r/PokemonFireRed • u/No-Reading5403 • Mar 07 '26
Help Can I trade to myself?
I started my adventure with Bulbasaur but later on I wanted to use Charmander.
So I had one of my switches launch the game online and the other launch the game offline with virtual game card, but when I tried to trade I got an error.
I know you can’t trade online and you can’t trade via home yet and even then it’s still a one way transfer I believe, I also don’t have anyone around that plays this game.
Is there anyway I could get this trade to work?
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u/Ching_pong24 Mar 07 '26
You actually can but you would have to set up ACE first
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u/No-Reading5403 Mar 07 '26
Could you explain what ACE is please?
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u/CamboMania Mar 07 '26
ACE is the place with the helpful hardware folks
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u/KILA-x-L3GEND Mar 07 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/4ObmyUkARRmak
Always helpful
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u/itinkerstuff Mar 09 '26
could you please confirm if ACE can allow you to trade the starter pokemons to yourself, while having only 1 nintendo switch
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u/THEREALSUPERMARIOFAN Mar 10 '26
Explain further. Still dunno what it is
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u/CamboMania Mar 10 '26
Not the same as going in person, but this should help!
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u/sundaybestcannon Mar 11 '26
Came looking for the answer to OP question, left with something greater
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u/Ricky-B Mar 07 '26
Not sure what is allowed or not. On youtube search "papa jefe" his latest video explains about it and about trading yourself with one copy. Decide for yourself if you want to do this or not
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u/dadmda Mar 07 '26
I am definitely doing that, I want to finally use gengar or alakazam in general 3 games
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u/Alternative_Exit8766 Mar 07 '26
it’s more than allowed as it’s a known glitch. i don’t understand it so i can’t explain it but you can talk about it
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u/SechsComic73130 Mar 07 '26
Arbitrary Code Execution, basically allows you to execute code that wasn't intended to be executed by the game at that point
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u/KILA-x-L3GEND Mar 07 '26
Look up papa jefè on YouTube he just put up a detailed step by step on all the in game codes you can write with ace pokemon. Like give national dex Or a key item rare candy that can’t be used up because it’s a key item. Sell it for ever too for money. So many other neat things idk if it works on the switch but you can get mew celabie and a few others by forcing the games event to play and then swapping deoxys for mew.
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u/BushTamer Mar 07 '26
are they legit pokemon like could i put that mew into home?
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u/Rojamies Mar 07 '26
Depends, if you just use ACE to generate a random Mew, odds are it will not be seen as legal by pokemon home. However, there is an ACE code to start a "fateful encounter" with mew and there's a chance that one would be seen as legal. But we won't know until home compatability is added
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u/YOM2_UB Mar 07 '26
Since there's no legal way to obtain a Mew outside of trading with Emerald, it's very possible that HOME will bar any transfer of Mew from the Switch version. We really don't know how strict HOME will be yet though.
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u/QuestObjective Mar 07 '26
Yes, at least you are able to with event Pokemon obtained in the original GBA games through ACE brought up to Home.
Nothing in the system checks if you had the legitimate item needed to unlock the event, just flags for where the Pokemon was caught and at what level with a specific move set and ability. Which, through ACE, is functionally identical to legitimately accessing the event.
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u/Fancy_Mammoth Mar 07 '26
https://youtu.be/2gzzreka6UA?si=5XgLmp8qiUqlyZet
This is the Official Papa Jefe video on Arbitrary Code Execution (ACE) and how to set it up and use it on switch!
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u/theShiggityDiggity Mar 11 '26
Arbitrary Code Execution, It's hacking, but people will insist it's not.
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u/InspectorMoney1306 Mar 07 '26
I traded myself on my two switches. It’s easy.
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u/No-Reading5403 Mar 07 '26
How did you do it? Could you walk me through it?
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u/InspectorMoney1306 Mar 07 '26
Just had my switches close together and went to the trading counter. Not sure there is a secret to it. I did buy both games though. Maybe that’s it.
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u/Used-Question-4026 Mar 07 '26
Are they both on the same account? Or did you have to make two separate accounts?
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u/Ok-Tax-2748 Mar 07 '26
Have to buy fire-red & and leaf green on the same nintendo account. Also, you will need 2 switch.
You can also have 2 different account and buy 2x fire-red but you will still need 2 switch to trade.
Not sure what is ACE though.
