Look at this amazing giant Snorlax rug you’ll never have

February closed out with a Pokémon Presents stream celebrating 30 years of the franchise and looking ahead to what’s next, like Pokémon Winds and Waves and their adorable starters. As part of the celebration, the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 got their first taste of classic Pokémon, in the form of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen ports in (almost) all their glory.

Replaying LeafGreen for the first time in 20 years (goodness) is reminding me just how grindy classic Pokémon used to be, and how much the newer games do to sand off some of the gameplay’s rougher edges. Recent games like Pokémon Scarlet and Violet and Pokémon Legends: Z-A have spoiled me.

Of course, raising Pokémon from single-digit levels into a powerhouse team of level 55s is a long and repetitive process in any Pokémon game. But recent entries have so many quality-of-life changes to ensure it’s not too much of an........

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