Starting a Living Pokedex

If you have been following me lately, you know I’ve talked about nothing but Pokemon Go, as it has taken up a lot of my free time (Guide 1, Guide 2), but has also caused me a lot of recent frustration (here).

Today will be Pokemon themed, but will not be about Pokemon Go.  However, after having played so much Pokemon Go, I have a renewed interest in the traditional Gameboy series, and I want to go back.

Back when Blue and Red originally came out, I made it a mission to not only beat the game, but to catch everything available.  This was made possible by the fact that I had brothers, so having the alternate versions of the game, and their exclusive Pokemon, were only a link cable away.

After searching high and low for the link cable, which remained highly elusive despite Pokemon’s huge popularity, I was able to begin the trading mayhem, and get the Red exclusives I needed (I started with Blue).

Eventually, after many, many Safari Zone runs, I caught the final Pokemon I needed – Tauros – and completed my Pokedex.  I walked triumphantly to Celadon to talk to the NPC that requests you come back with a completed Pokedex.  I got a “diploma.”  Great…at least it was something.

With so many games, and the impending release of Sun and Moon, I have once again been inspired to actually Catch ‘Em All.  With PokeBank, I figured it should be made easier.  Plus, beginning such a task would hype me up for Sun and Moon.

So the concept is to catch every single Pokemon available (minus some of the event-only Pokemon) and have one of each saved in a PC box.  This is called a Living Pokedex, and is quite the challenge with the massive backlog of Pokemon generations.

Luckily, I have access to every generation of Pokemon game, despite not owning all of them.  My brother has Black and Pearl, which I never played completely through, and I recently completed Pokemon Y, so I at least have a good start.

This is where I actually need some help from you trusty commenters and followers.  I have found this Pokemon Checklist, which looks pretty handy for tracking progress, but I also found a Google Doc that looks pretty good as well.  Those with experience, is there a best practice for tracking all the different Pokemon?

I’ve also found this guide that gives some tips on getting through the process.  My basic plan is to start with my current Pokemon Y Pokedex, and start to accumulate Pokemon there.  Then, I want to get one of the Sappphire/Ruby remakes and play through that game.  I also have HeartGold and old games, but I’ve heard you can get all the Pokemon just through the last two games.

I’m excited to go hunting in the games again.  Normally, I’ve always focused on the Elite 4, other than the original Blue version.  I got through a large part of the Pokedex in Gold, but never finished it completely.

Does anybody have any advice for trying to catch them all?  Are there any specific early strategies that are required, concerning starters, or fossils, etc?  Please let me know in the comments!