Tama's Pokemon Generation 1 (RBY) 100% Completionism Checklist

There are two ways to go about Gen 1 - You can abuse glitches, or you can do a glitchless run and try to see how the developers actually intended you to play the game. Glitches can save time and money since you can cut out entire games if you use them, but if you want extra challenge or want to see the developers intended experience, do a glitchless run. I’ll make note of glitches that can be used to accomplish some of these things with less investment, but I’ll also explain how to do it if you want to do it fully without glitches. Once again this is totally your call, it can be fun to do the extra planning involved to avoid glitching, but it can also save time and money to abuse them, so it’s really up to you what you want to prioritize. Consider it a self-imposed difficulty setting, but whatever you choose will have ramifications down the road in GSC since it will impact what resources you have to work with. 

GEN 1 CHECKLIST: 

Supplies - 

2 gameboys, link cable, Red, Blue and Yellow versions with working save batteries (add onto this batteries and soldering tools if you need to replace batteries), N64, HDMI upscaler if no RCA input available or HD is desired, transfer pak (2nd transfer pak preferred for pokemon management), Stadium 1, Japanese Blue version, Stadium 0, Japanese Stadium 1, N64 and GB screwdrivers, cart dumper

optional: dremel tool, a copy of Stand By Me, Gameboy Printer and paper, SuperGameboy, SNES system, Stadium 2, Gold Silver or Crystal, Python 3.6

Really any hardware that can play GameBoy games and supports the link cable will do, so if you prefer a GBA variant that runs GB games or a reproduction system, that works too

VC will work if you also would like to install 3DS homebrew, get a cart burner like gbxcart and then move the save to a physical copy with a working battery to use with Stadium. Putting the Pokemon on VC will allow you to move them to other Gens if desired.

Cart dumpers are generally really useful to have if you are into retro gaming anyway since these things all run on batteries and old hardware can be unreliable, you can dump your save to back it up since monster brains like the one I used are hard to find.

1. Beat Yellow version

• Harder than Red or Blue due to higher levels, more trainers to battle, and enemy trainers using TMs. Has additional objectives like Surfing Pikachu minigame and you can use Yellow Ver Pikachu in Stadium 2 minigames later on

• Stadium is extremely prone to deleting save files randomly so FREQUENTLY make save backups during this run. I made a save in Cerulean City after doing nothing but starting a new game with a fresh save battery in Yellow and got the "Save File Destroyed" error after inserting into Stadium:

• 

• Other players have reported issues with Red and Blue interacting with Stadium as well. Please frequently back up your saves during the playthroughs of all games! It seems to be completely unpredictable which games it impacts and when. It is a unique issue separate from the save battery dying since it displays the above message instead of just having no continue option on file select.

• You can get all the starters in this game making it more efficient, but does not eliminate the need for trading if doing the Pokedex glitchless. The encounter rate for Tauros is also higher in this game, which is worth noting because in my own experience, Tauros was the hardest Pokemon to get for the Gen 1 dex.

• Note that the Missignno method for duping items doesn’t work in Yellow. Item duplication in Yellow version relies on using extended Mew Glitch to encounter a glitch Pokemon by catching a Moltres, using Calcium to up its special to 182-184, and then encountering a Ditto.

Sub objectives:

• Raise 3 teams of Pokemon for Stadium 1 as you play through the game. Plan these before beginning the playthrough to ensure that movesets and levels are complete for each Pokemon without going over level limits. Do stadium cups as you complete each team during this playthrough. - see note in stadium section about how to handle round 1 and round 2. If truly glitchless, keep in mind that TMs are single use, don’t assign overlapping TMs, or if you plan to trade them in, limit them to the number you’d get from the other copies you’ll be playing through for Pokedex completion. So max use for any single TM in a glitchless run = 3. The only exceptions are TMs that can be purchased multiple times from the Celadon Game Corner (Dragon Rage, Hyper Beam, Substitute), and the Celadon Department Store (Double Team, Reflect, Razor Wind, Horn Drill, Egg Bomb, Mega Punch, Mega Kick, Take Down, Submission)

• 

• The above image is an example of using a spreadsheet to plan for distribution of single use TMs. Color coding is used to easily tell how many of each TM is on each moveset. You could then place these Pokemon in order by how soon in the game you will obtain them to help you keep track during your run of what Pokemon is next available. An additional list of TMs you need in the order you obtain them in the game could also be useful for the same reason. As you get to each new area in the game, you can obtain the things you already know you need and plan to save them or use them accordingly instead of using single use TMs on the wrong Pokemon.

