pokemon fire Red

The enduring appeal of pokemon fire Red may seem inexplicable to the uninitiated, but it's certainly no accident.

The world of pokemon is a cute, kid-friendly one, filled with hundreds of different colorful creatures, many of which are inspired by real animals.

Each unique pokem has a clever name and a distinct combination of traits and abilities.

In the gameworld, trainers capture these critters out in the wild and then duel them against other trainers and their creatures.

It's sort of a violent premise, actually, and therein probably lies part of the allure--yet the world of

pokem is so lighthearted and charming that even cynical players are liable to get swept into it if they give it so much as a chance.

As in the original pokem Red and Blue, in fireRed and leafGreen, you play as a character with aspirations to become the greatest pokem trainer in the land.

Unlike in the original pokemo games, though, you can now play as either a boy or a girl.

Either way, you'll be trying to discover every last breed of those mysterious creatures in the process.

Along the way, you'll square off against the nefarious team rocket, not to mention dozens of rival pokemo trainers.

Just getting to the end of the story takes about 25 hours,

and you'll have uncovered only a fraction of the pokemo in the game by that time--so there's tons of lasting value here,

especially since you can keep playing once the main quest is over. In fact, hardcore poke fans would argue that you're only just getting started at this point.

Once you've finished the quest, many more new poke become available for catching,

and it's possible to go back and challenge any of the trainers you've previously encountered for some tough high-level challenges.

As with previous simultaneously released pokemon games,

fireRed and leafGreen are essentially identical products whose only differences are precisely which pokemon fire Red creatures they contain.

Neither version contains all of the pokemon, so you'll need to trade with another player in order to catch 'em all.

But there's little point in actually getting both versions of the game for yourself.