• A new LGBTQ+ forum is now being trialed and there have been changes made to the Support and Advice forum. To read more about these updates, click here.
  • Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

Thoughts and whatnot

Most unique
xerneas.png aegislash-shield.png goodra.png hawlucha.png volcanion.png
I love all these pokémon because they are so inspired. I love when the pokémon designs borrow from mythology, legends, folklore. I didn't think much of Goodra but reading about its origins made me respect it. Xerneas is, amongst many things, inspired in Norse mythology, which I love. Aegislash is based on King Arthur's sword and haunted weapons and many other things and I really like it. Volcanion is a cool design, for the longest time I wondered how would a Fire/Water type turn out. Too bad they used the typing on a mythical. Hawlucha is rather creative I might say, since they didn't make it humanoid like other fighting types. Plus it speaks to me personally due to my Mexican heritage.

Most forgettable
avalugg.png bergmite.png carbink.png gogoat.png furfrou.png
These aren't even bad. They're just... there. Furfrou has a fun gimmick but that's all it has going for it. Gogoat is alright, I just seem to forget about it all the time. Carbink is... ok? I mean Diancie exists so Carbink becomes uninteresing as a result. The ice types are plain-looking and they are alright but IDK. There are much better designs in Gen 6.
 
Last edited:
Next, we have Generation 7. I tried to make these lists without putting any given Pokémon in more than 1 category but the last three gens have fewer designs so it's becoming harder. I feel ambivalent about this generation, I love many of the pokémon themselves but I loathe the Alola games (and Let's go).

Favorites

decidueye.png lycanroc-midday.png mimikyu.png ribombee.png wishiwashi-solo.png
I fell in love with Decidueye when I saw it. I had longed for a Ghost type starter since Gen 2 or 3. I never thought it'd happen since a pokémon suddenly becoming ghost type... I feel it died somehow. But I loved the design and the concept. Unfortunately it sucks in battle and is nearly unusable. I had to box it in my Sun playthrough. Sad but true. Lycanroc is what I consider the first true wolf pokémon, and since wolves are my favorite animal, it became an instant favorite of mine. Sadly the midnight form left much to be desired (I was so hyped for a werewolf pokémon) but still, I adore the midday and dusk forms.
Mimikyu is well, Mimikyu. 3rd most popular pokémon. Ribombee became one of my favorites because it was sooo good in my Sun playthrough. Definitely one of my favorites. Wishiwashi is cute and I love how it changes forms.

Least favorites
stakataka.png guzzlord.png kartana.png xurkitree.png pheromosa.png
See a common theme here? Yeah, I'm not fond of the UBs. I was excited when they were revealed, but my interest became dissatisfaction once I learned they were catchable and busted, competitively speaking, I mean. I don't really like any of them, except maybe for the Poipole line.
 
Last edited:
The cutest
cutiefly.png marshadow.png rockruff.png popplio.png litten.png
I don't know why, but I feel like Gen 7 doesn't have many cute pokémon. I guess there are others I could call cute like Togedemaru but meh. I like all of these. Cutiefly has cute in its name heh. Rockruff is an adorable rock puppy. Popplio an adorable water puppy. I was very attached to it like I was with Oshawott before due to all the scorn it got but... I hate its evolutions. Such a disappointment. The same with Litten, I adore Litten but the further it evolves, the more I hate it.

The coolest
solgaleo.png salazzle.png mudsdale.png vikavolt.png necrozma.png
Solgaleo was the first box legendary since Zekrom that made me feel like... wow, I need to get that version! Salazzle, Mudsdale and Vikavolt are all great and I love that they are very reliable in a playthrough. Necrozma is a beast, I like all its alternate forms, the fusions and especially ultra Necrozma. Really, really great pokemon.
 