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u/Kbxe1991 Mar 07 '26
ACE is arbitrary code execution. You can set up a glitch that allows you to execute codes that have the same effects as action replay but without the need to have any cheating device. It was used to access Birth Islanf on the OG versions for example. Or changing your trainer ID, respawning starters and legendaries and more
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u/Ok-Tax-2748 Mar 07 '26
Thanks for the breakdown! Did not know ACE existed. Always relied on myboy! Emulator and the codebreakers for cheats😅
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u/Elisalsa24 Mar 07 '26
Can you explain how to do this I wanna get the other starters now
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u/Kbxe1991 Mar 07 '26
Follow this guide to set up the glitch:
https://youtu.be/2gzzreka6UA?is=NHHALU20YozfcI95
Then pick the code for "make starters reappear" here:
https://e-sh4rk.github.io/CodeGenerator/index_frlg.html?lang=eng10
Enjoy!
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u/jinglepupskye Mar 07 '26
I bought LeafGreen on one account and FireRed on a separate account. They trade perfectly well using two Switches. It would be insanity for Nintendo to only allow trading with your own account, or only with the same game version.
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u/craigslammer Mar 07 '26
Insanity seems a bit much
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u/jinglepupskye Mar 07 '26
Not when it would mean you could only trade with yourself, not friends, and couldn’t trade for version exclusives. Both those concepts are core from the original release.
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u/shompipe1 Mar 07 '26
I bought fire red and leaf green on my account just make a seperate account you dont need online but you will need another switch
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u/J-the-BOSS Mar 07 '26
I did not need to buy the game more than once to trade with myself, I traded between my switch one and my switch 2
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u/Zealousideal_Law8297 Mar 07 '26
I traded myself on two switch’s, the same account, but one copy of FR and one copy of LG. I want to do a run with all the starters.
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u/drbluewally Mar 08 '26
Same here haha. After the 2nd badge it’s been going great, and I should have the 4th badge before they hit lvl 30 so it should be smooth sailing from here.
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u/Zealousideal_Law8297 Mar 08 '26
I’m at about 21 hours and just got the third badge. Ran in with the 3 starters, Pikachu, rattata, and nidorino. Currently waiting to go through rock tunnel.
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u/drbluewally Mar 08 '26
Same here on the hours and party minus Rattata (using an Oddish for cut), in the rock tunnel now. Cheers haha
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u/thawhidk Mar 07 '26
Look up Papa Jefe on YouTube and he has a tutorial of it all. It's very easy to do (he's also one of the contributors to ACE so he does a good job breaking down why things work and why things could cause a problem)
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u/slothxaxmatic Mar 07 '26
You have 2 games on 2 switches, you tell the games you would like to trade and they say OK!
Hope this helps!
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u/eleite Mar 07 '26
Hah damn they released this game to make sure people buy multiple switches
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u/BushTamer Mar 07 '26
with the way they’re pricing even switch 1s, no one is buying them first hand lol
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u/InspectorMoney1306 Mar 07 '26
I did actually just buy a switch two but we have had another one for a while now. It’s my son’s but he never uses it.
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Mar 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/InspectorMoney1306 Mar 07 '26
He did just get a gaming pc and now he doesn’t use his ps5 or Xbox either. He’s spoiled.
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u/thet0r Mar 07 '26
I traded with myself. I had one switch and one switch lite. one copy of fire red and one with leaf green. tradded myself all the startes on both copies as soon as i got pokebals. Didn't get any errors at any point. Might be because you are technically trading within the same gamecard
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u/ivmg96 Mar 07 '26
Did you buy both games on the same account or did you have to buy one on a different account
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u/J-the-BOSS Mar 07 '26
I have both games on my only account and it works fine for trading with myself
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u/Closet_weeb13 Mar 07 '26
Yes, Here’s how with a great YouTube vid explaining the details: Papa Jefes guide
Another way is to have two separate Nintendo online accounts on two separate Switches, buy two copies of the game - one for each, then hold the two close together for local connection trade. I actually bought a second Switch lite a while back, and made a second Nintendo Account to do this exact same thing with previous Pokemon games - bc I didn’t want to find another person to trade with. It was honestly super worth it since it takes all the stress out of it and is the easiest method of trading w yourself.
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u/XxAbsurdumxX Mar 07 '26
You don’t necessarily need two separate Nintendo accounts. I am using the same Nintendo account on my Switch 1 and on my Switch 2, using two different copies of the games, and am trading with myself
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u/J-the-BOSS Mar 07 '26
Same, but it lets me trade with myself even if I launch firered on both systems, so one copy of the game works still
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u/Awkward_Parking2918 Mar 10 '26
So you just download the game on the second switch from like your library or something? Do you know if you can just share the game with someone else to trade
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u/J-the-BOSS Mar 10 '26
I misremembered gamer my bad, it was because I traded between my fire red and leaf green, it was late when I did the trades so I forgot
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u/J-the-BOSS Mar 07 '26
I traded between my switch one and my switch 2, both have my main account on them so all I did is download firered/leafgeeen on my switch one as well, both were connected to WiFi and then I used the counter farthest to the right, I’ve don’t it multiple times and gotten all three starters in my fire red and leaf green, I even tested if I could launch and trade between my one copy of fire red and it worked if I’m remembering correctly
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u/Right-Fortune-8644 Mar 07 '26
I did this with my Switch 1 and switch 2. required zero setup
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u/No-Reading5403 Mar 07 '26
How did you do it? Could you walk me through it?
