Nintendo Switch players will soon get to experience Gen 3 Kanto remakes Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen to celebrate the franchise's 30th anniversary. While this isn't the first time the Kanto region has been playable on Switch, since then Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee have been available since 2018, Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen are completely different animals. The 2004 GBA games are far less forgiving than their modern counterparts, and part of their difficulty stems from what is arguably the series' toughest Gym Leader.
The Kanto region and the games it appears in are unlike anything in the rest of the world Pokémon series simply because of the more limited Pokedex size it has. While Gold, silver and crystalas well as their remakes HeartGold and SoulSilverhas an expanded Pokedex, the three generations of games set solely in Kanto are largely limited to the original 151 with a few exceptions. This forces players to adapt their strategy to the limited pool of potential team members, and results in one of the most difficult matchups in the entire franchise.
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Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen's Sabrina is notoriously difficult
A core element of Pokémon franchise is the Gym Challenge, which requires players to conquer 8 gyms by defeating their leaders and collect each Gym Badge to advance to the Elite Four and Pokemon League Champion. While some more modern Pokémon games have deviated from this format, the series' Gym Leaders remain some of the most iconic battles in the franchise. Pokémon fans have debated for years which gym leader is the hardest in the series, and Saffron City's Sabrina is almost always at the top of the list.
Rearrange the cases in the correct US release order.
Start
Rearrange the cases in the correct US release order.
Light (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)
Sabrina's history in the Pokemon series has traumatized Gen 1 fans
Sabrina's nefariousness dates back to the Gen 1 games, which included her Psychic-type team Pokemon Red and Blue was a huge headache for players to deal with. In Gen 1, psychic types were overpowered thanks to the limited number of super effective types players could use against her. Before the Dark type was added in Gen 2, Psychic types were only weak to Bug and Ghost, the latter of which suffered from a major bug in Gen 1 that made Psychic types inadvertently immune to Ghost instead of weak to the type.
This left Bug as the only type that could deal super effective damage to Sabrina's psychic types, and the choice for a good Bug type in Red and blue are narrow. To make matters worse, the most powerful bug-type attack in Gen 1 was Twinneedle, with a paltry base power of 25, making Beedrill the best option to counter Sabrina by default. Although some things have improved on this front in Gen 3, Fire red and leaf green still puts players through the ringer if they hope to defeat Sabrina.
Sabrina's team in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen
|
Cadaver |
Psychological |
Lv. 38 |
|---|---|---|
|
Mr. Mime |
Psychological |
Lv. 37 |
|
Venomoth |
Bug/Poison |
Lv. 38 |
|
Alakazam |
Psychological |
Lv. 43 |
Despite being a Psychic-type specialist, Sabrina holds the distinction of being the only Kanto Gym Leader to use a Pokémon with a type other than her specialty. Her Venomoth is a Bug/Poison type, which seems more fitting for Poison-type Gym Leader Koga, so it can be a threat to players who aren't prepared for it. Outside of Venomoth, Sabrina's team includes the usual Psychic-type suspects of a Kadabra, Mr. Mime, and her ace, Alakazam.
Technically speaking, Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen let players decide if they'd rather face Sabrina in Saffron City or Koga in Fuschia City first, both using awesome Pokémon at the same levels.
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What makes Sabrina so tough, even in Gen 3
The introduction of dark-types in Gen 2 helped reduce the power of Psychic-type Pokémon, but Sabrina still provides Fire red and leaf green the players problem in the Gen 3 remake. Part of this is due to the lack of Dark-types available in the Kanto Pokedex, locking mons like Murkrow and Sneasel behind the Sevii Islands post-game. While dark moves like Bite and Crunch are on other mons like Raticate, Gen 3 is ahead Pokémon the series splits its physical and special damage types from its elemental types, meaning that all dark-type attacks deal special damage in Fire red and leaf greenwhich is less than ideal for Sabrina's particularly defensive psychic types.
The best Pokemon to counter Sabrina in FireRed and LeafGreen may be out of reach for most Switch players
With Dark types ruled out for the Sabrina battle in Fire red and leaf greenplayers are forced back to the same issues Gen 1's version of the games dealt with. Bug types are still underpowered in Gen 3, but at least there are some slightly more powerful moves like Silverwind that make Butterfree or Venomoth decent candidates. Additionally, the bug that made Psychic types immune to Ghost-type attacks has been fixed, so players will have that option as well.
The only problem with using a Ghost type against Sabrina i Fire red and leaf green comes down to one feature that the Switch version of the game lacks. Gengar is by far the best Ghost type in the game, but requires players to trade a Haunter to evolve it. The Switch release of Fire red and leaf green won't have online functionality, only local co-op, meaning players will have to trade locally with a friend if they want to evolve their Haunter into Gengar for the Sabrina fight, something not all players will have the luxury of doing and likely allowing Sabrina to retain her title as hardest gym leader in the games.
- Released
-
September 7, 2004
- ESRB
-
e
- Publisher
-
Nintendo