• You may also plan ahead the Pokemon’s nicknames in order to get specific hue shifts once they appear in Stadium. Or if you are really wild, you can figure out what TID you would need to get a specific nickname/color combo and RNG/ACE your TID

• Petite Cup: Raise these Pokemon only to level 30, box them once they reach the limit

• Pika Cup: Raise these Pokemon to only level 15, box them once they reach the limit

• Poke Cup, Prime Cup, Gym Leader Castle, Mewtwo: You can raise one team for all of these events, do Pokecup once you reach level 55 and Prime Cup and Gym Leader Castle after level 100

• Stat EXP training - Not necessary, but optional. Recommend at least using vitamins. You can beat everything in Gen 1 without ever maxing out stats. But if you want to do it, use the Box trick

• DV Resetting - Extremely not necessary, but optional if you want to get something that will have a certain gender or shininess in Gen 2. Perfect DV Pokemon are possible to reset for only for certain Pokemon in the game (gift, stationary encounters, etc). Note that wild grass 15/15/15/15/15 Pokemon are actually impossible to occur in Gen 1 so please do not drive yourself insane looking for one.

• Watch Stand By Me, or if you’re French, watch Dragonball

• Catch all Pokemon in each area to work on the Pokedex as you go - Don’t worry about full Pokedex completion for this gen until after Stadium 1, but catching available Pokemon on each map will help you hit in-game milestones for items as you reach them.

• Find all items on each map: Use guides and itemfinder to find em all if needed. In Kanto, returning to previous areas once HM moves are obtained is necessary. Each time a new HM move is acquired, sweep back through all previous areas to get missed items.

• Talk to all NPCs, read all signposts, etc.

• Battle all trainers in the game - Including optional rival battle on Route 22

• Make Pikachu maxed out friendship - will probably happen without effort

• After you beat Stadium, do the Surfing Pikachu Minigame in Fuschia’s beach house.

• Do each in-game trade in order to collect unique Trainer IDs for the GSC lotto: Mr. Mime, Machoke, Farfetch’d, Parasect, Dewgong, Rhydon, Muk

• Novelty - Optional sequence breaks! Most of these require trading in a Cut Pokemon Early (Cerulean, SS Anne Truck) or already having a game that can transfer items to Gen 1 via Stadium 2 (Drink Skip). Bike Skip and Marrowak Skip are also possible, though I’d say those count more as glitches. Do note though these skips allow you to be creative with the order you complete content in, it is a 100% playthrough. If you do them, plan on eventually going back and completing any content you skip.

• Novelty - Use the GameBoy Printer to print your Pikachu Minigame high score, boxes, and diploma for completing the Pokedex

• Novelty - Play the game on a SuperGame Boy to see the unique borders

• Novelty - Trap yourself in Pokemon Mansion

• Novelty - Catch a Pokemon in Lorelei’s Elite Four Room

• Optional - Dump save data to virtual console to transfer your Pokemon up to Gen 6 or up

• Glitch options - Use extended Mew glitch to obtain Pokemon unavailable in this game: Electabuzz, Magmar, Jynx, missing Fossil Pokemon, Eeveelutions, Raichu, Ekans, Koffing, Meowth & Weedle.

• Glitchless options - Use Doduo/Dodrio Gameboys to raise Pokemon to level 100, evolve Pokemon for the Pokedex, and duplicate items

2. Beat Blue and Red version:

• It is easier to perform glitches in Red & Blue vs Yellow, as the Old Man glitch was removed for Yellow version.

• Otherwise though these can be considered optional for a glitched run, and mandatory for glitchless.

Sub-objectives:

To 100% the Pokedex in Gen 1 without glitches, you need to catch the following Pokemon to trade to Yellow:

• Blue - Magmar in Pokemon Mansion, Meowth on Routes 5 - 8

• Red -  Electabuzz in Power Plant, Ekans on Routes 4, 8 - 11, and 23

• Blue & Red - Eevee from Celedon Mansion (for additional Eeveelutions) 

• Either - Pikachu in Viridian Forest to evolve into Raichu, Weedle in Viridian Forest, Koffing in Pokemon Mansion, Jynx from in-game-trade in Cerulean City, and whichever Fossil Pokemon you did not pick in Mt. Moon, fighting Pokemon from the Dojo. The starters, Eevee, fossils and dojo Pokemon are also obtainable from Stadium as prizes for clearing Gym Leader Castle.