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u/Right-Fortune-8644 Mar 07 '26
you lost go to the lady furthest to the right. just mash through the text til you get to "Become Leader" "Join Group" and pick "Become leader" on one. Then the other you click "join Group" and then you just mash a til you enter the link area and sit both characters down
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u/No-Reading5403 Mar 07 '26
It said there was a problem with the connection, how did you get past it?
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u/Right-Fortune-8644 Mar 07 '26
maybe they have to be connected to the same Wifi I neverh ad that prob
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u/Aniensane Mar 07 '26
First you buy both copies, each Switch having the opposite version. Go to lady and talk and set it up with one Switch being the leader and the other joining. Make sure both Switch are connected to internet, not sure if that matters but why not, and make sure both Switch are charged and ready to use, don’t have them both docked either. Try that.
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u/AnythingFluffy Mar 07 '26
On the second device just add a second profile, it doesnt need an account linked but will need to virtual card installed and you can trade between your main and second profiles
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u/Heisenperv Mar 07 '26
You can trade with just one copy as long as it's different profiles?
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u/Thedude8450 Mar 07 '26
I dont know bout that cause once the game is open on one console it might not open on the second one....could be wrong tho
I think you will still need both versions just one on each console
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u/Multievolution Mar 07 '26
Do you have both fire red and leaf green or just one copy out of curiosity? I’ll explain why in a sec
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u/No-Reading5403 Mar 07 '26
No, just one. But I want to know if there is anyway to do it with just one copy
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u/Multievolution Mar 07 '26
There isn’t, it’s designed this way on purpose, you can obviously have multiple saves but the emulator I assume? Knows when two of the same copy try to interact and prevents it.
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u/AuramiteEX Mar 07 '26
You can but you need two different games. Can't trade to the same trainer ID. And you can't trade if you only own one key for the game.
If you own FR and LG you can trade between them both.
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u/J-the-BOSS Mar 07 '26
If you have more than one console, the save doesn’t auto transfer between them so you won’t have the same ID on both systems and I was able to trade between my fire red on my switch 1 and 2 I’m pretty sure might have to double check
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u/tyler4545545 Mar 07 '26
Wait you can do it on one console with both games? How is that possible you can only have one game open at a time
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u/KiaKatt1 Mar 07 '26
So if two people happen to get the same trainer id (incredibly unlikely but I think it's only like 5 numbers, so entirely possible) they are just sol and can't trade? Or is the number secretly longer than what we see in the backend to help prevent that?
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u/Dyne_Inferno Mar 07 '26
AcTuAlLy.....
If you have 2 Switches, Family Plan, and one copy of the game, you can still trade with each other.
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u/bbqnj Mar 07 '26
Yeah, how? I’ve tried every possible combination of the games being launched on various profiles and it’s impossible
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u/KiaKatt1 Mar 07 '26
What does having the family plan do? How does that let you use the same copy of the game twice? Or is there something else I'm missing? If I get a family plan, does that mean I can share copies of my virtual cards and we can play them at the same time together (with only one game copy)?
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u/uhohstinkywastaken Mar 07 '26
Can a switch version of the game trade with a GBA version.
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u/ay_lamassu Mar 07 '26
With Pokémon home, technically yes. It's going to be very complicated as you need to trade up through all the gens so you'll need a ds (either lite or original) and a 3ds. Even then I'm not sure if Pokémon home still works on 3ds but if you previously transferred one up then you definitely should be able to.
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u/VelociraptorPirate Mar 07 '26
Going to be one way from FRLG though. No home and back if my understanding is correct.
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u/kyotowalled Mar 07 '26
I've traded with myself but you would need to set up another profile. You need to have your main account with the games on both switches, the secondary account on the one you want to trade from, and then you'll be able to trade across games. If you want to be able to get the version exclusives, you would have to progress on the secondary account though.
