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Question about playing all the mainline Pokemon games on original hardware. (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) by neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/retrogaming@lemmy.world
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I got my old game boys and have been playing pokemon gold on the gameboy color. I also have red and blue.

But, I want to play through the rest of them on original hardware up until the switch. I plan to use flash carts or some kind of mods to play the games as they are quite expensive.

Please let me know if there are any flaws in my plan.

Gameboy Advance SP (I like this as it’s backlit and will let me play my other gameboy games)

  • Pokemon Emerald

New 3dsxl/2dsxl

  • the rest of the games I’d like to play them all using flash carts or software mods. Since these games are not as old I’ll buy the original if they are under $100

Is it as simple as picking up these two consoles to play all the pre-switch pokemon games? Is there a better non-emulation option?

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[–] venotic@kbin.melroy.org 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I got respect for you for wanting to play pokemon games as they were intended. I personally can't do that anymore, not without having to shell out so much money to greedy resellers tripling the value of the games and systems.

I also cannot play pokemon normally without emulation and using fast-forward tools. When I was a kid, playing Pokemon Blue and Silver, I was that kid that grinded their pokemon party the long and hard way. That was back then, when I had all the time in the world. I don't anymore so I need these tools.

[–] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago

Luckily I still have my copy of red, blue, and gold. I also have my gameboy pocket and color.

I plan to pickup a 3ds xl, and I’ll emulate the ds titles. I’ll probably emulate emerald on my steamdeck unless I get a 3ds first.

I was using fast forward tools for red, but it didn’t feel as fun. I did the same on gold, but stopped and switched to playing on the gameboy color.

Fast forward, made me feel even more impatient to progress where the normal mode just let me play here and there.

[–] capc8m@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days ago (1 children)

You could play all of them with a modded 3ds. It's fairly easy (imho) to mod a 3ds.

[–] Baaron87@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago

This is what I did personally. Definitely the easiest route to go as no additional hardware is needed outside of an SD card.

For me personally I took it a step further for gens 1-3 and installed the Pokemon Legacy rom hacks to get a “definitive” experience. No complaints so far.

[–] WolfLink@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Does the “New 3DS” still have backwards compatibility with the DS? It might be safer to go with a 3DS/3DSXL/2DS.

[–] mememuseum@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago

The New 3DS is backwards compatible. It's essentially on overclocked 3DS.

[–] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 days ago

Looks like it does.

[–] kratoz29@lemm.ee 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I just want to say I admire your patience, I do know a lot of folks who would go crazy with the older games without rewind or fast forward functions.

With that said, if I were you I'd use a relatively cheap Chinese emulator that mimics as an older Nintendo handheld (check out Anbernic) and go with a DS and or a 3DS (either hacked or with a flashcart) to enjoy the two screen games properly and then just jump with the current series in the Switch.

I am actually on a similar quest right now, slowly advancing, but advancing nonetheless, this has been my journey so far:

  • Beat Pokémon Yellow in a Miyoo Mini half through and finished it in my RG351V

  • Pokemon Soul Silver was finished with my DS Lite, New Nintendo 3DS XL and finally my DSi XL (all progress kept with my R4 2015)

  • Currently playing Pokémon Omega Ruby in a New Nintendo 3DS (the battery of the XL is kinda busted, and I wanted to give some use of my Black Friday edition for once!)

  • I am gonna skip the 4th gen altogether as I "recently" finished it in my DSs.

  • The fifth gen won't be skipped though, plan to use the same hardware.

You can figure out the rest, a combination of 3DS and Switch, I am honestly not excited about the Switch line though.

[–] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 4 days ago

I grew up with these games although I never played gen 4. But I think I played the rest up until the one that takes place in the past and the current gen.

[–] Guitar@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

If you want to get a little wild and still play on OG hardware, you could play the Gameboy titles on a SNES Super GameBoy or the Gamecube GameBoy Player. I think the Gamecube one is basically a GBA so it would support all the GB titles. But I'm pretty sure the Super GB only supports original GB, not GBC or GBA. Kinda fun to play them on official hardware hooked up to a big screen, although it will probably look not great lol. Otherwise, you really can't do better for GB titles than a GBA sp. As for the DS ones, any 3ds/2ds should work just fine for any of those titles. Although gen 6 and 7 run like shit on an og 3ds/2ds. Not sure about modding or flash carts as I've only used original hardware or occasionally emulation. To answer your question, you can play all of the titles from gen 1-7 between just a GBA and a 3ds. Those are the easiest way to play them on official hardware.

[–] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 4 days ago

I actually already have those things, but they are in America and I don’t live there any more. I’ll transport them to where I live at some point, but until then…

[–] Skkorm@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

Your plan will work great I think.

