After the Ocarina of Time remake, I'm really on a 'remake all of my favourite games' train now. FireRed is probably the most coveted Pokémon game of all time, the ultimate version of Pokémon Red and the best game on the GBA. And someone has managed to take the game and turn into a fully fledged 3D title.
I'm not talking about the 3D voxel MOD for Pokémon Red, either. This isn't just 2D sprites in a 3D environment; it's a version of FireRed that looks like it's part of the Let's Go game series.
So how has this come about? Well, the maker of the new fan-made game, LIME6622, has rewritten the game using Rust, which for those who are not in the know and wondering if I'm talking about old metal, is a programming language. LIME6622 has recompiled the original GBA code, and they've used the same animations and graphics from Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee. Fly on Charizard, ride your other Pokémon, and make your way through stunning visuals that do the Pokémon series proud. Not bad for a fanmade game, huh?
Here's the cool bit (and I know what you're thinking: how can it get more exciting?) - everything runs on the original FireRed code. The in-game AI, battles, and interactions run on the original code, but we now have the addition of an expanded world and a free camera that you can move to your heart's content while adventuring.
Writing in the description of the YouTube video above, LIME6622 says:
This is a convergent mod of the Game Boy Advance game. I used the static recompilation of Pokemon FireRed to then rewrite that into rust that is then used as the backend for a different 3d environment so all interactions battle ai everything is FirRed code. I then used the recompilation of Pokemon lets go for all 3d assets animations and since all code is rewritten in rust, it makes it a lot easier to make modifications like the expanded world camera control etc.
LIME6622 has also stated that this project uses AI, but to what extent I'm still investigating. Here's the annoying part - it's not ready to play yet. It's still a work in progress, so I'm sorry to say that I don't have a link that I can give you just yet. I really hope that this gets made before Nintendo gets wind of it and shut it down, because I would absolutely love to see this.
I would have loved it even more if it was made without the use of AI. I'm not going to lie, and if it had, I would be saying that I think Nintendo should reach out to get LIME6622 on board to help make the official version. Still, it will be good to check out regardless, but even when made, I can't imagine Game Freak will allow it to exist for very long!