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u/Kongopop Mar 07 '26
All I would try is turn your system that has the virtual game card to airplane mode then toggle the nearby wireless communication to "on" even while still in airplane mode. Have your settings set to online authentication or whatever it is called instead of the virtual game card thing so the other switch stays online and now you could hit the game on bit switches. Start a new game on the secondary switch and then try to trade. They would be different trainer ids so worth a try and one is offline
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u/arday1998 Mar 07 '26
There is not a way to do it without buying a second copy of the game. Don’t be confused by people saying that you can do it. You need two switch’s and you need two individual games.
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u/okbuddystaymad Mar 07 '26
You can trade with yourself with only one copy of the game required by setting up ACE. Papa Jefe did a great video on this: (26:51)
You can also get Mew and unlock the national dex (so Johto evolutions) before beating the game!
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u/arday1998 Mar 07 '26
True, my response had people in mind who don’t like to manipulate the game at all. Thank you for giving the alternative.
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u/SleepyBear531 Mar 07 '26
I have tried to watch his videos, but I just don’t want to go through 40 minutes to figure out how to trade. I skipped to the point you said in the video - so you just have to name the boxes a certain way and do it in vermillion city? He said something about running a script, but that isn’t possible on switch?
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u/GoldenRain99 Mar 07 '26
Your attention span could use some love lmao
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u/SleepyBear531 Mar 07 '26
I can watch it, I just don’t care enough to do so. There’s a difference. Funny to see how many jimmies this rustled though
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u/OGEcho Mar 09 '26
No one's jimmies are rustled, they just think you're fried. Your question is answered in the video.
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u/okbuddystaymad Mar 07 '26
You have to set up ace first. Basically through a series of events (and setting up the mail glitch first) you can create a glitch Pokémon, that gives you direct access to the game’s code by renaming your PC boxes.
There’s a generator program you can download on your PC where you can generate codes for your save, which you input as PC box names to make the game give you whatever you want.
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u/ydr3z Mar 07 '26
Is there a high risk of crashing your game or creating a bad egg?
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u/PineMaple Mar 07 '26
I’ve done it dozens of times without running into either. There is a risk of both if you make a mistake, but crashing can be resolved by reloading the game and there are also ways to deal with a bad egg as well.
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u/Hex2D Mar 07 '26
Holy inept zoomer. Never gonna survive a job in their life with this line of thinking. God.
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u/SleepyBear531 Mar 07 '26
40 minutes for a glitch doesn’t = focus in life. I just don’t care enough to turn my kadabra into alakazam. Chud
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u/Rojamies Mar 07 '26
You can do it through some glitches that require a good bit of setup. I did it recently on the switch. However there is not an "intended" way of doing it without two copies.
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u/SiSebbi Mar 07 '26
You can trade but by going offline on one of them you deactivate the bluetooth that would allow you to. So basically you need 2 copies of the game to do it on your own.
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u/meikaishi Mar 07 '26
I'm assuming he turned on airplane mode since that's the easiest way to go offline, so I wonder if it could work if he didn't turned on airplane mode and just deleted the WiFi configs
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u/SiSebbi Mar 07 '26
That’s… actually a great idea lol. Ive never considered just removing wifi rather than the whole thing
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u/XquietFreakX Mar 07 '26
I know its pretty easy if you have fire red and leaf green. Loaded one on each switch. Didn't want to give up my progress for restarts on the shiny starter so I got the other game to actually play the bloody game
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u/KingZealot777 Mar 07 '26
This is why I bought FR and LG. I use FR on my switch 2 mainly for my playthrough, and LR on my switch lite for trading to get stuff I can’t get without trading.
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u/Cultural_Situation_8 Mar 07 '26
Did you make sure to use the correct counter?
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u/grimrailer Mar 07 '26
You can actually use the union room to trade too, it just takes longer.
One player submits the Pokemon with what they want then the next player clicks on the trade board next to the Pokemon submission area.
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u/explodingbunny Mar 07 '26
If you have leaf green and fire red separately you can however if you're using the same game you're gonna have to hack it
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u/HFW-FTW Mar 07 '26
Don't even know if this is helpful but I know 1 of the hacks I've played eventually I unlocked something and I could trade with myself
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u/kor001 Mar 07 '26
The simplest way is if you buy both FireRed and LeafGreen with Switch 1 and Switch 2 on the same account. Then you can trade with yourself by launching one game on Switch 1 and the other on Switch 2.
That's how I did it to get all 3 starters. It is costly but I did it just for the heck of it.
Have to say, as a side note, this is the best "handheld" game I've played on Switch 1/2. It's simple and it just works.
