24 February 2026

Nintendo Switch Fans, Say Hello to Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen’s Hardest Gym Leader

By newsgame

Nintendo Switch players will soon get to experience the Gen 3 Kanto remakes Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen in celebration of the franchise’s 30th anniversary. While this isn’t the first time the Kanto region has been playable on the Switch, since Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee have been available since 2018, Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen are different beasts entirely. 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 Pokemon series simply due to the more limited Pokedex size it features. While Gold, Silver, and Crystal, as well as their remakes HeartGold and SoulSilver, feature an expanded Pokedex, the three generations of games purely set 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 hardest fights in the entire franchise.

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Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen’s Sabrina is Infamously Difficult

A core element of the Pokemon franchise is the Gym Challenge, requiring players to conquer 8 Gyms by defeating their Leaders and collecting each Gym Badge to advance toward the Elite Four and Pokemon League Champion. While some more modern Pokemon games have deviated from this format, the series’ Gym Leaders still remain some of the most iconic battles of the franchise. Pokemon 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 covers into the correct US release order.

Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)

Sabrina’s History in the Pokemon Series Has Traumatized Gen 1 Fans

The infamy of Sabrina dates back to the Gen 1 games, where her Psychic-type team in Pokemon Red and Blue was a massive headache for players to deal with. In Gen 1, Psychic types were way 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 glitch in Gen 1 which made Psychic types unintentionally immune to Ghost instead of weak to the type.

The Pokemon crossing from one Game Boy to another in an old commercial - Pokemon Red and Blue

This left Bug as the only type capable of dealing super effective damage to Sabrina’s Psychic types, and the pickings for a good Bug type in Red and Blue are slim. To make matters worse, the most powerful Bug-type attack in Gen 1 was Twinneedle, with a measly 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, FireRed and LeafGreen still put players through the ringer if they hope to defeat Sabrina.

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

Despite being a Psychic-type specialist, Sabrina has the distinction of being the only Kanto Gym Leader to use a Pokemon with a type other than her specialty. Her Venomoth is a Bug/Poison type, which seems more fitting for the Poison-type Gym Leader Koga, so it can be a threat for 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, Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen let players decide if they would rather face Sabrina in Saffron City or Koga in Fuschia City first, and both use ace Pokemon of 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 nerf the power of Psychic-type Pokemon significantly, but Sabrina still gives FireRed and LeafGreen players trouble in the Gen 3 remakes. Part of this is due to the lack of Dark types available in the Kanto Pokedex, locking mons like Murkrow and Sneasel behind the post-game Sevii Islands. While Dark-type moves like Bite and Crunch exist on other mons like Raticate, Gen 3 is before the Pokemon series split its Physical and Special damage types apart from its elemental types, meaning all Dark-type attacks deal Special damage in FireRed and LeafGreen, which is less than ideal for Sabrina’s Specially-defensive Psychic types.

The Best Pokemon to Counter Sabrina in FireRed and LeafGreen May Be Out of Reach for Most Switch Players

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With Dark-types ruled out for the Sabrina battle in FireRed and LeafGreen, players are forced back into the same problem Gen 1’s version of the games dealt with. Bug-types are still under powered in Gen 3, but at least there are a few slightly more powerful moves like Silverwind that make Butterfree or Venomoth decent candidates. Also, the glitch 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 in FireRed and LeafGreen comes down to a feature 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 in order to get it to evolve. The Switch release of FireRed and LeafGreen 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 every player will have the luxury of doing and likely allowing Sabrina to maintain her title of hardest Gym Leader in the games.