Official Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen Update is Bad News For Players

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen‘s newest update gives players a free rare Pokemon, but also comes with bad news. The GBA games were released earlier this year as Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 ports with updated graphics, but retaining all of the original functionalities in terms of how to trade, how to complete the Pokedex, and so on. There were some improvements or fixes made to old issues found in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, such as the Roar bug affecting roaming Legendaries in the post-game, but most of the content was left the same.

This means that, in order to complete the National Pokedex in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, players would need access to the full collection of Gen 3 games on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. In fact, trading is possible only locally with wireless connection in the ports, meaning that this excludes the actual GBA versions from trading with Switch versions, and one theoretically needs two consoles to trade critters on their own. With no Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire on Nintendo Switch, the National Pokedex is a pipe dream, and even more so with a new update.

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen’s Free Celebi Officially Marks The End of an Era

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen‘s free Celebi from Pokemon Home is a great way to celebrate the series’ anniversary, as it is available to all players who complete the Kanto Pokedex minus Mew. However, the official Pokemon Home compatibility update makes Celebi only available within the mobile app, meaning it’s still unobtainable in the games. This is a big problem for those who wish to complete the National Pokedex, as even if all Gen 3 games were made into ports, the spot for Celebi would remain empty. Technically, to get the National Pokedex Certificate, players need 380 Pokemon out of 386, meaning that Mew, Ho-Oh, Lugia, Celebi, Jirachi, and Deoxys are excluded.

However, Mew remains unobtainable in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, and while there are ways to get Ho-Oh, Lugia, and Deoxys, Celebi and Jirachi also cannot be obtained. If the free Celebi is meant to give players a way to obtain the rare Mythical Pokemon after such a long time since it was last available, it means that there are most likely no plans to make it appear in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen in the near future. As such, its place in the National Pokedex may be forever empty.

Even if the leaks about Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire ports on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 prove to be true, some spots may be impossible to fill. If these games are not released on modern consoles, however, then the National Dex will remain incomplete, and the Certificate will officially be phased out of the series.

This is because the Pokemon Home support update for Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen makes it impossible to transfer critters into the games, but rather only allows players to move Pokemon into Home from them. What follows is that fans cannot transfer missing Pokemon from the National Dex into the Gen 3 ports, including the free-to-get Celebi.