As massive RPG games, every entry in thePokémonseries has tons of content, with sometimes half of it taking place after you defeat a region’s strongest trainers and gain the title of Champion. With"Gotta Catch ‘Em All!“as a slogan, one of the only ways to 100% each Pokémon game is to capture every Pokémon available. For some entries in the series, this is much harder to accomplish.
Somegames in thePokémonseriesare limited by when they were released. Some titles required online functionality, while others only offered the chance to capture specific Pokémon during limited-time events that have long since passed. This makes it almost impossible to return to some entries to 100% them without a tedious grind or using obscure methods to unlock all the content in an individual game.
5Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Complete Multiple Challenges And Research Vast Varieties Of Pokémon
Pokémon Legends: Arceusis one of the most unique games in the series, featuring a near-open world with many different goals other than defeating Gym Leaders. This game takes a very long time to 100% becausesimply catching Pokémon does not fill up an entry in the Pokédex. Instead, you have to complete Research Tasks tied to Pokémon to learn everything about them, which takes far more time than capturing them once.
There are also 28 different forms of Pokémon Unknown that you have to complete Unknown’s Pokédex entry. Thankfully, there is only one set of Research Tasks surrounding Unknown, but it still takes a lot of time to find every variation.
There are around 232Pokémon inLegends: Arceus, with each one requiring you to get their Research Tasks to Level 10 before creating a full Pokédex entry. This includes the"Path of Solitude"quests for defeating individual Pokémon and seeing all the Shrines associated with specific ones. This alone makesLegends: Arceus’ Pokédex one of the hardest to complete, simply because you have to do more for completed entries.
Fully completing the game also requires you to pursue many other tasks not seen in otherPokémongames, including:
Some collectibles, like the Old Verses, can only be found through the aid of certain Pokémon like Ursaluna. The sheer multitude of side quests and objectives in this spin-off title culminates into your character’s Star Rank, which must be 10 to reach the highest milestone possible. Even though the tasks you need to do to 100%Legends: Arceusare not too difficult on their own, the fact that most are locked into postgame content means they will take a very long time to finish.
4Pokémon Red & Blue
The Original Games Required Special Connections For Exclusive Pokémon
The two games that started it all,Pokémon RedandPokémon Blueare iconic titles that are among the most influential RPGs to ever be made, but 100% completing them today can be a struggle. Before the Gen 3 remakes ofPokémon: LeafGreenandPokémon: FireRedupdated each game for more common handheld devices, the first two titles had certain physical restrictions that prevented players from catching all 151 original Pokémon.
Like many games that would follow,each version ofRedandBluehad Pokémon that were exclusive for each version, meaning some players never had access to certain creatures. You wouldneed to purchase a Link Cable and use it to connect to someone else’s device to trade Pokémon, helping some evolve and letting others acquire Pokémon that they would never encounter within their own game.
While this was more common at the time ofRedandBlue’s release since many players had the same system,today it is nearly impossible to recreate those conditions. Using PC sims to playRedorBlueprevents you from trading, meaning that you’ll never get access to exclusive Pokémon or trade evolutions. As such, the only way to truly 100% either game now is to have two original GameBoy or Nintendo 3DS devices to trade for all 151 Pokémon.
3Pokémon Ultra Sun & Moon
Pokémon Ultra Sun & Moonare the expanded versions ofPokémon SunandPokémon Moonreleased as the 7th Generation ofPokémontitles. The Alola region is structured is a very different way than mostPokémonworlds, featuring anon-linear assortment of islands you can visit rather than a strict path from Gym to Gym. This creates a tougher Pokédex to complete, as this region takes far longer to fully explore.
Wild Pokémon inUltra Sun & Mooninclude pieces of the Legendary creature Zygarde, whose cells must be found as collectibles to obtain a complete Zygarde Pokémon. Doing this requires players to also complete the Resolution Cave, which adds to the grind of this task.
To 100%Ultra SunorUltra Moon, players must defeat every trainer in its titular Battle Tree, overcoming much harder challenges than other games in the series. These battles are paired witha number of other postgame challenges and content, including Ultra Wormholes, Trainer School trials, and encounters with the revived Team Rainbow Rocket. This creates far more content than the originalSunandMoonfor you to try and complete.
