Fire Red and Leaf Green: Knowledge is Powerful

Exploring the Quirks of the Kanto Remakes

To celebrate the 30th anniversary, the Pokémon Company have released special ports of Fire Red and Leaf Green on the eShop. A lot has changed and evolved since these titles originally hit the market in 2004, so there are elements that may feel alien to newer players. Whether this is your first romp through the vibrant world of the GBA ports, or you’re returning for the first time in decades, here’s everything to consider whilst journeying through the Kanto region!

1. No Day/Night Cycle

Although this was introduced in Generation II and made a return in Ruby and Sapphire, for some reason, it was omitted from Fire Red and Leaf Green. Fundamentally, this doesn’t change much; you can still play the game as normal, and Pokémon that appeared only at day or night would appear all the time. However, there is one key factor that is now impossible as a result: Umbreon and Espeon. As both these Pokémon depend on the cycle to evolve, Eevee simply won’t turn into them at all. This makes them completely unobtainable, so your only options are the original three Eeveelutions.

2. The Golbat Problem

In order to keep these remakes faithful to the original experience, Game Freak decided to not allow future evolutions to be available until the Pokémon League is defeated. This is pretty inconsequential for most Pokémon, as they simply locked their evolution methods in the post-game. But Golbat is different; it evolves with friendship, so what happens with it? Well, they decided that it would try to evolve on every level up but fail for seemingly mysterious reasons. So, I’d advise against using Golbat in the story or, at the very least, make it hate you to avoid the constant annoyance.

3. Before Physical/Special Split

Prior to Generation IV, physical or special attacks were determined by type. This means that if you used, say, a fighting move, it would always be physical, regardless of the move itself. This totally changes the usability of specific Pokémon and their typing for same-type attack bonus (STAB). Take Gyarados, a predominantly physical attacker. If you used Waterfall, a contact move, it would be calculated from its special stat. This is why moves like Hyper Beam were once terrifying on Pokémon like Gyarados, but are now seldom seen. I’ve added a table below so you can see for yourself which types are physical or special.

Physical	Special
Normal	Grass
Fighting	Water
Rock	Fire
Ground	Electric
Flying	Psychic
Ghost	Ice
Bug	Dark
Poison	Dragon
Steel

4. Sevii Islands

The biggest addition to these remakes is the Sevii Islands, which encompass most of the titles’ post-game. These islands contain Moltres and many Johto Pokémon, so they are well worth the trip. But they may not unlock for you right away when you beat the game. This is because you need to have caught at least 50 Pokémon on the Pokédex, and then you’ll be granted the ability to travel to extra islands. So make sure you’re building your Dex through the game so you don’t miss out.

5. Legendary Beasts

The Johto Beasts, Entei, Suicune and Raikou, make appearances in these remakes, but there’s a catch. The beast you get will depend on your starter Pokémon: Entei for Bulbasaur, Suicune for Charmander and Raikou for Squirtle. They will start roaming the region once you complete the Sevii Island quest. There are two key issues with these beasts, though. Firstly, they are programmed to have absolutely appalling IVs. Secondly, if they flee from battle with you (which they certainly will), they will be gone forever. I’d absolutely recommend saving your master ball for these if you want to stand any chance of obtaining them.

6. No Fairies or Future Features

As this is a Generation III game, Fairies are not available yet. This means a lot of legacy Pokémon either omit the type entirely or are now Normal type. This will be a mental adjustment: hitting Clefable with a fighting move and it being super effective is something to get used to. Among this, the experience share is no longer mandatory and is a single Pokémon held item, so make sure you train your team. It also lacks quality of life changes like autosave, experience candies, online gameplay or reusable TMs.

One big adjustment to get used to is the shiny odds being 1 in 8192—double what they are in modern games. So if you plan to shiny hunt here, you are in for a long ride, I can assure you. And if it happens in the safari zone, I am so, so sorry.

7. The Game Corner

Being absent since Diamond and Pearl, the game corner was a building where you could play slot machines to win TMs, items and even Pokémon. In fact, this is the only way to get Porygon (and an easier way to get Dratini). This feature has been absent for so long due to European gambling laws pushing the age rating up (hence why this port is a 10+). There’s some fun to be had here, but you’re probably better off just buying the coins.

8. Return of HMs

If you’ve played Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, you’re no stranger to having a barrage of HMs thrust upon you. Thankfully, even though this game has them, it’s nowhere near as egregious. There are only 7 here, but Waterfall is only really relevant to the post-game. Unlike the originals, Game Freak had the foresight to include a Move Deleter in Kanto this time, so at least you can forget these moves here.

9. Abilities

Abilities were originally introduced in Generation III, but did you know some had secondary uses? I’m referring to those beyond Flame Body, which helps with hatching eggs. There are a handful of abilities that you could be utilising that do more than you might have expected. I have compiled a list of all abilities with secondary aspects.

Ability Name	Effect
Intimidate	Low-Level Pokémon Appear Less Often
Keen Eye	High-Level Pokémon Appear More Often
Hustle	High-Level Pokémon Appear More Often
Vital Spirit	Electric-type Pokémon Appear More Often
Pressure	Wild Pokémon Appear More Often
Arena Trap	Wild Pokémon Appear More Often
Suction Cups	Makes Hooking a Pokémon Easier While Fishing
Sticky Hold	Makes Hooking a Pokémon Easier While Fishing
White Smoke	Wild Pokémon Appear Less Often
Sand Veil	Wild Pokémon Appear Less Often in a Sandstorm
Static	Steel-type Pokémon Appear More Often
Magnet Pull	Steel-type Pokémon Appear More Often
Synchronise	Pokémon of the Same Nature Appear More Often
Compound Eyes	Pokémon With Held Items Appear More Often
Cute Charm	Pokémon of the Opposite Gender Appear More Often

10. Held Item Loss Glitch

Trade evolutions are a necessity if you want some of Kanto’s best Pokémon, but you need to be very careful pursuing them. If you trade a Pokémon and it evolves, it will consume the item it’s holding, regardless of what it is. The game treats the evolution like it would with a trade item, and you’ll lose the item forever. So, when completing trade evolutions, make sure you remove the held item.

11. Version Exclusives

As with all versions of Pokémon, each version has its own lineup of exclusive monsters. As trading is only local, you’ll have to carefully consider which version has the Pokémon you want on your team. Not much more to say here, check the image below for which game has the ones that appeal to you most.

12. Unavailable Pokémon

There are 170 Pokémon not obtainable through any means in Fire Red and Leaf Green, meaning your choices are limited. Unless they decide to release Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald to the eShop, then the National Dex is completely out of reach. Also, Ho-Oh and Lugia are completely unobtainable without their corresponding events, but if they include the events, then Deoxys will also be available for capture. Guess we’ll wait and see what they have in store for us to see how much of the Pokedex will be completable. But, for now, 216 is the magic number for Pokedex completionists!

For a full list, please find it here on Serebii, just note that this list includes the Altering Cave e-reader events and the above mentioned events that are unobtainable.

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Thanks for reading! Are you picking up these quotes? Comment which starter you’re going with below, and if you’d like to learn more secrets about the Generation III games, why not check out our Emerald hidden secrets article!? And if you’d like to learn every aspect of the game, like reading through the Prima guides in the good old days, make sure to head over to Serebii.net.

We’ll have lots of people playing through these games in our community, so why not join the fun in our Discord server? We’ll be happy to see you there!