Based in the Kanto region, new features include a contextual help menu and a new area (Sevii Islands) the player may access after defeating the Elite 4 and the champion.

Reception of the graphics and audio was more mixed, with some reviewers complaining that they were too simplistic and lacked improvement compared to the previous games, Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire.

As with almost all Pokémon role-playing games released for handheld consoles, FireRed and LeafGreen are in a third-person, overhead perspective.

[8] The adapter can be plugged into the link port of the Game Boy Advance system and allows players within a radius of 30–50 feet (9.1–15.2 m) to wirelessly interact with each other.

[6] In addition, as many as 30 players at a time may join a special location called the "Union Room", where they can trade, battle, or chat.

[10] Near the end of the plot, the protagonist is able to venture to the Sevii Islands, a new area not present in the original Red and Blue games.

After the aforementioned missions on the Sevii Islands are completed, the ability to trade with Ruby and Sapphire for Hoenn-exclusive Pokémon becomes available.

They devise numerous plans to steal rare Pokémon, all of which the player must foil, meeting and defeating the organization boss Giovanni.

After gaining access to the Sevii Islands, an entirely new region, the player discovers Lorelei in her house and convinces her to come back with them.

Once more, the protagonist must thwart Team Rocket's plans on several occasions, recover two artifacts, the Ruby and the Sapphire, and put them in the main computer at One Island.

FireRed and LeafGreen were first announced in September 2003 as upcoming remakes of the original Pocket Monsters Red and Blue games that were released in Japan in 1996.

As a result, FireRed and LeafGreen were made fully backward compatible with Ruby and Sapphire, allowing players to trade Pokémon between games.

[16] FireRed and LeafGreen's connectivity with the Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter was heralded by then-president of Nintendo Satoru Iwata as being able "to enhance head-to-head battles, exchange of information, and communication with others.

[19] The exclusive Japanese production run for FireRed and LeafGreen was limited to half a million copies, despite the success of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire.

IGN speculated that Nintendo was expecting less demand for the new games, or that it was limited by the production of the bundled wireless adapter.

[27] Jon Minife of the New Zealand Herald praised the game for resolving the connectivity issues that Ruby and Sapphire had at the time, which would convince older players to get back into Pokémon.

[8] GameSpot's Greg Kasavin, who gave the games 8.4 out of 10, commented that "though Pokémon could probably use a few new twists after all these years, FireRed and LeafGreen are great role-playing games on their own merits, filled with lots more content and more challenges than last year's Ruby and Sapphire, and offering up plenty of addictive gameplay that can be a lot of fun for players of all ages."

Unlike Harris, Kasavin praised the games' graphics for their "colorful good looks and the endearing character designs that the series is known for.

Nintendo's Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communication George Harrison remarked, "This pre-sell indicates more than twice the player interest!

[39] The games later entered Nintendo's Player's Choice line in North America and were re-marketed with a significantly lower retail price.