News – Nintendo To Re-Release Pokémon Red & Blue

Next year will see Pokémon celebrate its twentieth anniversary.  Yes you read that right, Pokémon is soon to be 20 years old!  So to celebrate, as part of the first Nintendo Direct since the tragic passing of gaming legend Satoru Iwata, Nintendo announced that next year will see the re-release of the original Pokémon titles.

These re-releases will be available via the 3DS Virtual Console, beginning from 27th February 2016, 20 years to the day that Pokémon Red & Green first went on sale in Japan.  It’s not only Pokémon Red and Blue (or Red, Green and Blue if you are in Japan), that are being re-released either, as Nintendo are adding Pokémon Yellow to that list.  A game inspired by the tale of Ash and Pikachu in the international anime adaption of the video game.

Whilst these games will be authentic to the original Game Boy titles, rather than the Game Boy Advance remakes, there will be some slight additions.  The main alteration is seen in relation to the interconnectivity between the games.  Being able to link up in order to both battle and trade Pokémon, was, and still is, essential to the Pokémon experience.  As such Nintendo have upgraded these games to use the in-built wireless capabilities of the 3DS in order to connect, replicating the job of the Game Boy Link Cable from years gone by.

Not content with stopping at that, Nintendo also had one extra announcement for those living in Japan, and it may make Pokémaniacs out there quite jealous.  You see, the Japanese edition of the latest Nintendo Direct also came with the announcement that Pokémon Red, Green, Blue & Yellow, will be getting a boxed release in Japan, one that will come with download code for the game inside.  Not only that, but these special boxed editions will also include Pokémon related memorabilia, such as a cartridge shaped magnet, and a fold-out map of Kanto.

Pokémon has become one of gaming’s most loved franchises, and is a franchise that us here at Rings & Coins have extremely fond memories of.  So it’s exciting to see Nintendo getting us prepared for the twentieth celebrations next year.  Now bring on February.