[@EIDiabeetus]

@@ntmaproductions Watch them do it after Gen 10 comes out and they throw all of the Pokémon in it.

[@danielgloyd4529]

Honestly, if FRLG were in Gen 4, and they didn't needlessly block happiness evolutions, I would feel much better about them. On the Gen 3 hardware and rules, it's like, meh.

[@leolordful]

@EIDiabeetus I unironically would love that game.

[@pokemontrainerthink9045]

In Koga's gym the squares that have a wall on them have a little tiny white squares on each corner hard to see but once you do, you'll never miss them 25:58

[@ntmaproductions]

True, although on an original GBA they're functionally invisible 😅

[@pokemontrainerthink9045]

@@ntmaproductions I suppose by the time I got FRLG I had an SP lol I remember in sapphire I thought Tropius' name was Troptus until I upgraded to the SP lol

[@IzzyItachi]

While I agree with a lot of your points, I love these games too much to let them deter me from playing these for as long as I live lol.

[@ntmaproductions]

I love them too in their own way, but I get irritated with them just as much

[@tommymaxey2665]

Fire Red and Leaf Green were my first pokemon games. I had leaf green as a kid and i loved it. I dont know how (maybe my brothers helped me or i saw them play it) but i always knew what to do in those games. I think they are the best looking pokemon games on the GBA. The pixle art is perfect in my opinion, and the sound is great. I don't understand the whole GBA sound chip argument. The GBA sounds fine. I still think FRLG are still great remakes and its where everyone should start if they get into pokemon

[@VATOVITO]

I enjoyed the Sevii Islands as a child, they felt different than Kanto or Hoenn

[@elmermedina1713]

I was hoping these games plus RSE would be on the Nintendo E Shop

[@gabrieldevoogel6225]

So I should mention a note on squirtle, Ice beam is just as strong but is obtained a different way, game corner, making it categorically worse to use ice beam to the purchasable blizzard

[@ntmaproductions]

ice beam sacrifices a bit of power to be 100% accurate. blizzard is 70% accurate but more powerful, ala fire blast. i perfrr consistency over raw numbers, same reason I use Surf over Hydro Pump :p

[@gabrieldevoogel6225]

@@ntmaproductions oh no your reasoning is totally fair, I was using my contextual knowledge of the remake to speak from my slightly more casual perspective Edit: grammar, also you should know a great Venasaur set is Giga drain leech seed Toxic and insert your preferred coverage or poison STAB, that way it isn’t useless :D

[@andrewkilchenstein1956]

I agree with your points. As a little kid, I think these games are some of the hardest because post Silph Co. the levels jump pretty high especially with the rival

[@Gibstack]