However, the biggest obstacle to a 100% completion ofUltra SunorUltra Mooncomes from special events that took place during the Gen 7 life cycle. During this time, special events would allow players to catch rare Pokémon from other regions before they disappear from the Alolan region altogether. Even if you catch all the Pokémon in the Alolan Pokédex now, it still won’t technically be 100% complete if you missed these events.
2Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, & Emerald
Far More Strict Conditions For Obtaining Every Pokémon Possible
The core games of Gen 3 werePokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and eventuallyEmerald, the last of which expanded upon the first two and changed the overall story. These games, much likeRedandBlue, practiced exclusivity between Pokémon, making their Pokédex hard to complete. SinceGen 3’s Pokédex included Pokémon from the Kanto, Johto, and new Hoenn regions, it had far more Pokémonyou needed to collect.
The many features ofPokemon RubyorSapphireincluded a massive Battle Island, where trainers would have to face astronomically difficult challenges from trainers to win fierce battles. This, when combined withEmerald’s Mirage Islands later, createdone of the biggest postgame grinds the series has ever seen. Mirage Islands were almost as hard to complete as they were to find, as they vanished and reappeared periodically.
Similar toUltra SunandUltra Moon, theGen 3 games also featured special events for unique Pokémonlike Deoxys and Jirachi. Players would have to do special tasks to unlock these Pokémon, such as receive an Aurora Ticket from visiting a local game store to get to the Island where Deoxys spawns. Other Legendary Pokémon were a pain to get as well, including the Regi trio, who notoriously had their tombs locked behind instructions written in brail.
Some Pokémon in Gen 3 games required connections to other titles from completely different platforms. For example, Jirachi could only be obtained inPokémon Emeraldwhen you trade it from thePokémon ColosseumBonus Disc, an event exclusive to the GameCube title.
Although the worlds ofRuby,Sapphire, andEmeraldwere much smaller than what they would become in theirAlpha RubyandAlpha Sapphireremakes, the amount of obscure secrets were absurd for the time. Even now, unless you have a way to trade Pokémon across each Gen 3 game and theFireRedorLeafGreenremakes, the Pokédex cannot be completed 100% no matter how hard you try.
1Pokémon Diamond & Pearl
The First Online Experiments Are Almost Non-Existent Now
Out of anyPokémongame, there are none that are harder to 100% thanPokémon DiamondorPearl, the first titles from Gen 4.These games have the most egregious examples of Pokémon exclusivitybetween both versions, with nearly half the Pokédex being locked to what version of the game you have. With four different regions' worth of Pokémon in those collections, it is easily one of the most difficult rosters of Pokémon to finish.
WhilePokémon Platinummade it far easier to get exclusive Pokémon,DiamondandPearlhad obscure Pokémonthat were still extremely hard to find.With the introduction of online systems in these Nintendo DS games, players had to engage with online featuresto encounter specific Pokémon. The biggest example of this is Spiritomb, who you only face when you interact with 32 different people in the Grand Underground, an online labyrinth for collecting resources.
Another Pokémon that was hard to get inPokémon DiamondorPearlwas Regigigas, who could only be found as a statue. To awaken this Legendary, you needed to port the original Regi trio from GameBoy Advance Gen 3 save files, catch them in-game, then have them on your team when interacting with the Regigigas statue.
This Underground area is where you could find Stone items and fossils, but interacting with another player depended on your online region.Unless you directly knew someone else with a DS, it was hard to find people who would actually interactwith your character. Nowadays, with little online support for these titles, you’re better off just playingPlatinumwhere there might be a small chance for some players to appear.
This all combines with deep postgame content, which restricts many Legendary Pokémon under very specific circumstances. One of the most common ways I remember bypassing the restrictions of this game was through an Action Replay, an external device that activated cheats. This third-party device was almost necessary to 100% both titles, making bothDiamondandPearlthe hardestPokémongames to complete without question.
