Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen Have Generated Success That Nintendo Can’t Ignore

The new Switch ports of Pokemon FireRed and Pokemon LeafGreen have been so successful that Nintendo can’t afford to ignore its logical next step. Despite being over 20 years old, FireRed and LeafGreen continue to be some of the most popular Pokemon games ever. Kanto, as a region, remains just as iconic as the original 151 Pokemon that are featured across FireRed and LeafGreen, which is why so many have been excited to return to these games on Switch. Now, based on new sales data, Nintendo clearly needs to give this same treatment to other Pokemon games of the past.

Recently, Nintendo revealed its latest weekly eShop sales data, and Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen continue to sit at the top of the chart. This is the third week in a row that FireRed has been the highest-selling Switch game on the eShop, with LeafGreen coming in right behind it. What’s even more impressive about this feat is that eShop charts are based on revenue generated, not units sold. This means that even at a price of $20 each, FireRed and LeafGreen have been bringing in more money than games that cost $60 or more.

Essentially, these Pokemon ports on Switch have potentially been more successful than Nintendo anticipated. As a result, there’s no question that it needs to capitalize on this momentum by porting more Pokemon titles from yesteryear to Switch. The most logical choice would be to bring over Pokemon Sapphire, Pokemon Ruby, and Pokemon Emerald, since these games are already compatible with FireRed and LeafGreen. This would allow players to trade between the various versions of each game while also giving Generation 3 fans an easier way to access the original Hoenn entries in the series.

Will More Classic Pokemon Games Come to Switch?

So, will Nintendo look to actually port Pokemon Sapphire, Ruby, and Emerald to Switch? Well, it’s quite difficult to know. On paper, the decision seems like an obvious one, as Nintendo would be able to rake in countless millions of dollars by just releasing emulated versions of these Pokemon classics on Switch. Given how little work would likely need to be done to make this happen, it’s hard to see why Nintendo wouldn’t do it.

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Then again, Nintendo as a company has historically bucked many major trends and expectations that have come about from fans. As such, this could be an instance where it believes it’s better to keep fans wanting something that they can’t have for the time being.

On a long enough timeline, hopefully, Nintendo will see how much value there is in porting Pokemon games from not only the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance era to Switch/Switch 2, but also those from the DS and onward. Doing so wouldn’t simply be easy money on Nintendo’s part, but it could potentially push Pokemon to its biggest height in decades.

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