Introduction
I'm one of the people who disliked Sword and Shield right from the off. There's no need to go into precisely why; those arguments have been thrashed out to death on here and every other forum on the web. Suffice to say that while I'm a player who has bought every Nintendo handheld mostly for Pokemon since 2001, the prospect of buying a Switch to play a game I didn't think looked that good was not one I was keen on.
I may change my mind in future and buy one of the games, especially since I liked the look of both DLCs. I've played through about half of Sword on a friend's console and it's not a terrible game - it's a mainline Pokemon title after all. However, right now it's not looking likely. Maybe if Gen IX fixes all the issues I have with the series currently, I'll dive back in. But enough about that.
The challenge
What I am, however, is a fairly avid Pokemon Go player. Though I downloaded the free mobile app of Pokemon Home when it was first released, I obviously didn't find much use for it until this week, when compatibility with Pokemon Go was implemented. Except for the occasional event like GO Fest, I'm a non-paying player on Go as well. That gave me an idea: since I can transfer every Pokemon I catch, could I complete the Pokedex on Pokemon Home without having to actually pay to do it?
Nah. It's a mad idea. Even if it were feasible, it would take weeks - months, more like. It costs you energy in Pokemon Go to send mons over to Home, so you can't just do it all at once unless you're willing to pay to recharge the meter. And if you have the free version of HOME, you only have access to the Basic Box, which lets you store 30 Pokemon at a time. Well, that's not so bad. With a "churning" strategy - releasing and trading Pokemon constantly as they come in - it'll take a while, but my Pokedex will gradually fill up.
Oh, but wait. Of course, a fairly predictable problem quickly presents itself. At the time of writing, just over 630 Pokemon are obtainable in Pokemon Go, including four Galar Pokemon (Perserrker, Obstagoon, Sirfetch'd, and Runerigus). Even if I had one of every Pokemon in Pokemon Go ready to send over (which I don't) I would still fall far short of the 898 Pokemon currently in the main series games.
However, the key thing here is that I'm able to make use of the Wonder Box and the GTS. Frankly I'm amazed that they let you trade without paying for it, but I'm not looking that particular gift horse in the mouth.
Two options are available to me: either I can wait until Pokemon Go introduces the remaining 260+ Pokemon (which will take years) or I can trade for them (which will take, absolute best case scenario, weeks). So, I choose the latter.
Obviously, without many high-value Pokemon in my box, trading for some of the rarer mons from those gens will be difficult. Very few people out there will be willing to part with a Zacian or a Zamazenta for my scrubby Caterpie or Pidove. I could add some friends on here and other places and beg for free legendaries, but where would the fun in that be? So I'll take a different tack.
Rules and restrictions
As mentioned, my solitary box gives me 30 spaces. While I'm not particularly attached to any of the Pokemon I'm sending or trading here, there are a handful of Pokemon in my box that - for now - I do want to keep. Namely, the starter Squirtle and the Eevee and Rotom you're given as Mystery Gifts, and, of course, the event Melmetal that can Gigantamax. I also have a Glastrier and a Regieleki that a nice person on these forums traded me a couple of days ago before I'd formally decided to do this challenge - neither are favourites, but they're worth hanging onto to use as trade fodder in the distant future. So this effectively means I have 24 "free" spaces to play with. It's possible - albeit unlikely - that I'll receive a Pokemon in a trade I absolutely can't bear to part with: a shiny 6IV legendary, or a battle-ready Dragapult. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Since my goal is to complete the Pokedex as fully and ideally as quickly as possible, there are few stipulations on how I get the Pokemon I need. GTS and Wonder Box trading are allowed, as are accepting any Mystery Gifts that become available. It'll take a long while to get the majority of the Gen VI, VII, and VIII Pokemon just through trading - but it should not be impossible to get, say, a Thwackey or a Drampa over the GTS if I'm offering something fairly comparative in value. For the more elusive Pokemon like Cosmog and Zygarde it's more of a problem. Perhaps if I'm clever I can "trade up": slowly exchange weaker Pokemon for more desirable ones and build up to having something worth offering for a legendary. We'll see.
