Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen's Rare Exclusives Are Not Equal (And One Version is Much Better Than The Other)

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen were recently re-released on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, much to the delight of new fans and veterans alike, who can finally play through the Kanto region of the 2004 games. These are direct ports of the Game Boy Advance titles, though, which come with good and bad. Players can still enjoy the Sevii Islands and the iconic Gen 1 content with Gen 3 gameplay, but completing the Pokedex can be a challenge or outright impossible, at least for the National Dex. If you want to actually catch ’em all, you’ll need to trade locally with other players, as Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen‘s version exclusives can’t be found in the opposite version.

The problem is that Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen don’t really have a clear winner with version exclusives, as one could argue that LeafGreen is better because it includes Slowpoke and its evolutions, so you could then transfer over to Gen 3 games if and when they are re-released, as these critters are unavailable there. On the other hand, FireRed has Arcanine, which is one of the best mons in Kanto, and it has some more popular critters overall. In terms of rare exclusives, though, these are mainly two: Electabuzz and Magmar. However, only one of them is catchable early, and the other is mostly for Pokedex completion.

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen’s Best Shiny Hunting Strategy is Unfortunately Version Exclusive

Shiny hunting in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen is always with full odds, but the best trick you can use is exclusive to one version.

Pokemon FireRed Beats LeafGreen With Its Rare Version Exclusive Pokemon

The version exclusives in each game can change your playthrough to some degree, especially a few of them, so picking the right version for you can be as important as choosing the best starter in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen. Interestingly, before completing the game, you can only encounter a bunch of the version-exclusive critters, as some of them are from Gen 2 or 3 and fill the National Dex. The issue is that, while you can get Electabuzz easily and relatively early in FireRed, you’ll have to wait for quite some time before you can catch Magmar in LeafGreen.

Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.

Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)

FireRed Exclusives	Location & Time	LeafGreen Exclusives	Location & Time
Ekans	As early as Route 4	Sandshrew	As early as Route 4
Arbok	Evolve Ekans or late game	Sandslash	Evolve Sandshrew or late game
Oddish	As early as Route 5	Vulpix	As early as Route 8
Gloom	Evolve Oddish or mid game	Ninetales	Evolve Vulpix
Vileplume	Evolve Gloom	Bellsprout	As early as Route 5
Psyduck	Fishing with Super Rod early	Weepinbell	Evolve Bellsprout or mid game
Golduck	Evolve Psyduck or mid game	Victreebel	Evolve Weepinbell
Growlithe	As early as Route 8	Slowpoke	Fishing with Super Rod early
Arcanine	Evolve Growlithe	Slowbro	Evolve Slowpoke
Shellder	Fishing with Super Rod early	Staryu	Fishing with Super Rod early
Cloyster	Evolve Shellder	Starmie	Evolve Staryu
Scyther	As early as Celadon City	Magmar	Mt. Ember (late game)
Electabuzz	Power Plant (mid game)	Pinsir	As early as Celadon City
Bellossom	Post-game	Marill	Post-game
Wooper	Post-game	Azumarill	Post-game
Quagsire	Post-game	Slowking	Post-game
Murkrow	Post-game	Misdreavus	Post-game
Qwilfish	Post-game	Sneasel	Post-game
Scizor	Post-game	Remoraid	Post-game
Delibird	Post-game	Octillery	Post-game
Skarmory	Post-game	Mantine	Post-game
Elekid	Post-game	Magby	Post-game
		Azurill	Post-game

Pokemon FireRed’s Electabuzz is Miles Better Than LeafGreen’s Magmar

power plant in pokemon firered leafgreen

While Electabuzz is obtainable in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen‘s Power Plant, which is accessible immediately after getting the HM for Surf, Magmar is only found in Mt. Ember. In FireRed, Electabuzz has a 5% encounter rate in the Power Plant, but you can use a level 35 Pokemon as a lead in your party and any Repel, making it so that only Electabuzz can spawn because the remaining Pokemon are lower level. The encounters at the Power Plant are as follows:

Pikachu (both versions, level 22-26, 25% spawn rate)
Magnemite (both versions, level 22-25, 30% spawn rate)
Magneton (both versions, level 31-34, 10% spawn rate in FireRed, 15% in LeafGreen)
Voltorb (both versions, level 22-25, 30% spawn rate)
Electabuzz (FireRed only, level 32-35, 5% spawn rate)

Mt. Ember Entrance, Ponyta Spawning zone

What follows is that Electabuzz is much more accessible than Magmar by a huge margin, as the latter is a 5% encounter too, but it’s only found in Mt. Ember, which becomes available after defeating Blaine at the very least. By contrast, you can only get Magmar before the Viridian City Gym in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, which is also far from ideal for Magmar to be used in because it goes against Ground-type Pokemon.

Why You Shouldn’t Use Magmar in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen

More importantly still is the fact that Electabuzz is still a very good Pokemon in FireRed and LeafGreen, even if it’s outclassed by Raichu for most things, and even if it has niche uses with its ability to learn Psychic that Raichu doesn’t have. Electabuzz is great when dealing with the many Water-types in FireRed and LeafGreen, as well as Lorelei and Agatha among the Elite Four, with a few very good uses against Lance and the Champion, too.

Instead, Magmar is vastly outclassed by Arcanine as a Fire-type in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, and even if you only count mons available in LeafGreen, Ninetales’ move pool and higher Speed stat make it a better choice overall. Plus, Magmar is walled by Lorelei, Bruno, and Lance, and it can only do something against Agatha if you teach it Psychic. It will mostly have a hard time against the Champion, too, and by the time you level it up and train it properly before the Elite Four, a Ninetales or Charizard is miles better anyway.