You Shouldn’t Use This Pokemon in FireRed and LeafGreen if You Want to Keep Your Sanity

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Okay, as a long-time Pokémon fan, I was seriously hyped to hear that FireRed and LeafGreen are coming to the Switch and potentially the Switch 2! It’s awesome to see Nintendo celebrating 30 years of Pokémon like this. Honestly, I’m hoping this means we’ll get even more classic Pokémon games on the Switch in the future, but knowing Nintendo, that might not happen. Still, if you’re planning to pick up FireRed and LeafGreen when they release, especially around Pokémon Day 2026, it’s good to remember what made those 2004 games so special – and sometimes, yeah, a little bit rage-inducing!

The recent release of Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen on Switch aren’t complete remakes; they largely maintain the original Game Boy Advance experience, both the good and the bad. Don’t anticipate major changes, either positive or negative. This means some of the original games’ quirks and frustrations are still present, like the random chance in mini-games and inconsistent difficulty in trainer battles. In particular, avoid using Golbat on your team – it can be incredibly frustrating to deal with!

You’ll Shoot Yourself in the Foot if You Use This Pokemon in FireRed and LeafGreen

A key issue with the Pokedex in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen is that it initially only registers Pokemon found in the Kanto region. You don’t unlock the full National Pokedex—and the ability to find all Pokemon—until after you’ve defeated the Elite Four and become Champion. This restricts which Pokemon appear in the wild, how you obtain them, and even when you can catch certain ones. For example, while you can easily evolve Zubat into Golbat, you can’t get the final evolution, Crobat, until after completing the main story.

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Say Goodbye to Crobat in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen (For Now)

It’s not a major issue if you don’t particularly like Crobat, but there’s a more significant problem. If you raise a Golbat with high friendship, it will attempt to evolve into Crobat every time it levels up, even if it doesn’t meet the requirements. This can be really confusing for new players and quite annoying overall. Luckily, Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen both offer good Poison-type Pokemon in FireRed and solid Flying-types across both versions, meaning Crobat isn’t essential for building a strong team.

It’s really annoying to have a Golbat that can’t evolve into Crobat until after you beat the main game, simply because of how the game is designed. What’s even worse is when the evolution animation doesn’t work, even if you’ve raised Golbat’s friendship level high enough. Recent changes to the game’s listing on the eShop suggest that transferring Pokémon from Pokémon Home might not be possible right away, which means you can’t easily get a Crobat to avoid this problem. Plus, even if you could transfer one, Crobat isn’t available until after completing the main story anyway.

Best Crobat Alternatives in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen

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

You don’t need Crobat to enjoy a good playthrough of Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen on Switch – just like the original games. However, because this Switch version is simply a re-release of the old game, if you keep a Golbat on your team for a long time, you’ll be forced to watch its evolution animation repeatedly, and that can get really annoying.

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2026-02-23 16:37