Interested to hear a long video on FRLG. Will edit with thoughts as they come BTW: I love FireRed, probably my favorite single Pokemon game. Gameplay: Absolutely agree on the limited HM uses/introductions. It's really dumb to see when you lay them out like that. Waterfall is used once. Rock Smash is used minimally. Rock Smash *encounters* are ONLY GEODUDE AND GRAVELER (not a fact I knew). They're placed in rock tunnel, but for no reason because you would never want to go back there to use it. WHY. I think I'm fine with their design to lock new encounters being to the post game (i.e. Crobat (actually never realized it's *only* Golbat/Chansey that exist besides trading)) though that's probably just nostalgia blindness or something. Held items are obtainable, but SO limited. To my knowledge, it's *only* berries (which there's 1-3 of only, strange), the 3 fire/water/grass items, blackglasses, leftovers, and quick claw. Why not add in other items??? Running shoes being limited to buildings makes sense to me, but again, probably nostalgia thing (it's certainly not "better" that way and much better it's changed later) Version Exclusives: First of all, the post-game version exclusives are lame (and the post game limited encounters are very boring to begin with overall... only gen 2 mainly, lol). I think I like all the version exclusives except for the waters you mentioned (Cloyster and Slowbro is fine, but Starmie and Golduck are not an equivalent trade). Also, Deoxys is so strange, but not my circus, not my Mankeys. Visuals and Audio: For me, I don't know, but I do really like the visuals of this game. Though it's easy to see how trees everywhere leave things to be desired. Audio is fine for me; I love the champion theme, I'm a fan of the wild & trainer themes, and the city themes as well. I'm not nitpicky about this stuff though, so even if it wasn't nostalgia, I tend not to mind this stuff in any game. Starters: It's worth mentioning that Sludge Bomb is entirely locked to post game on Venusaur, which really irks me because it doesn't get an actual poison move otherwise. (Why not give it a main game poison move, or just put sludge bomb in the main game?? It's not like poison is a great offensive type anyway.) Gym 1: 🤓Rock Tomb is 50 base power, not 60 Gym 2: Grass being optional on Route 3 is technically better for gameplay (faster anyway), but, it feels really weird in reality as game design because you could just never see them if you walk past. (The grass on the far right of the route never made any sense to me BTW). The soft version-exclusivity is so weird considering you *can* get them very easily in the safari zone later. Gyarados is an interesting mention, because its lack of physical options really is quite bad. It is water move (not physical), plus normal move (Return one-use, or Secret Power) plus Earthquake (one use) (and hidden power, ~50% of the time). I think the contact abilities are really stacking up when they're mentioned out loud, once again. Usually they're ignorable by starters at this point, but using other pokemon kinda lends itself to that and it sounds very annoying. I do love the game corner exploit also, lol. I do love the improvement of gym leaders so far, subtle but present over Gen 1. Tutors: I do like the tutors being used to replace the previous TMs. I'd say they're definitely a good addition, but being one use is sadly limiting for gameplay. I can't say it's too different than the inconvenience of one use TMs, which you can certainly argue is a flaw if you'd like. Gym 3: I don't miss breeding because I would never do it in a main game playthrough anyway, but I understand the yet-another missed opportunity. I think it would've been worth mentioning the addition of Berries in the trash cans in the kitchen because it's a small change but adds to the game a lot I feel like, if only they did that sort of thing much more. Also agree that Surge is less cool with double team. It'd be fine if it was just paralysis (sure it's RNG, but like, paralysis is the name of the game for Electric at least) Gym 4: I personally don't really enjoy double battles, so I'm not too disappointed there aren't many of them. Though it is weird that they added like, four, and only that many. It's worth mentioning here too that certain pokemon are given levelup moves for double battles (ones that aren't even in RSE, such as Clefairy) but they do not want them at all (Follow Me) because there are practically none of them. The AI uses these moves ingame with these pokemon because they are on the learnset, and it's just dumb. When looking at the game corner, I agree it'd be cooler if there were windows. Also agree that the tea seems easier to miss (for something that is required), and I think the use of an item you can go buy like that is actually much more creative. Defensive moves are lame for in-game stuff, so yeah, losing those moves from the girl is kinda lame. I don't really disagree with it being lame that Espeon/Umbreon aren't obtainable, but I moreso blame happiness evolutions as a whole than I do FRLG. It'd have been so easy & fitting to make them evolve by moon stone/sun stone alternatively instead. WHY IS PORYGON CHEAPER IN LG. IT'S SO POINTLESS. Also, Erika sucks. Gym 5: Safari Zone sucks. (I'm not sure if I only just now noticed, or if it's actually been there the whole time, but the music feels slightly too loud in the video here over the commentary. It's fine to hear, just slightly competing.) Gym 6: I like the Power Plant a lot as well. Gym 7: New rocks on the water are better. Why is there no dock? Never really noticed that in gen 1 and that it's missing here. It's funny that you mention the pokemon mansion feeling like it has the most work put into it to stand out, because for me as a kid, it was always the /worst/ area to play through. It's almost exclusively attributed to being too stubborn or unsmart to use repels, but it was so obnoxious to have to run around and keep trying paths & using the switches. Victory Road: I never properly noticed the surf music is switched off for that time. Good change. Elite Four: I never consciously noticed either that the rematches only use gen 2 pokemon as well. Why were they so restricted? Maybe it's to do with the lore of hoenn being a far away region (that's almost certainly what I'd have to imagine), but... this is sorta lost after this game anyway. Maybe the GTS is meant to be more of a lore explanation, as the Pokemon world is allowed to become more global and therefore they can just have pokemon from other regions now. Never thought about it much. Post-game: Yeah, the non-gen 1 pokemon are just too weak. It sucks. Icefall cave feels like it reused the ice stuff from RSE just because. Five Island is SO boring. The random treasure rooms in lost cave is dumb; I think I'm the fool for never knowing the clock hands thing (I don't know how obvious or obscure that is, lol). I DO really appreciate the rocket hideout puzzle, it is the only really difficult spinner puzzle and it's a good touch. Oh god, the roar bug... never knew about that, sounds awful. Event areas are super weird. The "Can't evolve" animation is SUPER ANNOYING. Anyway - really it's clear to see a lot of these things when you look at them. I like a lot of your critiques that I never would've noticed that are outside of pure gameplay (such as surrounding areas of cities that shouldn't just be trees). I think the game is definitely *better* than R/B, but... it's easy to see how Kanto doesn't particularly adapt well to new mechanics. It's really not great, but I do still enjoy it - maybe just nostalgia, maybe not, lol.