Last edited:
The prettiest
lurantis.png tsareena.png comfey.png magearna.png bruxish.png
I feel like these are less pretty than pokémon in other gens but I had to put something here. Lurantis and Comfey are your "generic" flower pokémon but their designs don't really appeal to me. Bruxish has pretty colors.... yeah. Tsareena is one of those "waifu" pokémon that are very popular in the fandom. TBH they don't appeal to me either but eh.

The spookiest
mimikyu.png guzzlord.png golisopod.png toxapex.png necrozma.png
Normally I wouldn't put Mimikyu and Necrozma here since I had already put them in another category but since Gen 7 is smaller, I didn't have many options. Plus Mimikyu's supposed to be really horrifying. Necrozma is a violent beast and I love it. First time in Pokémon I was legit scared during the cutscene where it absorbs Nebby (it feels so... horrifying. Plus the pokedex entries just make it worse). Golisopod and Toxapex are also dangerous and scary predators. Poor Corsola.
 
Last edited:
Most unique
type-null.png tapu-koko.png oricorio-baile.png dhelmise.png naganadel.png
Type:Null (and Silvally) HAD to be here, obviously. A quimera pokémon was both unexpected and welcomed. Nice lore behind it too. The Tapus (I put Koko as a representation but I mean all four) are also very unique, considering the Hawaiian mythology behind them. Oricorio is more or less the same, a representation of the four islands of Alola. Plus their types fit (except Fini, y u not ghost type Fini?!) sadly it could've used more diferenciation between the forms. Dhelmise is such a weird pokémon, I love it. Especially the bit about the seaweed, not the anchor, being the pokémon. Naganadel is the only UB I sort of like. I like that it ties a bunch of concepts together.

Most forgettable
togedemaru.png morelull.png crabrawler.png yungoos.png meltan.png
I don't have much to say about any of these, they're ok. I don't like that Meltan was made availalble only through Pokémon Go though. I refuse to play it so I could never get my hands on one of these. Sigh
 
Finally, the last Generation (as of now) Gen 8. I actually hadn't realized how indifferent I am to this batch of pokémon until I made the lists. I really don't like many of them. They're mostly meh designs. I even had trouble picking my favorites! But let's go on with it, I really want to end this review

Favorites
grimmsnarl.png zacian-crowned.png zamazenta-crowned.png corviknight.png polteageist.png
I wanted a Dark/Fairy pokémon since the type was introduced in Gen 6. That is because most fairies back then (and even now) are pink and cutesy. And in mythology, Fairies come in many shapes and forms, some of them very scary. So I wanted a Fairy type to represent that idea. And after three generations they finally made it and I couldn't be happier. The wolves are good designs but I prefer the Hero of Many Battles forms since they are more organic. I'm not super enthusiastic about the sword and shield forms. Corviknight is awesome and Sinistea and Poltegeist are very original. And I love tea so they get to be in the list.

Least Favorites
greedent.png obstagoon.png inteleon.png cinderace.png rillaboom.png
Wow, I never thought I'd see all three starters here. This was the first gen where I didn't know what starter to pick... because I hate them all. The fist stages are ok, but the final evolutions are horrible... they seem like dudes in fur suits. Pass. Greedent is an ugly creature of evil and I hate it so much. Obstagoon is soo ugly. And again, it looks like a man in a fur suit.
I hate antropomorphic designs.
 
Last edited:
The cutest
scorbunny.png sobble.png yamper.png cufant.png snom.png
Alright, this gen doesn't have many cute designs, except for Snom, but I guess the starters' base forms are cute enough. Yamper and Cufant are ok I don't find them that cute but I needed to put something here.

The coolest
toxtricity-low-key.png sandaconda.png dragapult.png boltund.png duraludon.png
Toxtricity is cool but I'd prefer if it wasn't bipedal. Again, it looks like a dude in a costume and I typically don't like those designs. But the typing and colors make up for it. Sandaconda I find absolutely great. I wonder how its anatomy works though. Boltund is cool like other dog pokémon. Duralodon and Dragapult are some of the best dragons.
 