Of course, I can trade legendaries for legendaries. There are 37 legendaries I can transfer from Pokemon Go (note that I'm not counting Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, or Victini as GO only gives you one each and I'm unsure whether I want to sacrifice them just yet), so that gives me almost half of the total set while giving me some fodder to trade for the rest. But that'll be a last resort since transferring legendaries is so prohibitively expensive.
Initial progress
Nov 11, 2020
The challenge kicks off in earnest. I've already got Squirtle, Eevee, and Pikachu registered thanks to the game's initial efforts; I promptly stick Pikachu in the Wonder Box and receive a Litten in return. Not bad at all.
I'm level 40 in Go so I get Home compatibility straight away. I go ahead and transfer almost all of the Pokemon I caught in the last few days or have spare in several big groups to get me started. This gives me Bulbasaur, Charmander, Rattata, Ekans, Nidoran-M, Vulpix, Jigglypuff, Zubat, Paras, Meowth, Psyduck, Venonat, Abra, Magnemite, Shellder, Drowzee, Exeggcute, Ditto, Omanyte, Ledyba, Spinarak, Chinchou, Natu, Aipom, Wooper, Murkrow, Misdreavus, Gligar, Shuckle, Swinub, Phanpy, Zigzagoon, Wurmple, Taillow, Ralts, Whismur, Makuhita, Nosepass, Electrike, Spoink, Swablu, Solrock, Baltoy, Shuppet, Spheal, Starly, Bidoof, Kricketot, Combee, Cherrim, Drifloon, Buneary, Glameow, Bronzor, Gible, Croagunk, Snover, Pidove, Woobat, Drilbur, Tympole, Sawk, and Pawniard.
This also gives me my Gigantamax Melmetal! Even though it'll probably never see much use, I do quite like this Pokemon.
This also taught me the hard way not to get too greedy. After cautiously transferring an initial 5 Pokemon (Phanpy, Zubat, Cherrim, Mankey, and Drowzee), I had 9 Pokemon in the Basic Box. I then stupidly went ahead and transferred 23 Pokemon at once, thinking that I could move some of them into the Basic Box and save the rest for later. No dice. The app doesn't let you pick and choose - you have to take all the Pokemon you send at once, meaning that if you send more than you have room for you can't accept them. Thankfully, releasing all the Pokemon I sent from Go freed up enough room to accept the 23 new ones, but I almost ended the challenge before I began. If I'd sent more, I would have had to release everything I had or say "screw it" and pay for the Premium Pass to make more space. Slow and steady definitely wins the race here.
Idly browsing the trade forums on here, I see someone offering a couple of legendaries for free. I ask on the off-chance and she promptly trades me a Glastrier and a Regieleki! While I'm obviously happy to have them, it's at this point I decide that those will be the last Pokemon I obtain for "free" from here on out.
Eventually, I take the plunge and transfer a spare Lugia from Pokemon Go, using up a massive chunk of energy in the process. As users of Home probably know, transferring a shiny legendary will drain your energy meter completely. I'm going to try and avoid transferring shiny legends for now since I don't want to use up all my energy, and they're mostly better off staying on Pokemon Go anyway.
The Lugia is swiftly traded over the GTS for a Tirtouga - an impulsive decision, since I've only just caught one in Go and I sure as hell ain't parting with it. Of course, after I trade it it occurs to me that asking for a Pokemon which evolves by trading would be more efficient (two entries for the price of one, innit) but I have plenty of spare legendaries sat around in Go so it's no problem for now.
Current progress - 72/898.
Nov 12, 2020
Thanks to my mass transferring, my meter is very depleted so I'm letting it recharge a bit before I do any more. I've been sticking most of the Pokemon I've transferred up into the Wonder Box, which has gotten me a few more Pokemon I didn't have before: Dreepy, Beldum, Poliwag, Trubbish, Cubone, Mawile, Bonsly, Litwick, Jangmo-o, Cufant, Grookey, and Shedinja! Still mostly unevolved stuff, but I'm happy to have them.
I go for my sole walk of the day (England is currently in lockdown) and catch a few decently non-typical spawns: Lickitung, Hitmonlee, Jynx, Swinub, and Solrock. All are earmarked for an imminent transfer.