[@ntmaproductions]

ping me if i forget to respond but im p good about it

[@ntmaproductions]

HMs in general have a mixed bag of implimentation. Conceptually I think they're a nice way for a game to force variety on you and force you to use a variety of stuff and plan your team around it, but they never strike the right balance (3 water hms in gsc, rse lmao). The new stuff being locked isn't that bad, HGSS locks all the evo items for Gen 4 in Kanto or behind Rock Climb, but there they don't arbitrarily lock the few that break the item rule- it just feels... silly? Chansey and Golbat needed all the help thet could get, sans stall for Chansey, so it hurts them much more than already decent stuff that got evos like Scyther. There's a few held items before sevii- you get the black glasses in the Game Corner Rocket HQ, and a small handfull are hidden items with Itemfinder, but even those tend to be the weaker ones- soothe bell, energy root, etc- I imagine blackglasses are avaibale given that there are no darks in the game to mitigate Psychic's still quite high powerlevel. I'm guessing they're so light sheerly because they wanted to maintain the general simplicity of Gen 1 and figured that held items were a bir complicated- least that's the impression LGPE gives off. As for the shoes, in their position I'd probably limit the shoes too on first thought- running in a Pokémon center feels weird although I'd much rather take the hit to believability over convenience as DPPt+ did. Also sorry for the bad image in the version exclusive segment, I am a bit dumb sometimes :)

[@ntmaproductions]

I may've been a bit harsh on the visuals. I don't think there's anything wrong witg them technically- they're very passable, they're just dull? And that a bit accentuates Kanto's duller elements. It feels rather slapped together in places to avoid needing to make assests they didn't have onhand from RSE. likewise, the music compositionally is great although the GBA sounchip is just a crusty little dude- it genuinely tramples over otherwise good music. Venusaur is definitely still shafted, although compared to RSE it's got a lot more going on. Venusaur is kinda unfortunately stuck with two very defensive types- it's kinda notable that RSE and beyond would give Grass starters way broader coverage or better offensive secondary types like Torterra to compensate. U right on Rock Tomb, I dumb 😭 Largely I think contact abilities don't end up breaking any areas too hard in this game in general- in 90% of the game you'll never consider it, but Mt. Moon and the Power Plant later just got stacked with so many that it turns them way more annoying than intended. As far as tutors I' d honestly rather prefer a cost over single use. TMs as single use is... fine. I don't prefer it because I think it's limiting on your ability to pivot if you change your mind later, but for tutors it feels so silly, and I'm much more for Heart Scales as later games adopted as tutor cost. I rarley if ever breed during the story, although I did in Crystal to make a False Swipe Parasect- there's more than a handful of things like Parasect that get significantly mroe usable through breeding where otherwise they're exceedingly hard to justify.

[@Gibstack]

@@ntmaproductions Just for the record, I finished my original thoughts 😄Great video overall, definitely do not regret taking the time to see these things and think about them. TMs would be way better (and tutors) if it wasn't such a permanent use. I do think it is much, *much* more interesting for gameplay that they are limited, rather than being able to teach return to everything immediately, Gen 5. But on the other hand, you really wanted to use that one TM on another pokemon later, but too bad, there is /nothing/ you can do about it. It's a hard thing to balance.

[@ntmaproductions]

I'm definirely a singles man, but doubles is fun from time to time. GF just weirds me out with their handling of it- since RS it's been the comp format but they just NEVER want to use it. The only game centered on it is Colo and they didn't even make it- doubles is still the comp format and Gen 9 has 1? 2?? I can understand putting them in movesets instead of making them TMs- you often want the good doubles moves on multiple Pokemon, ie. Ally Switch in later gens- but it's just so clunky in-game because they're so scared to make people interact witg doubles. Wrt Porygon, other stuff has different prices in FR, and is generally lower besides Porygon, but it's such an odd and minro change that like many idk why they bothered. Audio mixing isn't my specialty. I definirely try to make it reasonable but my voice recording often fluctuates in volume as I get worn out, just another thing to work on 😭 - I love mansion. I think it's a really cool area wrt developing the story of Mew and Mewtwo, although a lot of the stuff in it is pretty clearly obnoxious with Fire and Poison having two fairly harsh Status conditions. - I think Gen 3 was just largely more restricted in general- Gen 4 made a substantial number of Sinnoh mons available through Isnnoh sound- it seems for FRLG they hadn't yet struck that balance, and wanted to keep Hoenn and Kanto disrinct in that regard. I don't mind easing up on it at all, I think variety is always gonna be better in a game where the core conceot is so centered on variety. I wish the Sevii were better- I think new areas could definitely spice Kanto up; and I think conceptually hitting the small islands and cultures of the Japanese non-mainland islands could add that- but it hust never comes together. It's really unsubstantial and the Gen 2 mons have it SO bad, and yes- the Roar bug is a terrible nightmare, dunno how that slipped by. Despite being hard on it these are fine games. I like them despite the issues as I like RBY despite them- it just never hits the stride other games do. HGSS are poloshed to perfection, these perfectly smooth, feature rich, beautiful games that expanded already gigantic games- in comparison FRLG just don't manage to round out the games as well.