• Glitchless option: Trade all TMs to Yellow, avoid using TMs at all during the playthrough to save them all

• Do additional in-game trades for unique trainer IDs for the GSC Lotto: Jynx, Nidoran, Lickitung, Electrode, Tangela, Ponyta

• Novelty - Use the invisible PC in the hotel in Celadon City

• Bonus Challenge - Catch a Tauros in this game too, you coward!

3. Beat Stadium 1 - Get prize Pokemon, including Surfing Pikachu

• The Pokemon you raise in-game are for R2 in order to use the same team for Poke and Prime cup. You can beat R1 with rentals, OR you can register the team for Poke cup and then use the saved version to beat R2 once the Pokemon are already level 100.

Sub-objectives:

• Beat Petit Cup R1

• Beat Pika Cup R1

• Beat Poke Cup R1 (Register team to the cart)

• Beat Prime Cup R1 (With rentals, or leveled up Pokemon if you registered your PokeCup Team)

• Beat Gym Leader Castle R1

• Beat Mewtwo R1

• Beat Pika Cup R2

• Beat Poke Cup R2

• Beat Gym Leader Castle R2

• Beat Prime Cup R2 - Get Surfing Pikachu!

• Beat Petit Cup R2 (you can use your new Surfing Pikachu here if you kept it at level 30)

• Beat Mewtwo R2

• Who’s The Best - Win vs hard computers in a tournament, or have a party and play against real people

• Get one of every Pokemon in the hall of fame - Reward is Amnesia Psyduck, a unique Pokemon. The cheese strat for this is to use Mewtwo + Tauros + the Pokemon you need to register in the HoF in Gym Leader Castle R1 Elite Four and grind out the victories and register 4 new Pokemon at a time. You can register rental Pokemon from Stadium in the Hall of Fame so you do not need to have one of each stage of each Pokemon (unless you want to).

4. Complete the Gen 1 Pokedex by trading yourself to get all Pokemon

• If you want to do a purely vanilla run of the games that avoids all glitch abuse, don’t complete the Pokedex until after you finish Stadium 1 in order to unlock Doduo/Dodrio gameboy in order to make leveling more tolerable. Glitch abuse can eliminate training and trading

• Mew should be considered fully optional as well because it’s mostly unattainable without glitches, outside of Virtual Console versions or homebrew distributions. You can also go get the Mew save data from Project Pokemon, burn it to a cart and trade it over. I have never done this, so I don’t know how Stadium 1 will treat these Mew on Yellow. Recommend making a save backup just in case.

5. Beat Japanese Blue version:

• Unique Pokemon locations in Japanese blue vs all English language games

• If you really want to be thorough, you can also play Japanese Red or Green for the original sprites and Cerulean Cave layout. And then you might as well complete the Pokedex again!

• You do not need to know Japanese, this is why you are going to do the English language content first, so that you can recognize animations and know where everything is in the menus without needing to read it.

• You may want to take notes to keep track of what moves your Pokemon knows, what common item names are, or pc box info

• Don’t try to trade between Japanese and English games, nothing in the Japanese games will help you prepare for English GSC, so these are fully optional if you want to only do things in Gen 1 to prep for Gen 2. 

Sub-objectives:

• Plan teams and raise them for Stadium 0 and Japanese Stadium 1. Keep in mind the restrictions on available Pokemon and follow the same strategies you used to build the English Stadium 1 teams, routing your playthrough to have Pokemon ready at level 30 and level 50-55.

• Notable exclusions include Rhydon and Slobro for Stadium 0.

• Nintendo Cup 97 in Japanese Stadium 1 uses the same rules as PokeCup, so essentially you can use another PokeCup team for this. Level 50 - 55, only Mewtwo is banned.

• Nintendo Cup 98 only allows 33 Pokemon! Max level is 30. Zapdos and Articuno are banned as well as Rhydon and Slowbro.

• Nintendo Cup 99 is between levels 50 - 55 and only 126 Pokemon are allowed. Venusaur, Dugtrio, Alakazam, Golem, Magneton, Gengar, Hypno, Electrode, Exeggutor, Chansey, Kangaskhan, Starmie, Jynx, Tauros, Gyarados, Lapras, Ditto, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Snorlax, Articuno, Zapdos, Dragonite, Mewtwo, and Mew are banned, which makes team building for this really different since all of the heavy hitters are gone.

6. Beat Stadium 0

• No Continues, Only 40 Pokemon Available!

• Based on real world Pokemon tournaments in Japan in the 90s

• Stadium 0 is a fully unique challenge from Stadium 1 so if you want the complete Gen 1 experience it’s worth trying.

