The oldest tagline associated withPokemonhas been ‘Gotta Catch ‘em All’, and that’s never really changed, even with more recent games getting pretty substantial structural changes. Even more important than battling in Pokemon games has been catching every Pokemon you lay your eyes on.
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But just filling out the Pokedex isn’t enough sometimes. Even the National Pokedex from earlier games might not be enough. If you want every single Pokemon out there, if you really want to catch them all, then you’ll need to create a Living Pokedex.
What Is A Living Pokedex?
In every Pokemon game,you have a Regional Pokedex. This Dex is unique to the region you are in, comprising every Pokemon that can be naturally found in that region. Most games up until Sun and Moon also gave you access to the National Pokedex after completing the Regional Dex, giving you entries forevery single Pokemon in the series up to that point.
This changed in Sword and Shield, whenevery Pokemon was no longer coded into the game by default, and holds true to newer entries since as well. This means it has become impossible to complete a Living Dex within the games themselves.
But what exactly is a Living Pokedex? In short, it’s a little like a zoo. Where the in-game Dexs only require that you have had a Pokemon in your possession at some point,the Living Dex is more of a community challenge invented by fans to have one of every Pokemon in your boxes.
This means that inthe case of starters, you would have one Pokemon from every stage of its evolution, rather than just the final evolved stage of them. For example, having a Chimchar, Monferno, and Infernape all at once in your boxes. Typically, players will also order their Living Dex by National Dex numbers, though this is more for organisation and tracking than an actual requirement.
What Is Considered A Completed Living Pokedex?
There are currently 1017 released Pokemon if consider the Teal Mask DLC for Scarlet and Violet. This number will grow with the Indigo Disk DLC and future games.
As a result of this,you would need that exact number of Pokemon to complete a Living Pokedexat a minimum. On top of this, Pokemon Home is now the only place a Living Pokedex can be completed, whichrequires a premium plan to gain access to all 6,000 available Pokemon slots.
Because the Living Dex is a purely fan-created concept,the requirements for completing it are entirely up to each individual player, but there are some roughly expected guidelines to follow. The most basic of these is to haveone of every single distinct Pokemon that exists. This can exclude gender differences, regional forms, or anything else. Just simply having one of each.
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The next logical step up would be toinclude all regional formsas they have distinct looks and types, even if they’re technically the same Pokemon by the Pokedex’s standards. This would add a good number extra, but each is easily acquirable within their respective games.
From there, you’re looking atgetting gender differences. Not every Pokemon has gender differences so this won’t double your needed Pokemon, but a fair few do so it’s important to look them up in advance to know what you’re searching for.
The in-game Pokedex typically highlights Pokemon with gender differences, letting you swap between looks to make tracking them a bit easier.
Alternate forms can be a bit more complicated. Pokemon like Vivillon have many different forms, but are locked per region and game, meaningtrading with international players is a necessity.
This also includesAlcremie, which has a potential of over 60 different formsbased on how they’ve evolved. Add onto this unique advertised forms like event Pikachus and this number can put some real bloat on your Living Dex.
Certain Alternate Forms, like Furfrou’s haircuts, can only be acquired through Pokemon Go as the haircuts would normally reset when deposited into the in-game PC.
Finally, and most absurd of the lot, would beShiny Pokemon. This the is greatest stretch for all curators of a Living Dex, and one very few, if any, have achieved. This would requirehaving a shiny version of every single Pokemonin your Living Dex.
This becomes even more intense depending on how meticulous you’ve been in gathering your Living Dex so far. And when it comes to Legendary and Mythical Pokemon,many of them are Shiny-locked in-game, meaning you would have to wait until an event distributes a Shiny version.
If you really hate yourself, you could try to catch one of every Pokemon in every language, butHome doesn’t quite have the space for a Living Dex of that calibre.
How Many Pokemon Comprise A Completed Living Pokedex?
So, now that you know what a Living Dex entails, how much space would it actually take to fill it up? Well, because it has so many variations, the number varies dramatically.
A helpful tip is that postcards received in Pokemon Go can be sent to Scarlet and Violet to temporarily change Vivillon’s form to match the real-world region of the postcard, making it easier to obtain alternate forms without trading.
As you can see, the numbers can vary wildly depending on just how alive you want your Living Dex to be. Due to the sheer number of Pokemon and variations that can’t be brought forward from certain games,these numbers can vary even more beyond what is possible anymore. At a minimum,you are guaranteed to need over 1000 slotsjust for every distinct Pokemon, with that number only rising.
