Nintendo brings GBA-era Pokémon to the Switch, but not Switch Online subscribers

Source: Ars Technica

Wireless Multiplayer in GBA Pokémon

The multiplayer Switch Online Game Boy Advance games all support wireless multiplayer in place of physical Game Link Cables. This is especially significant because these titles were the first Pokémon games to offer any kind of wireless multiplayer, predating the Nintendo DS’s built-in Wi‑Fi connectivity.

Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter

FireRed and LeafGreen were among the few dozen GBA games that supported the Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter. The adapter was a bulky, standalone accessory that latched to the top of the system and plugged into its Link Cable port. Early releases of the games even included the wireless adapter as a pack‑in accessory. However, the adapter had to be explicitly supported by the game; it could not simply replace a physical Link Cable for older titles.

Union Room Multiplayer

With the wireless adapter connected, up to 30 players could gather in the game’s “Union Room” to battle and trade. Nintendo recommended that players stay within 10 feet of each other for optimal performance, meaning a full 30‑person Union Room would have been quite crowded in real life.

Remakes and Original Versions

• FireRed and LeafGreen are remakes of the original 1996 Pokémon games released for the black‑and‑white Game Boy.
• The original Japanese releases were titled Red and Green. A third version, Pokémon Blue, launched in Japan later in 1996 and was localized for the US as Pokémon Red and Blue in 1998.
• A final version, Pokémon Yellow, arrived in Japan in 1998 and in the US in 1999. This edition incorporated elements from the Pokémon anime, most notably the requirement to start with an un‑evolvable Pikachu. Most of these anime‑specific changes were not carried over into the FireRed and LeafGreen remakes.