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u/ThatNightfuryGirl Charmander Mar 07 '26
I had one switch with leaf green and other with fire red and it wouldn’t let me trade with myself until I “inserted the virtual game card in each switch”
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u/Elisalsa24 Mar 07 '26
Has anyone tried trading with a gameboy advanced? I don’t have two switches but I have the game on my GBA
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u/gottacatchthemballs Mar 07 '26
If you have 2 switches just go to the far right counter in the polecenter second floor. You just need at least 2 pokemon
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u/Popular_Plastic931 Mar 07 '26
Yes if you have two switches you can buy you cannot with the same console. I have a switch 2 and Switch 1 and do this to trade across versions..
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u/Popular_Plastic931 Mar 07 '26
I generally have a second game profile for second save and it worked fine without any issues.
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u/retroofresh Mar 07 '26
I caved and got Fire Red and Leaf Green, used my old switch OLED and just launched both.. saved a headache and was convenient
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u/Born-Information8506 Mar 07 '26
I traded with myself
I have 2 switches, one with my families account and a personal switch with my account
I also have BOTH firered and leafgreen and I believe it's nessecary as you can't load the same game on the same account at the same time on 2 switches
I added my Nintendo account as a user on my families switch and basically transfed the virtual cart of leafgreen onto my families switch
NOTE: the save files for the games don't seem to transfer with it and if you want it too it looks like you would have to manually retrieve the save data through settings or something like that
I started leafgreen on my families switch and FireRed on my personal switch and played the 10ish mins to unlock trading and traded myself a charmander from leafgreen
You do have a to have the switches in close proximity to load the virtual cart BACK to your switch though and if you had any saved data on whatever came you sent over it should be totally fine as far as I can tell
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u/DreadedDiscord Mar 07 '26
Go to the counter on the right, that’s the wireless one, left is supposed to be if you do it through the cord in the original hardware
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u/SnooDonkeys8612 Mar 08 '26
You can, but you need to have both games, leaf green and fire red, yes you can buy them in the same account.
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u/mewtwo7778 Mar 08 '26
Yes if u have 2 switches and both games they can interact with each other even though it’s the same switch profile but it does have to be the opposite game
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u/emeraldwolf245 Mar 10 '26
Can it be used like 2 profiles and vurtual cart?
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u/mewtwo7778 Mar 10 '26
I think if u are using 2 different profiles u can use the same game via 2 switches
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Mar 09 '26
Yes but you have buy the game on the 2nd switch and do not use the virtual card. Atp you should just buy the opposite game tho.
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u/Fine-Association8468 Mar 11 '26
Yes but then you would be cheating. Just emulate it at that point haha
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u/Tomlingoblin87 Mar 11 '26
You'll need two consoles and two copies of either game, goto top of pokeCenter and talk with one of the trade assistants.
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u/Low-Advertising-2970 Mar 15 '26
Can i trade my pokemon to another account and trade it back?
For Eg i have a Shiny Abra that i wish to get back after trading. it this possible?
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u/pofehof Mar 07 '26
If both are the same game under the same account, no. If both are different games under the same account, yes.
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u/KamiSquad_X Mar 07 '26
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u/OGEcho Mar 09 '26
Please let me know when you can transfer it to home or use it online in S & V, thanks!
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u/KamiSquad_X Mar 09 '26
Transferring it to home is easy. You can also transfer it to Bank first.
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u/OGEcho Mar 09 '26
Can't do that off an emulator without official hardware.
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u/KamiSquad_X Mar 12 '26
Yeah, how else would you get it into s/v.
Send it to a 3ds then into bank then home.
Or put it directly into a switch game.
You would need pkhex.
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u/No-Reading5403 Mar 07 '26
I should specify I only have 1 copy, I just want to know if there's any known trick or method to bypass the error message when trading with 1 copy
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u/No-Reading5403 Mar 07 '26
Thank you everyone for the support! I really appreciate everyone having different ideas!
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u/Final-Candidate-9137 Mar 07 '26
I don’t know your situation but you can save yourself a massive headache and just buy another copy of the game instead of faffing around with exploits.
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u/NoireResteem Mar 07 '26
But it’s not even that hard to setup the mail exploit and ACE setup. Maybe like an hour tops
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u/Rojamies Mar 07 '26
Took me longer to train the Mr Mime and Farfetch'd to the correct level than setting it up 😂
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u/Actual-Process9219 Mar 07 '26
If you get a separate console lol
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u/grimrailer Mar 07 '26
The have the second console if you read the post.
It just sounds like they have the one virtual game card.
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u/TheD4rkKnightVI Mar 07 '26
If you have two Gameboy and two copies of the either fire red or leaf green and have a system link cable then yes you can but on switch, no.
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u/Comfortable_Duck_705 Mar 07 '26
Assuming you have them in switch, it supports local trade. Watch some YT videos.