Before Game Freak made Pokémon, they made Pulse-Man. A Japan-exclusive title that feels a lot like both Mega Man and Rocket Knight Adventures, to the point of the game including an attack that feels just like the jet-pack dash from Rocket Knight. The graphics style also reminds me of these two series. Just look at Pulse-Man and try to tell me that he doesn't look like Zero. The graphics are really good, too. It borders between 16-bit and 32-bit, something that really impresses me. There's also a musical track right at stage one that sounds extremely familiar to a certain track from a certain game... The music is rather good and the sound effects are too. Sure, they don't sound very good in terms of actual quality but the songs themselves get an A+. However the same cannot be said for the story. I was trying to look for story elements but didn't find much. This game should be thankful I don't take plot into account when rating games.
For a rating to this game I'm a bit on the fence. The game isn't perfect but doesn't feel bad by any stretch of the imagination. It's however you prefer to perceive it.

First, allow me to elaborate on that title. A "Suicide Game" is a game that is so rage-quit-inducing that it reaches a point when you want to kill yourself. Ninja Gaiden is an example. You play as Ryu Harabusa on a quest to slaughter all the bad guys. I'm not talking about why you're doing it because this game has the best storyline and cut-scenes on the grey box - not counting sequels.

This game has a great sound-track. I was bopping my head to these songs when I wasn't dying. I did that a lot. The game also has a great amount of polish. Each individual sprite looks well-designed and the colors never fail to impress. It runs at a constant pace with no noticeable slowdown or flickering like many games on the grey box did. *Cough* Megaman 1-6 *Cough*

The game also has a good pace even though jumping is problematic, due to your inability to change direction. This can get you killed - something you get used to after your 8th game over. I did have fun with it, even if it did make me want to jab pigeons in my eyes and sing "Baby" for twenty minutes before I bleed to death.

Overall, this is a very fun game and will put a smile on your face every time you get past a difficult obstacle - only to send something more difficult your way. Play it if you haven't already, especially if you need something to get you to shove that knife in your chest.

Pokémon Fire Red is probably my favorite Pokémon game. I never really liked the original Pokémon games of the Game Boy due to the glitches and lack of information given. Fire Red, whilst not bombarding you with information and variables from the get-go, feels like the developers were trying to let you learn at your own pace. The difficulty curve is just right, but the AI seems to lack intelligence when it comes to deciding when to use items and which attack to use, but if it did know, the game would be a lot tougher because some trainers have well-rounded move-sets designed to sweep down certain types of Pokémon.

The graphics are sleek and look just as polished as the three Generation Three games. Sprites have good details and colors but are still plagued by just sitting there and looking strange whilst you hit them with your Tackles and Flamethrowers. However there are a lot of different sprites so animating them all with different attacks and idle animations would have most likely pushed down the release date. I found myself head banging to some of the tracks. Also, unlike the other Game Boy Advance Pokémon games, this game isn't plagued by trumpets screaming into your ears the whole time. At least, if it did, I couldn't hear it - I was too busy playing the game!

The game-play is pretty damn good for a Pokémon game. Sure, it will become tiring after a while, but this isn't a game designed to be beaten in one sitting. The main campaign will take you about ten hours to complete, and then there's breeding, the post-game and legendary Pokémon to catch. If you squeeze everything you can out of this game, you might be able to get as much as thirty hours out of it. Sadly, I don't find the story any good. We all know about the plot-twists at the end of the game, but to be honest, I saw them coming from a kilometer away.

I don't rate games on difficulty or story, though. I average out the depth, graphics, addictiveness and sound to find my final score. This game gets an 8.5 out of 10. It is pretty long with a lot of replay value, so you will get your money, well, Viz, out of it. What reduced the rating is that I honestly don't feel motivated to play it again, but I am confident in saying this is the most fun you'll get out of a Pokémon game.