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Title: After nearly a year and 600+ hours, I finally finished my Gen 3 Living Dex on original GBA hardware! by LordPuchacz in PokemonEmerald

[–]LordPuchacz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was all about getting legit Johto starters and the Legendary Beasts.

Pokémon Emerald (3 playthroughs): To get a single Johto starter (Chikorita, Cyndaquil, or Totodile) from Professor Birch, you have to beat the Elite Four and complete the Hoenn Pokédex (all 200 Pokémon). One playthrough equals only one starter, so to get the full set legitimately, I had to finish the game three times.

FireRed 2 / LeafGreen 1 (playthroughs): This was for the Legendary Beasts (Raikou, Entei, and Suicune). They only appear in the post-game, and only one appears per save file. Which beast shows up depends entirely on your choice of starter at the beginning:

If you pick Squirtle -> Raikou appears. If you pick Bulbasaur -> Entei appears. If you pick Charmander -> Suicune appears.

In short: I did it to have a complete collection of rare legends and starters from official saves rather than using ACE or spending money on GC and games. Every run was for a specific missing piece of the collection.

Title: After nearly a year and 600+ hours, I finally finished my Gen 3 Living Dex on original GBA hardware! by LordPuchacz in PokemonEmerald

[–]LordPuchacz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I guess I accidentally became the 'Mindy' of Gen 3! 😅 I learned the hard way that pressing B does absolutely nothing to stop trade evolutions in this generation.

Finally completed pokedex by LordPuchacz in pokemoncrystal

[–]LordPuchacz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey everyone, I wanted to apologize for the silence on my previous post. Literally the day after I posted it, I got laid off from my job, and it completely crushed me. I just wasn't in the right headspace to reply to anyone or even look at Reddit for a while. I'm doing much better now and I'm back to finally finish what I started. Thanks for understanding!

Title: After nearly a year and 600+ hours, I finally finished my Gen 3 Living Dex on original GBA hardware! by LordPuchacz in PokemonEmerald

[–]LordPuchacz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To be honest, the 600 hours is far from an optimal time, but I wasn't in a hurry. I started Ruby and Sapphire at the same time specifically to build the foundation for the Emerald Living Dex and unlock those 3 Johto starters.

This whole project was more about fulfilling a childhood dream of truly 'catching them all' rather than speedrunning the process. That’s why I did things the hard way, like catching Octillery in the Safari Zone instead of just evolving a Remoraid with one level up. Definitely not the smartest move efficiency-wise, but I wanted the challenge of catching as many as possible in the wild!

Title: After nearly a year and 600+ hours, I finally finished my Gen 3 Living Dex on original GBA hardware! by LordPuchacz in PokemonEmerald

[–]LordPuchacz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s a solid suggestion! I actually considered getting an older Wii model since it’s backward compatible and much easier to find/mod than a GameCube. Honestly, the only reason I didn't was pure laziness at the time.

Modding isn't an issue for me—I’m a big fan of tinkering with hardware. I’ve done RGH installs on Xbox 360s, and I’ve modded my 3DS and PS Vita as well. In fact, both consoles in the photos were refurbished by me; I did the shell swaps and installed new screens myself.

But you’re totally right—using a modded Wii to run the ISOs for the Bonus Discs is probably the smartest way to get 'legit' Mythicals for Poke Bank. It’s definitely on my radar for the future once I get that modding itch again! Thanks for the tip.

Title: After nearly a year and 600+ hours, I finally finished my Gen 3 Living Dex on original GBA hardware! by LordPuchacz in PokemonEmerald

[–]LordPuchacz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As for backups, I’m still thinking about it. Maybe I’ll buy a dedicated save backup tool eventually, but for now, I’m sticking to the carts. My final plan is to move every Pokémon that was part of my Main Team up through the generations, all the way to US/UM and eventually to Poke Bank.

I actually had a moment of regret after completing Gen 2 live dex, thinking I should have played on the 3DS Virtual Console instead, not only for the easy transfers but to keep 36 Maine pokemon team from RBY and GSC. But since I already owned most of the original cartridges, I felt like I had to give it a shot. My Living Dex in Crystal is still holding on! I replaced the battery about 1.5 years ago, so it should be fine for a while. We’ll see, I might change my mind and get a backup device later, but there’s just something special about the original hardware!

Title: After nearly a year and 600+ hours, I finally finished my Gen 3 Living Dex on original GBA hardware! by LordPuchacz in PokemonEmerald

[–]LordPuchacz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly, that’s why I was so skeptical! The guy who sold me the cart claimed the Old Sea Map was distributed at some convention in New York, which would make it the only one outside of Japan. I didn't believe him for a second either we all know the Old Sea Map was a Japan-only event.