Doing some reading into the costs of transferring makes me aware of something potentially problematic: any Pokemon with a CP of over 1000 incurs an additional cost. This makes transferring evolved Pokemon trickier. So to transfer a decent amount of evolved Pokemon and avoid paying too much for it, I'll need to find the unevolved forms with as low CP as possible. This could end up slowing things down - but on the other hand, Pokemon with low CP are pretty easy to find.
Current progress - 99/898.
Nov 13, 2020
I get lucky walking to the shops and catch a shiny Ralts with the minimum possible CP of 10! It's male so I go ahead and evolve it straight into Gallade. Not only is this a pretty nifty new dex entry, I can probably trade it through the GTS for something good. Who the hell doesn't want a shiny underlevelled Gallade, right?
I've been keeping an eye out for low-CP Pokemon and I've managed to evolve a bunch of them while keeping their CP below 1000. Doing this nets me Beedrill, Raticate, Fearow, Arbok, Wigglytuff, Persian, Primeape, Graveler, Cloyster, Mr. Mime, Vaporeon, Flareon, Furret, Xatu, Mantine, Swellow, Loudred, Exploud, Medicham, Staravia, Bastiodon, Floatzel, Ambipom, and Lopunny . Not a bad bunch at all, and they're all hilariously underlevelled.
Serebii reminds me that you can also get a Pichu in HOME as a Mystery Gift, so I rush to slap a sticker on my binder and subsequently claim it. It's Hardy and doesn't have its Hidden Ability so into the Wonder Box with you!
Current progress - 125/898.
Nov 14, 2020
I get very lucky and catch a low CP Drilbur and Mudkip which remain under 1000 CP even when fully evolved. It's amusing to see a level 12 Swampert and a level 8 Excadrill arrive in my HOME account. Who knows, they might have some worth on the GTS. November's research reward is a Togetic that comes far below 1000 CP, so I cheerfully send that over over. I also say "sod it" and throw caution to the winds by transferring over a Crobat that's a dangerous 1999 CP.
And then I spent a while writing this post. I hope you found it interesting! Stay tuned for more updates to come, make any helpful comments or suggestions you feel like, and make wagers on when I'll finally be finished. Could be a while yet.
Current progress - 129/898.
I'm one of the people who disliked Sword and Shield right from the off. There's no need to go into precisely why; those arguments have been thrashed out to death on here and every other forum on the web. Suffice to say that while I'm a player who has bought every Nintendo handheld mostly for Pokemon since 2001, the prospect of buying a Switch to play a game I didn't think looked that good was not one I was keen on.
I may change my mind in future and buy one of the games, especially since I liked the look of both DLCs. I've played through about half of Sword on a friend's console and it's not a terrible game - it's a mainline Pokemon title after all. However, right now it's not looking likely. Maybe if Gen IX fixes all the issues I have with the series currently, I'll dive back in. But enough about that.
The challenge
What I am, however, is a fairly avid Pokemon Go player. Though I downloaded the free mobile app of Pokemon Home when it was first released, I obviously didn't find much use for it until this week, when compatibility with Pokemon Go was implemented. Except for the occasional event like GO Fest, I'm a non-paying player on Go as well. That gave me an idea: since I can transfer every Pokemon I catch, could I complete the Pokedex on Pokemon Home without having to actually pay to do it?
Nah. It's a mad idea. Even if it were feasible, it would take weeks - months, more like. It costs you energy in Pokemon Go to send mons over to Home, so you can't just do it all at once unless you're willing to pay to recharge the meter. And if you have the free version of HOME, you only have access to the Basic Box, which lets you store 30 Pokemon at a time. Well, that's not so bad. With a "churning" strategy - releasing and trading Pokemon constantly as they come in - it'll take a while, but my Pokedex will gradually fill up.
Oh, but wait. Of course, a fairly predictable problem quickly presents itself. At the time of writing, just over 630 Pokemon are obtainable in Pokemon Go, including four Galar Pokemon (Perserrker, Obstagoon, Sirfetch'd, and Runerigus). Even if I had one of every Pokemon in Pokemon Go ready to send over (which I don't) I would still fall far short of the 898 Pokemon currently in the main series games.
However, the key thing here is that I'm able to make use of the Wonder Box and the GTS. Frankly I'm amazed that they let you trade without paying for it, but I'm not looking that particular gift horse in the mouth.
