Pearl didn't have time to write one this week. I promise I'll get her to write one next week!!

Well, the comic is on it's second issue, and I am so PROUD!!! Joining our staff is my friend Ryan, who will be doing random game/movie/etc reviews for us! This week we've introduced Scorpio's partner in crime, Delphinus, of the Andromeda Court. Also, I've finally gotten this page up! YAY! Anyway, ejoy this week's comic.

In 1995, Pokemon for Gameboy was released. At the time, I was a naive 14 year old and I remember buying Pokemon Blue on a whim with my birthday money. Not knowing what to expect, the classic RPG swept me into a world where I not only could play with a huge arsenal of characters that I could level up, but I could extend my grasp to increase my ranks with the very characters I became aquainted with fighting!

At the time, the Playstation and Dreamcast were the most technologically advanced systems. And for a time, RPG's entered a dark and stagnant period where most of them felt much like the prior. And Pokemon expanded on that universe with a unique and interesting battle system. Since then, RPG's have continued to grow and experiment with many different battle system, including unique battle systems from games such as Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story, and Legend of Legaia.

And now Nintendo has released Pokemon: Fire Red and Pokemon: Leaf Green. As most people are familiar with, Pokemon has, up to now, released newer and newer versions of Pokemon games, including Gold and Silver; and Ruby and Emerald; each game adding more pokemon, and making the game larger and more complex. And with their latest additions of FireRed and LeafGreen I was expecting more of the same ol, same ol. However, these two versions are actually re-makes of their predecessors Pokemon Blue and Pokemon Red, available for the GameBoy Advance.

I was recently able to get a copy of FireRed to play. As an original Pokemon fan, it was a great breath of fresh air to go back and play the original storyline. I didn't have to worry about what time of day it is to catch the pokemon I was looking for, and I didn't have to go on a lot of side-quests to complete all my tasks. I am obviously the target audience for this game, though, because I loved the first Pokemon so much. Of course, we all love the games from our childhood, no matter what games they were. Which is why I feel bad for the children who grew up with games like The Mummy, and PacMan 3D! Still though, I think Pokemon as an RPG deserves a lot more credit than anybody who has just seen the cartoon series would ever suspect of it.

The first difference you'll notice playing FireRed is that the graphics have improved a lot. The great graphics of the silver and gold versions are back, although there aren't any animations. Not a huge deal for me, but that much is a little bit curious for those who pick up the game for the first time, I'm sure. It's still just a picture that moves slightly when you attack. Although, you still get great little scenes like sand flying in their face and a fist flying at them, depending on the attack.

It didn't take long to find that the makers had also enhanced the creatures to have special abilities that are static to the battle. If you fight a Nidoran, you'll automatically get poisoned just from being in battle with it. Pidgey, Pidgeotto, and Pidgeot are all immune to accuracy-reducing attacks like Sand-Attack. Any battle against Diglet, and his opponent is unable to change pokemon. I feel these abilities really add to the feel of the game in quality while still holding true to it's roots. What next, you ask? Maybe a real time combat for pokemon? I doubt it, but at least we're making progress, folks.

You'll also notice the addition of a few new items, including Star Pieces, Running Shoes, and new TM's. In fact, you'll notice that pokemon will now learn moves from types from pokemon that aren't even in the game. There aren't any steel pokemon, for example. However Charmeleon still learns Steel Claw. This is what I'd consider a minor difference. But it's also the kind of thing I expect from a remake of a game. It probably didn't take long to do. But when you're traversing the endless floors of Silph Co, you start to get really thankful for those Running Shoes.

Also, when you start a new game, you'll be able to choose even a female character with white hair! She has a typical anime feel to her, and it doesn't change the story at all. This is probably added by Nintendo in order to continue to appeal to the girl gamers out there, and in order for this game to be more similar to it's sequel-variants.

But the greatest addition to the game is going to be it's new Menu System. At first it looks just like the original menu system. Look into it a little further and you'll find that you can now put any item on register, which means that whenever you press the SELECT button, you'll automatically access the item on Register. I used this to access my bicycle, usually. They also changed the menu for storing and withdrawing your pokemon. You no longer need to worry about depositing a pokemon, leaving the screen, entering a new one to withdraw, and all those annoying time-consumers that led to you feeling bored. You can now enter your box, view both the pokemon in the box and the ones on hand and deposit and withdraw and change boxes quickly and fluently, with mini-pictures to depict the exact type of pokemon you're looking at without looking at a detailed summary. Basically the GUI for their menues had a complete makeover.

But through it's many changes, Pokemon FireRed retains the original, brilliant feel (target audience, don't forget). It has the same plot, world, classic music, original 150 pokemon only, and all the original gyms only. This game will appeal greatly to those who miss the original game, and hey it'll probably even hit the attention of the newer fans who just love a goofy story plot. I can't say this is top quality and that they poured over this game night and day. But it's definately worth a pre-owned version. And it's still better than the original in comparison.

For a grade, I give this game a B, a good remake of an old classic. Now if only somebody could re-make Star Wars episodes I and II and make them not suck. Ah, we can only wish! And for all of you Pumpkin Eaters out there, you can forget about the infinite item cheat. It's gone. Sorry, folks. You'll have to actually go out and buy a gameshark if you're looking for cheats.