my japanese pokemon challenge!

I'm going to play every core series pokemon game in japanese. I will complete the entire game (beating the champion), catch every pokemon that is catchable within the game to me, and fill the national dex through trading game exclusives from the other version (but I don't need to complete that version). Once I've filled it, I'll transfer those pokemon into Pokemon Home. My aim is to create a living dex by filling Pokemon Home with every single pokemon, and learn Japanese along the way!

I'm planning to do this run as legally as possible by playing only official releases and emulations, and running it on the original hardware. I probably won't be acquiring these games through legal means (have you seen the prices of physical pokemon games these days???) but once the game is booted up it'll be exactly as if I bought it. My only problem is the piracy of GBA games, since at least one of them will need to communicate with Pokemon Channel on the GC to acquire Jirachi and that needs the IR capabilities of GBA carts. Also, to eventually transfer these pokemon to Pokemon Home I'll need to do that fancy dual booting thing with my DS Lite, and I don't know if that'll be possible with a flash cart copy.

Fake edit: oh! A quick search for GBA Sapphire on yahoo auctions shows that unboxed carts are going for about $4 in japan! Guess it might be less hassle to buy genuine carts for gen iii.

>Here's the how I'll play them:

Pokemon Green: 3DS Virtual Console
(trade with) Pokemon Red

Pokemon Silver: 3DS Virtual Console
(trade with) Pokemon Gold

Pokemon Crystal: 3DS Virtual Console
(trade with) Pokemon Gold and Silver

These three games can communicate directly with Pokemon Home thanks to them being on the 3DS. I will not be attempting to get Mew or whatever in these, since most early mythical pokemon can be acquired through side games.

The games from this point onwards can't communicate with Pokemon Home directly, so I'll have to transfer the up through the generations manually (which definitely won't be painful lol)

Pokemon Sapphire: Cart
(trade with) Pokemon Ruby

Pokemon Emerald: Cart
(trade with) Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire

Pokemon Diamond: Flash Cart
(trade with) Pokemon Pearl

Pokemon Platinum: Flash Cart
(trade with) Pokemon Diamond and Pearl

(skipping HGSS because afaik there's no pokemon there that I can't get elsewhere)

Pokemon White: Flash Cart
(trade with) Pokemon Black

BW2's only exclusive is Black/White Kyurem, and they can't be transferred to Pokemon Home, so I'm going to skip these games. Will play them one day though!

Pokemon X: Digital copy on my 3DS
(trade with) Pokemon Y

Pokemon Moon: Genuine copy(?? if i can afford it)
(trade with) Pokemon Sun, ORAS for Deoxys

I don't actually know whether the ultra versions contain new pokes in the eyes of Pokemon Home, so I'll look into it when I get to this point. Same with Let's Go Eevee/Pikachu.

Pokemon Sword: Genuine copy
(trade with) Pokemon Shield? (I don't own more than one Switch... maybe I'll rely on trades for this gen)

Pokemon Arceus Legends: Genuine copy

And I think that's it for main series games?

>Now, it's time for more rules!

How I'll legally get legendaries:

Gen i
Legendary Birds and Mewtwo can all be caught legally in Pokemon Green.

Gen ii
Will catch Lugia in Silver, then transfer over Ho-oh later. The Legendary Dogs can all be caught legally in one game.

Gen iii
Regice Regirock and Registeel can all be caught in a single game. Latias and Latios roam in separate games. The title legendaries will be caught and transferred as usual.

Gen iv
Lake Spirits can all be caught in a single game. Regigigas can be encountered if I have Regice, Regirock or Registeel in my party. Cressalia and Heatran can be obtained through normal gameplay. Title legendaries will be caught and transferred as usual.

Gen v
Cobalion, Terrakion, Virizion and Kyurem can be obtained through normal gameplay. Tornadus and Thunderus roam separate games. Landorus requires both Tornadus and Thunderus in my party to appear. Title legendaries will be caught and transferred as usual.

Gen vi
Zygarde can be caught through normal gameplay. Title legendaries will be caught and transferred as usual.

Gen vii
Type: Null, Silvally, Necrozma, the Guardian Deities and Cosmog can all be obtained in a single game. Cosmog can then evolve into Cosmoem, and then whatever the title legendary is for that game. To get the entire line for the living pokedex, I'll have to restart the game twice.

Gen viii
Woof, this gen is complicated as hell! The title legendaries have different formes when holding an item, but I'll be happy just having the one forme physically in my Pokemon Home. Kubfu has two branching evolutions, so I'll choose a different one for each game, and then reset to get the base pokemon.

Now! These pokemon can only be caught if you pay for the expansion pass, which sounds awful as a business move. Regidrago and Regieleki and new regis, but you can only choose one for each expansion. I'm hoping I can just trade it out, then reset and get the other one. Spectrier and Glastrier can both be caught in the same game I thiiiiink, along with Calyrex. Enamorus can be found in Legends Arceus.

How I'll legally get mythicals:

There are legal ways to get some limited distribution legendaries, mainly from spin off games. Rules are rules, so I'll be playing these games in japanese too.

Mew: My Pokemon Ranch
Celebi: Pokemon Crystal 3DS VC
Jirachi: Pokemon Channel
Deoxys: ORAS
Manaphy: Ranger Shadows
Darkrai: Ranger Shadows
Shaymin: Legends Arceus
Arceus: Legends Arceus
Victini: none currently but look out for events
Keldeo: normal gameplay
Melodetta: none currently but I own it on Pokego
Gensect: swsh event until December!
Diance: none currently
Hoopa: none currently
Volcanion: none currently
Magearna: I think you can scan a QR code???
Marshadow: none currently
Zeraora: none currently
Meltan: you can get it and its evo in pokego apparently!

How it'll help me learn japanese:

These games are made for children, and so the dialogue is quite basic. One big bonus for me is that pokemon games didn't start using kanji (complicated chinese characters) until Black and White! So if I focus and revise alongside this, my japanese comprehension should improve as I move through the games. I actually learnt a lot of my english reading skills from playing Diamond as a kid, so I know that it can work.

Another stupid addition to the challenge is that I'll watch the corresponding anime series alongside each game I play (including films) in japanese. I've actually not seen much of the pokemon anime outside DP, so this is a way for me to kill two pidgey with one stone and hone my listening comprehension too.

Okay, I think that's it?! I'll be posting about this challenge here on this blog, so stay tuned etc.