9 Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen Details Players Only Notice After Returning Years Later

As a lover of Pokemon games since I was about five years old, I can confidently say that there’s always something you’re missing out on in any individual run-through of these games. When I was a child, there were huge elements that I completely missed out on, from certain Pokemon you can get in different ways to hidden items and even baffling NPC interactions that are hilarious if you pay attention.

This goes double for some of the best Pokemon games, like FireRed and LeafGreen. Their recent re-release for newer consoles has brought back players, including myself, that haven’t looked at these games in years. And there is plenty to see and find that many players will never have known about in their previous runs.

9 Free Game Corner Coins

Skip The Worst Part

Many players, like me, will have been frustrated with the Celadon City Game Corner in the past. Trying to gather enough coins to get the rare moves or even Pokemon within, particularly Dratini, is a real grind. However, players just have to know where to look in order to skip over this part completely, something I never noticed when I was younger.

The known part of this trick is talking to other players, who will give 10 or 20 coins in some cases when interacted with. But players can also click, without an ItemFinder, on random squares around the game corner to find piles of coins on the ground, amounting to 100 in some cases! This won’t skip all of the grinding, but it sure does give the player a head-start. Of course, there is another way around the Game Corner machines themselves that can help...

8 The Game Corner Trick To Success

The Mathematics Behind The Slots

When the player enters the Game Corner, each machine is given a random success value. If the player continues trying a couple of machines back and forth, and then leaving to reset their luck values, they will find a lot more success at the slots. If you win around three out of your first five turns, you’re on a hugely lucky machine that will continue paying out well until you score a big win, which will reset the luck value.

Players might never discover this, and end up spending thousands of their in-game cash to build up enough game corner coins to buy a Dratini, and I’ve been there a number of times, but the Game Corner slots can be made to work for you for cheaper with a little patience.

7 A Guaranteed Shiny Sighting

But Not One You Can Catch

The FireRed and LeafGreen post-game is extensive, like it is for many core Pokemon games. So it isn’t surprising that many players miss some fascinating things in the Sevii Islands, because many of them don’t get there on their first run. In the Trainer Tower on Seven Island, players can find some of the strongest trainers in the entire game.

This includes a double battle with two very strong eeveelutions, one of which is a guaranteed Shiny Espeon! I didn’t even know about the concept of shiny Pokemon when I was first playing these games, because they were so rare to see at all. Nowadays, shiny hunting has become a whole new way to play the Pokemon games, and while seeing one in FireRed & LeafGreen is still rare, this uncatchable treat is a fun sighting for many.

6 Aerodactyl’s An Easy Find

The Fossil Everybody Wants Is Simple To Find

I don’t know about anyone else, but when I used to play FireRed & LeafGreen, one of the disappointing parts for me was the decision at Mt. Moon. When given the choice between Omanyte and Kabuto, I normally found myself shrugging and wishing that the mightier Aerodactyl was an option. Of course, what I didn’t know then was that it was absolutely an option, and is still easy to find a little later in the game.

All players need to get Aerodactyl is the Cut technique and a quick trip back to Pewter City, where they will find in the Pewter Museum someone who gives them an Old Amber. This can be turned into Aerodactyl by the Cinnabar Island Lab that turns the other fossils into Pokemon. Aerodactyl is a hugely strong Pokemon and it can just be handed to you, and it isn’t the only easy find players often miss in these games.

5 Eevee Is Also Guaranteed

A Fan Favourite Handed Away

One of the most beloved Pokemon for the always growing number of available ways to evolve it, Eevee can be found in Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen with very little trouble. Players just have to follow a path behind the Pokemon Center in Celadon City, where they can find another entrance into an Apartment Complex and a person willing to hand away an Eevee.

Players will only have the original Generation I choices for how to evolve Eevee until they get the National Pokedex in the post-game. But even so, this is a great way to find one of the biggest favourites out there easily. Eevee can’t be found anywhere else before the Elite Four, making this a real win, and one that I didn’t know about until embarrassingly recently.

4 The Rare ItemFinder Moments Worth Checking

People Leave Valuable Trash Behind Them

The ItemFinder is obviously a useful tool for finding items. Of course, this wasn’t something I was interested in looking around for when I was younger. It’s only in more recent runs of Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen that I noticed you can find specialised items in spots where people, and Pokemon, have vacated.

This might seem like a small detail, but not with Leftovers. There are two versions of Snorlax, asleep and blocking paths, who can be cleared with the Poke Flute. After they’re gone, the player can find Leftovers, an item which heals the Pokemon holding it a little every single turn they’re in battle. Hugely valuable, these are only some of the useful items left behind. Players can find a Soothe Bell in Pokemon Tower in Mr. Fuji’s previous spot, and a Macho Brace in Giovanni’s Gym after he is gone.

3 The Game Freak Employees

Putting Themselves Into The Game Sneakily

Although it wasn’t something I cared about when I was younger, I find it charming to see Game Freak employees added to the game now. In Celadon City, there’s a building where the third floor is dedicated to Game Freak’s own Tokyo office at the time the games were originally being made, and it has members of the development team there.

The player can have a chat with the team, who break the fourth wall by speaking about what they do to create the game. Several members of the team were included in a charming Easter Egg which I enjoy and revisit each time I play now.

2 Lorelei Makes Use Of Retail Therapy

There’s A Reason To Keep Fighting The Elite Four

Lorelei is the first fight in the Elite Four, and a fearsome foe. However, she’s also an NPC with far more backstory than most in the early Pokemon games. Players can help her on Four Island in the post-game when she returns to her birthplace to fight Team Rocket in Icefall Cave.

Additionally, players can visit her house and see her plushie Pokemon collection. The strange thing most players will never realise is that she adds plushies to the collection every 25 times the player defeats the Elite Four. This might seem crazy, but the game will keep changing her collection until the player has entered the Hall of Fame 200 times!

1 The Mew Truck Reappearance

Everybody’s Favourite Pokemon Rumour

There was an old rumour in the original Pokemon games that Mew could be found hiding under a truck in the SS Anne area. Of course, the truck was inaccessible, and the rumour was spurred on by Mew being found in the code for the game but never being encountered.

There have since been found other ways to glitch a battle with Mew into taking place. But, while this rumour was unfounded, the development team for FireRed & LeafGreen enjoyed it enough to bring the truck back, and players can reach it now. If they click on it, they’re even rewarded with a Lava Cookie, instead of an encounter with the mythical Pokemon.