[@Justini0]

As a fan of red/blue growing up, this game is AMAZING, so I strongly have to disagree with nearly all your negatives. This game's for me! Curious though, of you don't care for this one, which is your favorite?

[@ntmaproductions]

There's parts of FRLG I love and I have nsotalgia for it, I just think there's a lot of holes 😅 I bounce around a lot. I'm a big fan of all of the Gen 5 games, Platinum, Emerald, but my favorites will always be the Johto games (and their remakes). I also loved Legends Arceus, and I'm very excited to see Z-A if it's up to that standard. I'd also like to specifically call attention to a few of the spin-offs, namely the first 2 sets of Mystery Dungeons, Conquest, the Snap games are very cute. I have an undying love for Pokemon, even the games I find flawed, tbh.

[@SenorPuffball]

I do strongly agree that OG RBY’s charm and jank make them more interesting to return to than FRLG, with some parts of the presentation of the originals just being straight up better than the remake like the music. But as far as being a remake goes, I think the games are actually better than HGSS since despite their blandness they admittedly fix pretty much every problem RBY had, and HGSS is still plagued by the awful level curve of GSC, which for what’s essentially the third revision of a pair of games is ridiculous. Not sure if I’d say FRLG are better games overall than HGSS though. Haven’t gotten to your HGSS vid yet but great video man!

[@ntmaproductions]

@@SenorPuffball but HGSS look so good 🥺🥺

[@juandiegotorres9632]

Maybe they didnt include a dock in cinnabar island cause the original faces north and the boat comes from the east and so people would ask why it comes from the east when there's a dock in the north and they didn't want to animate the boat going around the island.

[@ntmaproductions]

this is a cute idea

[@randomedgygamer2191]

games were good but they were never my favorite

[@jeremywiik15]

I personally love gen 3 and have made the outrageous decision to recollect them for myself. Probably mostly nastolgia, remembering my dad, who's gone now, bringing firered and emerald home to me when they released after a hard day of work. I think back on it and realize how selfless he was, spending his hard earned money on these games for me to enjoy. For all the flaws in these games, they take me back to a time when i had no worries.

[@angelozicarelli541]

I wish pokemon games today were this good 😔, they just don't put that much effort into them anymore. They know that people will buy the games even if they are hastily put together.

[@ParadoxX-lt1vu]

You going to be doing a ruby sapphire one too? I love these videos you've been doing on pokemon games

[@ntmaproductions]

Someday :)

[@aster4jaden]

When I got LeafGreen I had one goal, I was going to capture Chansey (I never captured her before) and get Blissey which I succeed by making Chansey my main and using her to defeat the Elite Four once I unlocked National Dex she evolved the next level, I was extremely happy. I loved the Sevii Islands and that they gave Moltres it's own home, though they could've been bigger. I also enjoyed searching for the Ruby and Sapphire I saw it as reward for all my effort. Though looking back on it now, I wish we'd gotten Johto so we could've caught Gen 2 Pokemon more naturally and maybe get a reason for why Red ended up on Mt Silver.

[@ntmaproductions]

@@aster4jaden No Johto renake got us Colo and XD so it's not all bad, but it certainly is... not an optimal solution to say the least. When I played LG for this video my first Chancey had a Lucky Egg ;)

[@halifaxsteppenwulf7980]

It's nice to hear criticism of games pointing out how poor QoL could be in older games. Sometimes it's good to sacrifice QoL for building a sense of mystery or adventure, but you're absolutely right about how the serious steps back FRLG took compared to Ruby and Sapphire.

[@ntmaproductions]

appreicate it!

[@leolordful]

Tldr: this game is perfect for gen1 type people like me who have almost no interest in later gen pokemon. I absolutely love this game.

[@-VinnieWilson02-]

Using roms and flash carts you can get them legitly

[@ntmaproductions]

through the use of hacking tools... not exactly legit 😅

[@-VinnieWilson02-]

@@ntmaproductions it creates an identical to the dot source item generated through the ROM of the distribution events which are all easily found. I would consider that as legit as it can be, and you aren't using any hacking devices, just a official game and a flash cart with the official ROM files. (I know most of it came from the illegal 1 TB Nintendo dump, but hey use the tools and resources available to you) But if you view anything outside official Nintendo event time period as hacking then we have different views, I love the fact gamers have preserved the event carts online.