Two options are available to me: either I can wait until Pokemon Go introduces the remaining 260+ Pokemon (which will take years) or I can trade for them (which will take, absolute best case scenario, weeks). So, I choose the latter.
Obviously, without many high-value Pokemon in my box, trading for some of the rarer mons from those gens will be difficult. Very few people out there will be willing to part with a Zacian or a Zamazenta for my scrubby Caterpie or Pidove. I could add some friends on here and other places and beg for free legendaries, but where would the fun in that be? So I'll take a different tack.
Rules and restrictions
As mentioned, my solitary box gives me 30 spaces. While I'm not particularly attached to any of the Pokemon I'm sending or trading here, there are a handful of Pokemon in my box that - for now - I do want to keep. Namely, the starter Squirtle and the Eevee and Rotom you're given as Mystery Gifts, and, of course, the event Melmetal that can Gigantamax. I also have a Glastrier and a Regieleki that a nice person on these forums traded me a couple of days ago before I'd formally decided to do this challenge - neither are favourites, but they're worth hanging onto to use as trade fodder in the distant future. So this effectively means I have 24 "free" spaces to play with. It's possible - albeit unlikely - that I'll receive a Pokemon in a trade I absolutely can't bear to part with: a shiny 6IV legendary, or a battle-ready Dragapult. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Since my goal is to complete the Pokedex as fully and ideally as quickly as possible, there are few stipulations on how I get the Pokemon I need. GTS and Wonder Box trading are allowed, as are accepting any Mystery Gifts that become available. It'll take a long while to get the majority of the Gen VI, VII, and VIII Pokemon just through trading - but it should not be impossible to get, say, a Thwackey or a Drampa over the GTS if I'm offering something fairly comparative in value. For the more elusive Pokemon like Cosmog and Zygarde it's more of a problem. Perhaps if I'm clever I can "trade up": slowly exchange weaker Pokemon for more desirable ones and build up to having something worth offering for a legendary. We'll see.
Of course, I can trade legendaries for legendaries. There are 37 legendaries I can transfer from Pokemon Go (note that I'm not counting Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, or Victini as GO only gives you one each and I'm unsure whether I want to sacrifice them just yet), so that gives me almost half of the total set while giving me some fodder to trade for the rest. But that'll be a last resort since transferring legendaries is so prohibitively expensive.
Initial progress
Nov 11, 2020
The challenge kicks off in earnest. I've already got Squirtle, Eevee, and Pikachu registered thanks to the game's initial efforts; I promptly stick Pikachu in the Wonder Box and receive a Litten in return. Not bad at all.
I'm level 40 in Go so I get Home compatibility straight away. I go ahead and transfer almost all of the Pokemon I caught in the last few days or have spare in several big groups to get me started. This gives me Bulbasaur, Charmander, Rattata, Ekans, Nidoran-M, Vulpix, Jigglypuff, Zubat, Paras, Meowth, Psyduck, Venonat, Abra, Magnemite, Shellder, Drowzee, Exeggcute, Ditto, Omanyte, Ledyba, Spinarak, Chinchou, Natu, Aipom, Wooper, Murkrow, Misdreavus, Gligar, Shuckle, Swinub, Phanpy, Zigzagoon, Wurmple, Taillow, Ralts, Whismur, Makuhita, Nosepass, Electrike, Spoink, Swablu, Solrock, Baltoy, Shuppet, Spheal, Starly, Bidoof, Kricketot, Combee, Cherrim, Drifloon, Buneary, Glameow, Bronzor, Gible, Croagunk, Snover, Pidove, Woobat, Drilbur, Tympole, Sawk, and Pawniard.
This also gives me my Gigantamax Melmetal! Even though it'll probably never see much use, I do quite like this Pokemon.
This also taught me the hard way not to get too greedy. After cautiously transferring an initial 5 Pokemon (Phanpy, Zubat, Cherrim, Mankey, and Drowzee), I had 9 Pokemon in the Basic Box. I then stupidly went ahead and transferred 23 Pokemon at once, thinking that I could move some of them into the Basic Box and save the rest for later. No dice. The app doesn't let you pick and choose - you have to take all the Pokemon you send at once, meaning that if you send more than you have room for you can't accept them. Thankfully, releasing all the Pokemon I sent from Go freed up enough room to accept the 23 new ones, but I almost ended the challenge before I began. If I'd sent more, I would have had to release everything I had or say "screw it" and pay for the Premium Pass to make more space. Slow and steady definitely wins the race here.
