#then do one massive migration of pokemon to bring forward to the switch and eventually have a complete living dex with my trainers names

[smashwolfen]

hello i am so in awe that you have collected all the pokémon games (i finished my collection of 3ds ones a bit ago but i considered a lot of the other ones out of reach) and i was wondering how long it took? i know especially the older remakes are insane to get so i’m super curious

(This got incredibly long i'm so sorry for the wall of text my guy)

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Hello there! :D

Believe me, I still can't believe it myself that I managed to pull it off considering who I had to get ahold of! Been happy dancing to myself ever since I got the last game~

God it feels like it was longer ago honestly, but I only really began trying to finish the Pokemon collection just a year ago! Had to check back in my DMs with my buddy, but the day I began to seriously search for the rest of the authentic generations was May 5th 2023, the day I discovered my copy of Platinum was a repoduction, ya watch ONE video regarding reals vs. fakes and it all went down from there when I looked over the ones I owned already, luckily Platinum was the only one who was fake ;w;

I had passively over the years been picking up games as I went, but from that day last year til recently I looked where I could for the games I was missing, to be fair I had about half the collection to begin with just from growing up and finding ones out and about, I only needed to find the pair of whatever I owned already, besides gen 5.... since I somehow never played gen 5 growing up. Funny enough I didn't have to look too far, every single game I found had all been local! Facebook marketplace saved me big time I just had to wait and compare prices til I was happy with what I was willing to pay for! I scrutinized every single copy I got my hands on and triple checked everything before I was satisfied XD

The 3DS titles were very easy to get thankfully, and the same goes for you too good on ya for getting your 3DS ones! Hardest for sure were gens 3-5, specifically ALL of gen 5 they are the WORST to get since no one wants to sell them and they're required to be able to move anyone forward to the 3DS and then to the Switch! I think It'd be easier to list who I owned and who I hunted for in the year of the search.

So I owned:

Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal, Leafgreen, Emerald, Diamond, Pearl, X, Alpha Sapphire, Moon, UltraSun, Sword, Violet and Arceus (some I had gotten as gifts growing up and others I had gotten through yardsaling and thrifting by chance as I grew up, Emerald was 70 at a yardsale!)

The ones I got from the year of the hunt:

Ruby, Sapphire, FireRed, Platinum, Heartgold, SoulSilver, Black, White, Black 2, White 2, Y, Omega Ruby, Sun, UltraMoon, Shield, Lets Go Pikachu, Lets Go Eevee (I DID own Eevee before but traded it in before the hunt) Scarlet, Brilliant Diamond, and Shining Pearl.

Now knowing who I had to get, we all know it costs a pretty penny, so I essentially sold things myself to fund the hunt, like my amiibos I didn't really need or want, a handful of random collectable things I picked up and kept over the years (notably a masterchief helmet from the legendary collection I got for free like 10 years ago lol) and some odds and ends I didn't need anymore and to declutter the home! I think out of my own pocket I only paid maybe 40 bucks total so I paid for everyone that way! It was all mostly luck finding everyone and keeping an eye on marketplace, and some of them I had gotten from folks I knew! Black and Black 2 actually came from one of my managers at work who sold them to me for insanely cheap, and Sapphire I got for free as I mentioned in the games post XD

If you do try to go for the complete collection, I say have a gameplan for how to pay and build that piggybank of funds, go for what you can afford! So if you see a game without a case thats usually better, you dont NEED a case or have a game CIB really, a bunch of mine dont have a case or box and I'm alright with that! Look locally at second hand stores, vintage ones, marketplace or any other local yardsale or fleamarket type thing you may have in your area, and I say this with caution, but if you HAVE to, you can consider ebay, but I strongly suggest not to when it comes to the games. I had originally tried to get a Brilliant Diamond copy from there and well, dude never sent it at all and got my money (ebay fully refunded me but that still bites). And finally get well versed in learning how to authenticate to the best of your abilities, 3DS and switch I don't think can be faked but everything else can be! I used this as my guide to figure out who was real and fake in my search and it worked very very well! Twas my bible of knowledge

End of the day it didn't take as long as one would think, but luck played a HUGE roll in this endeavor, I was smart with my money, and I was very very VERY stubborn and wanted them all XD

If you go for the complete collection like I did then I wish you the best of luck my friend! And thank you very much for the ask! It kinda got away from me while typing but yeah thats the story and process of how I got all the main series titles!