Gameboy colour to Advanced

[SilverMaster]

I think people should be able to trade and mainly battle pokemon from all games, including the gameboy colour ones, as many people have strong pokemon stuck in the past and unable to get into worlds such as ruby and leaf green. In silver there is a time machine that lets you trade with original red and blue, so why cant they make that.

[Lady Vulpix]

It would be nice, sure, but I guess it would be hard to make a device/program that would be able to connect both consoles and convert data from one to another. With all the people and technology Nintendo has at hand it probably can be done, but I'm not sure it would be cost-effective for them. Not many people are likely to buy it if it's too expensive.

[Orion]

What Gabi said is right...

There's also the fact that they'll earn about double or triple the money by distributing the Pokémon through many games instead of just providing a device that allows trading with old games. Plus, considering 99% of the Pokémon fans are Pokédex obsessives, it's an excellent opportunity. Right now, you need at least 4 games to complete the Pokédex (3 if you have acess to Special Events.). If they had made such device, their earns would've been cutted dramatically, regardless of how much the device could've costed...

Plus, they apparently wanted to start anew. They wanted to redeem the biggest mistake of GSC, and obligue you to try different things instead of trading your Powerhouses right away...

Pokémon is a cash cow. Deal with it.

[mr_pikachu]

There's also the fact that it would be a little more difficult than you'd think to transfer everything. The old and new gameboys have different ports for wires and other connections, so you couldn't connect them with a standard cable. You'd have to have something that either had one port of each type, or you'd need a general data-storing device (like a memory card or something) that had ports for the various Nintendo systems. Plus, I'm frankly not sure if the Pokemon have their data stored in the same manner in the first place. Remember, with Ruby and Sapphire came the advent of EVs, which could greatly complicate the system if people found ways to exploit that. (For that matter, it'd be interesting to see how the data would be managed at all with a completely different group of values to store.) And then, obviously, you get into the question of why Nintendo would do such a thing. What games other than Pokemon would legitimately need this device? Certainly not very many.

It's frustrating, I know. But at least you get the fun of catching them all again, right? So get out there and catch 'em all!

...

[/Nintendo double-talk]

>_>;

[Lady Vulpix]

Hehe, that was a funny reply. I guess it must work for them.

[SilverMaster]

Mr Pikachu

I've already caught them all and am not doing it again. New idea. What if they were to make a pokemon battle game for all the versions, like collesseum or stadium, which are played on a gamecune NDS. People would buy that anyway and they'll need to make a new one for emerald, so why not include older games in the mix.

[Sceptile_Master]

As a programmer (even though it's only recently I've gotten into it) I can say it would be very hard. It like saying that you want to transfer your old zelda items on the snes to your zelda save on the n64. Especially since the mechanics of how a pokemons stat is worked out in the advance versiona re completely different with EVs and all. Plus about everything else. A lot more work goes on in the newer versions storing pokemon data. They completely re-wrote the advance versions way of doing things but gave it a familiar interface would be the best way to explain (well probably not the best way, but I suck at thinking of the best ways).

[mr_pikachu]

Like Sceptile_Master said, they completely re-worked the entire methodology of creating and storing Pokemon data. There are so many extra things to contend with, like traits, ribbons, etc., that it would take a lot of work just to create a theoretical way to transfer such additional data. It was hard enough to change things so that GSC could trade with RBY, because the Special stat in the first generation was divided into Special Attack and Special Defense in the second generation. I doubt they'd want to do that all over again for many more obstacles, especially because the systems are different this time as well (GBC/GBA).

I think the thing to do would be to wait for Diamond and Pearl and hope they include all the old Pokemon on those games so that you can train them again without jumping through hoops with extra games, tickets, and other accessories. But frankly, I'm not holding my breath.

[Sceptile_Master]

The split special attack wasn't actually hard for them. Right going back to the beginning. If I remember correctly I think the Game Boy could use 4 variables or something for working out the stats and all (I'm not going to go into why). So they had five stats HP, attack, defense, speed and special. But only had 4 variables to use for DVs. So they gave one for each of them except hp. They then made the HP DV by using a formulae that works with the pokemons other stats variables. Then when making the switch to gold and silver just made it so both of the special stats went of the one special variable. Meaning they could use the same means of storing the pokemons data in each game. I'm not going to go into what they did with hold items either as that's irrelevant. But in the advance games the whole system is completely different. But as said before a familiar interface makes it look and feel like you are playing the pokemon games you all know and love.

[SilverMaster]

The basic reply is that the stats wouldn't work, or it's not worth the effort. What if they were to make a universal stat, keeping it as simple as possible, and not including ribbons or items. Or, they could switch stats when its uploaded, so if a level 100 mewtwo was uploaded from silver or gold, it would change to level 100 mewtwo from fire red. The moves would stay the same, so there's nothing to stop them trying. Also, it is worth the effort because people would buy the new game, i would.

