Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen’s Mail Duplication Glitch Still Works

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen on Switch are virtually identical to the originals, and the iconic mail duplication glitch is confirmed to be working. Perhaps some of the most glitchy games in the early days of the franchise, Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen were beloved by fans on launch, and that popularity has only grown with time. The Switch and Switch 2 sales figures are not yet public, but these games have dominated the Nintendo eShop since their debut on modern hardware. Considering their price of $20 and the fact that they were not made available on Nintendo Switch Online, some fans expected the Kanto remakes to be upgraded and refined in some shape or form.

This is not the case, though. Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen on Switch are almost identical to the original, with just a few minor tweaks. For example, Raikou and Entei no longer vanish from the game after using Roar when trying to catch them, and the popular Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen infinite Nugget glitch apparently only works for some versions of the games, and it’s been fixed in others. This seems language-dependent, though, and the English version of the games still has the glitch available. And, to many fans’ delight, the same holds for the infamous mail duplication glitch.

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen’s Mail Duplication Glitch Explained

Many fans and content creators are reporting that this glitch still works on Switch and Switch 2. The mail duplication glitch allows you to duplicate any item that can normally be given to a Pokemon, making its use cases and applications near endless. You can duplicate Nuggets to have infinite PokeDollars, single-use TMS to use them time and again, and you can even make copies of the Exp Share item to quicken the leveling experience and share EVs while training. So, if you want to replicate the glitch, there are a few steps to complete.

Requirements for Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen’s Mail Duplication Glitch

• Reach Celadon City, at the very least.
• Find a Spearow if you don’t already have one, which can be done on Routes 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 22, and 23.
• Trade Spearow for Farfetch’d in Vermilion City, in the house below the Pokemon Center on the map.
• Get Abra in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen if you don’t already have one, which can be done very easily on Route 24, just north of Cerulean City. Make sure to immediately throw a Poke Ball at it or use a move like Sleep Powder beforehand, as it flees with Teleport.
• Trade Abra for Mr. Mime on Route 2, which you can get to from Vermilion City by using the Diglett Tunnel or going south of Pewter City and then using Cut on the trees on the right.

Setting Up Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen’s Mail Duplication Glitch

• Train Farfetch’d to level 21, at the very least, so it can learn the move Knock Off.
• Train Mr. Mime to level 33, at the very least, so it can learn the move Recycle.
• Go to Celadon City’s department store (4th floor) and buy 90+ Retro Mail, costing 50 PokeDollars each.
• Give one Retro Mail to Mr. Mime and write the word Abra on it. Other Pokemon names should work, but this is the most common setting.
• Give another Pokemon in your party a healing Berry, like Oran Berry or Sitrus Berry. You can do some battles with that Pokemon beforehand to lower its HP so that the Berry is activated almost immediately for the next step.
• Make sure to have Farfetch’d with Knock Off, Mr. Mime with Recycle, and another Pokemon with a consumable Berry in your party.

How to Reproduce Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen’s Mail Duplication Glitch

• Now, you need a double battle, which can be found west of Celadon City. If you have completed this battle already, you can repeat it with Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen‘s VS. Seeker, which you get in the Pokemon Center of Vermilion City.
• Make sure the Pokemon holding the self-healing Berry consumes it.
• Then, have Farfetch’d use Knock Off on your other Pokemon, which you need to swap for Mr. Mime in that same turn.
• Mr. Mime’s Retro Mail will be removed with Knock Off.
• Use Recycle on Mr. Mime to retrieve an item, which the game will decide is the healing Berry.
• Finish the battle.
• Have a full party of six Pokemon, and assign a piece of Retro Mail to five of them.
• Assign the item you want to duplicate to your sixth Pokemon.
• Try to give that Pokemon a piece of Retro Mail, which will show only question marks instead of text when doing so.
• The Retro Mail will disappear from your bag, but you’ll find another copy of the item you tried to duplicate in it.

You can do this glitch as many times as you want. For example, Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen‘s Gyarados is bad compared to its modern iteration because Water deals special damage, whereas its main offensive stat is physical, so an extra Earthquake TM would come in handy for it.

Likewise, if you’ve been training your best Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen team to include mons like Nidoking, you may want to make it learn moves like Thunderbolt, Surf, and Earthquake, but these powerful TMs are all single-use. You can do this for any item in the game that can be given to a Pokemon, and you can keep on doing it even if time passes since your original setup, providing it was successful — no need to redo the double battle and the entire strategy, just give Retro Mail to five Pokemon in your team.

Systems

Released

September 7, 2004

ESRB

Everyone 10+ / Mild Fantasy Violence, Simulated Gambling

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

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