Generations 4 + 5 Pokémon Journey
Table of Contents:
- Introduction
- Hardware Options
- Connectivity between games
- Some new Generation Four mechanics
- Some new Generation Five mechanics
- My playthrough of Pokémon SoulSilver
- My playthrough of Pokémon Diamond
- My playthrough of Pokémon Black
- What is next?
Introduction
Generations four and five were the Nintendo DS generations. There were nine total main series titles, including two remakes. Generation four, in a way, mirrored generation three by starting with two main series titles, Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl, followed two years later by an "enhanced" edition, Pokémon Platinum, and another year later by the generation two remakes: Pokémon HeartGold and Pokémon SoulSilver. Generation five broke the mold by releasing just a pair of main series titles, Pokémon Black and Pokémon White, followed two years later by direct sequels: Pokémon Black 2 and Pokémon White 2. There were no remakes released during generation five.
Generation four continued the tradition of having a console spinoff game focused on tournament-style battling: Pokémon Battle Revolution. Unlike the generation three titles, there is no story mode, and rather than allowing for Pokémon to be moved between the main series titles and Battle Revolution, the player may take a snapshot of all of the boxes on a given DS cartridge, which then allows them to be built into teams on the Wii in that "frozen" state. The Pokémon storage utility was assigned to a separate WiiWare software, My Pokémon Ranch. Generation five did not have accompanying battle nor storage softwares.
Hardware Options
The hardware options for these generations are pretty simple. All nine of the generation four and five titles are able to able to be played on any of the Nintendo DS consoles, including all 3DS and 2DS models. While the latter two are region locked consoles, the DS cartridges are not, so these can be played on any region's hardware. All of the Nintendo DS systems include wireless functionality, so no extra cable peripherals are required to connect with other DS titles or with the Nintendo Wii.
The generation two remakes were sold together with "Pokéwalker" accessories that function as pedometers and interact with those two DS titles using infrared technology. These were the successors to the Pokémon Pikachu pedometers released during generation two. Individual Pokéwalkers are registered with particular DS cartridges, which can send Pokémon out for walks on different courses, many of which unlock over time as overall step count thresholds are reached. Pokémon earn experience points and can battle with wild Pokémon while out on their journeys, and these wild Pokémon (some with rare moves) can be captured and sent back to the DS cartridge when the assigned Pokémon returns. The Pokémon may also collect rare items that can be deposited onto the DS cartridge while out on their walks. It took me a little over nine months walking with the device every day before I captured one of every available Pokémon and earned 100,000 total watts to unlock the final route, Quiet Cave, on my SoulSilver save file.
Connectivity between games
All of the generation four games, including the generation two remakes, may connect and trade from the earliest parts of their progression. All of the generation four games may also connect with Pokémon Battle Revolution. Only Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl can connect with My Pokémon Ranch, unless the player is using the Japanese edition, which had an update adding connectivity with Pokémon Platinum. The Nintendo Wii is region locked, so the connecting DS titles must be from the same region. The generation five games are all able to connect and trade within their generation from early in each game's progression. Generation four games cannot trade back and forth with generation five titles (see migration section below).
Given that the Nintendo DS had wireless functionality and the ability to connect to the internet, all of the generation four and five games at one time could connect to officially available servers for trading and battling. However, these servers have all been closed. The only way to accomplish this now is to utilize fan-hosted servers like the Poké Classic Network. One notable hurdle to overcome is the fact that the Nintendo DS consoles and titles exclusively function on outdated, less secure internet protocols, which are no longer available using modern modems. The only way I have found to get around this (I tested this successfully in 2024) is to use a mobile hotspot with all of its security turned off. Many modern phones do not allow this, and it is considered risky to do so even on those devices that allow such connections.
In addition to freezing Pokémon boxes to be used in tournaments, Pokémon Battle Revolution also allows the trainer to earn Poké coupons that can be exchanged for berries, hold items, and technical machines that can then be sent to generation four cartridges via the mystery gift function. I have not tested it myself, but it is reported online that completing the game and editing one's profile in a specific way allows for Electivire and Magmortar to be sent to a generation four cartridge. This can only be done once. Copies of Diamond and Pearl may be used to trade with the My Pokémon Ranch owner, Hayley, for special Pokémon holding specific items. A trainer may also acquire Phione and Mew through the same trade function by placing large numbers of Pokémon in the ranch.
Completing the Pokédexes
Nearly all of the Pokémon can be acquired in generation four without migrating from generation three, but there are three exceptions if you are starting a fresh game today. The "Regi Trio" (Regirock, Regice, and Registeel) were only available in generation four through event distributions, so if you want to acquire them legitimately now you must migrate them. Migrating these to a copy of Diamond or Pearl makes Regigigas available, which was also only available through an event distribution exclusively on Platinum. You may also wish to migrate the Kanto and Hoenn starters, since you can only get one of each per playthrough in the generation two remakes. You will have to play both HeartGold and SoulSilver once each to acquire the Johto and Hoenn legendaries without relying on migration.