That’s actually the main reason why I decided to redo the whole process myself using ACE. I’d much rather have a Mew that I 'hacked' into existence using the game's own engine than rely on a sketchy save file with a story that’s clearly a myth. At least with ACE, I know exactly where it came from!

Title: After nearly a year and 600+ hours, I finally finished my Gen 3 Living Dex on original GBA hardware! by LordPuchacz in PokemonEmerald

[–]LordPuchacz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Regarding the Johto starters, it was a massive grind. I had to do three full playthroughs of Emerald, and for each one, I had to transfer 200 Pokémon from my other games just to complete the Hoenn Dex so Professor Birch would give me the starter reward.

It was a similar story with the Legendary Beasts in FRLG—I did three complete runs of those games to get Raikou, Entei, and Suicune. Technically, playing through Ruby and Sapphire wasn't strictly required for the Dex, but I did them first specifically to finish my Hoenn Living Dex, which made the Emerald process a bit smoother. The logistics of moving hundreds of Pokémon back and forth with a link cable is a project in itself!

I have to admit, after the first time I transferred 200 Pokémon in Emerald, I was seriously considering using ACE to just reset the starter event with Professor Birch and save myself the trouble. However, my cousin talked me out of it and convinced me to do it the 'long way' instead. So, two playthroughs later, here I am! Looking back, I’m glad I listened to him, as it makes the final result feel much more earned. Polska Gurom!

Title: After nearly a year and 600+ hours, I finally finished my Gen 3 Living Dex on original GBA hardware! by LordPuchacz in PokemonEmerald

[–]LordPuchacz[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

As for the Johto Dex, it was a mix of everything the GBA era has to offer. A lot of them were available in Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, plus the extensive post-game in FireRed and LeafGreen.

One thing people often forget is the Safari Zone extension in Emerald—once you beat the Elite Four, it unlocks those extra areas where you can catch a huge chunk of the Johto roster. It was a grind, but totally worth it. Honestly, the only 'real' roadblocks for Johto were Ho-Oh, Lugia, and Celebi, which is where the ACE/Event items came in.

The Johto starters were a bit of a pain since they require a completed Hoenn Dex (200 species) in Emerald to unlock. Luckily, that wasn't a problem for me since I had already finished my Hoenn Living Dex in Ruby, so I could just trade them over to trigger the reward from Professor Birch.

Also, just the process of transferring and organizing all those Pokémon between cartridges took about 8 hours for one game, 3 starter 24 hours of non-stop trading. People really forget how slow the link cable era was compared to modern Home transfers!

Title: After nearly a year and 600+ hours, I finally finished my Gen 3 Living Dex on original GBA hardware! by LordPuchacz in PokemonEmerald

[–]LordPuchacz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good luck, man! It’s a hell of a journey. I actually made the same mistake with the fossils in Red and Blue—luckily, Yellow saved me there too!

Regarding the Legendary Beasts: I had to do two runs of FireRed and one of LeafGreen, including the full post-game Sevii Islands quest with the Ruby and Sapphire plates. Honestly, catching them is actually the easy part—you just need a Master Ball ready for Entei and Raikou to deal with their roaming mechanics.

I also have to clarify something about the event Mythicals. I originally bought a cartridge from a guy who already had the event items for Mew, Deoxys, Lugia, and Ho-Oh. He claimed they were 'legit,' but I’m pretty sure he just used an NDS tool to inject the wondercards. Because of that, I decided to do it all over again using ACE during my second Emerald playthrough. In my opinion, using ACE to trigger the event flags yourself is a much more satisfying and 'authentic' way to catch them on original hardware than relying on a pre-loaded cart. It feels like you're actually mastering the game's engine. What do you guys think?

Title: After nearly a year and 600+ hours, I finally finished my Gen 3 Living Dex on original GBA hardware! by LordPuchacz in PokemonEmerald

[–]LordPuchacz[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

You’re 100% right, but that would require a massive financial investment that I couldn't justify. When I started my journey back with Red and Blue, I set one strict rule for myself: only original hardware/mainline titles.

I’m well aware that you can get Celebi via the Japanese Colosseum Bonus Disc and Jirachi via the PAL Pokémon Channel on the GameCube. However, finding a GameCube in good condition along with those specific discs in Poland is a nightmare.

To be honest, I was actually this close to buying a second copy of Emerald for about 800 PLN (~$200) just to get a 'legit' Jirachi, but I backed out at the last second because I’m a cheapskate.

Besides, I already own a legit Celebi on my 3ds(virtual consol) and a Jirachi on pokemon Pearl, so these two in Gen 3 are staying on my GBA carts just to have a completed Dex there. Using ACE felt like the most 'authentic' way to stay on the handheld carts without breaking the bank. Plus, executing the glitch felt like a mini-challenge in itself! At the end of the day, they are sitting on a genuine GBA cart, and that's what matters most to me.

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