Least Favorites
greedent.pngobstagoon.pnginteleon.pngcinderace.pngrillaboom.png
Wow, I never thought I'd see all three starters here. This was the first gen where I didn't know what starter to pick... because I hate them all. The fist stages are ok, but the final evolutions are horrible... they seem dudes in fur suits. Pass. Greedent is an ugly creature of evil and I hate it so much. Obstagoon is soo ugly. And again, it looks like a man in a fur suit.
I hate antropomorphic designs.
I have to agree with you there. I ended up not going with a starter when I saw the final evolutions because I so strongly disliked Inteleon (all three really, but I didn't want to switch starters). Maybe it's just me, but I feel this generation has a lot more anthropomorphic designs than usual. Even Toxtricity, which I like, seems to border on the line between "okay" and "too humanoid for my tastes."
Sandaconda I find absolutely great.
Interesting to see Sandaconda listed here. I really liked it--it was on my first Sword team--but I feel that most people are either neutral on it or think it is too cartoony and/or silly.
 
The prettiest
eldegoss.png hatterene.png frosmoth.png alcremie.png gossifleur.png
Well this was the easiest list. Lots of pretty designs this gen. I wanted an Ice/Bug for so long, and I was expecting an Ice type Volcarona but we got Frosmoth instead. Too bad it's awful in battle. Alcreamie is alright, I like that its customizable. Gossifleur and Eldegoss are pretty though not as pretty as other flower pokémon. Hatterene is another of those "waifu" mons that IDK why they exist but at least it's pretty

The spookiest
barraskewda.png centiskorch.png cursola.png runerigus.png eternatus.png
We didn't have many spooky designs but the ones we got are so good. Barraskewda and Centiskorch are based on animals that scare me so I put them here. Corsola and Cursola are the best new Ghost types and their lore is so creative and spooky. Runerigus is also a good pokemon with scary implications, but I would've preferred if it was Rock/Ghost since that combination is still unused. Eternatus is the epitome of scary, a huge skeleton pokemon that caused something called "Darkest Day". Wild
 
Most unique
dracovish.png arctozolt.png stonjourner.png falinks.png orbeetle.png
The fossils (all four, I just put two here since I wanted to talk about other pokémon) might be a disappointment (especially if you're a dinosaur fan like me) but they're very creative. kudos to the designers for originality. Stonjourner is something I wouldn't even have thought about, never. Not even in my wildest dreams. I also like it's based on Stonehenge. Falinks surprised me, because I thought it was a generic Bug-type but suprise! It's a mini legion of warriors. Nice. Orbeetle is a Bug/UFO and Bug/Psychic is an interesting combo.

Most forgettable
thievul.png skwovet.png pincurchin.png chewtle.png rolycoly.png
I had high hopes for Nickit's evolution but Thievul ends up being a generic fox with a generic villain moustache. Pass. The squirrel bores me to death (I don't even know its name). We also have... electric Pyukumuku. Sorry, I don't even care about these pokémon, I don't even remember their names. Chewtle is ugly and not very appealing. Rolycoly is... coal. Points for keeping consistency with the region though (unlike say, having Pandas in France or koalas in Hawaii)
 
Last edited:
I have to agree with you there. I ended up not going with a starter when I saw the final evolutions because I so strongly disliked Inteleon (all three really, but I didn't want to switch starters). Maybe it's just me, but I feel this generation has a lot more anthropomorphic designs than usual. Even Toxtricity, which I like, seems to border on the line between "okay" and "too humanoid for my tastes."
I've noticed that since gen 6 the starters' designs are more and more antropomorphic each generation. Not just the starters though, there's also a bunch of other pokémon that really don't have any reason to be bipedal and/or human-like. Back in gens 1-4 it was rare to see humanshape pokémon but now... Honestly I don't like them all that much but only a few really irk me (like the starters)
 
Last edited:
I liked reading through your opinions, wasn't expecting you to bring three regions at once.