[Sceptile_Master]

The basic reply is that the stats wouldn't work, or it's not worth the effort. What if they were to make a universal stat, keeping it as simple as possible, and not including ribbons or items. Or, they could switch stats when its uploaded, so if a level 100 mewtwo was uploaded from silver or gold, it would change to level 100 mewtwo from fire red. The moves would stay the same, so there's nothing to stop them trying. Also, it is worth the effort because people would buy the new game, i would.

Not really, I think you are getting the wrong idea. You can't just convert them. Like I said in the snes and n64 example. They can't just change the stats. The whole program is quite different they have the just kept the layout and the graphics similar to put it in very basic terms.

[Lady Vulpix]

There's always a way to make a conversion from one format to another. The point is that it may be too hard and expensive to make it worth it.

[Sceptile_Master]

Yeah it could be possible. But it would be so hard it's hardly worth while. And it may require a seperate device other than just the game pak.

[mr_pikachu]

Also, there's the opportunity for exploitation if they had to convert from one stat system to another. For instance, if in the process of trading, a guy discovers that when he trades a Pokemon one way, a stat increases by one point, and trading the other way does not cause it to return to its original value, he could potentially trade back and forth repeatedly to create a Pokemon with utterly insane stats. (This is only a theoretical scenario that they could defend against, but it's one of many possible outcomes if they were to simply make a Pokemon on one game change into a similar Pokemon on another system.)

Long story short, I doubt it's worth the trouble from Nintendo's point of view. Not saying it wouldn't be insanely awesome for us, but they may as well just make another generation of games with all the Pokemon rather than waste their time and resources on something like this. Meh. The dollar decides everything.

[SilverMaster]

I think i've got the basic answer now (correct me if im wrong). Nintendo have not made a device to switch from generation to generation and don't plan on doing so.So, there's five things i could do:
Pay them a load of money to make a device for my own use. Unfortunatlety i'm not filthy rich.
Train up my pokemon again. I am not doing this as it took me so long on the older version
Cheat to get the same pokemon on the newer game.This idea is ok, but i generally don't like cheating
Stick with the old game.This is Ok for now.
Hope they create a device or wait until i get rich.This is the only long term idea.

[Sceptile_Master]

Lol, but something to remember is that a GBA is not a computer and does not have all the same data changing functions as one. But anyhoo a device would probably work. But that's not going to happen. especially when it allows nintendo to leech of us with barrages of pokemon games to get them instead. But anyhoo the nwere versions of the game are still kick ass anyways. And it's fun to train a team again too. Well i quite like it. You have a fresh selection now It doesn't take long to train a team up anyways. Plus my silver team wasn't all that hot as it was mainly filled with legendaries and would be better off staying in their own little world.

[mr_pikachu]

A GBA is not a computer, but some of the data is stored in similar, if not identical manners. I am not supposing that a computer could successfully enact a transfer, but a computer-like device that was adapted to the particular data-storing methods of the GBC and GBA might work.

I still think the chief problem in such a task is that the data storage between the GBC and GBA games is likely very different, even beyond simply being on different systems. There are many other factors to manage on the new games, including but not necessarily limited to ribbons, EVs, traits, etc. I believe that this might be the most difficult obstacle to overcome. The technical difficulties of electronically linking a GBC and GBA might be manageable, but I think that this problem would prove to be quite a difficult one to anyone who undertook it.

[Sceptile_Master]

As I said before it would most likely mean developing an external device. Which would be a pain in the ass for nintendo to do, and they don't get much out of it if they packaged it with the game. It would be a bitch just putting all that work in to do that. And knowing nintendo, they would probably sell it seperately.

But anyhoo in the end, it's never going to happen anyways. Let's just enjoy the new games as they.

[SilverMaster]

Plus my silver team wasn't all that hot as it was mainly filled with legendaries and would be better off staying in their own little world.

Sceptile master.What you said may be true for you, but both of my silver teams are almost perfectly trained (i have 2,in the same game).Iv'e already been told off about putting them in here so if you want to have a look they're in the Silver/Gold/Crystal chatroom.Anyway, a team (to my standard) does take a long time to train, as you have to complete the game, train them up and taylor them so they have the right moves.

My little pokemon world is Ok, i can explore crystal or carry on in stadium2.But i would prefer it if my pokemon could get into the updated world and fight.Otherwise they might be like an old world cup team, stuck in the past.

[Sceptile_Master]

Yes I know, my crystal team is properly trained though. Because I wasn't a complete n00b when I had crystal. Plus training a proper team up in the advanced generations to be good with Ev's and natures doesn't take the complete world of effort. The new games are about training pokemon in a completely new way. With new strategies and opportunities. With these games you're never happy with just a team of 6. Because of the ways you need to cover your back in some areas and stuff. It's a whole new game.

[Gnight]

Another reason Nintendo wouldn't bother to make GBA games and GBC games compatable is that there are too many damn glitches in older games. I don't think they want us duping master balls and some rare stuff. I never cared about "catching them all", but i hate that I can't trade pokemon from the older games. I wish I could be with my first pokemon ever in the advance generation.