If you’ve been grinding through Kanto since Pokemon Day 2026, there’s finally some huge news coming your way. Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen are getting Pokemon Home support in October 2026, and if you’ve been keeping your Pokedex tidy, you’re about to score yourself a free Celebi — no event ticket, no special distribution, just your save file doing the heavy lifting.
The Switch ports of FireRed and LeafGreen absolutely crushed it on the Nintendo eShop since launch, routinely sitting at first and second on the sales charts. But one thing that’s had the community buzzing nonstop is the lack of Pokemon Home connectivity. You can’t complete the National Pokedex in FRLG without Gen 3 games like Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, and those aren’t on the Switch yet. Now with Home support confirmed for October, that wall is starting to crack — and there’s a Mythical Pokemon waiting on the other side.
What’s Actually Happening With Pokemon Home Support in October 2026
The Pokemon Company officially confirmed through their website that FireRed and LeafGreen on Nintendo Switch will link with Pokemon Home starting sometime in October 2026 as part of the Version 4.1.0 update. No specific date within the month has been given yet, but it’s coming, and that’s enough to get excited about.
Once the connection goes live, you’ll be able to send any Pokemon you’ve caught in FRLG over to Pokemon Home, where you can then move them into compatible modern titles. Think Pokemon Legends: Z-A, Scarlet and Violet, Pokemon Champions — your old Gen 3 roster finally gets to run in modern games.
There is one major catch though, and it’s a big one: transfers are one-way only. Once a Pokemon leaves FireRed or LeafGreen, it cannot come back. Pokemon from other games also can’t be sent into FRLG. So if you’re planning to ship your starter or a beloved team member out, make sure you’re ready to say goodbye to them in Kanto forever.
How to Get the Free Celebi — And Yes, It’s Easier Than You Think
Here’s the part everyone’s actually hyped about. Complete the Pokedex in FireRed or LeafGreen, and you’ll receive Celebi as a gift in the mobile version of Pokemon Home. That’s it. No transferring stacks of Pokemon into Home first. No jumping through extra hoops. Once your games are linked, the app reads your save file directly and checks if you’ve completed the Pokedex. If you have, Celebi is yours.
That’s a really player-friendly approach compared to how some previous Home gifts have worked, and it’s honestly refreshing. You keep your Pokedex filled in-game and the reward comes to you in Home automatically.
Do You Need the National Pokedex or Just the Kanto Dex?
This is probably the question most people have right now, and the honest answer is that the official announcement doesn’t spell it out completely. Since the announcement doesn’t specifically say you need the National Pokedex completed, most people are reading it as just the base Kanto Pokedex — meaning the original 150 Pokemon (not including Mew, since #151 isn’t required for Pokedex completion in these games).
That’s actually really good news, because completing the National Pokedex in FRLG right now is practically impossible on Switch. It requires trading with Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, and those games aren’t on the Switch eShop yet. So if Celebi only needs the Kanto Dex, most dedicated players are probably already closer to the reward than they realize.
The National Pokedex Problem Isn’t Fully Solved Yet
Let’s be real though — Home support alone doesn’t fix everything. The bigger issue with the FRLG Switch ports has always been that you can’t complete the National Pokedex without Gen 3 games. A huge chunk of the 386 Pokemon in the National Dex are locked to Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, and there’s no way to trade them into your Switch copy of FireRed or LeafGreen because Home support is outbound only. Pokemon from other games cannot be transferred into FRLG — only out.
That’s a bit of a bummer, but it makes sense when you think about how different modern Pokemon mechanics are compared to what the GBA games were built around. It’s a compatibility limitation that probably can’t be easily worked around without breaking something in the older game engine.
For now, you can still grab some pretty solid post-game Legendaries in the Switch ports. Ho-Oh and Lugia are available via the Mystic Ticket, and Deoxys is obtainable through the Aurora Ticket — both of which are handed out automatically after you beat the Elite Four in these Switch re-releases, unlike the original GBA versions where you needed real-world event distributions to get them.
Are Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald Coming to Switch Soon?
Here’s where things get really interesting. The timing of the Home support announcement has fueled a lot of speculation — and an already-circulating leak — about the Gen 3 Hoenn games arriving on Switch right around the same time.