I don't think the "furry trend" affected Rillaboom and Cinderace much, since designs like that were to be expected for a rabbit and a gorilla, but boy it did hurt Inteleon, its human proportions made the design much less appealing. I hope GF stops doing it.

Sandaconda works like this: The white part is a snake, and the brown part is a donut-shaped tube thing it has on the neck. Something like this

o|-------
 
I liked reading through your opinions, wasn't expecting you to bring three regions at once.

I don't think the "furry trend" affected Rillaboom and Cinderace much, since designs like that were to be expected for a rabbit and a gorilla, but boy it did hurt Inteleon, its human proportions made the design much less appealing. I hope GF stops doing it.

Sandaconda works like this: The white part is a snake, and the brown part is a donut-shaped tube thing it has on the neck. Something like this

o|-------
I think Rillaboom is okay since real-life gorillas are well... human-like, being primates and all. But for me, the drum-beating schtick is just a no-no. It makes it too human for my taste. What bothers me about Cinderace and Raboot is the clothing. We've had other clothed pokémon before, going as back far as Gen 1 with Machop line and Jynx, but Cinderace feels more human than rabbit because of the "clothes". Inteleon is just an abomination and the design would have been better if it was more animalistic.

Also, I used to think Sandaconda was choking itself. Haha I guess I like it a bit more now.
 
National Pokedex... Part 1 Going back to the past
Soooo today I want to share my thoughts on something that I've been doing for the last couple years. So as I've said before I wasn't too keen on Gen 7 games. USUM were ok but I was salty that they even existed since I didn't want glorified third versions again and I hate SuMo more than anything. So, in 2018, since I didn't like Gen 7 and I wasn't interested in Let's go games... I decided to replay my older games, namely HeartGold because I love Gen 4 and HGSS are my favorites.

I had never ever replayed an older game before because I usually complete a living dex in every generation and discarding all of my hard work didn't feel like worth it. But years ago I had transferred everything in my HG game to gen 5, it was empty so I decided to start a new game. I played the game normally, defeated the Elite Four and Champion, beat Red and then decided to complete the pokedex. That was my first problem. The version exclusives.

I had other gen 4 games but I was missing many of the pokémon I needed, such as Teddiursa, Vulpix, Delibird... So I thought, no big deal, I have some gen 3 games, I still have my old DS I can just transfer from those... but I didn't have any pokémon in those games either because I had transferred them to gen 4 years ago. Then, there were those pokémon that you could only get one of. I could only get one Johto starter and one Kanto starter after beating Red. So I was missing 4 lines of starters. So what could I do? I only had one HGSS and one Pearl, I didn't have any of the others so I had to restart my FireRed game to get the other two Kanto starters and the fossils. Needless to say, this took me a few days.

But I was still missing a bunch of Johto pokémon that are not in Gen 3 (only in Emerald and I don't have that game). Seeing as I wasn't going to be able to do this with just the games I had (FireRed, Leafgreen, Ruby, Sapphire, HG and Pearl), then I thought the logical thing would be to buy another Gen 4 game.
So I went online and decided to buy a SoulSilver copy... which wasn't easy, nor cheap. I was trying to buy a 10 year old game, I get it, but they are very rare, and as expensive as a brand-new UltraSun or UltraMoon copy! wHat?! But seeing that I was determined to do this and I'm no quitter, I tried to remember how on Earth did I complete a full living-National dex back then. So I remembered I got a bunch of missing pokémon from gen 3, including the Johto starters and many of the pokémon I was missing from Colosseum and XD.

So I spent the next couple of months replaying those games. I still had an old Wii that barely worked, and I had a link cable to transfer those pokémon to a Gen 3 game, and then to Gen 4. But trust me, those Gamecube games are NOT fun. Especially Colosseum. They're slow and frustrating and take ages to complete, the level curve is really steep in Colosseum and the mechanics made me rage more than once. But I had to do this, I wasn't going to quit, oh no. I have to absolutely finish everything I start or it makes me crazy, because you know, OCD.

