Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen Ports Hit 4 Million Sales Despite Price Complaints
Nintendo’s latest financial report had plenty of big-picture business stuff inside it, including Switch 2 selling close to 20 million units in its first year and talk of hardware pricing pressure. But for Pokémon fans, the most interesting number is much simpler: FireRed and LeafGreen are still absolute monsters.
According to Nintendo, the Switch 2 ports of Pokémon FireRed and Pokémon LeafGreen have sold more than 4 million copies worldwide in just six weeks. That figure combines both versions across all regions.
For context, the original Game Boy Advance releases sold around 12 million copies officially. So yes, a pair of 22-year-old games managed to pull roughly one-third of their lifetime GBA sales in barely over a month. That is gila strong for what is basically a classic re-release.
The price complaints clearly did not stop fans
The funny part is that these ports did not launch without drama. Nintendo priced FireRed and LeafGreen at £16.99 / $19.99, and they were sold separately from the Nintendo Switch Online classic games library.
For Malaysian players, that USD price roughly sits around the RM90-RM100 range before any regional pricing differences. That is not exactly impulse-buy territory, especially when many fans expected older Pokémon titles to appear as part of a subscription library instead.
Another complaint was the file size. The ports are reportedly only 33.4MB, which made some players feel the asking price was hard to justify. No fancy full remake treatment, no huge visual overhaul — just classic GBA Pokémon made playable on modern Nintendo hardware.
But clearly, the audience voted with their wallets. Four million copies in six weeks says one thing loudly: Pokémon nostalgia is still one of Nintendo’s safest bets.
Censorship and Pokémon Home also became a talking point
There was also some noise around censorship. Nintendo added a profanity filter, apparently because the games now connect into the wider modern Pokémon ecosystem, including Pokémon Home and the newly-launched Champions.
That means old-school players who wanted to give rivals or Pokémon spicy names may now hit restrictions that were not part of the original GBA experience. Some fans dislike that, especially because these games are being sold partly on nostalgia.
At the same time, this is not totally shocking. Once Pokémon can move between old games and modern services, Nintendo was always going to clean up naming systems. The trade-off is that the ports also include small bug fixes, which may matter more to players who actually want a smooth replay instead of a perfectly untouched cartridge experience.
Why SEA fans should care
For Malaysia and SEA, this result is a pretty clear signal. Nintendo knows the region has a big appetite for legacy Pokémon, even if pricing feels painful compared to mobile games, Game Pass-style subscriptions, or second-hand retro emulation options.
If FireRed and LeafGreen can sell this well despite complaints, Nintendo has every reason to keep bringing older Pokémon games forward. That could be good news if you are still hoping for easier access to titles like Black and White, HeartGold and SoulSilver, or even older DS-era favourites.
The concern, of course, is pricing. If Nintendo sees that fans will pay premium prices for straight ports, future classics may also sit outside subscription bundles. Great for availability, not so great for our wallets.
Pokémon Pokopia is also moving big numbers
The report also mentioned Pokémon Pokopia, which has already passed 4 million sales on Switch 2 within five weeks. That is impressive because Pokopia is more experimental than a standard mainline Pokémon release.
Between Pokopia and these GBA ports, the message is obvious: Pokémon remains one of Nintendo’s most reliable money-makers. Whether it is nostalgia or a new spin-off, fans keep showing up.
So, if Nintendo wants to dig deeper into the Pokémon archive, the demand is definitely there. Just maybe don’t make us beg too long for Black and White, ya?
Source: Eurogamer
