It's really happening! Pokemon FireRed / LeafGreen officially confirmed for Nintendo Switch

I promise you this isn't a drill... I can't quite believe it myself... But yes, Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen are both coming to Nintendo Switch!

It was spotted on the Nintendo eShop that preorders went live for Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen on Friday (20 February) morning with screenshots of this circulating widely on social media.

And around two hours or so after these screenshots first started appearing, Pokemon's official social media account confirmed that it's real and is indeed happening.

A X / Twitter post said: "Pokemon FireRed and Pokemon LeafGreen confirmed for Nintendo Switch!"

Further details on the post said: "These download-exclusive titles will be available after the Pokemon Day Presents presentation which begins Friday 27 February at 6am PT (2pm GMT / 11am ET)."

Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen are Game Boy Advance remakes of the original Pokemon games but as well as the storyline, the world of Kanto and Pokemon themselves being updated, the Sevii islands were added too.

Fans have wanted Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen to release on modern Nintendo hardware for years and years (myself included). And now, with Pokemon celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, fans are finally getting their wish.

The game will be a Nintendo Switch release but will also be playable on Switch 2.

Before the announcement, screenshots of the games appearing on the Nintendo eShop were posted in the Pokemon Subreddit and fans had a lot to say in the comments.

One said: "Now give us HGSS (HeartGold & SoulSilver) you cowards!!"

A second commented: "My biggest question is if they'll rerelease the events like Deoxys. They integrated the Celebi event into the VC release of Crystal on the 3DS so I'm holding out hope they will. That would honestly be the only way I'd consider buying them."

"OMG IM SO EXITED!" a third exclaimed. "I hope the graphics will be upscaled to fit Switch 2 screen."

A fourth added: "I'm honestly so excited."

"Honestly, I like this a lot!" a fifth posted. "FireRed & LeafGreen are great games and there's still some content in it that some / most of us haven't experienced yet (I'm thinking of Mystery Gifts). I hope these games will be able to connect to home and to the internet. That has to be a minimum update they make for these games imo. We'll see, can't wait for Pokemon Day!"

Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen release on 27 February on Nintendo Switch.

Elsewhere from indy100:

• 30th anniversary Pokemon pop-up lands at the Natural History Museum in London
• Pokemon Legends: Z-A - 'secret trick' to get shiny Pokemon really easily goes viral

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