[@WishMakers]

Lmao this was my first video game *ever* and I can't believe I never figured out the Nugget glitch. Genuinely hilarious. Not that my nostalgia for this game blinds me, mind you - while I personally disagree about the music's instrumentation (which probably IS nostalgia speaking) this game does have a ginormous amount of problems, especially towards the late game and the whole post game which I even noticed enough as a kid to not even bother finishing the game without a Gameshark. The level curve is somehow worse than Gen 4, in my view, and not even in a fun way (though that's mostly due to a lack of options... Gen 4 has a lot more freedom)

[@ntmaproductions]

to be fair i think it's a fairly hard fight to lose on accident, as a kid you're probably just maxing our your starter, overlevelled its pretty easy to breeze through and if you do somehow lose you probably wouldn't think to check your inventory to see a second nugget. It's a nice glitch if you wanna use Porygon though. Despite everything I didn't have issues with the level curve, granted I fought every trainer, including optional ones, but I didn't often fight random wild stuff. I stayed more or less in a good spot for most of the game that way until Sevii where it's p much impossible to stay balanced to the game because the enemy levels stagnate in the low 50s. Although yeah, slim pickings on options leaves you a little empty handed at times.

[@RolandKoller90]

Isn’t it nice to be an adult now and so judgmental on our childhood games. I wanna go back to being 9 when I got blue version. Pokémon were the best games back then.

[@pokemontrainerthink9045]

I'm on this one now if you can't tell lol

[@therivermarquis]

I honestly think these are the perfect Pokémon games; forming a trifecta with Emerald and HGSS. So yeah, there’s a lot a don’t agree with here. Other than the obvious gen2 and 3 features being locked to postgame this mostly feels like nitpicking. I mean… criticizing the amount of trees? Lmao The bit with Bill arriving at Cinnabar was admittedly very funny Edit: wow calling it not much of an improvement over Red and Blue is just insane though

[@ntmaproductions]

Maybe not much of an improvement is a little harsh, moreso I think it's a less interesting game to playthrough than RBY, and its imrpovements and changes are in weird spots

[@ThomastheDankEngine8900]

Replace Emerald with Platinum, and that’s the real Pokemon trifecta.

[@Phantasmlovecraft]

Showing all the sprites over your game play hurts my eyes lol

[@ntmaproductions]

@@Phantasmlovecraft sorr

[@shortandy6284]

they were great...anyone who thinks otherwise is just depressed

[@M3rtyville]

Wow, this video got finished quicker than I expected. The exclusive section was a bit bad to the eye. I think there must be an issue when uploading this. The thing I like about the remakes is that Moltres is the most accessable in these games for an in-game playthrough. Usually Moltres is post-game or end-game where usually you are not willing to invest in that. While it is still late, it is a fine Pokemon to add as it comes with a high level, good stats and immediate good Fire STAB in Flamethrower. It can finally compete with the other 2 birds even if grinding it up is not as easy with the Ground Gym and the Rock Types in Victory Road. The worst thing about the roamers is, like in RS, their stats are glitched so they will always have bad ivs. Not that it matters for completing the dex, their SpA, SpD, Spe, Def ivs will only range from 0-5, not 0-31. That was only fixed in Emerald where that is the only way to get good iv Latis minus the Eon-Ticket. So if you want to use competitive ones or have good iv beasts, you have to buy Colosseum... Yeah, the game isn't balanced around abilities. Most notable in the Pokemon Tower where you have Ghost Types with 3 immunities. It makes wild Cubones even more ackward which seemed like they were designed to beat the ghost types. Also the lack of Dark Types and Dark Type moves. The only Super Effective new move against Psychics are Bite if I remember correctly. Oh, and Rhydon and Nidoking get Megahorn which they learn way too late to matter. Eevee not being able to evolve to its Gen 2 evolutions is really annoying like how it can turn into its Gen 4 evolutions in HGSS. They could have had an NPC that does that for you but I think they didn't care. This is also a problem in XD. You can't evolve Eevee to Umbreon or Espeon in that game. The evolution items only work on your in-game Eevee. I didn't want to restart my Saphire to have my competitive Eevee made for Umbreon to change the clock for it as all my games had dead batteries on daytime. But at the end I had to give in to that. But I am glad Charizard is viable finally. Metal Claw gives a lot to be desired but Mega Kick really helps out against Misty. Early Flamethrower also cleans a lot of the game, it makes me really happy considering it is my favorite Pokemon. There are a lot of other things to complain which Tamashii Hiroka made a video about. Some issues I just tolerated because back in the day it wouldn't matter much. But for people who replay games frequently to get certain one time or rare items/Pokemon it must be a pain. I feel that in XD and Colosseum I look forward to the Let's Go games next. Not that I think there is much to say since they took out too much stuff: Moves, Pokemon, Abilities... You get Megas and Alolan forms which add a few more Dark, Fairy, Ghost and Steel Types the game is lacking and really needs.