Finally, the only way to capture the mythical Manaphy is by playing through the spinoff Nintendo DS title, Pokémon Ranger, which has a postgame mission that allows a single Manaphy egg to be sent to a generation four main series title. Please note that only one egg can be acquired and sent per Ranger cartridge EVER. You cannot merely delete your save data and play through the game again to transfer a second egg. Also note that you must use an authentic generation four cartridge to receive the egg, since it is must utilize the "Download Play" function. Once you hatch Manaphy, you can breed it with a Ditto to acquire and hatch a Phione. You cannot breed and hatch another Manaphy.
The generation five titles bring the National Pokédex up to 649, but hundreds of those from the earlier generations are not available in any of the four games, so they must be migrated through a generation four cartridge (see below).
Migrating to Future Generations
Generation five is unique (so far) in that the creators forced the players to use Pokémon exclusively introduced in that generation until after defeating the Elite Four and becoming Unova Champion. The mechanic that allows Pokémon to be migrated from generation four titles is the Poké Transfer Lab, which cannot be reached until the postgame (similar to Colosseum and XD). The player will need two DS consoles to perform the migration. The one that is sending will use the "Download Play" function on the DS main menu. Only six Pokémon can be transferred at a time, and the player will once again be forced to play a minigame to complete the transfer.
Players who wish to migrate their Pokémon from generation five up to more recent generations will need a Nintendo 3DS (or 2DS) system with Pokémon Bank and the Poké Transporter utility software. These are no longer available since the Nintendo 3DS eShop has been closed, but consoles that acquired them prior to the eShop closing will still have access to them. If you missed out on these, read this page section to find out how you can remedy that. The generation five cartridge that is sending merely needs to be inserted in the 3DS/2DS console containing the aforementioned softwares. Only Pokémon from the first box can be transported.
As with generation three, Pokémon sent from generations four and five to Pokémon Home will not have origin marks. The met location for Pokémon migrated up from Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum will be "the Sinnoh region." Pokémon from HeartGold and SoulSilver will be described as being met in "the Johto region" (not in "the good old days," which is reserved for the generation two virtual console editions), and Pokémon from the generation five games will show a met location of "the Unova region."
Some new Generation Four mechanics
I just want to mention a few of the more significant updates to generation four. Get more detail at Bulbapedia.
- Days roll on again. The generation four titles, including the Johto remakes, reintroduce the days of the week mechanic from generation two. These mirror real-time days based on the calendar and clock settings of the console. There are certain ribbons and activities that are only available on certain days.
- Moves get physical (and special). In previous generations, physical and special moves were aligned with their type (all psychic moves were special, all fighting moves were physical, etc). Generation four did away with this and assigned physical and special varieties to specific moves within greater type categories. This allowed for new combinations of moves, like Aura Sphere, which is a special fighting move.
- We got infinite bag space, finally. Generation four did away with limitations on how many items could be carried in the player's bag. This meant that the developers could also delete the item storage system, since it was no longer necessary.
- Follow me in Johto. The Johto remakes reintroduce the Pokémon Yellow walking mechanic, allowing the Pokémon in the first party to slot to follow behind the chosen protagonist in most areas. The following Pokémon enters battle from the trainer's side rather than being thrown in from a ball, and the player can turn around and interact with the walking Pokémon to view a mood indicator.
Some new Generation Five mechanics
As above, here are a few of what I subjectively believe are significant changes to gameplay in generation five. Read a more complete list on Bulbapedia.
- They doubled down on days and added seasons. In addition to there being a days of the week mechanic, the generation five titles added four seasons that alter the way certain areas look and change out monthly in real time. The given season limits what forms of certain Pokémon appear in the wild and has an impact on daily events, locations of non-player characters, and field music.
- Poké Mart and Pokémon Center: together at last. Generation five introduced the brilliant idea of combining these two elements in one building. This would last until generation nine, which abandoned the concept of an indoor space and went for an outdoor counter instead.
- Wow, we have infinite-use technical machines. While the infinite bag space in generation four was one example of a quality-of-life update that more "seasoned" (aka "older") Pokémon players could gripe was coddling newer generations of players, generation five took this even further by making technical machines (TMs) infinite use as well. This meant that trainers only needed to acquire a particular TM move item one time and could freely use it on any Pokémon without worrying about availability.
- The bottom screen was less useful. This is actually more my gripe and in my opinion the opposite of an "advance" in this generation. The first two Sinnoh games used the bottom DS screen for applications that could be acquired in game, but the menu was still opened on the top screen (a huge missed opportunity). The Johto remakes (HeartGold and SoulSilver) and Pokémon Platinum brilliantly used the bottom screen for the menu and certain applications. In the generation five games, unfortunately, they took a step backward and made the bottom screen default to their new C-Gear system, which was used for wireless communication and functionality. I'm sure this was great while the games were being actively supported, but now that the official servers have been closed, it feels really clunky having the default state of the bottom screen be totally irrelevant. The worst part was that I could not use my stylus to advance dialogue or open up the menu. I had to rely on pressing the buttons, which feels wrong given that the best part about the DS is using the stylus and the touch screen.