Idly browsing the trade forums on here, I see someone offering a couple of legendaries for free. I ask on the off-chance and she promptly trades me a Glastrier and a Regieleki! While I'm obviously happy to have them, it's at this point I decide that those will be the last Pokemon I obtain for "free" from here on out.
Eventually, I take the plunge and transfer a spare Lugia from Pokemon Go, using up a massive chunk of energy in the process. As users of Home probably know, transferring a shiny legendary will drain your energy meter completely. I'm going to try and avoid transferring shiny legends for now since I don't want to use up all my energy, and they're mostly better off staying on Pokemon Go anyway.
The Lugia is swiftly traded over the GTS for a Tirtouga - an impulsive decision, since I've only just caught one in Go and I sure as hell ain't parting with it. Of course, after I trade it it occurs to me that asking for a Pokemon which evolves by trading would be more efficient (two entries for the price of one, innit) but I have plenty of spare legendaries sat around in Go so it's no problem for now.
Current progress - 72/898.
Nov 12, 2020
Thanks to my mass transferring, my meter is very depleted so I'm letting it recharge a bit before I do any more. I've been sticking most of the Pokemon I've transferred up into the Wonder Box, which has gotten me a few more Pokemon I didn't have before: Dreepy, Beldum, Poliwag, Trubbish, Cubone, Mawile, Bonsly, Litwick, Jangmo-o, Cufant, Grookey, and Shedinja! Still mostly unevolved stuff, but I'm happy to have them.
I go for my sole walk of the day (England is currently in lockdown) and catch a few decently non-typical spawns: Lickitung, Hitmonlee, Jynx, Swinub, and Solrock. All are earmarked for an imminent transfer.
Doing some reading into the costs of transferring makes me aware of something potentially problematic: any Pokemon with a CP of over 1000 incurs an additional cost. This makes transferring evolved Pokemon trickier. So to transfer a decent amount of evolved Pokemon and avoid paying too much for it, I'll need to find the unevolved forms with as low CP as possible. This could end up slowing things down - but on the other hand, Pokemon with low CP are pretty easy to find.
Current progress - 99/898.
Nov 13, 2020
I get lucky walking to the shops and catch a shiny Ralts with the minimum possible CP of 10! It's male so I go ahead and evolve it straight into Gallade. Not only is this a pretty nifty new dex entry, I can probably trade it through the GTS for something good. Who the hell doesn't want a shiny underlevelled Gallade, right?
I've been keeping an eye out for low-CP Pokemon and I've managed to evolve a bunch of them while keeping their CP below 1000. Doing this nets me Beedrill, Raticate, Fearow, Arbok, Wigglytuff, Persian, Primeape, Graveler, Cloyster, Mr. Mime, Vaporeon, Flareon, Furret, Xatu, Mantine, Swellow, Loudred, Exploud, Medicham, Staravia, Bastiodon, Floatzel, Ambipom, and Lopunny . Not a bad bunch at all, and they're all hilariously underlevelled.
Serebii reminds me that you can also get a Pichu in HOME as a Mystery Gift, so I rush to slap a sticker on my binder and subsequently claim it. It's Hardy and doesn't have its Hidden Ability so into the Wonder Box with you!
Current progress - 125/898.
Nov 14, 2020
I get very lucky and catch a low CP Drilbur and Mudkip which remain under 1000 CP even when fully evolved. It's amusing to see a level 12 Swampert and a level 8 Excadrill arrive in my HOME account. Who knows, they might have some worth on the GTS. November's research reward is a Togetic that comes far below 1000 CP, so I cheerfully send that over over. I also say "sod it" and throw caution to the winds by transferring over a Crobat that's a dangerous 1999 CP.
And then I spent a while writing this post. I hope you found it interesting! Stay tuned for more updates to come, make any helpful comments or suggestions you feel like, and make wagers on when I'll finally be finished. Could be a while yet.
Current progress - 129/898.
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