22 years later, Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen's Switch re-releases patch out a glitch that could make certain legendary 'mons disappear from your game permanently

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen are now back on modern consoles thanks to last week's Switch ports, but the devs didn't leave the Game Boy Advance titles completely untouched in their latest release, with one of the worst bugs in the original now mercifully patched out.

There are a handful of tweaks to FireRed and LeafGreen if you play them on Switch or Switch 2 – including a new button combination to quickly reset your game, and the return of limited-time event items to catch Deoxys, Ho-Oh and Lugia in the post-game – but one of those changes is a key bug fix that I'm sure many would have appreciated 22 years ago when trying to catch Raikou and Entei.

In the original releases, it's possible to catch one of the three Johto legendary dog Pokemon, Entei, Raikou, and Suicune, with the one you get depending on which starter Pokemon you picked at the start of the game. However, they're roaming encounters – the sort that randomly appear on different routes around the region and run away on the first turn unless you successfully catch them, knock them out, or use a move like Mean Look (or an ability like Arena Trap) to keep them in battle.

This is annoying enough as is, but Entei and Raikou have a move at their disposal to get around any attempts to keep them in battle – Roar. Using this will let them get away regardless of what measures you've taken to hold them in place, and what's worse, thanks to a nasty bug, they previously disappeared completely if they managed to use the move, making their capture even more difficult. Now, though, folks have been reporting that after almost 22 years, the bug is finally fixed in the Switch versions.

"The Roar Glitch in the Switch version of Fire Red and Leaf Green is fixed," one writes, sharing a clip of Raikou escaping from battle but remaining on the map afterwards. "This is huge!"

This same thing has been tested by YouTube creator TortoiseCity, who notes that "I tested it with Arena Trap, Sand Tomb Dugtrio, and Mean Look from Golbat, and in both instances, the Raikou that I was testing on reappeared and could be tracked afterwards using the Pokedex as normal."

Entei and Raikou using Roar will still allow them to escape from battle, meaning that throwing a Master Ball on sight is still probably the best way to capture them, but at least this means that folks won't end up permanently missing out on one of the coolest rare Pokemon in the game if they do try to catch them the hard way (or if they already used their Master Ball on Mewtwo).

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen re-releases will be compatible with Pokemon Home after all, so you can once again bring GBA-era creatures to your modern collection.