Everyone loves naming your Pokémon rival something rude, and seeing the game then continually refer to them as “ass” — or worse. Now, however, the series’ new FireRed and LeafGreen re-releases have limited this trend by implementing a swear filter.

Pokémon fans were quick to report that naming your rival (or indeed, yourself) as “Ass”, “Asshole” or “Dick” would simply see your input ignored, and one of the game’s default names used instead.

The addition of a profanity filter is one of the few changes made to Nintendo’s ports of FireRed and LeafGreen, which otherwise simply emulate the classic Game Boy Advance titles as originally presented, for the price of $20 each.

Wow, they really don’t want us to relive our original playthroughs 🙁 pic.twitter.com/KtNCWwTErJ

— Professor Rex🇨🇦 (@RexProfessor) February 27, 2026

Of course, as with every swear filter ever created, people have not taken long to start getting around it. A quick check on social media shows that while “asshole” is banned, naming your rival “azzhole” or indeed “asshat” is still accepted. “Fartass” is also allowed.

All the swear words you’d expect to be caught by the filter seem to be banned on their own, though a few milder curses get through fine. While “ass” is banned, “butt” is not. Neither is “arse,” if you prefer a British spelling.

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen were re-released for Nintendo Switch last Friday, as part of the franchise’s big 30th anniversary celebrations, which also finally cleared up the confusing situation with the games’ link to Pokémon Home.

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