Pokemon Remake (Fire Red)

To start this post with anything other then "I play Pokemon" would be ignoring the fact that I do. Thus, "I play Pokemon" is now out of the way and I may speak of the proper issue at hand.

That issue being fed a remake of a "classic". Pokemon Red for the GBC was one of the first two that ever started "Poke-fever" and it was remade for the GBA and given an "overhaul" with the title of Pokemon Fire Red. The problem is that if you have played either Pokemon Red or Blue then Fire Red and Leaf Green are just dumb and you would rather play the old "crappy version".

The thing is you would expect something new to be added to these remakes. However, that is not so much true. The only additions, minus the sound and graphical ones, are a few islands and the additional Pokemon that have been released so far in the "Poke-verse". That is, of course, after you have beaten the game. This is slightly irritating.

All the "add ones" from the latter versions, after the original Red, Blue and Yellow, are not there until the game is beaten. This is, again, very, very, very frustrating. The most obvious, and most annoying, was the day care center. This is the location where you place two Pokemon to mate and get Pokemon Eggs. Usually, for me at least, one of them was always a ditto. The day care center was not opened until much later and at that time I no longer cared to make breeder Pokemon.

I think I would have had more fun with the game if I had others to battle or trade with. That is where a lot of Fire Red's features are. As I was playing on my PC VBA emulator with no intention for any netplay (Even with myself upon opening multiple emulator instances), I was basically stuck only playing the 1p mode. That is cool but I wish more things were open in 1p mode.

Guess I'm saying you should play the original Red, Blue or Yellow and deal with the crappy graphics. There is also the option to play Silver (which I am doing now) or Gold. These are the two best in the series, at least in my opinion.

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Format!

People, please, if you downloaded the VBA and have not formatted the setting to allow for all game compatibility do that now. Due to my own special behavior I had forgotten to actually format my GB(C)/GBA emulator the VBA and it cause a failure in its memory. This turned out to not be such an uncommon problem was was very user error.

See the issue was that the emulator could not figure out what file size it was to save as. This isn't a problem with the cartridge and handhold directly as they quickly and easily respond to each other and recognize file save formats. However, when emulating a system there is not always a direct recognition so one must first force the format.

The solution was rather simple, if not irritating on my own part. One only had to switch the memory settings to "Automatic" and "128K" and turn on the real time clock, which I did. The problem is that these things had been done after the game save was created so a new one needed to be made.

That last part, I did not know. Figuring it was simply a small problem with the emulator and easily fixed with save sates, which it was for the most part, I trucked on. However, soon I realized that the game I was playing, Pokemon Fire Red, needed to be able to actually hard save to the ROM. This was because of actual events within the game that require a real save to exist. Such as completing the game and allowing for trade and/or link battle.

Here is a link to my special behavior.
Some might get a kick out of, I know I find it amusing.

Evolution

Time is no friend to most things until you bring into the thought of evolution and adaption. Problem is there is not going to be any talks of such events in the reality of the world. Rather, Pokemon will be the choice topic and point givers.

"Evolve" is one of the key words in the games be they card or video. While I am sure many of you see a stigma toward the games as "childish" the core mechanics of the playable, mostly hand held, games are the draw. To catch, train and watch grow several creatures under your control is the basic instinct of man (the race) to "play god". We all love to have a being at our whim, especially a digital one that can be sacrificed for the greater of its team and still be resurrected later.

While you the trainer are in no direct harm there is an implied emotional bond which takes "damage" when all of your Pokemon are no longer conscience. Upon each one dropping to the ground in exhaustion you, the trainer, are forced to no longer life on. (Game Over).

Ideas of evolution are not held by the game itself but also the way it is portrayed. The hardware, graphics, sound all slowly evolved over the years to go from something basic and yet fun to a much more engaging, if not sometimes micromanaged. Starting with only 150 creatures and then slowly doubling and even tripling the number of possible "pocket monsters" to catch.

Solve Unamusement supports the Pokemon games and encourages others to play them and enjoy. However, the rest of the "francise" is the problem and what is causing stigmata among the average hume. While the cartoon is fine for young children and the card game holds its place for several years, the viodo games will hold their flavor and fun even for a thirty year old man with a grown family.

Current games for the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS can be found in most retailers but if you are savvy you may wish to try the VBA emulator for anything below the NDS. GBC and GBA games can both be played on the VBA so you could get the full experience you never took the time to have.

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Hand Held Emulation (VBA)

Emulation is not stuck solely for in home consoles, which is proven with the Virtual Boy Advance. The Virtual Boy Advance or VBA, emulates all Nintendo Game Boy games from the Advance down. Which allows for a vastly extended library of titles. Like the ZSNES the VBA has some interesting features that allow for enhanced play opportunities. Cheatp to play with low system reqs this is for a lot of people who aren't looking for "too much" or need a dose of something they might miss from earlier years.

Core Features
(In No Particular Order)

Windows Windowed. Unlike the ZSNES the VBA opens in an actual windows window which allows for being stretched with the mouse rather then having to adjust settings within the emulator. This is handy considering the base size for the screens is that of the systems they come from. (1 x 2 in and 2 x3 inc are standard)

Run Zip: Like the ZSNES the VBA does not require you to unzip game files in order to play them. The VBA itself must be unzipped. This saves hard drive space, but not much, and also provides simple loading and reloading.

Save States: While common among most emulators and ROM files, the save state is still a core feature to the VBA. This allows to save without the need for in game save options, which is handy.

Recording: As with a lot of emulators recording is slowly becoming standard. This allows you to, simply put, record your game sessions for whatever reason. You may also screen shot/capture.

Ease of Use: The emulator puts everything right in front of you with simple drop down and know how buttons. There is even a help menu for those that may need it.

Among those there are also many options on how to adjust the audio and video so that it will run on any machine. Forcing the frame rate, allowing the audio to adjust, as the Game Boy audio was brutal. My suggestion for options is to mute the audio on the VBA as the horrible music and sounds do not translate well into even low end PC speakers. The video will be a machine by machine base but to improve speed the easiest thing to do is boost or lower the frame rate which can be done simply in the frame rate option.

Most new emulators have these features, but the VBA was one of the first to get it working great before it was all standard. An update for the VBA has not been released sense 2005, do not get your hopes up for one.





Caution: Using emulators and having ROMs without owning the cartridges is technically illegal. Any ESA restricted titles that are obtained are illegal even with owning the cartridge.