So after like IDK two or three months I finally and painstakingly finished both Colosseum and XD. And after transferring everything I finally had done it! I had completed the regional Pokédex in HeartGold! All 256 JOhto pokémon were mine! But then... things got complicated...
 
Last edited:
National Pokédex Part 2 Or... why would you do this, are you crazy?

Previously...
After replaying HeartGold I remembered there is no way to complete the pokédex without trading. There are a lot of pokémon in those games, but I was still missing many Johto exclusives (including the starters), and a bunch of Kanto exclusives (mainly the starters and fossils) so I also had to replay FireRed, Colosseum and XD to get those missing pokémon I needed to complete the Johto Pokédex.

It took me months (I think maybe four or five months total) but I did it, I completed it. So the next logical step would be to complete the Gen 4 National Dex, right? Well yeah, but then I realized it was going to be even more f****** dififcult than I had initially thought. Because like I said, there are a lot of pokémon in those games, including a bunch of Hoenn and Sinnoh pokémon. But I had a few problems.

First, once again, the version exlusives. There were a lot, and I mean A LOT of Hoenn and Sinnoh version exlusives. Things like Mawile and Sableye, Claydol and Gulpin, and Latios/Latias and Groudon/Kyogre. So I thought... what can I do? After spending months replaying older games trying to complete the Johto dex, I was in NO mood to replay Ruby and Sapphire as well, because one) I don't really like those games and two) going back to older games makes you appreciate the exp share for all and getting exp from catching pokémon, and leveling up with Audinos and Chanseys and exp candy, and all the QoL improvements we've gained over the years. Playing those games takes time and effort. And I was so tired after Colosseum and XD, that I really didn't want to do it. So I thought, it was either spending even more time replaying those two games or playing Emerald so I could grab those two missing Hoenn starters and all the legendaries.

So I went online and used my good ol' pal Google to try to find a used copy of Emerald. Needless to say my search was unsuccesful because trying to find a 14 year old game was nearly impossible! and things like e-bay and stuff had a bunch of dubious copies which might have been bootlegs that can't be used to transfer pokémon. And I wasn't going to take that risk. So I begrudgingly decided to use some of my savings and buy that super-expensive Soulsilver copy that I didn't want to buy because it was as expensive as a new 3DS game. But I was committed to this to the bitter end and I had already spent so much time on this that I thought "well, why not?". In the end, it was worth it because the previous owner of the game had a gameshark or powersaves or whatever you use to hack the games, and the copy I bought had 900 of each item, so everything turned out alright in the end. I caught all the pokémon I needed from SS and then proceeded to get the remaining Hoenn/Sinnoh pokémon I needed. But then I ran into my next problem....

The abomination that is the Johto safari zone. As you know, a lot of Hoenn/Sinnoh pokémon in the Johto Safari Zone use those dreaded objects to appear. Many, or most of them, need more objects than you can place on the zone, but they upgrade over time. So I had two options. Waiting for days and days for the objects on the safari zone to upgrade, or check every game, every day to grab them from swarms. I had three gen 4 games at the time so I thought maybe it would be easier to just wait for them to appear in swarms. But there are some pokémon like Riolu that were giving me trouble. RIolu can only be found in Sinnoh from the egg on iron island, or the Johto safari zone. So after days of waiting and not having any luck with the swarms I had to bite the bullet and use the safari zone. I had to wait many, many days for those rare pokémon to appear, and as you probably know, in those dreaded safari zones you don't catch the pokémon normally. SO having the pokémon escape and having to look for it again, only for it to escape again really tested the limits of my patience. But finally, I managed to get all the pokémon I needed.

So was I done? OH no. I wasn't done yet!!! I still needed a bunch of Sinnoh pokémon that weren't in the safari zone, nor the swarms, nor the headbutt trees, nor the radio. And while I didn't have the pokewalker, I was able to caught some of them in my Pearl version, but I had the same problem as before. I was still missing all the Sinnoh starters, the fossils, ALL of the legendaries (and there are so many of them in Sinnoh!) and Spiritomb of all things, and even if I restarted my Pearl version, I wouldn't be able to get all of them.

