To celebrate 30 years of Pokémon, Nintendo Switch owners will soon be able to play the classic Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, originally released for the Game Boy Advance. While the Kanto region has been available on Switch before with Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee, these older games offer a significantly more challenging experience. Released in 2004, FireRed and LeafGreen are known for their difficulty, especially thanks to one particularly tough Gym Leader.
The Kanto region and the games based there stand out in the Pokemon series because of its smaller Pokedex. While later games like Gold, Silver, and Crystal, and their remakes HeartGold and SoulSilver, offer a wider variety of Pokemon, games solely set in Kanto generally stick to the original 151, with only a few additions. This restriction challenges players to build effective teams from a limited selection, making Kanto games some of the most difficult in the entire series.
Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen’s Sabrina is Infamously Difficult
A central part of the Pokemon games is the Gym Challenge. Players need to defeat the leaders of eight different Gyms and collect badges to prove they’re ready to take on the Elite Four and ultimately become the Pokemon League Champion. Even though newer Pokemon games have changed things up a bit, the Gym Leaders themselves are still remembered as some of the toughest opponents in the series. Fans often argue about which Gym Leader is the most difficult, and Sabrina from Saffron City is consistently ranked as the hardest.
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Sabrina’s History in the Pokemon Series Has Traumatized Gen 1 Fans
Sabrina has been a notoriously difficult opponent since the very first Pokemon Red and Blue games. Her team of Psychic-type Pokemon caused a lot of trouble for players. In those early games, Psychic-types were incredibly strong because there weren’t many Pokemon moves that could effectively counter them. Before the Dark type was introduced, Psychic-types were only supposed to be weak to Bug and Ghost, but a glitch in the original games actually made them immune to Ghost attacks instead!
Facing Sabrina in the original Pokémon Red and Blue was incredibly difficult because Bug-type moves were the only effective way to defeat her Psychic Pokémon, but strong Bug-type Pokémon and attacks were rare. The strongest Bug-type attack, Twinneedle, was very weak, making Beedrill the best, though not ideal, choice for the battle. While things got a little better in FireRed and LeafGreen, defeating Sabrina still presented a significant challenge for players.
Sabrina’s Team in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen
| Kadabra | Psychic | Lv. 38 |
|---|---|---|
| Mr. Mime | Psychic | Lv. 37 |
| Venomoth | Bug/Poison | Lv. 38 |
| Alakazam | Psychic | Lv. 43 |
Sabrina is known as a Psychic-type trainer, but she’s unique among Kanto Gym Leaders because she uses a Pokémon that isn’t Psychic – her Venomoth, which is a Bug and Poison type. This can surprise players, as it’s more commonly seen with the Poison-type Gym Leader, Koga. The rest of Sabrina’s team consists of typical Psychic-types like Kadabra, Mr. Mime, and her strongest Pokémon, Alakazam.
In Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, players can choose whether to battle Sabrina in Saffron City or Koga in Fuchsia City first, and both trainers use powerful Pokémon of similar levels.
What Makes Sabrina So Tough, Even in Gen 3
When Dark-type Pokémon were introduced in Generation 2, it weakened Psychic-types a lot. However, Sabrina remains a challenging opponent in the Generation 3 remakes, FireRed and LeafGreen. This is partly because fewer Dark-type Pokémon are available early in the game; Pokémon like Murkrow and Sneasel aren’t accessible until after you beat the main story. While some Pokémon can learn Dark-type moves like Bite and Crunch, in FireRed and LeafGreen, all Dark-type attacks deal Special damage. This is a disadvantage when fighting Sabrina, as her Psychic Pokémon are strong against Special attacks.
The Best Pokemon to Counter Sabrina in FireRed and LeafGreen May Be Out of Reach for Most Switch Players
Because Dark-type Pokémon aren’t effective against Sabrina in FireRed and LeafGreen, players face the same challenge as in the original Game Boy games. While Bug-types are still generally weak in Generation 3, moves like Silverwind give Pokémon like Butterfree and Venomoth a bit more power. Plus, a glitch that used to make Psychic-types immune to Ghost-type attacks has been fixed, giving players another viable strategy.
The main challenge when battling Sabrina in the original FireRed and LeafGreen games involves a feature missing from the Switch versions. Gengar is the strongest Ghost-type Pokémon, but it requires trading a Haunter to evolve it. Since the Switch release of FireRed and LeafGreen only allows for local co-op play and doesn’t have online trading, players will need a friend to trade with in order to get a Gengar for the fight. This limitation means not everyone will be able to easily evolve their Haunter, and Sabrina will likely remain the most difficult Gym Leader in the games.
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2026-02-24 14:05