The Pokémon Company, Nintendo and Game Freak today released the Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen games for Nintendo Switch (compatible with Nintendo Switch 2), but this could be just the beginning of plans for the series’ classics.
While exploring the files for these new Nintendo Switch versions of Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen, dataminer meatball_132 discovered that these ROMs are new and have undergone immense work that is not visible to players, but he also discovered something even more exciting.
According to this dataminer, the emulator used to introduce Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen on the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 includes identification and recognition of hacks for the Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald ROMs. This suggests that The Pokémon Company can release these Advance classics on the Nintendo Switch whenever it wants.
The emulator used in Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen on Switch is the same one that Nintendo uses in the Nintendo Switch Online – Game Boy Advance Classics app, which also allows Nintendo to collect a large level of information about our gaming activity.
Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire were released for the Game Boy Advance in 2002, two years before Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen, as the beginning of the 3rd generation of Pokémon.
