8 Pokémon FireRed And LeafGreen Details That Players Appreciate Much More As Adults

One of the most beloved games from my own childhood is Pokemon FireRed. This game added to the already phenomenal formula of the first-ever games in the Pokemon series. The Kanto region contains many of the most famous Pokemon, even today, and classic elements like Team Rocket to boot that made for many of the elements I and many others consider to be my childhood.

These games, remade and reworked for many generations of consoles now, are fantastic. I’ve revisited them more times than I care to admit, but there are always new details and conversations to pick up. The world, even in these early games, was more fleshed out than many people realise. It takes a keen eye, likely that of an adult, to find some of the finer and more wondrous details in these games.

8 Gym Guy’s Gambling Addiction

A Memorable NPC With A Fun Story

Everybody remembers the Gym Guy. Whether you actually used to talk to him as a child (and I usually didn’t bother), this man stands consistently in every gym throughout the game, except for one. In Celadon City, home to the infamous Team Rocket gambling corner, the gym guide is found instead at the slots, reminiscing on his lack of psychic powers being a reason he can’t win at the slots.

His degeneracy and lack of sticking to his position is a memorable in-joke that most kids, including myself, never picked up on. But when I noticed this on a more recent playthrough, it was worth a good cackle. A break from formula with good reasoning behind it.

7 Gendered References

The First Thing You See Depends On Gender

Most people won’t pay attention to some little details that can change in different runs of FireRed and LeafGreen depending on something so trivial as gender. Many players won’t notice this because every time they play, they probably choose the same gender for their character. However, the first thing that players can see in the game shifts depending on what they choose.

Namely, the TV in the player’s bedroom at home. It has a short reference on it which changes dependent on the player character. If the player is a boy, the TV references Stand By Me with a line about “four boys walking on railroad tracks." However, if the player character is a girl, the TV references The Wizard of Oz instead, saying a line akin to “a girl in pigtails is walking down a yellow brick road”. These subtle changes are interesting, as well as NPCs having different colored dialogue depending on their gender. Many of these things, most players have never picked up on. I know I sure hadn’t until recently randomly choosing to play as a girl for the first time!

6 The SS Anne Truck Reference

Only Adults Remember This Schoolyard Rumour

Players who have been around in FireRed and LeafGreen and the Pokemon community, at large, definitely remember hearing the rumour when they were young. The truck on the docks near the SS Anne that supposedly hides Mew within it. This rumour went around for a long time, and there was later discovered another way, albeit a bit of a cheat, for how to initiate a battle with Mew in another location.

Still though, this longtime rumour about Pokemon Red & Blue led to Game Freak adding a sneaky reference in FireRed and LeafGreen. The truck remains in this version, and if players click on it, they are rewarded. However, instead of finding Mew, they are instead given a Lava Cookie, a useful but slightly disappointing item under the circumstances. Since most young players won’t remember the rumour, they wouldn’t have a reason to discover this fascinating trick.

5 The Pokemon Klepto

Pokemon NPCs Are Known For Weirdness

Children playing through Pokémon games aren’t overly interested in what the NPCs are saying, unless they’re giving the player a useful item or Pokemon. However, adults have loved over the years to gather many moments where an NPC comes out with something a little bizarre, and the FireRed/LeafGreen games are no exception to this rule.

A personal favourite of mine as an example is a scientist found in Cinnabar Island’s gym who talks about sometimes getting the uncontrollable urge to steal Pokemon from others. This fascinating interaction sparked many fan theories. While Team Rocket attempts to steal Pokemon from others, this random encounter is a hilarious and odd moment representative of the NPC interactions that will go right over the heads of younger players.

4 Snorlax Leaves Leftovers Behind

The ItemFinder Is Incredibly Useful

As a child, things like the ItemFinder weren’t parts of the game that I took seriously. I almost never used it until I was an adult. The added worry of trying to explore every location like a metal detector enthusiast on a beach didn’t appeal. Of course, this was foolish, and many younger players will miss out on important details by not being thorough enough with searching.

One of my favourite items in any Pokemon game is Leftovers. I didn’t discover it was a thing for several generations. This item, when held by a Pokemon, will restore some health every turn. An almost unmatched item, there are two copies available if the player searches the locations where Snorlax was sleeping after they have moved on. A hugely useful pair of items which can be literal lifesavers in big battles, most children playing these games won’t scan carefully enough with the ItemFinder to ever know about them.

3 Trainer Tower’s Secret Shiny

The Favorite Pastime Of Pokemon Adults

Everyone loves finding shiny Pokemon. It’s become a whole field of play in its own right. However, it was still quite rare to see any by the time FireRed and LeafGreen were released. That’s why it is so special (and little-known) that there is an opposing trainer who is guaranteed to have a shiny Espeon. This trainer can be found in a secret house on Trainer Tower (one of the post-game Sevii Islands).

Shiny Pokemon are a great prize, and even though players can’t have this one, it’s a thrill to even see one as far back as FireRed and LeafGreen. While children can hunt for shinies, the dedication required to achieve much in the practice means it is probably more exciting for an adult to search for and find this specific secret.

2 Lorelei’s Coping Mechanism

A Plushie Collection Fuelled By Sadness

The Elite Four seem intimidating from the name alone. Some of the very best trainers in the Kanto region seem like wrathful figures who exist only to cause you repeated failure. However, there is more to them. Lorelei, the first member of the Elite Four who loves Ice-type Pokemon, has a whole added story that follows the conclusion of the main quest line.

If players make it as far as Four Island in FireRed or LeafGreen, they will be able to help Lorelei, who can be found in Icefall Cave, attempting to deal with the remnants of Team Rocket. More, the player can visit her house and see her plushie collection. The big secret most players (including adults) will never know is her collection grows the more the player returns to defeat the Elite Four.

A sort of retail therapy to deal with her failures, Lorelei will go as far as a Lapras plushie if the player beats the Elite Four a whopping 200 times! This is a completionist’s dream, it takes incredible dedication, and wouldn’t be something most children would ever imagine. I confess, I haven’t yet managed the milestone myself, but I do understand Lorelei, as a fellow collector of Lapras merchandise myself.

1 The Ultimate Sticker Collection

Can You Complete Everything There Is?

The most difficult challenge to complete that many players won’t even know about in FireRed and LeafGreen is to get every Trainer Card Sticker from the man in the lowest portion of Island Four. He gives out collectible items that die-hard players crave, and which I never knew about until my most recent revisit to these beloved games.

But the stickers aren’t easy to unlock. Players will have to perform a huge amount of grinding, from hatching 200 eggs to beating the Elite Four 200 times and even winning 100 link battles. After twenty years of playing these games, I can confidently say I’ve not achieved any of those things in all of my time playing added together! These challenges are the ultimate goal for a FireRed or LeafGreen player who loves hundreds of hours of grinding a single game for achievements.