Sub-objectives:

• Beat the level 1-30 Tournament

• Clear level 30 with a Pikachu to teach it Surf

• Beat the level Level 50-55 Tournament

7. Beat 3 Additional Cups in Japanese Stadium 1

• Japanese Pokemon Stadium 2 (the equivalent of our Stadium 1 has 3 additional cups based on the Nintendo Cup 97, 98, and 99.

Sub-objectives:

Beat all Cups round 1 (can use rentals for most of the overlapping cups with English Stadium 1)

Beat Nintendo Cup 97 R1

Beat Nintendo Cup 98 R1

Beat Nintendo Cup 99 R1

Beat Nintendo Cup 97 R2

Beat Nintendo Cup 98 R2

Beat Nintendo Cup 99 R2

Resources/Further Reading:

Setup and supplies:

https://www.gbxcart.com/ 

An inexpensive cart/save dumper for GameBoy/GameBoy Advance games. If preferred, you can use the GameBoy Operator instead, these do the same thing.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Game+Boy+Cartridge+Battery+Replacement/27213?srsltid=AfmBOoqGj8bf0z3XWnwl48Aa44onlFPhGzhsJmZXXEzwW3Jp8Y4apn0i 

A walkthrough on how to replace the batteries in your cartridges.

https://racketboy.com/retro/how-to-mod-the-n64-to-play-imports-region-mod 

A walkthrough on how to remove the plastic tabs on an NTSC N64 to allow Japanese games to be played on North American systems.

Team Planning:

https://www.smogon.com/rb/articles/rby_mechanics_guide

This guide by Plague von Karma on Smogon explains the battling mechanics that are unique to the Gen 1 games (spoiler alert: the battle system in Gen 1 is super different than Gen 2 onward). Some of this is specific to the GameBoy games only as Stadium featured some mechanic overhauls.

https://www.smogon.com/rb/articles/stadium_guide - Guide by ausma that covers changes between GB RBY mechanics and Pokemon Stadium mechanics

https://www.smogon.com/rb/articles/rby_battling - A battling guide to RBY by Hipmonlee. This will help you plan your teams for Poke and Prime Cups in Stadium 1 before beginning your run, and is also applicable to team planning in Stadium 0.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gameboy/367023-pokemon-red-version/faqs/23116 - A list of all Mew Glitch yields from every trainer in the game, which could be useful for planning your run if you plan on using the glitch to obtain specific Pokemon. Although I did search for an equivalent resource for Yellow version I did not find one.

https://www.math.miami.edu/~jam/azure/compendium/boxtrick.htm - An explanation of how to use the box trick in Gen 1 for Stat Exp training and max stats

https://bluemoonfalls.com/pages/shinies/gen-1-shiny-hunting - An explanation of how to Shiny Hunt in Gen 1

https://bluemoonfalls.com/pages/tools/hue-previewer - A tool to preview the Stadium nickname changing hues for different nick names/species of Pokemon based on your trainer name and ID

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CreSBofzryi1LM0DCnwTmhACItqE4iQw - Feanen's original gallery of the various possible Stadium Hues, to help you pick which ones to aim for

https://pkmn.net/?action=content&page=viewpage&id=8957 - A PikaCup team building guide and walk through by f3raligatr.

https://www.math.miami.edu/~jam/azure/pokedex/species/025.htm - Instructions for obtaining a Surfing Pikachu in Pokemon Stadium by using a Pikachu in your party during Prime Cup Round 2.

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/pok%C3%A9mon-stadium-includes-a-guide.3466780/ - A comprehensive guide for team building in every Stadium 1 cup, by Magicxgame. This covers a lot of bases, but also provides a good Little Cup team.

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Stadium_(Japanese)
OR
https://www.serebii.net/stadiumjp/pokemon.shtml 
Contains a list of all available Pokemon in Stadium 0 and an overview of the trainers and modes in the game.

https://www.serebii.net/stadium/petitcup.shtml

Contains a list of all Pokemon eligible for Petite Cup in Stadium 1

https://www.serebii.net/stadium/pikacup.shtml

Contains a list of all Pokemon eligible for Pika Cup in Stadium 1. In theory any Pokemon but Mewtwo/Mew is technically usable due to the trainer fly glitch making Pokemon available at low levels, and trade backs from Generation 2 allowing many evolved Pokemon to be obtained lower than level 15

https://www.smogon.com/rb/articles/yellow_japanese_blue_legality_changes

This guide by May outlines some Pokemon that are made “legal” in the meta game of Gen 1 battling, but it was primarily useful to me in that it explains which Pokemon are made available at what levels in Japanese Pokemon Blue, since Bulbapedia doesn’t have that information.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSZHF4sdFUmF0ttnVfgwFrKzfa99gm1OEy0UJ9KkFWvBA4fFKPyNcwWyfqaGS5CbFGtuk0M67cKEWI8/pub