I needed a Diamond or Platinum game or I wouldn't be able to complete the NatDex. After, IDK maybe 7 or 8 months of replaying so many games at that point and having bought a game just to complete this goal, I realized I couldn't make it without a Diamond or Platinum copy. So, heartbroken and desperate, I decided to give up. That until, 3 or 4 months later, I found a used Platinum copy at a store. It was cheaper than the Soulsilver copy I had purchased previously and it was the only one I had found in months! It felt like a divine sign, I'm not going to lie. Like fate was giving me a second chance.

Fortunately I had some spare money so I bought it without thinking twice. And I can say I didn't regret that decision at all! Platinum is such a good game, it is miles better than Diamond and Pearl and with it I could finally get all the pokémon I needed. I don't think I have to say that completing the National Dex in Gen 4 took me almost a year of constant playing a lot of pokémon games.

In total I had to restart and play through FireRed, Ruby (for the Hoenn starters but also the Regis, since there is NO way to get them in Gen 4 without transferring or events) Colosseum, XD, HeartGold and Platinum, and having to also play Sapphire, SoulSilver and Pearl to get all the missing pokémon.
But I finally had completed the living dex in Gen 4, once again!!!!

Now if you've read through all this, you must think I am really tenacious and determined, or really crazy, depending on your perspective. But I had this immense feeling of satisfaction of seeing the diploma, since I spent so much time (and money) on this. But it really made me think how hard GF and Nintendo make things for us pokémon players to catch them all and that GTS and transferring through generations are a god-send. Back in the day when those games were released I did not go through all this pain to complete the NatDex. Yes, it was tedious to transfer pokémon from Gen 3 to 4, but it took me a week at most and I only caught the remaining Sinnoh pokémon and used the GTs for the rest and done!
Seriously, do not try this unless you already have a bunch of older games and consoles, otherwise you will have to spend a lot of money to do this. Completing the NatDex in older generations is nowadays, almost impossible if you don't have them.

And it also reminded me to never, ever restart older games since my OCD will make me want to complete the NatDex again and I don't want to ever again have to go through this madness again.... or do I?
 
Last edited:
National Pokédex part 3 Or... The Impossible Quest to Catch'em All

Previously...
After almost a year playing through a lot of older games and spending money to buy other games I needed in order to complete the NatDex, I finally managed to do it and catch all the 493 pokémon that existed in Gen 4 (I got all the mythicals through a glitch that allows you to get them in the present if you mess with the internet connection settings on a 3DS. Google it)

It was around Sept/Oct 2019 that I was bored and decided to replay my White version because SwSh weren't out yet and because my Gen 5 game had nothing in it since I had transferred all the pokémon to gen 6 years ago and I wasn't going to lose anything if I did restart it. So I played through the game normally, beat Team Plasma's N and Ghetsis and then decided to complete the Gen 5 Pokédex. Sounds familiar? Well, let me tell you, it is NOTHING like Gen 4 at all!!!

As you, my dear readers probably know, Gen 5 was a soft-reboot for the Pokémon franchise. It features the Unova region which has only brand-new Gen 5 pokémon in the games up until post-game and unlike Gen 4, lacks many of the methods Gen 4 had to find pokémon not native to the region. I mean, in Gen 4 we had... pokéradar, swarms, double-slot method, pal park transfer, Johto Safari zone, the radio, the headbutt trees, pokéwalker... If you wanted, you could complete Gen 4 NatDex with only gen 4 games and the only pokémon that need to be transferred from RSE are the Regis. But if you read everything I had to go through to do it, you will realize it is NOT an easy thing to do. At all. Especially nowadays, since GTS and online trading are gone.