[@ntmaproductions]

i try my best :) lgpe isn't too far off the exclusive section was a bit of poor planning on my part. it turned out i sized it wrong. probably should've just blanked the screen. Moltres is definitely best off here. You get a bit of runway to shove some evs into it. It's also significantly better for sun as a weather although fire just has such a bad matchup in lategame kanto, lorelei, lance, bruno to an extent, giovanni. you can get zapdos and articuno the second you clear koga and they're signidicantly better at deaking with the stuff ahead unfortunately. someone at gf just hates moltres. i considered noting the iv bug but given the restrictions on the beasts, 1 per save file, roar bug, and how late you get them after literally eveeything is finished i figured it'd best be saved for rse... eventually. Crunch is around for Dark too, as well as Dark Pulse, Feint Attack, Knock Off, but a good majority of them are extremely obscure. Even on the Nidos, as awesome as Megahorn is they get run over hy any fast Psychic anyway thanks to being Poison. Rhydon and Seaking get Megahorn too but both of those have pretty flimsy SpD that makes that roughly non-viable. All in all I think it's mostly an improvement moveset wise. Charizard is defenitely a contender for most improved, but some rather unfortunate dudes in Gen 1 get a nice handful of stuff, fossils getting actual rock stuff, scyther getting some bug stuff- the pool of viable stuff is probably 50% higher than RBY off that alonr even desoite dome dudes like Persian getting buried under mecahnical changes. Let's Go is more interesting in soeme way than people give it credit for imo. The removal of a items and abilities bites, but there's some cool new stuff both with selection in rhe Megas, which make cool pokemon like Beedrill viable, but also in stuff like the Master Trainers, gym and e4 rematches- it's admittedly got a lot of issues but it's less uninteresting than "kanto without wild battles" implies

[@M3rtyville]

@@ntmaproductions I don't know if someone hates Moltres. To me it seems more like poor planning. It may not be effective ingame but competitively and as a boss pokemon it gets progressively better. It usually ends up fighting with Zapdos on which is the better bird over the course of generations. Zapdos usually wins because its competition get nerfed. Articuno has it really tough with the special nerf. Competitively it never peaked since Gen 1 or arguably 3 even with its new form. And for Battle Tower strats it's Sheer Cold + Mind Reader need 2 turns where it won't survive. A shame because Articuno is the first legendary I caught and I kinda like it as much as Zapdos. Regarding other Dark Type moves in FRLG: - Crunch: No gen 1 Pokemon can learn Crunch in Gen 3 except Nidorina at lv53... a poison type you probably want to evolve immediately - Dark Pulse is a Gen 4 move - Feint Attack: Only Meowth can learn it at lv25 which is an exclusive Pokemon - Knock Off is way too weak to matter. Just twice as strong as Leech Life which itself is the worst offensive move until Gen 7. So Bite is the way to go especially made for Blastoise and Eeveelutions which can use their special attack. For Eevee you might want to grind a few levels for it. Only Nidoking gets Megahorn from the Nido family which is bad but Nidoking is one of the best Pokemon for an ingame run. Not as good as in Gen 1 obviously. I forgot Seaking got Megahorn.

[@ntmaproductions]

@Not Taguro Moltres is just unfortunate. Like Articuno poor guy just gets trashed by sneaky stones. But you're right, Sun especially gives Moltres a good second life with Solar Beam and the Fire boost- he's just had a lot of bad luck in his time. you're right on Dark Pulse, I've been back and forth so many gens it's hard to jeep track of lmao- I'm playing through LGP right now and Raticate gets Crunch so these thigs just get scrambled to me 😭 same for knock off- significantly better later when it gets buffed, altho the effect is still really strong in the fee inststances that it comes up in-game. seaking is cool- it's a shame it never really fell into a niche, it's quite literslly worse Gyarados, which is exceedingly unfortunate.

[@batorerdyniev9805]

Firereden

[@AlphaZeroX96]

Fire Red and Leaf Green are better than the originals. They have bug fixes and more content. I don't get why people say the original Gameboy games are better. The graphics? That shouldn't matter at all. I guess people love buggy and glitchy messes.

[@ntmaproductions]

soul vs soulless

[@AlphaZeroX96]

@@ntmaproductions Keep in mind the originals were done on weaker hardware compared to the GBA. Fire Red and Leaf Green might have been what Game Freak intended Red and Blue to be, what their vision was.

