Pokemon Leaf Green is a remaster of the original 1996 Pokemon Blue/Red, with extended versions that were added as post content. The players will experience the adventure in the Kanto region. The players are placed in the shoes of the Legendary trainer Red or the lesser known female counter Leaf, who are well established within the fanbase. Trainer Red is for everyone the top guy for one reason or another and its the face Game Freak usually references in future titles along side probably the best rival, trainer Blue. For the review,
i ll be referring to the protagonist as Red, as he is the avatar i chose over Leaf.
The game begins with Red waking up. His mother knows that today is the day that each kid dreams about, the day they will embark on their Pokemon adventure. Red then pays a visit to proffessor Oak laboratory. Both trainers go to prof's lab but he is missing. At the Lab, we meet Blue, another trainer(and grandson of Oak) with who Red's been rivals for quite some time. The proffesor himself is not there and Red decides to look around the town. Eventually Red spots Prof Oak in the tall grass studying Pokemon.
Proffessor Oak sees Red and realises that we re there cause we want to embark on our journey. Both heroes walk back to the lab, and Oak tells the boys to pick a Pokemon to act as their starters. Blue allows Red to pick first, in order for him to counterpick and then challenge us in battle.Soon after, Proffesor Oak then gives the kids a Pokedex and request that they capture data of wild Pokemon to help him on his studies. The heroes then leave
and embark on their journey.
On this adventure Red will learn about the Pokemon Gyms and the Elite four. Pokemon Gyms act as a challenge that the players will have to go through to strengthen their pokemon and to also be acknowledge by other trainers. Defeating a gym leader rewards the players with a Gym badge proving that the player bested the leader. The badge also will make higher level pokemon respect the trainer and also grants access when trying to move to the elite four. There is a total of 8 gym badges that the player can obtain in order to
pass the security and get access to the Victory road which stands between you and the elite four. The elite four consist of some of the best Champion level Trainers who will put your Pokemon to the test.
Aside from the Gym leaders, the Elite four and Blue, Red will come across team Rocket a criminal organization that tries to capture Pokemon and use them for their evil plans. Red will be encountering team rocket a couple of times as their criminal plans are scattered around Kanto. As mentioned, this game is a complete package and thus Pokemon from the 2nd generation as well as some "seasonal" events re included within the game.
I always loved pokemon Red and pokemon Gold, not because they were the games i played as a kid but something about them hits me hard. It can also be the nostalgia and the familiarity with the first 2 generations of Pokemon, but i dont think so as i did try some of the future games such as Pokemon Saphire(2002), Pokemon Shield and others. The story of the game was what i remember it to be and i dont mind. I played the game so many times, from Blue, to FireRed, to a Japanese(dont know Japanese)port of Leaf Green to even Lets Go. Its the case where as many times as you watch your favorite film and know every joke, the ending and even quote the dialog you still enjoy it as if it was the first time. This is me with Pokemon Kanto.
The player gets control of the Character Red or Leaf who they can rename whatever they pleased. The players also get to choose their starter Pokemon between Charmander, Bulbasaur or Squirtle who will be escorting them through the adventure unless changed. The player will have to use their starter in Pokemon fights or even to weaken a pokemon in order to catch the. The players can move around by walking, sprinting or ride their bike in the world and interact with various objects. They can interact with NPCs and with Pokeballs found scattered around in the wild. The pokeballs can
be items, key items, attacks or even actual pokeballs. The trainers will encounter various pokemon through out their adventure. Wild pokemon can be found anywhere in tall grass, anywhere in water and anywhere in caves. You cant see the pokemon roaming in the wild like in the newer games and thus the encounters will be triggered randomly when moving into these areas. The other way to trigger encounters is by using a fishing rod near water. The aim of the game, is to defeat the Elite four and completing the pokedex. This means, the player will have to
capture and train their pokemon in order to complete the tasks. A team can consist of up to 6 pokemon.
When moving around the environment, a wild pokemon will trigger a pokemon encounter. Idealy, the players will have to fight the pokemon in order to weaken it before trying to catch it. To catch a pokemon, the trainer has to carry Pokeballs, Greatballs or Ultraballs. After damaging/or not the wild pokemon, the player can select back and choose what type of ball they wish to throw. Capturing a pokemon will make that pokemon join your team if your team is consisted of less than six pokemon. If you already have six pokemon in your party, the captured one will be
send to your computer box. The player can then go to the nearest PC usually found in the Pokemon Center. In Pokemon Centers, the player can heal their party, change their party members and make exchanges with other game owners(locally). Each game has exclusive Pokemon, so if you wish to fully complete the dex, you ll have to trade. For example in Fire ref you can get Odish where as in Leafgreen you get Bellsprout. Including transformations, there are 24 exclusive Pokemon that cannot be obtained unless you trade.
Defeating a wild pokemon rewards the Pokemon that fought it with EXP points. There is no Party sharing like the newer games and the only other way to gain EXP is with an item called Exp shared that can be obtain onced you caught 50 pokemon types by interacting with Proffesor Oaks helpers. EXP helps the Pokemon level up. The higher the level, the stronger the pokemon. Some Pokemon when reached a certain level will evolve improving their power and skills. Some pokemon also obtain different abilities when leveling up. A pokemon can have up to 4 skills at a time and will have
to replace a move to learn a new one. Each skill has its own elemntal attack, EG. a pokemon can have a normal attack, a passive attack, a fire attack and even a ground attack. Each attack also has its own PP
number next to it indicating how many times the pokemon can use that ability. Some skills will have to be taught to a pokemon manualy. Certain NPCs will reward you with a skill that you can then teach it to the pokemon.
