Yes, folks, there is a new set of pokemon games. The difference is that you may have already played these before. Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen are updates to the original Pokemon Blue & Red (respectively). The first question that comes to mind when any developer makes what seems like a graphical update is, “Is it worth spending my money on a game I’ve essentially played already?” In this case the answer is “yes.” There are several reasons that this pair of Pokemon games will keep you from feeling déjà vu.

Since the GBA is backward compatible, Nintendo had to make some improvements to the originals to get more than just fanboys buying into their little scheme. Most notable of the changes are the visuals. LeafGreen & FireRed have a similar style to the last set of Pokemon games and is thus a massive improvement and really brings the game to life with color and sharper visuals. I’ve been waiting a long time for actual real attack animation in a Gameboy Pokemon game, but it seems Nintendo will continue to leave me waiting. Fortunately, the attacks themselves have more varied animations and generally look better. Along with enhanced graphics are reworked versions of the original music as well as more sound effects for battles and other events (like curing your pokemon). Combine these two sensual enhancements and battles become much less repetitive (although they still feel repetitive at times) than the original.