[@ntmaproductions]

@@AlphaZeroX96 I don't doubt it's closer to their vision, I just find it less interesting

[@616png]

Overall, I really enjoyed the video essays you've been making! You can 100% see the jump in quality from the older ones to the newer ones. There are some points I disagree with here, such as the graphics or your comparison to Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow. I do agree that, in terms of charm value graphically, RBGY are better. Fire Red and Leaf Green feel like "just another Pokemon game" in terms of graphics, likely due to how many people use Gen 3 as a basis for Rom Hacks and other stuff. But I still think the games look great overall, even if they are generic. That is probably just opinion/preference. The big thing I disagree with is saying that RBGY are on par with these games. I feel that these games, outside of some of the charm, are better in mostly every other way. More Pokemon are usable with better movesets, instead of relying on TMs, allowing people to run more Pokemon they like without hurting other Pokemon they want to run TMs on. You don't run into glitches nearly as often or have to deal with some annoying mechanics like old binding moves or freeze (seriously, who at gamefreak thought those were good ideas) that make RBGY feel very hard to play. I don't have time to type out explanations for everything right now, but I feel there are a few more things that make Fire Red and Leaf Green better. Some things include the post game (even if it's honestly kinda poor in terms of quality, I feel it's better then nothing), better enemy movesets and special stat/overall Pokmeon balancing. As remakes, I feel these games are overrated. It feels more like a remaster that tried to throw in Pokemon and mechanics from older generations but was intentionally trying to make it feel more like Gen 1 games then they should've been. My favorite example of a fantastic remake is ORAS. It really feels like the game was remade to fit into Gen 6, making big changes without completely killing the spirit of the game, IMO. I hope future remakes are more like ORAS. As I said before, I've had fun watching these essays, even if I disagree with this one a little bit. Keep up the awesome work!👍

[@ntmaproductions]

@@616png Yeah this video came off harsher than I intended 😅 I do like these games, and they benefit a lot from the general trajectory and gameplay changes that Gen 3 brought, it's a better competitive game, team building is more interesting, I love abilities as a layer to the gameplay, but it's a very safe game. I love the Gen 1 games because they're weird and novel in the grand scheme of things, and while these are well-made remakes, I'd kinda rather they'd gone off the rails like ORAS does. I'd rather have weird and interesting than safe. Even HGSS is fairly safe but I think those benefit from IMMENSE work in other aspects, not only getting what is more or less finalized Pokemon gameplay with Gen 4 mechanics, but with such a unique style, with the dark, saturated colors, the incredible music, and tons of little additions like the Pokeathalon, the Legendary Hunt, the expanded post-game roster with the radio encounters and expanded Bug Catching Contest, there's so much to fill out what already made GSC great. I really wish ORAS had set a standard but well, BDSP 😭 Anyway I appreciate comments like this immensly, so feel free to say hi when you get through RSE or whatever :)

[@616png]

​@@ntmaproductions I agree; they are very safe games and don't take nearly as many liberties as they should've taken. This game, like BDSP, feel like Remasters instead of full on remakes that make the games enjoyable. Remasters work for third versions (like Emerald or Platinum), but for remakes it can make them feel underwhelming. Playing it safe might be to try and play into nostalgia? But for games that were released 6 years ago, it feels odd to do that. I'm happy you liked HGSS. I haven't watched those videos yet, but I absolutely love those games. They felt like they were safe too, but I like the additions as you mentioned. I wish they did a bit more; the levels still feel like they could've been better balanced out. If Johto does get Let's Go Games, I hope they are able to make fixes to that (Controversial opinion: I really like Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee. I enjoy doing hard challenges, like Hardcore Nuzlocking difficulty romhacks, but they just feel very relaxed and different. I am about to watch that video next and I can't wait to see how you feel. I have a feeling you'll either love them or absolutely hate them). Let's just hope the eventual Gen 5 remakes follow in the footsteps of ORAS. I would like to explore older generations in the style of these newer games!

[@ntmaproductions]

@@616png I think playing it safe was an attempt to curb the weirdness of Gen 1, they're messy, messy games, as much as I love them. It makes sense to make a straight laced remake in the face of them being remakes of games that are so weird, but it does leave me a touch underwhelmed. HGSS escape that by just being so flawless, I think- so goregous, so filled with life, and with a willingness to incorperate elements of Crystal and the like. I certainly wouldn't mind a LG Togepi and Marill, while they're far from my favorite games, not to spoil too much, I quite love the artstyle of LGPE, and it's a fun catching/sim with a lot of teambuilding potential that makss it exciting despite itself through having about 400 extra moves, Alolan forms, and so on. Truthfully more than remakes I'd like to see BW/2 just get rereleases, I think they look fantastic, play fantastic, and I'd rather they explore old settings through Legends, as I quite loved visiting Sinnoh through PLA and I'm genuinely hyped to see Kalos get the same treatment

[@shewolfcub3]

"Quality" in the new games...? You're kidding right..? Gen 7-9 are a joke......

