You should not use this Pokemon in FireRed and LeafGreen if you want to keep your sanity

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen coming back to the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 is a big surprise for fans of the series, and it's a great celebration of the series' 30 years. Whether this decision will develop into more classic Pokémon games on Switch and Switch 2 remains to be seen, but for now, based on the company's history, it seems unlikely. Nevertheless, if you plan to get Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen on Switch ahead of Pokemon Day 2026 or beyond, there are a few things you should know about what made the 2004 game so iconic, but also very frustrating at times.

To begin with, Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen on Switch are not remakes, meaning they retain all or most of the original experience with ups and downs that came with the GBA cartridges. What this means is that you shouldn't expect any revolutions in the games, for better or for worse. When it comes to the bad, some features of the original games will inevitably carry over to the Switch version, like the RNG on the slots, how difficult some trainer battles compare to others, and so on. Still, one of the most frustrating issues is associated with Golbat, and you shouldn't put this time on your team if you care about your sanity.

Family

Pokemon Leaker confirms big giveaway for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet on February 27th

According to leaks, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will have a massive giveaway or event for players to get two rare Pokemon.

The biggest problem with Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreens Pokedex is that it is tied to Kanto throughout the base game, with the National Dex only becoming available after beating the Elite Four and Champion. This limits the type of animals you can find in the wild, which can be obtained at all, and which are timed. This is the case with Golbat, as you can get a Zubat and evolve it into Golbat pretty easily, but you can't get Crobat until after the game.

Who is that character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Who is that character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Easy (7.5s) Medium (5.0s) Hard (2.5s) Permadeath (2.5s)

Say goodbye to Crobat in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen (for now)

It's not too big of a deal for those who don't love Crobat anyway, but there's a bigger underlying problem. If you have a Golbat with a high enough friendship, it will play the evolution animation every time it levels up, making the experience confusing at best for new players and very frustrating at worst. Then Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreens exclusive release list includes some early good Poison-type mons i Fire red and decent Flying types in general for both games, Crobat isn't exactly mandatory for best team composition.

However, it's frustrating to have a Golbat that can't physically evolve until after the game due to the way the games are structured, and it's even more jarring to witness the evolution animation fail every time a high-friendship Golbat spawns. Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreens listing change in the eShop over the past few days even underscores that Pokemon home compatibility may not be active at launch, which is usually the case, meaning you can't transfer Crobat to your save file to skip this issue entirely. And even then, Crobat is still part of the National Dex, so it wouldn't be useful until after the match anyway.

Best crobat options in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen

Bulbasaur (Venusaur): Grass/Poison, starting option
Charizard: Fire/Flying, Charmander as starting option
Pidgey (Pidgeot): Normal/Flying, already found on route 1
Spearow (Fearow): Normal/Flying, already found on route 3
Ekans (Arbok): Married, found as early as route 4, Fire red exclusive
Nidoran (Nidoqueen/Nidoking): Poison (evolves into Poison/Ground), already found on route 3
Gyarados: Water/Flying, you can find Magikarp as early as Route 4 for 500 PokeDollars

What follows is that Crobat is not necessary to carry out a good playthrough of Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen on Switch, as it wasn't in the original. But since the Switch version is basically a paid port, if you use Golbat and keep him on your team long enough, it will get to the point where you have to witness the progression animation over and over again, and frankly, I wouldn't wish that on anyone.