Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen on Nintendo Switch fix massive glitch 22 years later

We’ve only had one release of Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen for the past couple of decades with its GBA launch, but now that they’re seeing new life on Nintendo Switch, a huge glitch has been fixed.

Back in the day, the GBA games had something known as the “roaming roar bug”. If you initially chose Bulbasur or Squirtle as your starter, Raikou and Entei would show up first in the post-game. Following that, if you found either of the Legendary Pokemon and they used “roar”, the game would accidentally count it as them being knocked them out rather than making them flee, plus they wouldn’t appear in the Pokedex. This meant that Raikou / Entei would essentially be deleted and players wouldn’t have another shot at catching them.

That brings us to the new Nintendo Switch versions. While they are mostly straightforward ports, the infamous bug has now been fixed.

OmegaJarrodX offered a look at the fixed version on social media. Now things work as intended – after Raikou (and Entei) use roar, it can still be caught later on – the Pokedex entry still exists.

When fans were playing the games on GBA, they had to consider various options and go through different hoops. This included initially going with Charmander instead of Squirtle or Bulbasaur, immediately using the Master Ball on Raikou or Entei, and using Suction Cups or Soundproof Ability Pokemon. Now many years later, it’s possible to play as Game Freak originally intended.

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen are available on the Nintendo eShop. We have a trailer here.