We’ve officially been trying to catch ‘em all in Pokemon games for 30 years now, as the franchise passes its third decade of games in February 2026, and we’ve caught plenty of remakes and ports in that time, too! One of the most recent is the port of Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen for GameBoy Advance to Nintendo Switch and Switch 2.
But what’s actually different about FireRed & LeafGreen that warranted generation one remakes as early as gen three, and which versions of the games should you buy? Compare and contrast, and see which Pokemon game is right for you!
A Second Protagonist
Leaf, The Female Sprite
While the male character in the first generation Pokemon games, Red, has long been synonymous with Ash Ketchum from the Pokemon anime, Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen brought a new female sprite to the game as well when it brought us back to Kanto for the first time.
The Tenth Pokemon Generation Is Here
Pokemon’s tenth generation games were just revealed, with Pokemon Winds and Waves launching next year.
The female trainer’s canon name is Leaf for this generation, tying in nicely with Red pulling his name from FireRed and keeping on theme in kind. It was the first time we met Leaf, but it wouldn’t be the last we saw of her, with the female Pokemon trainer’s sprite appearing in plenty of side games and spin-offs since her introduction.
The Sevii Islands
Plenty Of Johto-Based Fun
If you’ve gone through the troubles of clearing out the Indigo League, defeating each member of the Elite Four, and eventually stealing the title of Pokemon Champion for yourself, then you’ve no doubt put plenty of hours into Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen. But if you’re looking for more content post-game, check out the Sevii Islands to the south of Kanto.
Here, you’ll find seven individual islands that offer plenty of opportunities to catch Pokemon from the Johto region that have become beloved parts of the Pokemon series since our first adventure to Kanto. This includes the Baby Pokemon, more Legendary Pokemon, the Mythical Pokemon from gen three, and plenty more!
Modernizing Updates To Pokemon Stats
Type Changes, Updated Move Lists, And More
While there’s no doubt that Pokemon Red & Blue laid the foundation for what we know and love today in Pokemon games as the very first entries in a long-running series, there was room for improvement over time, and plenty of changes came about in the second generation of Pokemon after Game Freak worked out some kinks with the first game’s mechanics.
In Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen, you’ll see that your favorite gen one Pokemon have updated information based on what became of them in subsequent titles. Moves that were introduced in gens two and three were added to the appropriate move sets, types that were added in Johto were factored into typing for the gen one Pokemon, and plenty of extra stat boosts or changes in kind.
The Introduction Of Help Features
Newcomers Need No Longer Worry!
While it’s easy to giggle about how in-depth the introduction in the first generation Pokemon games can be sometimes, it’s important to remember that Pokemon Red & Blue and the adventure we took through Kanto within them was the very first time anyone had played a Pokemon video game!
Everything Announced During The 30th Anniversary Pokemon Presents
The future of Pokemon has been revealed.
We’ve come a long way since then, but Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen introduced plenty of ways to help newcomers and returning fans alike master the mechanics of Pokemon. You can access a help channel on any television, use the in-game help menu with the Switch’s bumpers, and plenty more ways to ensure your adventure is the very best.
The VS Seeker
Rematch Tons Of Trainers Around Kanto
Whether you’re looking to keep helping your Pokemon grind out levels throughout the game or are trying to make a bit of extra cash to stock up before your next gym battle, the VS Seeker was added to Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen to allow you to intermitently seek challenges in the form of rematches with trainers you battled already.
When you’re outdoors after taking a certain number of steps or a set amount of time has passed, you’ll be able to ping nearby trainers and see who wants a rematch. They might have a different team than they did the first time you fought, but a more challenging fight just means even better rewards at the end.
Professor Oak is the one who tasked you with filling up your Pokedex as you venture through the Indigo League in Kanto throughout Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen, but he’s an older man based in Pallet Town who can’t manage to be everywhere all at once to check on your progress.
Enter Oak’s aides, six folks around Kanto in Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen that offer rewards for milestones achieved in your Pokemon journey. As you log more and more Pokemon, be sure to stop in and check with them in the gates between big routes and cities, since they offer a variety of helpful items and tools as a reward.
Changes To Version Exclusives
Some Are Exclusives Now, While Others Are No Longer Exclusives At All
Pokemon has been putting out pairs of games in the same generations that feature a handful of Pokemon in one version not found in the other, and we see it again with Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen. While most of the version exclusives are the same as they were in Pokemon Red & Blue, there have been some changes.
Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen: 7 Best Early Game Pokemon To Have And Where To Find Them
With plenty of Pokemon to choose from in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, you should narrow down your choices early to start earning that EXP!
Mankey and Meowth were version exclusives in the first generation of the games, but they were stripped of this status and given universal availability in both Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen. To replace them, four Pokemon were changed to be version exclusives: FireRed players will find Psyduck and Shellder periodically throughout the game, while LeafGreen players will see Slowpoke and Staryu in those locations instead.
Giving Gen One Pokemon Their Gen Two Evolutions
Let Your Original Pokemon Be Strong In Ways Never Before Possible!
Not every Pokemon gets an evolutionary form, and there were far more of them in the first generation of games than there are now, with time allowing for The Pokemon Company and Game Freak to introduce evolutions for these Pokemon at a later point in time.
Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen have included these changes, and any Pokemon from the first generation games that later received an evolutionary form can now evolve into them in the gen three remakes, provided you’ve unlocked the National Dex first.
The Pokemon that received evolutions in Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen are:
- Slowbro can evolve into Slowking.
- Onix can evolve into Steelix.
- Chansey can evolve into Blissey.
- Seadra can evolve into Kingdra.
- Scyther can evolve into Scizor.
- Porygon can evolve into Porygon2.
Due to the lack of an in-game clock in Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen, Espeon and Umbreon cannot be obtained. Jolteon, Vaporeon, and Flareon are currently the only Eeveelutions available in the game, despit their debut in gen two as well.
Rebattle The Elite Four
It’s A Great Way To Grind Post-Game
The battles you’re working up to throuhgout your journey in Kanto in Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen are the fights with the members of the Elite Four – X – and eventually the reigning Champion X. It’ll take plenty of blood, sweat, and tears to grind your Pokemon to be high enough a level to combat these end-game trainers, but the main game ends with their defeat ushering you to the title of Pokemon Champion.
If you’d like a new challenge, though, you’ll be able to ask for a rematch with any of the five characters named above. They might have a different, noticeably stronger roster the second time around, though, so don’t come back expecting the same fight a second time!
The Introduction Of Important Stats
Abilities, Natures, And More
Though they’ve come to be regarded as staple stats in Pokemon games nowadays, there were plenty of stat additions for your Pokemon that were added to Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen, offering more insight than ever possible in Pokemon Red & Blue.
A Pokemon’s nature will determine how their stats grow as they evolve, with some natures gaining different stats than other Pokemon of the same species, allowing you to really home in on what kind of stats you’d like to boost for your next battles. Abilities, meanwhile, are passive effects that let your Pokemon do things like ignore a certain type of damage, deal more offensive damage of their own, and more. Finally, Held Items were made possible in Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen to give your team things to help boost their battle capabilities even further.
Every Pokemon Game On Nintendo Switch, Ranked
Gotta rank ‘em all!
