The Pokémon franchise is one we owe a great deal to. Without it, the Game Boy would have certainly died a timely death, and it's arguable through extrapolation that the Game Boy Advance would never have happened. It's only fitting, then, that Nintendo would extend that brand to the GBA.

Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire saw a brand new region, Hoenn, teeming with tons of brand new breeds of critters to be captured, tamed, trained, and bred. The game engine was enough of the old to ring familiar, but improved enough to ring true as a sequel to the antiquated carts of old. Yet, for all the praise these installments got for breaking new ground, it was the old ground that they failed to cover that got them the most flak. People wanted their Kanto Pokés, and they were vocal about it. Now, Nintendo and Game Freak give them their wish.

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen sees the return of the Kanto region and its native wildlife, bringing, among others, the much-missed Bulbasaur and Charmander back to the fold, while incorporating some of the best improvements of Ruby and Sapphire. Sure, this is a remake of the classic Blue and Red carts to a "T" -- the walkthroughs are virtually interchangeable -- but there are many factors that make this a game worth your purchase and playtime.

I nicknamed him Norbert.

Carried over from Ruby and Sapphire are such improvements as the Running Shoes, which allow you to "B-run," Mario-style, through Kanto's outdoor areas. Also present are the improved graphics and widescreen scope, which allow you to see more of the area you're traveling at a time. Woefully missing is the Pokénav, which combined the Vs. Seeker, Town Map, and much more into one device. Contests, it seems, have failed to make the transition into Kanto, although it's hard to say whether this was a continuity choice, or just a rejection of a facet that didn't completely gel with the rest of the Pokéworld.

Berry breeding has also gone the way of the Dodo, which is unfortunate as there is a new use for berries in Kanto. The point is moot if you have one of each series, since you can trade Pokémon from FR/LG to R/S and use Kanto Pokés in contests to your heart's content, while trading back low-level messengers carrying berries to faraway lands. For those of you who don't understand a word of this review so far, these carts are for you. Ever-present to the cart is a help menu, accessed by pressing the shoulder buttons, which will guide you through every step of your journey.

Another great difference is the addition of sidequests after the initial quest is completed, allowing the players to explore a little more land and solve a few more puzzles, without the quest pressure bearing down on them. Possibly the greatest surprise was the leveling up of the Elite Four. In all previous incarnations, an avid trainer could go back again and again to fight the Elite Four, cheaply leveling up their more powerful pets and making decent battle scratch in the process. In this one, however, the first return yields a dangerous surprise -- the Four train in between the first and second battle, building up their Pokémon to extreme power. This allows for great growth potential, but newer trainers beware -- you'll want a full bag of Full Restores the second time you walk through.

The largest ballyhoo made this time around is the return of wireless play to the Pokémon series. Both editions come packaged with the new Wireless Adapter, which allows for chatting and battling across 3 backyards. The Wireless Union Room, accessible from any Pokémon Center, allows for up to 40 trainers to appear in one space, chatting and trading to their hearts content. While the chat interface leaves a lot to be desired, it is mainly limited by the trappings of the platform. You can customize phrases, but it takes a good deal of time. The ability to post trade offers is a novel idea, however, and the inclusion of minigames for three or more players goes a new distance towards the franchise's objective of encouraging cooperative play.

Unfortunately, one of my favorite aspects of Ruby/Sapphire is also missing, which was the real-time aspect. At the beginning of your quest in Ruby/Sapphire, you enter in the time of day, and the game functions on an internal clock to determine the rate of berry growth, as well as certain evolutions and post-quest events. The most glaring show of this is the need to trade Eevee to Ruby/Sapphire to achieve two of its best evolutions, Embreon and Uspeon. Also, evolution by friendship is impossible without a trade. This is a shame, because one of the things that got me so enthralled with Ruby was that I needed to tend the berry gardens on a daily basis to get a decent crop.

Now which one is Ali and which one is Foreman?

Of course, the game is by and large a rehash of previous chapters, and if you've played Red or Blue in the past, you may find your enjoyment of the cart stymied by déja vu. The greatest detraction of this series lies in its redundancies; every series follows the pattern of a dual release followed by a special edition rehash, and it can rightly be seen as a commercial move more than an artistic one. Still, the highest praise should go to Game Freak for having invented a game engine so deep and riveting that it bears not only repeated play, but repeated purchase.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a Clefairy to tend to. Catch 'em all!