[–] LongboardingLad@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Mod a 3DS and you're off to the races. I just went through a spree of buying cartridges from each generation and I kind of regret it. The 3DS will play every game you want and will be cheaper in the long run. No need to buy a flash cart. Not trying to be overly pedantic but flash carts are still emulation, just hardware emulation instead of software.

Good luck on your Pokemon journey! Currently burning through SoulSilver myself

[–] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I like getting the original hardware partly as I may get the original carts down the line, and the console prices are not too bad at the moment.

[–] LongboardingLad@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

Absolutely. It's a little hand wavey, but I agree with the sentiment. If you mod the 3DS it's an all in one solution. If you want the cartridges, I would start collecting the DS ones sooner rather than later. Heart Gold/Soul Silver and Platinum specifically. The 3DS games are still quite reasonable

[–] EX1T@literature.cafe 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Get the EZ Flash Parallel for DS, can be used with the 3DS. You can mod a 3DS really easily for the newer titles.

[–] ClipperDefiance@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

The Parallel has a number of issues and generally isn't a cart I can recommend. Here's a guide on what carts are and aren't recommended.

[–] EX1T@literature.cafe 1 points 5 days ago

Odd, I've had mine for a while now, I use it often and haven't had an issue but I suppose user experience varies.

[–] the16bitgamer@programming.dev 1 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Since doing things legit is off the table. All you need is a modded 3DS.

With a GBA injector you can play emerald and leaf green/fire red on your 3DS.

With an R4 you can play the DS games, but the Twilight menu++ you can play the DS games on system, and with cia installers you can get the 3DS games too.

If you want to keep things….. authentic. A DSLite plus 3DS is all you need since Everdrive for gba and R4 for DS works. Plus you can transition early and keep playing the same saves on 3ds.

Only considerate is if you need the IR from Heart Gold or Black 1 or 2. Twilight Menu I think allows you to use non Pokemon games with IR as a substitute… can’t remember what game. But I think it works.

[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Note for the IR, a Flipper Zero works too and the pokemon silver mystery gift files are already in the Flipper-IRDB (here's the data if anyone wants the IR file)

Filetype: IR signals file
Version: 1
#
# Mystery Gift for Pokemon Silver captured from Game Boy Color 
#
name: PkmnSlvrMystGftLink
type: raw
frequency: 38000
duty_cycle: 0.330000
data: 241 551 340

Also you can use it to trade in any pokemon with a separate board using the GPIO with a link cable and app, which can be handy if you don't have two consoles but do have a flipper or friend with one.

There's also a rom that, if you have two GBC and a flash cart, you can use to manipulate mystery gifts and choose what you want, and a way to do it with a rPi. https://projectpokemon.org/home/forums/topic/43930-mystery-gift-reverse-engineering-of-ir-protocol/

[–] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Thanks. I kind of want the option to buy the original carts later and thought the gba would be better since it plays gameboy games.

Then the 3ds should handle all the ds stuff.

I figured this way I could get maximum compatibility and have the option of buying original game carts down the line.

[–] the16bitgamer@programming.dev 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Then you’ll definitely want an DS or DS Lite and the R4 since you can backup your cart and make your own ROM with it.

The GBxCart is also another good value backup tool.

3DS and DS games are best backed up on a modded 3DS

[–] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I’m not sure if you will know the answer to this, but in my region 2ds, 3ds xl are at least $200 but the original 3ds is just like $90.

Is there something about the original that makes it so much cheaper? I only plan to use it for pokemon. I have a steamdeck for everything else. It’s just the dual screens are kind of important for those titles.

[–] the16bitgamer@programming.dev 2 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I made a video a while ago going over the DS line if you want to watch my opinion: https://youtu.be/LAzUY1L0yOE

If you want to go into the nitty gritty 3DBrew has a wiki for it: https://3dbrew.org/wiki/Hardware

However to directly answer your question. 3DS, 2DS and 3DS XL do have minor differences between the versions, at their core are the same machines with an ARM 9 Processor.

3DS was the original release, and while it's hardware hasn't aged well. The system sold well enough.

2DS was a budget friendly option, going as low as $99 USD with game bundles. The system only had a single display pretending to be a dual screen.

3DS XL was for those who wanted a bigger screen. Bigger didn't mean more pixels. Just physically larger.

The New Nintendo 3DS line N3DS, N3DSXL, and N2DSXL were the ones with hardware upgrades and are worth a pretty penny. If you were looking to emulate more than what Nintendo offered this is the one to get.

However if you want more details I'd watch some videos going over them. It's hard to understand their differences without seeing it.

[–] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 days ago

Thanks! The video was great. Since I don’t plan to upgrade until I finish Pokemon gold, I’m going to keep an eye out for a 3dsxl. The “new” ones where I live are so expensive. You can get a switch for less 😂

But I guess what I really learned is that I’d be happy with any of the 3ds versions.

[–] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 days ago

Thanks I’m going to check out the video.