Pokémon fans divided over Crystal re-release

According to a recent leak, Nintendo is planning on re-releasing roughly a dozen Pokémon classics, including Red, Blue, Yellow, FireRed, LeafGreen, Gold, Silver, Crystal, Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald - and for some reason, fans aren’t happy about that.

Said leak comes by the way of a 4chan poster, who claims that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company International subsidiary Pokémon Works are teaming up to release two physical Nintendo Switch Pokémon collections titled “Pokémon Memories” and “Pokémon Reminiscence”.

Pokémon Memories will include Red, Gold, Ruby and FireRed, whereas Pokémon Reminiscence will include Blue, Silver, Sapphire and LeafGreen.

Yellow, Crystal and Emerald will be available as bonus digital codes in a purported "double pack" that contains both collections.

While this might sound like great news, comments over on Hidden Power Podcast’s Tweet detailing the leak are decidedly divided.

That’s because, while everyone is in agreement that a re-release is good news, fans are disappointed to hear that the titles will only be available as physical and digital titles - as opposed to through the Nintendo Switch Online service.

“I still think it would be better on NSO but if this is the way we have to get them I'll take it!” commented user @AgentPhoenixx.

“To be honest, I would prefer the Pokémon games to be included in the Nintendo Switch Online classics catalog rather than being sold separately,” replied user @MoonSarito.

“They are just Game Boy games like any other, there is no point in treating them differently from Mario or Zelda.”

Of course it goes without saying that, regardless of your opinion on its contents, the veracity of the leak should be taken with a grain of salt because of its place of origin.

There are lots of “leaks” on 4chan every week, and most end up being complete rubbish that was made up by folks looking for sliver of internet clout.

Still, hard to deny that it’s something we wouldn’t want to see. Either way, the reported March 13 release date isn’t too far off, so at least we won’t have to wait long to find out whether this one is bogus or not.