Speedrunner spotted a quietly huge change in the FireRed/LeafGreen Switch ports — and it matters

Speedrun reveal makes formerly rare event legendaries trivially available – and transferable

Beat the Elite Four in the newly released Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen on Switch and, according to a Japanese speedrunner’s sub‑3‑hour playthrough spotted by TechRaptor, the game simply gives you the Aurora Ticket and Mystic Ticket. Those items were once tied to time‑limited Mystery Gift events that effectively locked Deoxys, Ho‑Oh and Lugia behind geography and lucky timing – now the encounter doors open for anyone who finishes the story. Couple that with The Pokémon Company confirming future Pokémon Home compatibility on the remakes (as noted during the 30th anniversary Pokémon Presents), and suddenly those legendaries can be legitimately caught, shiny‑farmed, and sent forward into modern games.

• TechRaptor spotted the speedrunner discovery that the Aurora and Mystic Tickets are awarded after the Elite Four.
• GamesRadar and Eurogamer confirm the Switch ports will be compatible with Pokémon Home, enabling transfers to modern titles.
• The Switch ports are cheap (roughly $20 / £16.99), so access is immediate and inexpensive for anyone with a Switch.

Why this actually matters – beyond nostalgia

There’s obvious nostalgia value: these are the GBA remakes arriving as part of Pokémon’s 30th anniversary. But the practical change is bigger. Those event tickets were the entire gatekeeping mechanic for Deoxys and the Ho‑Oh/Lugia encounters in the original GBA era. If they’re now handed to every player who completes the Elite Four, that removes scarcity overnight. For shiny hunters this is gold — the ability to encounter the legendaries repeatedly in a legal, in‑game context means you can farm them without relying on trades, RNG‑rigging from third parties, or the black market for event Pokémon.

And the transfers matter. GamesRadar and Eurogamer both confirm Pokémon Home support is coming, which means any legit catches in these ports can be moved into modern titles like Scarlet & Violet and the then‑current flagship games (specific withdrawal targets were shown during the Pokémon Presents stream). That’s not just a convenience feature; it effectively reunites a tranche of previously unreachable Generation III legendaries with the current metagame and collector ecosystems.

The uncomfortable observation the PR team hoped you’d skip

Making once‑exclusive event Pokémon trivially available is a design choice with consequences Nintendo and The Pokémon Company undoubtedly understood. Officially unlocking these tickets democratizes access, but it also erases a chunk of the series’ provenance—those specific Mystery Gift Pokémon lose their scarcity premium. That will deflate the value of old event catches in some collectors’ markets and shift the conversation from “I was there” to “anyone can get one now.” The PR spin is anniversary celebration and convenience; the reality is a one‑time reissue recalibrating what counts as a rare, desirable trophy.

The question nobody’s asking — but I would if I were on the stream

When will Pokémon Home support arrive, and will there be caveats? GamesRadar and Eurogamer say Home compatibility is coming, but neither outlet got a date. Will the transfer allow endless farming into modern competitive pools, or will some of these transferred legendaries be flagged as “special” and restricted? And finally: was this automatic ticket gift an intentional quality‑of‑life change across every region, or a one‑off for this reissue? Those answers determine whether this simply feels good or actually reshapes collector and competitive ecosystems.

What to watch next

• Official patch notes or support pages confirming the Aurora/Mystic Ticket behavior across regions (immediate verification of the speedrunner’s finding).
• Pokémon Home rollout date and exact transfer rules (GamesRadar flagged compatibility as “planned”; timing matters).
• Whether Nintendo/The Pokémon Company will mark transferred GBA legendaries with a provenance tag or limit their use in online formats.
• Community speedruns and shiny‑farm reports — quick data will show how easy repeat encounters and hunting actually are in practice.

If you care about shinies, collecting, or simply finally getting a legitimate Deoxys into a modern game, this is good news. If you care about the value of old event Pokémon as rarities, this is the kind of move that will make a few purists mutter into their Poké Balls.

TL;DR

A speedrunner’s sub‑3‑hour run exposed that the Switch reissues of FireRed and LeafGreen hand out the Aurora and Mystic Tickets after the Elite Four, letting players legally encounter Deoxys, Ho‑Oh and Lugia. Pokémon Home support is confirmed as a coming update, so those catches can be transferred into modern games. What to watch: official confirmation of the ticket behavior, the Pokémon Home launch window for these ports, and any transfer or eligibility restrictions that could blunt the change.