A comprehensive guide by Reddit user Pikmin34 that explains where to get many underleveled evolved Pokemon across the series, which is mostly useful in that it explains how to legally obtain many evolved Pokemon at levels low enough for Pika Cup.

https://tcrf.net/Pok%C3%A9mon_Stadium_(International)/Regional_Differences#Nintendo_Cup_.2797

An explanation of the additional cups found in Japanese Pokemon Stadium 2. Unfortunately it does not include any team previews but it does include explanations of the rules and which Pokemon are allowed.

https://www.smogon.com/dex/rb/formats/nintendo-cup-1999/

Since Nintendo Cup 99 bans all of the major players in Gen 1, here is an overview of the meta format to get an idea of which Pokemon are at the top of this new format. Although these are again catered more for multiplayer than towards Stadium, it can be used for team planning regardless.

Pokedex Completion:

https://github.com/guilherssousa/mew-machine - guilherssousa compiled a clone program in Python of the distribution machine that gives out Mews for Gen 1 games. If you dump your save file, you can receive a near legit Gen 1 Mew this way and then burn it back to the cart. One of the more authentic ways to obtain a Mew in Gen 1.

https://projectpokemon.org/home/files/category/75-english/ - Links to data containing actual preserved giveaway Mews from different regions from Gen 1. Burn this data for an authentic Gen 1 Mew. Alternative options for obtaining Mew without glitches.

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/In-game_trade - A list of all in-game trades in Gen 1

https://www.serebii.net/stadium/prizes.shtml - A list of all prize Pokemon that can be obtained from Gym Leader Castle in Stadium, which are all Pokemon you need to trade other games for (starters, Eevee, fossils, dojo Pokemon) and are holding unique room decoration items once transferred to Gen 2.

Novelties:

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Sequence_breaking - Various novelty sequence breaks that can be performed in the game with proper planning and execution. Gen 1 is relatively non-linear already, this makes it already less linear. Can spice up a repeated visit to Kanto. Some of these require glitches, others don't.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyNHg5JHyAw - Novelty: How to trap your character in Cinnabar Mansion by Uber Dragon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0xLy6-_570 - A video by KindOfALotOfGaming comparing Gameboy Player (most gameboys) and Super Gameboy (also GameBoy Tower in Stadium) visuals

This will probably keep you busy for a few months depending on how in depth with it you want to go. Having Stadium will make all of it more tolerable as it makes it way easier to trade Pokemon around between games and once you have beaten Stadium once, you will have the Dodrio gameboy to make repeat playthroughs go quicker (if you want them to)

Now doing all of the above is a pretty thorough gen 1 experience, I think you will have gotten a lot of mileage out of the original Kanto games if you go to the trouble to do all this. But if you want to really live the Gen 1 life, eat sleep and breathe the games, and fully relive the Gen 1 era, here are a few extra things you can do just for the vibes:

Extra hard core additional objectives:

• Play Pokemon Snap, Puzzle League, Hey You Pikachu, Pinball, and TCG GB

• Beat Stadium 1 cups on NSO using only Rentals and save states

• Get a Pocket Pikachu to 1 million steps

• Enjoy other nostalgic late 90s things while you work on this, 90s anime (rewatch indigo league and first movie), 90s movies, music, other 90s games, goosebumps books (recommend bailienvspredator/Bailey Meyer’s Goose Drunks videos https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLS4v4Msy5Jk_EfR6MtCoOIlUFkxXc6ks), read the first arc of Pokemon Special Advetures, get a tamagotchi, etc. Feed your inner child or if you’re a fetus that was born after the 90s, consider it an anthropological exercise in imagining what the time period was like historically

• Get a CRT TV to play these on, you can find them locally on Facebook marketplace

• Draw your team to commemorate your playthrough or commission an artist to do it

• Take a field trip and play the game outside in nature for full immersion

NOTABLE UPDATES: September 8th - Commenter OktayKlc-up3tk on YouTube pointed out there is even more exclusive Stadium content in Japanese Gen 1: Japanese Stadium 2 (the equivalent of our Stadium 1) has 3 additional cups. I have added information about these cups including notable bans and level caps so that you can prepare more Pokemon for them in your Japanese Blue/Red/Green playthroughs. More resources were added to the links as well to help with team planning for these modes.