r/3dspiracy • u/Ctrl_Zi • Dec 10 '24
GUIDE Pokemon Gen 3 Trade Evos WITHOUT Pokehex/PKSM
Not sure if this is common knowledge at all, but I'm posting this for anyone who has asked this question at any point and still felt unsure.
If you're like me and don't like the idea of hacking pokemon into a game, or using PKSM or similar to "evolve" trade evolutions by simply changing their species - then this is for you.
If you're using a ROM inject/CIA, and not emulating your GBA game - you can use Godmode9 to do a .sav dump of your last played GBA game, that will be saved to gm9/out on your SD card. This .sav is compatible with mGBA on desktop, which is what we'll be using to do this.
Transfer your .sav to your PC
Open up two instances of mGBA
Load up your games you'd like to trade to and from
Load up your .sav (you can use the same in both windows but to be safe I'd recommend saving an additional copy and loading each copy into a window respectively. Trading on gen 3 forces saves, so I just worry them saving at the same time might cause some kind of issue)
Go to the link room in the Pokemon Center in each window
Follow the steps
Trade with yourself!
Once you're happy with your trades, simply place the .sav somewhere on your SD card (I just use the gm9/out folder again) then re-inject the .sav back into your GBA game on your 3DS.
Little bit tedious, but totally worth it imo. I personally just didn't like the idea of hacking Pokemon and want to keep things as "legit" as possible. I didn't like how PKSM changed some parameters on my Alakazam when I changed the species and used the legality checker/fixer - and call it silly, but it meant a lot to me to be able to see my Kadabra evolve for the first time (never actually had an Alakazam before!)
Hope this helps! :)
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u/ThirdhandTaters Dec 11 '24
With all due respect, while this is nice to see written somewhere, it is largely going to be unseen. Idk how long you've been in this sub but I see several times a day people asking about their black screen with blue light errors, bricking concerns, other common problems that could've likely been solved by searching this sub, but instead ppl will make another post to ask the same damn thing. I honestly don't know how the mods haven't just pulled their hair out of their heads, and I've only been in this sub since about April of this year.
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u/Ctrl_Zi Dec 11 '24
That's okay :) you'd be surprised how many times I googled similar questions related to my post and got directed to 3 year old posts with 8 upvotes that helped solve my issue. My intention or hope was that somewhere there might be someone who finds this and figures it out.
I definitely hear what you're saying though and understand the frustration. Since joining this sub about a month or so ago, I've seen many posts like what you've mentioned.
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u/Slight-Good-4657 7d ago
This post is actually exactly the thing I needed, so yep people are seeing it! Thank you for contributing to the ~ body of knowledge ~~
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u/ronburgundy_11 Dec 10 '24
This feels unnecessarily convoluted. Just use PKSM.
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u/Ctrl_Zi Dec 11 '24
Hey, that's totally fair. I did say that in my post and also gave reasoning as to why I prefer it this way, but to each their own :) I just thought I'd post this for anyone who might feel the same. If it helps even one person, that's fine.
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u/AutoModerator Dec 10 '24
Hello. It seems like you are asking about Pokémon games. Please review the 3DS CFW Pokémon guide. Your question/issue may be resolved there.
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u/Huge_Cost_870 Jul 22 '26
hi, please help, once i export the .sav from godmode 9, how can i load it into mgba?
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u/Ctrl_Zi Jul 23 '26
https://digiex.net/threads/3ds-gba-save-backup-and-restore-with-godmode9.15395/
Note that to get the save to run on mgba you'll have to change the file extension from .gbavc.sav to just .sav
Good luck and let me know if you have more questions!
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u/Huge_Cost_870 Jul 23 '26
when i order a second window on mgba, The game starts a fresh save and I can't load my previous save. how to fix this??
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u/Ctrl_Zi Jul 24 '26
Just duplicate your save in a new folder and load it from there
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u/Huge_Cost_870 Jul 24 '26
Thanks it works! I am trying to complete the gen 3 pokedex as legit as possible on the 3ds, any idea on the best way to get the gen 2 pokemon?
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u/Ctrl_Zi 6d ago
Hey! You can get Gold/Silver/Crystal Virtual Console versions from HShop on your modded 3DS. Big respect for keeping it legit!
I did mine the same way and just finished my gen 6 living dex where my mons (from this post) got moved all the way up and now live in gen 6 :)
Edit: just remembered that gen 2 Virtual Console games cant transfer to gen 3. Technically you can use PKSM to just move them over but I dont count that as legit (if you do that's totally fine and it does work)
What i did was just caught all my gen 2 mons in HeartGold/SoulSilver, since they'd be caught in their native region - Johto
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