So without transferring from Gen 4, Gen 5 lacks a lot of the 649 pokémon that can be in the game. It has all 156 unova mons (except mythicals, of course but you can still get those with the glitch I mentioned earlier) and in Black/White you can catch some of the older pokémon in the post game areas, while B2W2 added into its new dex a lot of those and a few species that weren't in BW to begin with. But there's still a lot of them missing . So how do you get them? well, I'm glad you ask. You see, back in 2010/2011 when these games were released, there was a website called the Pokémon Dream World. And it was magic. You logged onto it using a pokémon from your game, visited a place called dream island where you could play mini-games and get pokémon and items if you won. The Dream World had a lot of the missing pokémon and it was a fun and nice thing we had before GF became total trash. Sadly it was closed in 2013 and there is no way to access it.

The thing is, if you want to complete the National Dex in Gen 5 you HAVE to transfer from Gen 4, using a god awful minigame where you catch the pokémon with a bow and arrow. Seriously, look it up on YouTube. It is tedious and time consuming, as many of the methods to catch them all are, as I've learned. But that minigame sucks! Anyway, as I knew I had to transfer things since Dream World is no longer an option, I tried to look for a list of pokémon not in Gen 5. Spoiler alert, there isn't one, Serebii has a list of unobtainable pokémon in BWB2W2 but as I realized later, the list is not precisely accurate. So I compiled my own list to see what would need to be transferred from Gen 4 in case I wanted to torture myself again to complete the NatDex in Gen 5 and... well, there's a lot of them. Including, as usual, all the starters and legendaries, which after fours gens, are a lot.

For Gen 5, I have decided NOT to complete the National Pokedex. It's too much of a hassle and I just can't deal with it. Transferring is very tedious in Gen 5 and I hate the mini game. and there are a lot of species that need to be transferred.
For Gen 6 I know for a fact you can get all 721 pokémon (well, minus the mythicals) from XY and ORAS but I do have my living dex in all four games (thanks pokebank! You made my life so much easier!) and in Gen 7 and 8 the NatDex is gone, and you can only do it in Bank/Home so there's not much effort involved since I have pretty much every single pokémon in Bank.

While completing the NatDex is a personal satisfaction, I can't say I'm angry that GF got rid of it. It was doable the first few gens but the thought of having to catch almost 900 pokémon is unbearable. I am angry that a lot of pokémon got cut in Dexit but I am not angry the NatDex is gone now. It was becoming unsustainable and eventually it had to be dealt with. While I liked replaying so many older games and it brought back some nostalgia, it is not something I wish to do anymore so good riddance NatDex! You won't be missed at all.
 
Last edited:
Congratulations for not giving up on your dreams! In case you or someone wants do it again, my recommendations would be:

1. Go on social media and try to make friends who own the games you need, that way you can trade locally and you avoid spending on buying another game.
2. Use the DS exploit to get access to Wi-fi. I don't know what do you have to do but I know it's possible.

I have always been torn on completing the dexes on older gens (specially VI), if reverse transferring was allowed it would be much easier.
 
Congratulations for not giving up on your dreams! In case you or someone wants do it again, my recommendations would be:

1. Go on social media and try to make friends who own the games you need, that way you can trade locally and you avoid spending on buying another game.
2. Use the DS exploit to get access to Wi-fi. I don't know what do you have to do but I know it's possible.

I have always been torn on completing the dexes on older gens (specially VI), if reverse transferring was allowed it would be much easier.
Thanks! I know you can get wifi services in Gen 4 and 5 but I really don't know how to do it. But I don't regret what I did since I could get older games that are super hard to find now. My collection is now almost complete (I only need Emerald, Diamond and Black to have every single main series game)
Also completing the dex in Gen 6 is so much easier because of the QoL improvements and that you don't need any transferring at all
 
Thanks! I know you can get wifi services in Gen 4 and 5 but I really don't know how to do it. But I don't regret what I did since I could get older games that are super hard to find now. My collection is now almost complete (I only need Emerald, Diamond and Black to have every single main series game)
Also completing the dex in Gen 6 is so much easier because of the QoL improvements and that you don't need any transferring at all
I don't own any game from that generation where I can obtain Ho-Oh, Reshiram, Kyurem, Giratina and Landorus. Also, filling all the blanks would take some time and I prefer to focus on Shield for now. Maybe some day...
 
