Pokemon's greatest hits are stuck on old consoles, and that needs to change

Pokémon is the most profitable franchise in the world, something worth noting as it celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. A series as lucrative and long-running as this one, of course, knows how to play on fans' sense of nostalgia. That's why we've had so many great remakes of classics Pokémon game, but for a series known for how reverently it treats its own heritage, it's surprising that Game Freak hasn't taken advantage of the most obvious way to sell nostalgia: porting, not remaking, older Pokémon game.

Remakes are good, but they're rare and don't always live up to the memories fans have of the original. Many fans raised their eyebrows when Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire is removed Pokemon Emerald's Battle Frontier, and people are still wondering why Brilliant diamond and Shining gem almost completely lacking any content from Platinum. But more than anything else, Pokémon need to re-release their older games because buying them used tends to cost more than the consoles they were originally on.

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I've played over 100 hours of Pokemon Gen 4, and this is the best starter

As a veteran Pokemon player, I've played through Gen 4 with each starter multiple times, and only one has consistently carried my team.

Retro Pokemon games can cost a week's worth of groceries for some

Generation 5 sure was good. Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 were extremely robust, filled with content that expanded on the originals (with this being the first time a “third” game was replaced by sequels). They were the first time the main series really put more focus on story over gameplay, and the animated sprites are still gorgeous to look at. For many fans, Nintendo DS Pokémon the era in general certainly produced some of the series' all-time greats. Too bad a copy of Black or White easily goes for upwards of $100 USD online, and that's without a box or manual.

The sequels, Black 2 and White 2sell for over twice as much on Amazon. In fact, all major titles between Gen 1 and 5 are shockingly expensive now. Meanwhile, the basic Nintendo Switch Online subscription gives players access to over 100 NES and SNES games to play, all for just $15 a year. Over 100 games that together cost less than 1/15 of the price of Pokemon White 2 on Amazon.

There is clearly a supply and demand issue when it comes to older games, and Nintendo knows very well that retro titles sell. That's why it's always had a way to pay for retro titles ever since the Wii came out. It's not like Pokémon haven't actually put main titles on the virtual console before either: RED, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silverand Crystal everything came out on the 3DS Virtual Console before it was shut down. But with the 3DS eShop shutting down, gamers who didn't buy them in time will have to find a working console and shell out the cash for an overpriced copy of the original if they want to play any of the main games before the Nintendo Switch.

Recent appearances for some classic Pokemon games

The Nintendo Switch would make retroports more lucrative than ever

While Pokémon fans have always argued about whether and when games got worse, quality debates arguably reached a fever pitch during the Switch era. Sword and Protects infamous Pokédex cut casts a shadow over it that it still can't quite escape from in the eyes of many older fans. Brilliant diamond and Shining gem were also met with disappointment by fans as they weren't quite updated to the standards of the games that came after them, and that's not even getting into how they didn't include content from Platinum. And the less said about Pokemon Scarlet and Violets performance issues, the better. The two of them Legends titles did better at winning over the fandom, but that's still a pretty low batting average for the last 7 years.

Like I said, Switch Pokémon games hardly hurt financially or critically. The lowest “Top Critic Average” among those on OpenCritic is Pokemon Scarlet and Violetwith 71 out of 100 points. According to Nintendo's sales data, the Galar and Paldea duo of games have both sold over 25 million copies by December 2025, well above even system sellers The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The new one Pokémon Games aren't bad, and the voices that say otherwise form a vocal minority. But there are strengths in the older titles that the newer ones don't have, and vice versa.

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No one seems to understand that voice acting would ruin Pokemon (for players like me)

Among the calls for Pokemon Gen 10/Pokemon Wind and Waves to introduce voice acting, I can't help but feel that such a feature is a monkey's paw.

Nostalgia is not bad

Image via Game Freak

“Back in my day” isn't a good argument for why something is good, but nostalgia is valid as long as it's not blinding. Each Pokémon the game has a fanbase, so even if older games haven't aged as well, there's still value – both financially and to preserve the game – to put the classics on a modern console without changes. Pokémon is also big enough that nostalgia is indeed a strong incentive for fans to buy, even if they admit their favorite childhood entry may not have been as strong as they remembered.

Perhaps Game Freak hasn't made any ports because it's afraid that easy access to the original games would hurt the sales potential of remakes down the line. But the gaps between the original game releases and their remakes are getting longer and longer, so releasing a temporary port shouldn't do much to dampen the hype since remakes take so long anyway. Fire red and Leaf green came out almost 8 years later RED and Green made in japan, Heart gold and SoulSilver was about 9 years later Gold and Silver, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire Divorced 12 years from Ruby and Sapphireand Brilliant diamond and Shining gem was a full 15 years after Diamond and GEM. Black and White has already passed Sinnoh's record for longest remake gap, and there's still no news on that front as of this writing.

Image via Game Freak

Whether it's because of nostalgia or just to let new fans see what the older games were like, it's high time older Pokémon games were re-released as close to their original forms as possible. Remakes can still do their job of bringing the older titles up to date with modern standards, but ports would help quiet the crowd that disapproves of the newer games a bit and help with game preservation in the process. Nostalgia blindness aside, I miss the Nintendo DS and don't want to sell my kidney to get a copy Pokemon Platinum.