Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen get an encouraging update for their Pokemon Home support, likely coming very soon. Despite leaks suggesting there would be playable versions of Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen available this year on Switch and Switch 2, the games were announced as ports to modern Nintendo consoles and released on the same day, Pokemon Day 2026. Since these games are 1:1 ports of the originals, with very few changes, they shared some of the issues that plagued the GBA games in 2004.
On top of that, players can’t complete the Pokedex in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen due to the games being designed to use trades with Gen 3 games to truly fill the National Dex. On modern consoles, this is a big issue because there is no port of Gen 3 games yet, and Pokemon Home support is lacking. As such, fans are left stranded, with no way to beat the game in full until these two things are fixed. Even then, Pokemon Home support will be great, but it won’t fix much on its own, since Pokemon can only be moved out of FRLG under current plans.
Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen Get New Update on Switch and Switch 2
Pokemon content creator Light_88_ shared a post on Twitter to bring attention to a new update for Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen on Switch and Switch 2 targeted at all versions but the English and Japanese ones, hinting at upcoming Pokemon Home support. There is no changelog for the update, which means it could be anything — even a simple bug fix. However, Pokemon games tend to get small or shadow updates before Home support is introduced, and since the games were released almost five months ago, it’s natural to think that Home support will be added soon.
A fan commented on Light_88_’s post with a compelling theory, stating that it could also be a pre-patch for trading support with Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald ports on Switch and Switch 2, as well as Pokemon Home support. The idea is that Pokemon typically has new small releases and announcements in the summer, and since the only announcement so far has been for Pokopia DLC, a new Pokemon Presents could finally announce Gen 3 ports and Home support in one fell swoop. This seems plausible given the fact that Pokemon Gen 3 was datamined to be coming to modern Nintendo consoles when FRLG were released, and it makes perfect sense because of the National Dex issues.
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Image via Nintendo, The Pokemon Company -
Image via GameRant
Whether the shadow update is indicative of upcoming Pokemon Home support, the release of Gen 3 ports, or both at once remains to be seen. Still, new releases like Pokemon Legends: Z-A get Pokemon Home compatibility after a few months, usually. Considering the timeframe and how eagerly fans have been waiting for Home support, it seems the next logical step for the GBA ports is to finally add this feature.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Pokemon Home support for Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen is currently planned to simply allow players to move Pokemon out of the ports. However, with Gen 3 games on Switch and Switch 2, it’s likely that this will instead allow fans to move Pokemon from one game to the other.
- Released
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September 7, 2004
- ESRB
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Everyone 10+ / Mild Fantasy Violence, Simulated Gambling
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer
