6th Gen Backwards Compatible?

[YoshiMoshi]

Right now I am at a stall in continuing to play my current Pokemon games or if I should continue playing Pokmeon games. As of right now Pokemon X and Y is not backwards compatible with Generation 3-5 games. They are working on trying to make it so but as of right now the games are not. Until the announcement that it is or isn't, I'm not really sure what to do or if I should preorder the game or not. This wouldn't be the first time this has happened. Pokemon in generation 1 and 2 games couldn't be transferred to generation 3 or later generation games. There have been many games since this has happened previously:

Pokemon Ruby - 2002
Pokemon Sapphire - 2002
Pokemon Channel - 2003 - Gave you Jirachi
Pokemon Colosseum - 2004
Pokemon Colosseum Bonus Disc - 2004 - Gave you Jirachi
Pokémon Box: Ruby and Sapphire - 2004 - Gave you some pokemon with special moves
Pokemon Fire Red - 2004
Pokemon Leaf Green - 2004
Pokemon Emerald - 2005
Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness - 2005
Pokemon Diamond - 2007
Pokemon Pearl - 2007
Pokemon Battle Revolution - 2007 - Gave you Pikachu with special moves
Pokemon Platinum - 2008
Pokemon Ranger - 2008 - Gave you Manaphy
Pokemon HeartGold - 2010
Pokemon SoulSilver - 2010
Pokemon Black - 2011
Pokemon White - 2011
Pokemon Black 2 - 2012
Pokemon White 2 - 2012

I'm not really sure what it would be like to get a fresh start. I mean eventually it's going to happen, as far as portable nintendo systems is very far behind technology wise from the PS4. I do assume eventually technology of portable systems will catch up and be more advanced.

What are your thoughts on these games possibly not being backwards compatible with all of your other pokemon games???

 

[Perriechu]

I think there'll be a 'Pal Park' like feature so don't worry tbh. All you'll have to do is get all your current Pokemon up to BW/BW2.

If not, then, fresh start it is. It would suck though if there was no way of getting Pokemon onto them. :(

 

[blue]

Now that the newest Generation has moved onto the 3DS, the GBA titles (RSEFRLG) are now incompatible with Pokémon X and Y. Sure you can transfer to HGSS/DPPT etc however you would need both a Nintendo DS and a Nintendo 3DS which is making matters much more complicated. Like I stated we had the same situation not so long ago when GBC games were incompatible with the DS Lite Handhelds. Although I don't see any problems transfering from Gen IV or Gen V, a simple addition of a feature such as Pal Park will solve this.

 

[YoshiMoshi]

But how could you have a palpark on the 3ds? Isn't there only one game slot on the 3DS?

Also you are right about that. I haven't realized that. In order to transfer from your GBA games you would need a Nintendo DS, Pokemon Diamond or Pearl or Platinum and transfer using Pal Park. You would then need to get it off Pearl Diamond or Platinum onto X or Y, which I still don't see how it can even be done. You would need to do 3 transfers. You would need a GBA, a NDS, a N3DS, your GBA Pokemon cartridge, a Pearl/Diamond/Platinum cartridge, and a X/Y cartridge, which seems like to much of a hassle.

 

[JP]

I wouldn't solely base your decision to preorder on the fact that you may not be able to transfer. The fact that they've announced that they're actively working on a way to transfer should leave you a bit less worried that you won't be able to. I think that just because you can't transfer doesn't mean you shouldn't want to experience a new generation of games, even though I think it's unlikely that you won't be able to transfer your Pokemon.

 

[YoshiMoshi]

How would you transfer though? I don't see how it's even going to be possible.

 

[JP]

How would you transfer though? I don't see how it's even going to be possible.

The general speculation is that you'll download an app through their 3DS market system, and you'll be able to drop your trades in that and be able to pick them back up in the new games; or something to that idea.

Like I said though, I wouldn't worry too too much about it. They're looking for a way to do this, and I think it's a safe bet we'll be able to transfer.

 

[Perriechu]

How would you transfer though? I don't see how it's even going to be possible.

It'd just be like the Poketransfer from Black and White where you need 2 Ds systems. Most people will probably have a normal Ds and a 3DS anyway, and if you don't you could always ask a friend, I guess if you can't do that you're out of luck. :( (This is all if you can connect a 3DS with a Ds, idk if you can lmao)

But I agree with JP; don't base your decision on whether or not to get the game simply on the fact that we may or may not be able to transfer.

 

[WolfMirage]

dont worry about im sure that even if they cant do some kinda tranfer thing, they will be sure 2 load up the new dreamworld with all the older gen pokes or all the older pokes will be become available after u beat the elite 4 and champion. i highly doubt that gf would just cut off all the older gen pokes

 

[The Local Joke]

The app concept seems incredibly likely.

