Nintendo Switch players, say hello to Pokémon FireRed and the most bizarre gym leader LeafGreen

With a debut Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen on Nintendo Switch, a whole new generation of gamers will experience these Gen 3 Gen 1 remakes for the first time, while others will relive the nostalgia of a bygone era of the franchise. The games have some quirks, such as the absence of a physical and special attack split and a limited Pokedex. Outdated mechanics aside, Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen have some interesting bits of lore tucked away that don't make sense in the modern series, and this quirky side of the franchise is embodied by Gym Leader Lt. Surge.

The head of the Kanto Gym of Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen they are an infamous bunch for the show. Not only are they the original group of 8 trainers that players must defeat to enter the Pokémon League, but they also feature characters like Sabrina and her infamously tough Psychic-type Gym. Lt. Surge may not be the toughest leader in the gym Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreenbut may be the strangest that players will encounter in the Kanto region.

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The best Pokemon Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen is one of the worst in Legends: ZA

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen have one contender for the title of best Pokemon in the game, and it happens to be one of the worst in Legends: ZA.

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen's Lt. Surge is one of the oddest characters in the franchise

As the third Gym Leader in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreenMost players will have by the time they take on Lt. Surge in Vermillion City, pretty solid team. His electric-type team isn't that hard to beat despite having Raichu as his ace, and Pokemon fans have recently delved into Lt. Surge that he built his gym right next to Diglett's Cave, where players can easily catch a Ground-type Diglett and sweep his team. The strangest thing about Lt. The Surge is his gaming background and connection to the wider world Pokemon it throws a surprising wrench into the show's lore.

Lt. Surge blurs the line between the Pokemon world and the real world

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Although Pokemon The series is mostly believed to exist in its own world, with regions inspired by locations such as Japan, France, and the United Kingdom, none of which are actually referred to by their actual names. One would expect this to mean that none of the real world countries exist within this one Pokemon world, yet Lt. Surge is different. His in-game nickname is “The Flash American”, which not only confirms that Lt. Surge is from the US and moved to the Kanto region sometime in the past, but that the US is a canon country in the Pokemon tradition.

Lieutenant Surge is the most violent gym leader in Pokemon

An iconic part of the background of Lt. Surge is the time he served in the military and earned the rank of lieutenant. In the interview before his battle, he talks about how his Pokémon saved his life during the war, and the other trainers at the gym Lt. The Surge's talk about how he was their commanding officer in the past. Although talk of war is not unusual Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreenThe war Lt. Surge served in is probably different from the war 3,000 years ago. Pokemon Legends: ZA's AZ participated as King Kalos. It's weird to think about Pokemon world including guns, bombs, and tanks alongside the actual creatures at war themselves, but the series never followed up on this one-off comment from Lt. Surge with more details about what caused this war and how it ended.

The cherry on top of Weird Sunday is Lt. Surge's gym referencing a type that doesn't exist

Perhaps the strangest part of the gym Lt. Surge's have nothing to do with the Gym Leader himself, but instead come from a trainer who offers advice to newbies when they enter the gym. Players who talk to the Gym Advisor in Vermillion City will hear about the best way to approach Lt.'s electric-type team. Surge, which consists of:

Voltorb — Lv. 21
Pikachu — Lv. 18
Raichu — Lv. 24

Gym Advisor mentions that Gym Electric types will deal super damage to Water and “Bird” type Pokémon. However, the Bird type does not exist and is probably a case of a mistranslated Flying type. Interestingly, the Bird type was originally planned for Gen 1 Pokemon red and blue before clipping to Flying type. However, the Bird type remains in the code of these older games and is actually the type of the infamous Pokémon Missingno glitch if players go through the work of interrupting their game and catching it.

Bird/Water type Pokemon are a bad match for Electric type.

The 166 missing Pokemon from FireRed and LeafGreen means Nintendo can't just consider these releases one and done

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen are missing 166 Pokemon on the Nintendo Switch, which could be fixed through additional games in the future.

Lieutenant Surge is a holdover from the early days of Pokémon

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen now that they're available on the Nintendo Switch, they act as perfect time capsules for the early generations of the franchise. These games allow players to experience Gen 3 mechanics, which are somewhat archaic by today's standards, while also seeing how the lore of the series has evolved over time. The fact that Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen committing to being faithful remakes of the Gen 1 games by including references to real-world countries like the US will show how Pokemon originally intended to exist in a version of the world that closely resembles the real one. since Pokemon as a series, it moved away from reflecting the real world and began to focus more on taking inspiration from real places without literally including them in its canon.