Topic: Now that Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green are coming, will the other classic Pokemon games follow?

I’m saving us from an essay of my thoughts, so here’s some bullet points!

• Would a collection akin to what Capcom have been doing be amazing? Totally, but it's Nintendo so it was never going to happen.
• Nintendo have done bundles! Yes, but one was a timed release with 3 games for $90 NZD, so $30 per game which is roughly how much PKMN FR&LG cost here. Looking at that Galaxy bundle right now on eShop and that's $100 NZD for two games.
• They sell those separately! Yes, at $70 NZD each so more than twice that of the PKMN FR&LG cost here, and I’m looking at NSO but can only see one of those four Mario games there…
• NSO would have been the ideal spot to release these yes, but Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are massive corporate. Past practice shows they’ll still keep things away from NSO if a greater profit can be made (yes, from Nostalgia, but what doesn’t these days?)
• Which is all to mean that as frustrated as some people feel, and that's totally valid, these were never going to come to Online. NSO has been around 7.5 years and there are still some very absent games on there (anyone seen Donkey Kong 64??), and the mainline Pokémon games were the stand outs. Honestly, I had reached a point I really didn't even expect to see them on the eShop, so I was excited when I found out.
• It's a big deal! I've been wanting to play these with my kids for years now. But the market for second hand/retro consoles is like the wild west here in New Zealand, let alone the games. A console for each of them would be about $200 NZD, and (at minimum) about the same for copy of one of these games as just a loose cart. My math isn't the best, but I'd be looking at least $800 NZD to pull that off, let alone link cables or peripherals. But hey, they both already have a Switch each, and $33 each too…

So to be honest that final point may be the real kicker here for me. I feel like the past few generations of Pokémon we've seen diminishing quality in their games, but the price point stays the same. $100 NZD, for a game I breeze through, never come back to, all the while the kids wait around for their turn with the game because we can only justify spending the money on one. But here, for less than that same price point, we can have copy each of a trusted good quality game we’ll come back to, and all share an experience together. It’s just my opinion, and all of yours are valid too, but for me that makes $33 (each) feel pretty worth it.

I think they’ll release Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald for Switch 1 in 2027 and then stop. That’s similar to what they did with 3DS:

• February 2016 - Red/Blue/Yellow
• September 2017 - Gold/Silver
• January 2018 - Crystal

But unless Nintendo pulls a Jim Ryan “We believe in generations” move and turns games like the upcoming Switch 2 exclusive Yoshi/Fire Emblem/Splatoon into crossgen releases, I don’t see there being Switch 1 1st party games beyond 2027.

@Ethereal_NZ Again, I wish I could own the first two Golden Sun games, instead of resubscribing to the service in order to play them again. If I wanted to actually own those games I would have to pay $70/$80 for their carts on eBay (they cost $30 and/or $40 each). Despite the fact my GBA's buttons are worn out and hard to press to work.

Because I go back and forth playing old games and modern games, and I'm not sure if I would want to pay $50 again for Expansion just for those two games, unless there were other new classic games added I would want to play. And I take a while to play through games because I try to 100% percent them along with finishing their main games.

And here's the thing, eventually after DS, Wii (although we already have notable games to people from that system, like Mario Galaxy, Skyward Sword, Xenoblade and Kirby's RtDL to purchase,) 3DS, and Wii U (if there's ever a future we need them like when the Switch & Switch 2 eShop close down,) are finally on NSO, I don't see much of a point personally to continue subscribing.

@PeterTomlan86 I’m very much inclined to agree. The only expansion pass that gets used in the house is the Mario Kart one. Cloud saving kind of a plus? But in a house where we have our own switch each there’s no real need for it other than maybe a backup.

And yeah, you’re right. There’s no way Skyward Sword or Xenoblade come to NSO when they’re are better versions available that they’ll forever charge full price for sadly

@Ethereal_NZ Cloud saves I'll always get because I'll always subscribe to the regular plan of NSO. Thus, it's not something that convince me more to purchase the Expansion Pass.

Joe Merrick on Twitter had a good theory on why LGFR aren't on NSO. I assume he got his theory from talking to experts of the software field, based on little I know of his personality in real life: https://x.com/JoeMerrick/status/2024737706991919288?s=20

@PeterTomlan86 I'd also agree with that tweet that rewind (and save states) would be one of the biggest logistic reasons PKMN Company/Game Freak wouldn't want these on NSO. Ultimately though I think the biggest reason is still that mainline Pokemon games make money so for all those involved adding these to NSO would have been akin to giving away free money. Though that does make it pretty promsing we'll see RSE! Logistically we'd need them to complete the FRLG Pokedex, the companies will want their money, and I just want to play Emerald again properly because my internal clock died.

@Grumblevolcano
I think the reason they previously stopped at Gen 2 on the virtual console was due to GBA games being released on the Wii U instead of 3DS. I’m pretty confident they would have released the Gen 3 games under virtual console including Fire Red and Leaf Green had the GBA games been released on the 3DS since there’s no portable trade options on the Wii U.

@Don @Grumblevolcano I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo released Ruby/Sapphire as Switch 1/2 re-releases and then pulled a stunt making Emerald a Switch 2 re-release exclusive. It'd make no sense, but would be on brand for Nintendo and its odd decisions that annoy a lot of fans lol. 🤣

@TensuraFan7
There’s apparently a data mine done by someone who found specific compatibility with Ruby/ Sapphire/ Emerald in the FR/LG Rom. This gives hope of more classic Pokemon games coming to Switch, especially with FR/LG being at top of eshop sales charts.

As for Switch 2 exclusive, I think if they re-release the DS Pokemon games they might be only on Switch 2 but it might hurt the sales. Riddler_Khu who correctly leaked FR/LG implied in a post about Pokemon Black and hinted it’s Switch 2 only by comparing it to only being on the latest iPhone.