 

[WishCookie]

Ehm, Ruby and Sapphire were released 2003 if you don't count with the Japanese release.

 

[Keiran]

Pokemon are just bits of data. There is no reason to worry that Gamefreak wouldn't be able to figure out something so trivial. .pkm files can be shifted across a gts-like server regardless of what system you're using (as long as it has access to wifi) already. Pal Park was only necessary because gen 3 wasn't wifi compatible. A new Poketransfer or app will most definitely be added.

 

[Slowking]

if i may add something, we couldn't send pokémons from RBY/SGC to ruby/sapphire because in 1st and 2nd generation the IV/EV system was different, there weren't any abilities/natures, that's why we had to start from scratch

the only thing is when there is a new generation is that we can't send any pokémon from a previous generation to the new generation at the beginning of the game, but when a new game is released from the same generation (like emerald/black2/platinum) we CAN send in the beginning from another game from the same generation, meaning you could 'prepare' a team

 

[Xander Olivieri]

Now that the newest Generation has moved onto the 3DS, the GBA titles (RSEFRLG) are now incompatible with Pokémon X and Y. Sure you can transfer to HGSS/DPPT etc however you would need both a Nintendo DS and a Nintendo 3DS which is making matters much more complicated. Like I stated we had the same situation not so long ago when GBC games were incompatible with the DS Lite Handhelds. Although I don't see any problems transfering from Gen IV or Gen V, a simple addition of a feature such as Pal Park will solve this.

If 6th Gen can link up with 5th Gen, then 3rd gen is still compatible with 6th. You have to trickle down the stream, but it is still compatible. Until the games can't touch old games, they'll all forever be compatible with one another.

Its not really any more complicated as anything else electronic, a lot of transfers work the same way on an everyday standard. Though it doesn't really have anything to do with the discussion.

For you: YoshiMoshi, don't stop playing. Just continue on with your Pokemon. The only way to waste time is to feel as if you have truly wasted the time. So long as what you do has meaning to you, its not a waste even if you cannot transfer to the new games. I don't feel like the time I spent playing RBYGSC were wasted just because Gen 3 couldn't connect with them, so I won't feel as if my time were wasted if X and Y cannot connect. I'm still trying to complete my Pokedex on Black and Black 2. I plan to attempt it on two of my 4th Gen titles as well since they are the only ones with GTS.

 

[YoshiMoshi]

So your thinking of a system like...

Download a application onto your 3DS
launch the application
Insert a Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Black, White, Black 2, White 2 cartridge
Some how the application reads the cartridge and is able to access your PC
select which pokemon you want to transfer to X or Y
Store the information on the 3DS
eject the cartridge
insert x or y
play the game

Seems like it could work?

 

[Xander Olivieri]

So your thinking of a system like...

Download a application onto your 3DS
launch the application
Insert a Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Black, White, Black 2, White 2 cartridge
Some how the application reads the cartridge and is able to access your PC
select which pokemon you want to transfer to X or Y
Store the information on the 3DS
eject the cartridge
insert x or y
play the game

Seems like it could work?

It'll only go up to Fifth Gen games so Black, White, Black 2, White 2. Pokemon back track 1 generation for transfer. Since 5 transfers from 4, 6 will transfer from 5.

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

I'll like it if the games could transfer directly from 4 so if anyone has gen III Pokémon they would like to transfer which they haven't already they can just send them to IV and skip over V for less of a hassle. Of course GF proably will assume most current players started in the recent additions like they usually do aka the kids.

 

[YoshiMoshi]

If it would work for Black, White, Black 2, White 2, then why not Platinum, Diamond or Pearl? If it's just a matter of sticking a DS cartridge into a 3DS running some downloadable standalone application onto a 3DS, booting the application... then why not any pokemon ds cartridge?

 

[Keiran]

We'll just have to wait and see what they announce. We don't know if its gonna be 5->6 only.

 

[Deokishisu]

For those going "Why wouldn't our theoretical app work for the Gen 4 games too?" We're not sure if the 3DS can even interact with those game cards the same way it can interact with Black2 and White2. I mean, B2/W2 can receive data from the Pokemon Dream Radar, and the Dream Radar can presumably read data from B2/W2 (it does this to check if there's room to send more Pokemon/items or if a set of Pokemon/items hasn't been claimed yet). In fact, we're not even sure if the 3DS apps can interact with Black/White, as we don't have apps that do anything with those two.

Even then, B2/W2 could be set up in such a way that ONLY data in the area where Dream Radar data is stored can be accessed by a 3DS app, which would be why they're having difficulty with backwards compatibility (which I haven't heard ANYTHING mentioned at all about before the OP's post, btw. A source would be nice.)

Rest assured, because 3DS games can be updated, if X and Y don't launch with backwards compatibility, it can be added on in the future.