[@ntmaproductions]

@@shewolfcub3 I think he meant between my older and newer videos lmai

[@TheSandwhichman108]

You know how everyone says Witney is difficult? WHY HAS NO ONE TALKED ABOUT FIRE RED AND LEAF GREEN MISTY?! That starmie is a menace. THAT THING IS WAY TOO STRONG FOR A SECOND GYMLEADER TO USE!

[@ntmaproductions]

@@TheSandwhichman108 Her ace has the best BST of any of the other gym's aces, or maybe second, but yeah, Charmander really gets dunked on early on

[@TheSandwhichman108]

@@ntmaproductions I used an ivysaur and a pikachu and even then I had trouble because in the remakes they decided to give this thing PSYBEAM! Now not even the grass starter isn’t safe from it.

[@ntmaproductions]

@@TheSandwhichman108 Yeah she's definitely a wall early on lmao, meanwhile they made Surge a pushover by downgrading Thunderbolt to Shock Wave

[@TheSandwhichman108]

@@ntmaproductions Also the fact you can get BOTH knidoking and knidoqueen and geodude before even the second gym. Even if you don’t have those digletts cave is literally right next to the surges gym for an easy ground type. Heck if you’re lucky you can even get a dugtrio right off the bar.

[@shewolfcub3]

Red's story is amazing and I have to disagree with nearly every point. However, I appreciate the work you put into these videos. I'll gladly take gens 16 over the rubbish gamefreak made in 7-9

[@ntmaproductions]

@@shewolfcub3 I do like the self-insert element of Gen 1, wherein its very story light, and the real story is the one you create, but it's sorta something I prefer in the Johto games, where that game has a lot more going on off to the side, with Silver's story and Giovanni's refusal to return (although HGSS fumbles that in the weird event so idk). There's nothing wrong with simplicity, if I came off harsh on it, I quite prefer it that way.

[@killscreen7519]

Glad someone called out the Sevii Islands boring side quests. Very underwhelming. So many complaints about Let's Go P/E having removed the islands and I've never understood it because I never found them good. FRLG definitely lacks the charm of the originals.

[@EWOODJ]

Couldn’t disagree more

[@killscreen7519]

​@@EWOODJ You do you bro

[@jackhanson3333]

Disagree with it having a polished lacking feeling mabye it’s because I’m particularly nostalgic to this version I never played the game boy version but when you say kinda bright colour palettes and over all kinda clean mabye boring look that’s what I think of when I think Pokémon

[@ntmaproductions]

Yeah I mean that's fair. I habe nostalgia for FRLG too, I just also got issued

[@christianbell5542]

I was enjoying the video until you criticized the game, then I had to dislike.

[@ntmaproductions]

🤔

[@JoeyP946]

makes sense

[@mythrilage5053]

500th like! Woo!

[@TheSandwhichman108]

I hate event pokemon and event locations. Why not just add them to the game to begin with? It’s understandable in earlier versions but in third versions or later games it’s so stupid.

[@ntmaproductions]

it was a neat way to increase engagement at some point, although its largely tedious now that it's all wifi events now

[@TheSandwhichman108]

@@ntmaproductions I still hate them. I got some massive gaps in my pokedex in white version because of those damn mythicals.

[@mariobeltran3237]

Hey, maybe next time start the video 40 seconds sooner, we don’t need a mash up of both start screens while you get your hand out of your pants.

[@ntmaproductions]

insightful

[@bretwentzel8824]

This dude was extremely negative and literally just said every single part of the game was bad or boring You ever consider that you don’t like Pokémon in general ? Cuz that’s what’s really going on. These games are amazing especially for the time.

[@ntmaproductions]

Ah yes

[@ntmaproductions]

@@bretwentzel8824 Yes, clearly it's a conspiracy against FRLG by anti-Pokemon fans to make videos about it to prop up Digimon

[@bretwentzel8824]

@@ntmaproductions no, you just don’t like Pokemon bro

[@ntmaproductions]

@@bretwentzel8824 it’s okay to like something and be critical about it.

[@ntmaproductions]

@@bretwentzel8824 I like plenty of the games, I like RBY, tolerate LGPE, GSC, HGSS, RSE, ORAS even, DPPt despite their issues, BW and the 2 games, Legends, plenty of the spinoffs, I even like FRLG despite my complaints, I just think they're a bit too sterile and clean in a way that makes them less interesting than the games before and around them. You don't need to love every game in a series to love it, nor do you need to defend aspects of the series that aren't interesting

[@Iggy_Dogg]

A full minute and ten seconds of wasted time at the beginning lmfao why

[@ntmaproductions]

funy

[@mickvd4]

Audio mixing is terrible. Unwatchable tbh

[@ntmaproductions]

@@mickvd4 Yeah I had a very bad quality mic and was in the middle of moving, can't blame ya on that one