My playthrough of Pokémon SoulSilver
This was the first title that I played authentically, partially because I figured out that I would need to have at least one true copy of a generation four game to migrate to generation five and partially because I wanted to use the Pokéwalker accessory to get the full experience. It remains, to this day, my favorite Pokémon video game. The game looks very pretty on the two-screen console, and it uses that functionality better than any other DS title. I am definitely not the only player who feels that these were the "peak" (so far) games in the series. Some other reasons why this game and its companion are so popular is that the player basically gets two games in one: after defeating the Elite Four in Johto, you can then go over to Kanto and basically have the entire generation one experience.
On top of that, all but 42 of the 493 Pokémon made available by the end of generation four are available in these two games. Most of those that are unavailable are Sinnoh types that can easily be traded over from one of the other generation four titles. The only (minor) downside is that they replaced the female protagonist Kris with Lyra. I don't have anything against Lyra (it's not her fault), but I love green-haired anime characters, so I was saddened when I learned that she had been jettisoned. That's one more reason to go play Pokémon Crystal!
My SoulSilver Champions
I will admit that I bottomed out at the point in the game where Entei and Raikou begin roaming. I have a problem with wanting to complete side content and fully explore each area as it becomes available (this made open-world titles like Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Legends: Z-A a little stressful for me), and I got a little frustrated and bored trying to capture the pair of Johto dogs. I got busy with life and ended up taking a six-month hiatus in the middle of my playthrough. The fact that this happened, yet I still count this as my favorite Pokémon gaming experience should speak volumes about how great this game really is.
My playthrough of Pokémon Diamond
While I had intended to use a flashcart for the rest of generation four, after investing a lot of money in a good copy of SoulSilver, I really wanted to have Sinnoh origin on the Manaphy that I hatched from my Ranger egg. I read that transfering my egg to SoulSilver and hatching it there would show the Manaphy's origin in Pokémon Home as the Johto region. I was not yet willing to spend a lot of money on Platinum, so I opted to go with Diamond, which was significantly cheaper on the secondhand market.
My Diamond Champions
I suspect that some people who read this will tell me I am a fool for playing Diamond or Pearl over Platinum, but understand that I will eventually play that enhanced edition as well. I think it was good to get the original experience with all of its sluggishness. I do think that the complaints about these two games have become more of a meme over time. What I mean by that is when I told a friend I played this version, they started immediately lamenting that I had to wait forever for slow HP bars to drop, which I did not even notice when I played through the game. Perhaps the problems are more notorious these days than they are things new players would think to criticize.
My main gripe is that the lower DS screen was so poorly used, but I also feel like I can give them a pass since the Nintendo DS system was so new and the developers did not have the benefit of seeing all the creative things that would be done with the dual screens over time.
My playthrough of Pokémon Black
Again, the connectivity of these generations and their ability to move up the chain made me reconsider playing this game on a flashcart, since I learned that I would need an authentic generation five cartridge to transport my Pokémon to the 3DS Bank. By this point, I had fully invested myself in playing Pokémon video games and had decided that I would eventually want to own authentic copies of all the games I wanted to play moving forward (it also helped that the games after generation five were not exhorbitantly priced at the time I was acquiring them).
My Black Champions
I gave my major critique of this game above, so I will not repeat it here. Generation five is usually lauded as having the best story of any of the Pokémon main series titles. I think I was probably overhyped on the story, which meant that I was a little underwhelmed by it. I did not feel like the concepts were really fresh. There was an "evil" organization idealistically trying to control Pokémon to make the world "better" but failing spectacularly. I still need to play Black 2, so maybe I will come around.
The element that was different from the previous games was that the protagonist had a tragic, developed rival counterpart rather than a snotty kid or a neutral best friend. Another new type of supporting character was Bianca, a friend who has some depth and conflict but is not a strong trainer seriously competing with the protagonist. It was refreshing, and I felt like generation six developed this good concept even more by having an ensemble of friends travelling alongside the protagonist.
What is next?
By the time I got to generation three, I really wanted to get through one title in every generation so that I could get caught up to the latest games and participate in the latest events while they were still available. This means that I only completed the main games by entering the hall of fame, so I need to go back and complete the postgame content in each. I did complete most of the SoulSilver postgame, but I still need to defeat Red on his mountain. My plan is to do this with my ribbon master that I bring up from generation three as well as other Pokémon that I might bring up alongside it as part of building my Living Origin Dex in Home. At one time I wanted to bring a whole team of six ribbon masters up from shadow status, but I fear I may get burned out and frustrated trying to do so many at once, so I will probably stick to one at a time. I plan to get authentic copies of Pokémon Platinum and Pokémon Black 2 to round out this generation as I go.