4th Gen The Dongle's in the Details

[Saronai]

Hello! I'm working on completing my national pokedex in Pearl before moving on to the newer games. I saw all the details on Bulbapedia about the Dongle or "dual-slot" method. I'm wondering if anyone's done this before?

In pearl, I have unlocked the extended pokedex and pal park. However, in my son's ruby, and husband's sapphire and fire red, they are not through the game yet (so I can't just migrate the one pokemon I need from each of those games).

I started with my son's Ruby game, which doesn't always work. After 50 fights, I didn't encounter any Zangoose. I had better luck with porygons in the garden (which are a lower encounter rate). Then, I realized it could be because I was playing Pearl in my 3DS up until that point. So, I've been playing on my much smaller, regular DS off-and-on (not removing it) for a day and a half. I'm still not encountering the Zangoose on route 208.

I don't mind the low encounter rate, I just wish there were some way of knowing that it's "working."

So, has anyone done the dual-slot method? Did you need to be at a particular point in the GBA game? Do both games need to be invisibly hooked to the DS in question? I know, before I could migrate pokemon to my son's diamond game from my emerald, I had to wait the 24 hours for his diamond to accept my DS first (it was linked to his).

Again, I have all the details on Bulbapedia, just hoping for someone with direct experience using the dual-slot method.

Thanks!

 

[Sonikkts]

It may be because your GBA cartridges are bootleg. I had this with a Fire Red copy I had. I've since bought an official one.

There's no time in which you can make them appear faster. Try using the PokéRadar however, and looking for the shiny (Not shiny) grass which indicates a rarer Pokémon is in there.

I've completed Diamond and Platinum by using the Dual Slot method, it's fun.

 

[Necrum]

You should try Pal Parking a few crappy Pokemon that your son doesn't need in Ruby just to make sure it is connecting to the game. In fact, just seeing if you can access the game in Pal Park will tell you, even if you don't move the Pokemon. If it's not connecting then you either have a bootleg Ruby, or there's a connection error in either the cart or the slot 2.

 

[Saronai]

Thanks, I've gotten ahold of everything but an elekid using other methods. None of the copies are bootleg, they're all official, purchased at Gamestop, look exactly like they're supposed to.

So, pokeradar works to call up your dual-slot pokemon then? I wasn't sure if that would cut out my chances of finding it completely so I wasn't using it.

As for the fire red that I need elekid (seems no other way to get this one without a pokewalker and trade backward to Pearl *sigh* my son lost his...maybe my husband will let me snag his instead...provided it's not also lost. Nintendo.com doesn't seem to be selling replacements anymore and $35 on Amazon is too much) from, it's my husband's game, he's not interested in going much further for a long while, and I believe you have to beat the game to begin migration? Can I even access fire red pokemon in Pearl through pal park? I figured that one would have to be dual-slot mode only?

Thanks again for elaborating on this method!

 

[Saronai]

Okay, so, despite buying these copies at Gamestop and having them look really official, only Sapphire and Emerald are real versions while the two I was actually trying the Dongle method on are convincing pirates. I had to look online for tons of examples of pirates before I could spot anything. The dead give-away, however, is that both versions I tried Dongle on have a version of that blue screen telling you whether or not your save file is okay.

I simply thought that those were the mark of older pokemon games or something since I got a legit Emerald copy, which I assumed was a bit newer than sapphire and ruby, since it's supposed to be a combination of the two.

So yeah, I'm gonna go with the Dongle method probably does not work when the GBA is a pirate. I'd test this out with my Emerald cartridge, but I don't need any Emerald pokemon. The only pokemon I need are on the two GBAs that just happened to both be convincing pirates *sigh*

Well, I'd rather spend the ~$35 on a legit fire red than a pokewalker. Thanks anyway for the responses everyone!

 

[Nattytash]

You should try Pal Parking a few crappy Pokemon that your son doesn't need in Ruby just to make sure it is connecting to the game. In fact, just seeing if you can access the game in Pal Park will tell you, even if you don't move the Pokemon. If it's not connecting then you either have a bootleg Ruby, or there's a connection error in either the cart or the slot 2.

Hey everyone, I don't know if this thread is still active but talking about pal park and the dongle method for Pokemon Pearl, is it still possible to do it if you have a legit gba game, if so how do I make the migrate from "game" option to come up. I bought a fire red which was bootlegged so sent it back and got full money back and going to make sure I get 100% legit one. But do I need to complete it first for it to come up. Or can I just put it in and start searching for growlithe despite it being many years later. I don't know who else to ask so I thought I'd come here.

 

[Nah]

Hey everyone, I don't know if this thread is still active but talking about pal park and the dongle method for Pokemon Pearl, is it still possible to do it if you have a legit gba game, if so how do I make the migrate from "game" option to come up. I bought a fire red which was bootlegged so sent it back and got full money back and going to make sure I get 100% legit one. But do I need to complete it first for it to come up. Or can I just put it in and start searching for growlithe despite it being many years later. I don't know who else to ask so I thought I'd come here.

We're somewhat lenient around here in regards to bumping old threads, but there are limits, and threads nearly as old as my account are one of the places I'd draw the line, so I'll lock this thread. It's ok to make a new thread if the closest existing thread is old.

To answer you question though, in order to be able to migrate or use the dual slot/dongle method, you have to obtain the National PokeDex first, which usually requires you to go all the way through the main story/become the Champion.