Realising why more people don't do this

So, I have now purchased all the Pokemon games I need for this challenge (hopefully I can recoup some of the cost on eBay) and have done some more research on how to do it.

Turns out it's even less simple than I thought. So here's the new plan.

The games I am using are as follows:

• Emerald (E) - Gen III
• Platinum (Pl) - Gen IV
• HeartGold (HG) - Gen IV remake of Gen II
• White 2 (W2) - Gen V
• X (X)  Gen VI

And the plan is thus:

• The only two that I can transfer two-way are Pl and HG, so I will transfer and reset those a number of times to get all 6 Gen II and Gen IV starter Pokemon on HG.
• Complete HG. Transfer and reset E twice to transfer two starter Pokemon from E to HG.
• Complete E (remembering to get Latios as Latias is available in HG) and transfer the remaining starter, legendaries and anything else I am missing at that time from E to HG.
• Complete Pl and transfer legendaries and any other missing items to HG.
• Transfer and reset W2 twice to get 2 starters into Pokemon Bank
• Complete W2. Transfer legendaries etc. from HG to W2.
• Complete X. Transfer anything missing from W2 to X via Pokemon Bank.
• Catch or trade for anything I still have missing.
• Work on the Living Pokedex.

That's the general outline. It more complex than that because each of those transfers is done in a different way. It does have the benefit that the games are technically completed in generation order (counting HG as gen II), but HG hasn't arrived yet so I am currently playing X, as that isn't dependent on anything else.

Speed demons

I've never really felt the appeal of Let's Plays of videogames. I get them for boardgames, because they give you an idea of the mechanics without spoiling anything, because there is generally nothing to be spoiled. But letting someone else experience a game before I have is never something I thought I would do.

However, this is something else. It is a race - 4 experts speedrunning Super Metroid against each other, and, just as importantly, two excellent commentators explaining the skill and dedication that goes into it. It is about an hour long, and is one of the most entertaining things I have ever watched on the internet.

Pokemon - Catching them all, or catching some until I get bored

Wow, been a while.

So, I read this article recently and the dedication in it has inspired me to revisit the Pokemon franchise. The last Pokemon game I played was Gold but I didn't really play it all that much, so the last one I really put any time into was Red. Yes, the first one.

According to a guide I have found, to catch 'em all, as it were, requires saintly levels of determination and one game from each generation since III. Although, oddly, it seems it's best to start with a game from gen IV as you can't trade the gen III mons into Gen IV until you have reached a certain stage in the Gen IV game, so I am starting with Platinum from Gen IV. Assuming I don't quickly tire of the endeavour, I will move on to Emerald, then HeartGold or SoulSilver, then Black or White 2, and finally X or Y. Although, like I say, boredom is probably more likely.