Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen were rather strange remakes when they first came out on the Game Boy Advance due to their core experience being tied to Kanto, but having additional content with the Sevii Islands and a National Dex to fill with all Gen 2 and 3 mons. Things are even stranger with the ports on Switch and Switch 2, as the games have a questline tied to unlocking trading options with Pokemon Gen 3 games, but these are currently unavailable on the Switch consoles, thus making the quest mostly redundant and Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen‘s National Dex impossible to complete. Still, offer many options for shiny hunters, even if the odds are not great.
One could argue that the best version for shiny hunting in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen is the latter, as it gives you access to Staryu and Starmie, which have the Illuminate ability to encounter Pokemon more frequently. However, some Pokemon can’t be found as shiny just by fishing or strolling through the grass, and they can be some of the most painful hunts in the game. For example, shiny starters are only available via soft-resetting, a method that is still relatively fast, but quite tedious and long. Other Pokemon, though, do not have this luxury, as they are only available via breeding, which makes them nearly impossible to shiny hunt.
10 Best Pokemon to Catch With the Master Ball in FireRed and LeafGreen
In Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, choosing which Pokemon to use the Master Ball on is a hard decision. Here are the best options.
Say Goodbye to 19 Shiny Pokemon in FireRed and LeafGreen
Most Pokemon found natively in the Gen 3 Kanto remakes can be found in various areas, or at least with decent odds, making the shiny hunting process possible even if it takes you days. However, Pokemon like Eevee in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen are either exclusive to in-game trades or to gifts, and only the latter can be soft-reset until they shine.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
The others can only be bred for shiny hunting purposes, meaning the process is even longer and more unlikely to yield good results. The list is as follows:
- Farfetch’d: You get Farfetch’d in Vermilion City in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen when trading a Spearow to a little girl who lives south of the Pokemon Center. Since the Farfetch’d you get (Ch’ding) is shiny-locked, you can only get a shiny Farfetch’d in the post-game after unlocking breeding.
- Hitmonlee or Hitmonchan (plus Tyrogue and Hitmontop): You can get a guaranteed Hitmonlee or Hitmonchan in the Saffron City Fighting Dojo, and since these are gift Pokemon, they can be shiny. The problem is you only get one, and to get the other, you need to breed for a Tyrogue. The same goes for shiny Tyrogue and shiny Hitmontop.
- Lickitung: The only way to get Lickitung is to trade one of the version exclusives in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen to an NPC on Route 18 who wants either a Golduck (FireRed) or Slowbro (LeafGreen). As Farfetch’d, the trade is shiny-locked, so you can only get a shiny Lickitung via breeding.
- Mr. Mime: Similarly, Mr. Mime is a trade exclusive in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, and you can only get one on Route 2 by giving away an Abra. This critter is shiny-locked and thus requires breeding to find a shiny version.
- Jynx (and Smoochum): Jynx is one of the best Pokemon in FireRed and LeafGreen, but it too is only from an in-game trade. You need to trade a Poliwhirl to an elderly man in Cerulean City for it, but Jynx is shiny-locked. What follows is that you need to breed for a shiny Smoochum and then evolve it into Jynx to get it.
- Vaporeon, Jolteon, and/or Flareon: There is a guaranteed Eevee in Celadon City that is a gift, and thus can be shiny via soft-resetting. Assuming you get a shiny one as a gift and evolve it into one of the only three Eeveelutions in the game, the remaining two can only be found as shiny via breeding and evolution stones.
- Pichu, Cleffa, Igglybuff, and Wynaut: These four baby Pokemon can only be found as shiny via breeding, as they don’t spawn anywhere.
- Togepi (and Togetic): While there is a guaranteed Togepi egg you can get, egg hatching is a terrible shiny hunting method in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen. This is the only way to get Togepi outside of breeding, so both it and Togetic are very hard to find as shiny.
- Elekid, Magby, and Azurill: On top of how hard it is to use breeding for shiny hunting, these three Pokemon are version exclusives. Electabuzz and Magmar in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen can only be found in the Power Plant in FireRed for the former, and in Mt. Ember in LeafGreen for the latter, but their baby forms are breeding-exclusive. Likewise, since Marill and Azumarill are LeafGreen exclusives, Azurill can only be found as shiny via breeding in this version.
Why Shiny Hunting via Breeding is Terrible in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen
The main problem with breeding in these games is that there are no Masuda Method or Shiny Charm, meaning the odds are 1/8,192. Not only that, but whether a Pokemon obtained via breeding is shiny is determined when the egg is received, not when it hatches. This means that you can’t soft-reset the moment the egg hatches, but rather, you have to either reset to before you got the egg or get another egg. If that wasn’t enough, Flame Body as an ability doesn’t make hatching eggs faster in the Gen 3 Kanto remakes, so the process is even longer. For these reasons, shiny hunting can be a tiring process if breeding is involved, and it may take so long that it’s nearly impossible to do for multiple Pokemon.
- 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
