Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire Official Return Leaks Online

Pokémon made a slew of announcements during last week’s Pokémon Presents, but it appears some more reveals may be coming down the line. In fact, recent leaks seem to suggest Gen 3’s Ruby and Sapphire, and possibly even Emerald, will be returning in some way in the future.

This is mostly thanks to information regarding the ROM for FireRed and LeafGreen, which were recently released on Switch 1 and Switch 2, that appeared on X. This included “some very small evidence of Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald functionality” leading one user to speculate on “potentially a future release?” on the social media site. You can read the full post below.

Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire May Return On Switch

Apparently, the Switch version of FireRed is a completely new ROM, not just the one from the GBA, which makes sense and isn’t super surprising. However, this newer version includes the ability to trade with the Gen 3 games. Originally, this wasn’t that big of a deal. Both Ruby and Sapphire and FireRed and LeafGreen came out on the GBA, so trading between the two makes sense.

The catch, however, is that since this is a new version, it’s strange that developers would leave this in. Naturally, that’s led to speculation that re-releases of Ruby and Sapphire are officially on the way and will be announced at some point in the future.

As with any leaks or datamine, it’s best to take this with a grain of salt. There’s also the chance the developers just didn’t mess with this code when they were creating the new Switch versions. If it were true, however, the timing of a Gen 3 re-release makes a lot of sense.

It’d Be Great To Revisit The Hoenn Region

It would be great to get some version of the Gen 3 games onto Switch consoles, especially if it were the Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire remakes from the 3DS. Those are arguably still the best remakes around. Besides that, Hoenn is one of Pokémon’s best regions, so it’d be great to return there.

Considering how well FireRed and LeafGreen are selling on Switch right now, it makes sense that Nintendo, Game Freak, and all involved parties would bring more of these older Pokémon games to the latest consoles, so getting some version of Ruby and Sapphire onto Switch 1 and Switch 2 doesn’t feel completely out of the realm of possibility.

However, those Gen 1 remakes are a part of Pokémon‘s 30th Anniversary celebration. Gen 3 games will turn 25 in 2027, so perhaps we’ll see Ruby and Sapphire re-releases next year. This is, of course, just guesswork, but we’ll hopefully hear something soon. It’d be really great to return to the Hoenn region again.