Reliable insider Shpeshal Nick dropped a claim on X stating that Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald ports are currently planned for a late September or October 2026 window. This lines up almost perfectly with the Home support launch for FRLG. What makes this more credible than your average leak is that Shpeshal Nick correctly leaked the Zelda-themed Nintendo Switch 2 console before it was ever officially announced, according to reports.
On top of that, when FireRed and LeafGreen first launched on Switch back on Pokemon Day 2026, dataminers found connectivity files for Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald baked into the code — a pretty strong signal that TPC had already been planning ahead for the Hoenn ports.
If Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald do drop in October alongside Home support, it would be a perfectly timed one-two punch. Those games are exactly what FRLG players need to trade over the Pokemon that can’t be caught in Kanto — things like the Hoenn starters, various Gen 2 and Gen 3 exclusives, and more. It would finally make a proper National Pokedex run doable on modern hardware.
- Ruby and Sapphire introduced the Hoenn region and a massive roster of new Pokemon that FRLG players need for National Dex completion.
- Emerald expanded on both titles with additional story content, the Battle Frontier, and unique event Pokemon — and it’s the game where Mew was originally distributed via the Old Sea Map event back in the day.
- According to the leak, these would follow the same $20 price point and straightforward port format as FireRed and LeafGreen.
What Else Is Changing With Pokemon Home Version 4.1.0
The October update isn’t just about FRLG. Pokemon Home Version 4.1.0 is coming with a few other quality-of-life upgrades that are worth knowing about:
- Increased storage for Premium subscribers — the max deposit limit is jumping from 6,000 to 9,000 Pokemon, with no change to the subscription price. That’s a solid bump for anyone running a living Pokedex.
- Safari Ball Pokemon from Pokemon GO — for the first time, you’ll be able to transfer Pokemon caught in Safari Balls from GO into Home. The catch is that the ball will convert to a Strange Ball once it arrives in Home, so don’t expect to keep that original Safari Ball display.
Pokemon Bank Is Also Getting a Shutdown Date
Buried in the same announcement was some bittersweet news for old-school players. Pokemon Bank, the Nintendo 3DS storage service, is officially ending on February 25, 2027. Once it shuts down, you won’t be able to transfer Pokemon from Bank into Home anymore — meaning anything still sitting in your Bank boxes needs to be moved before that deadline hits. If you’ve got rare Pokemon stashed away from your 3DS days, now’s the time to start thinking about getting them out.
Should You Start Grinding FRLG Now?
Honestly? Yes, if you’ve been putting it off, October isn’t that far away. Here’s a quick breakdown of where most players will stand:
- If you’ve already beaten the Elite Four and have a solid chunk of Kanto Pokemon registered, you’re probably closer to that Celebi reward than you think — especially if the requirement turns out to be the base Kanto Dex and not the full National Dex.
- If you haven’t started yet, FireRed and LeafGreen are both still available on the Nintendo eShop at $20 each and are absolutely worth playing — these are still some of the best remakes in the franchise’s history.
- If you’re a completionist gunning for the National Dex, you might want to hold off on transferring out your best Pokemon until Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald potentially drop, so you can use them for trading purposes first.
For more gaming news worth keeping tabs on, check out our coverage of the Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026 confirmed games and predictions to see what else is on the horizon, and if you’re curious what’s free to play on Xbox right now, we’ve got the latest on Xbox Free Play Days August 20–23 2026 as well.
Final Thoughts
The Celebi situation is being handled really smartly here. Since Celebi has been practically unobtainable in FireRed and LeafGreen through normal gameplay — both on the original GBA and on the Switch ports — giving it away for free through Home as a Pokedex completion reward is the cleanest possible solution. It acknowledges the limitation of the game without just ignoring it, and it actually gives players a reason to engage with the Home mobile app.
The bigger picture, though, is that October 2026 could end up being a massive month for Gen 3 fans. Home support for FRLG, a potential Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald launch, and a storage bump for Home Premium subscribers all in the same window would be an incredible value drop for Pokemon players. Keep an eye out for an official announcement on the Hoenn ports — if the leak holds up, it shouldn’t be too much longer before Nintendo makes it official.