Pokemon skills are mostly TMs and theres a few HMs. The difference is that HMs are skills that can be used outside of combat when freelanching and unlike TMs they cannot be deleted unless you find and interact with a certain NPCs.
These abilities are:
Once again, i personally enjoyed my journey through the Kanto Region. It's worth mentioning that it stood the test of time and playing LeafGreen right after Pokemon Sword i can see a huge difference that shows improvement on the latest entries but also shows the "difficulty" of the older games. For example, not sharing EXP can make the game grindy as not all members will be of the same level. Additionally, the player is not given instructions or tips as to which attack will be effective againts which pokemon. Moreover, the party cannot be swapped on the go and you need to interact with a PC. Last but not least
the player will have to balance the use of HMs as they consume spots of other potential attacks. Nevertheless, these are games that stood the test of times and those who grew up with them know their way around them, thus its no problem. I also appreciate how in game events of the past such as the Ho-oh encounter are now part of the game and you can actually encounter them.
When the player successfully defeats the Elite four the game is not over. Most of the players who played any pokemon game will most likely try to complete Proffessor Oak's dream and complete the pokedex for him meanning they will try and capture all available pokemon. A problem with the game is that not all pokemon can be found in the wild as some re game exclusive. This means you need to know or own
a copy of FireRed or/and LeafGreen. The idea was to either get both game and trade or have a friend who will trade them over. The game will receive a Pokemon home support however the details are yet to be revealed. Will we be able to transfer them through there or not. Additionally, certain encounters are locked on 1. The trainers can only encounter one of the second generation's
legendary Pokemon trio of Entei, Suicune and Raiku. Based on your starter choice, you will get to encounter one of these 3. Meanning, that yet again the only way to obtain the rest is through trading, if someone is willing to trade them. Otherwise you ll have to get a copy, finish the game and encounter the pokemon to sent it over.
Aside from the Pokedex completion the player can grind their pokemon to level 100. Is it mandatory, no, but people go out of their way to do it. A Great selling point, that wasnt advertised as much is that for the first time people can explore the island that used to be japan exclusive. Uppon defeating the Elite four, you ll find tickets that will allow you
to travel and explore. These islands hide pokemon like Deoxis, Ho-oh and even Lukia. These tickets back in 2004, where exclusive to Japan by physically participating certain pokemon events. Now everyone can explore them.
Last but not least just like any Pokemon game, the players can go out of their way and try to collect all Pokemon in shiny hunt. Alot of players want to have the shiny pokedex as its a nice grindy thing to do. Collecting all Pokemon in shiny can take weeks or even months.
Honestly the Pokemon pixelated style is unique and fire red offers great visuals even now in 2026. The sprite work looks fascinating both in the overworld and in pokemon designs. Till this day there are people who prefer the new visuals over the art styles we see in more recent entries since Lets Go. For me FireRed/LeafGreen look amazing despite their age. The fact that water also had ray tracing to me will always be hilarious. The locations
and the silhouettes are memorable. I am glad more people will get to witness these classic areas. Only certain wild pokemon can be seen in the wild or pokemon owned by certain NPCs who have them outside their pokeballs. Gamefreak did not change anything on the graphicks, however since the console is the Switch the game's style looks more crisp and clear.
The audio department is also very good. The songs used are the excact same ones as before but obviously with the Switch the audio is more clear. The melodies sound as clear as ever and they did an amazing job capturing the adventure. The pokemon themselved use their usual cries and there is no voice acting. The melodies are reminising of the gameboy advanced era and im pretty sure many of you know some of the songs. Maybe cause you heard them in videos
on media or by playing the Let's go versions.
In conclusion, Pokemon LeafGreen allows the player to relive the orginal remaster of the story that started it all. The player gets to control the legendary trainer Red as he ventures into the Kanto region. Red receives his starter Pokemon and a Pokedex with the goal to become
a pokemon master by defeating the Elite Four of the Pokemon League and also complete the Pokedex by capturing data of every single Pokemon. Along his journey, Red will phase off againts Blue his childhood rival with whom he ll come across multiple times through this adventure. Additionally,
trainer Red's story will also have him go up againts the criminal organization Team Rocket.
Gameplay wise, the player moves around the world encountering different species of Pokemon. The player can defeat them in order to level up their Pokemon party which will increase their status or even help them evolve. Instead of defeating the Pokemon,
the trainer can also choose to capture the Pokemon in order to regroup them in their Pokemon party. The game battles are turn base where the player can choose to use a certain skill, change a certain Pokemon or even use an item. The graphics bring back
the pixalated art style and the iconic Game boy advance music. Upon completing the game, the player can go out of their way to collect all Pokemon including some of the Gen2 pokemon and legendaries. The adventure continues and its a great way to keep playing.
Overall, im very happy Ninteno gave the people an official way to play the original GBA games. It is behind a pay wall which to some is a deal breaker given that the switch has a gba emulator with free games but for them its a bussness move that would probably do them well.