Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen Players Are Dunking on Gym Leaders

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen players are making fun of the game’s gym leaders for their poorly chosen locations. The challengers players meet along the way in Pokemon‘s first generation have become some of the franchise’s most iconic, with appearances across multiple games, card series, and the early seasons of the anime. However, that place of honor has not saved Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen‘s gym leaders from being the butt of the joke as fans dive back into the game.

The Pokemon Company unveiled the Switch ports for FireRed and LeafGreen on February 20, just one week before they go live. While there was some contention about the games being standalone purchases and not available as part of Nintendo Switch Online, the release saw immediate success. As pre-orders opened up, Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen shot to the top of sales charts, and as everyone discovers the remakes of the games that started it all, it’s led to some humorous discoveries.

PSA: You Need to Be Very Careful About What Buttons You Press When Playing Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen fans should avoid one specific button combination that could majorly affect their progress in the Switch re-releases.

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen Players Mock Gym Leaders for their Locations

A Twitter user by the name of Hayden kicked off a string of jokes by making fun of Lt. Surge for being “15 feet” from Diglett’s Cave. The aptly named area is exclusively home to Diglett and Dugtrio, whose Ground typing can make the Vermilion City gym a breeze if leveled up enough. It seems a lot of people were all replaying the games at the same time after Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen dropped on Switch on February 27, as many others soon joined in the dunkfest. One user said Vermilion City “wouldn’t give him the zoning rights” to set up camp anywhere else, and another said the Diglett built that cave specifically to get revenge on Surge for “crimes in the Pokemon War.”

As the tweet gained traction, others started pointing out how the same poor planning applies to other gyms in the game. The Fire-type-using Blaine is on an island surrounded by Water types, and Misty is near plenty of Oddish and Bellsprout. Even though FireRed and LeafGreen‘s Sabrina is infamously difficult, even she is not far from her weakness. The Saffron City gym leader is a stone’s throw away from Lavender Town, where players can catch Ghost-type Pokemon to gain an edge against Sabrina’s Psychic-type party. Not every instance stands out as much as Lt. Surge’s un-strategic location, but the more players look at the map, the more it’s clear that each gym’s obstacle is never far from the solution.

Someone reportedly got access to Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen on Switch 2 early.

Some fans were quick to point out that there’s a reason why so many gym leaders are so close to their biggest weakness. It’s part of the game’s approach to balancing. While the original Pokemon games are some of the series’ hardest, they’re not unfair, with the Kanto region being designed to put answers close to problems. If someone gets stuck at a certain gym, they won’t have to venture far to find Pokemon that may be a better type matchup for the challenger in question. Notably, that wasn’t so straightforward with the original iteration of Sabrina, thanks to a glitch that made Psychic types immune to Ghost moves instead of weak to them, but FireRed and LeafGreen patched this issue, making Lavender Town a viable solution.

Regardless of the intent of gym leaders settling down right next to their Achilles’ heels, the Pokemon fandom seems to be having a great time diving back into the old games. There may be more to come, too, with leakers claiming Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald may come to Switch sometime in the future. Looking beyond these potential Gen 3 ports, Generation 10 will arrive in 2027, so it’s a good time to be a Pokemon fan.