The Slow Descent into (shiny) madness

Hello my beautiful readers. Today I will tell you about my (insane) quest to catch all the shiny legendaries (at least those available)
It all started back in 2017 when I got Ultra Sun and completed the national dex and got a shiny charm. Now at the time I had a blog (I still do, it's linked in my signature) about my shiny hunting adventures because apparently I'm a masochist with a lot of free time.

Back then I would only shiny hunt using the "easier" methods (hordes, safari, dex nav and chain fishing in Gen 6; SOS battles in Gen 7) and occasionally masuda method for competitive shinies (I stopped doing that altogether because my mental health started suffering).
And I started a collection of shiny pokemon. I had dozens of them but never a legendary because my only experience with soft-resetting for shinies was the time I tried to go for a shiny Cyndaquil in HG and I just couldn't do it because it's tedious, boring and time consuming. In order to SR for shinies you better do it while doing something else like watching a tv show or movie, but something that does not demand so much attention that you miss the shiny.

Anyway, after getting the shiny charm I was playing in the ultra wormhole. I was trying to find a regular Giratina, but instead decided to give it another try and SR for a shiny Giratina. I was pretty lucky because it appeared after a few minutes and less than maybe 50 SRs and caught it. It felt good. And it made me want to go for other legendaries.

At first everything went smoothly. Or kind of. I got Regirock also in a couple hours and less than 300 SRs; Regice took like 12 hours and Registeel like 8 or 9 hours. By this time I already had other shiny legendaries, mostly from events like the Legendary beasts, the creation trio, Xerneas and Yveltal etc. so I didn't have to hunt for those. However, after a few months I started to grow tired from all the soft resetting. For example Ho-Oh took 5 days of soft resetting almost non-stop, and the lake trio took around a week and a half each. By the time I had got all the legendaries that could be found in US, I didn't have the energy to shiny hunt in UM anymore.

Then there was the problem of the gen 7 legends and Zygarde, which were shiny locked and I couldn't get the events for them (the only ones I got were Silvally and Tapu Koko) so I had to look online for the codes or the pokemon themselves and was able to get Solgaleo, Lunala and Necrozma, but I couldn't get Zygarde (I'm still looking for that one). I decided to stop trying to get all the shinies and gave myself a break... which lasted almost 2 years :p

By early 2020 with the pandemic and lockdown I had nothing to do so I decided to get those few shiny legendaries I was still missing from UM. It took a few months and there were some stinkers like Zekrom which I'm pretty sure I missed at some point since it took an unordinary amount of time, almost a whole month. But I was able to do it and finally had the complete set of shiny legends, from gen 1-7 except Zygarde and the Tapus.

In Gen 8, I honestly hadn't bothered to shiny hunt at all in SwSH since there's no good method like in gens 6/7. There's the dens but I HATE max raid battles so I refuse to do those. And obviously all the gen 8 legends are shiny locked so I could only shiny hunt the new Regis. I got Regidrago in a couple hours and less than 200 encounters, but Regieleki took 5 days and more than 3000 SRs. I had forgotten how draining shiny hunting could be so I'm sort of glad there's only those two.

As of today my shiny legendary collection is almost complete and living happily in SwSh. I know I *could* shiny hunt for Zygarde and the Tapus in Dynamax Adventures but I really hate them. I did a few and it got on my nerves so I won't do it. These days I'm trying to find them online on forums, reddit, GTS etc. And I don't worry about the SwSh legendaries since I can't hunt those until gen 9 probably or hopefully they'll do some shiny events for them too.

So the lesson for today is, unless you have infinite patience and luck, don't shiny hunt. See you!
 
Last edited:
Please note: The thread is from 3 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom