The gens before wireless trading

[Palamon]

Aka gens 1-3, did you trade with other people before wirelessly trading? Did you have a link cable as a kid, at all and did you trade with people w/said link cable plugged in? What was it like? I didn't play Pokemon until that era had come and gone. so, I'm curious.

 

[Starlight]

Still got my link cable!

I only really traded with my other half, and only for evolution purposes. I like to have and use pokemon where I am the OT.

It worked quite well, considering the technology. The connection was solid and we never really had any issues. It was just sooooo slow.

I remember getting an updated, super duper, cable at one point. I can't remember what that was for, probably the GBA. I still have that too somewhere.

The wireless adapters were a breath of fresh air, I remember being so excited by them, but the link cable has some amazing nostalgia attached to it :)

 

[Sheep]

I traded with friends in school! But still couldn't figure out a lot of the evolutions. Found someone during a flight when I was like 10 that had a lv. 90s Porygon2 and wondered how the heck he got that lol. Took me until Kalos to get a stable wifi connection, when I could finally take advantage of all the distance trades. :D

 

[fir3princ3ss]

I had a link cable and used it all the time! My sister and I would each ask for a different version for that generation of Pokemon so we could trade the exclusive ones. I don't remember having any issues with using it. Never found anyone outside of my sister to trade with though. Eventually she lost interest, and I'd use it to trade between myself using her Gameboy haha I'm pretty sure I have the cord around here somewhere too. I even still have my Gameboy Color right inside my desk drawer. I like to keep it around in case I want to play Yellow or Crystal.

 

[Bellsprout]

I knew one person who had a link cable and used it to trade between gen 1 and gen 2 games. Also gen 3 had come out with these adapters that you could attach to your gameboy advance. I believe they actually came with copies of firered and leafgreen. I remember using those to trade from time to time.

 

[Megan]

I still have mine somewhere. I remember the first time I wanted to trade. We wanted to evolve a Graveler and a Machoke. Unfortunately the batteries of my Gameboy were low so the trade didn't happen. Most trading later on happened between my own cartridges and between gen 2 games. I didn't have a trade partner in gen 3, though.

 

[Lysander]

Never owned a link cable, so sadly I can never use a Gengar or a Golem in Emerald or Leaf Green :(

At least I can use them in Gen 4 though, I'm glad wireless trading is now a thing

 

[Pokedream.su]

Aka gens 1-3, did you trade with other people before wirelessly trading? Did you have a link cable as a kid, at all and did you trade with people w/said link cable plugged in? What was it like? I didn't play Pokemon until that era had come and gone. so, I'm curious.

I mainly trade with myself and my sister.

I did one time however play with 3 other people in a link double battle. It was kind of a once in a blue moon event however.

 

[Roni]

the only place i have a Trade Cable on is VPP lmao.

never got to experience trading with anyone via non-wireless means, as i was just a dumb kid and i didn't have much friends who were into Pokemon or owned the consoles anyway. i had the DS first, and only got into Gameboy gaming when it was on a downtrend i.e. circa 2010-2011 or so.

 

[frabulator]

I still have mine as well. There were actually two variations, one was for the original gameboy (the blocky one that took 4 batteries) and one was for the Gameboy Color. They had different trading ports on them, and I was the only kid in school that had a cable that could link them both together. Also, the gameboy color trading port was the same as the gameboy advance trading port. But, the generations (Gen1 and Gen3 OR Gen2 and Gen3) couldnt link together (Gen1 and Gen2 could though). You could use the same cable to link two Gen3's together though.

Trades happened a lot at my school. It happened so much that we discovered that if you unplug the cable at a specific time in the transfer between a Gen1 and another Gen1 the pokemon would transfer and be kept at the same time, but one person would lose their pokemon. I forget the exacts, it has been almost thirty years lol.

There was also a lot of talk trading between Gen2 and Gen1. Lots of rumors about getting pichu into Gen1, and steelix, but obviously, nothing every came from it other than kids being kids and spreading rumors.

 

[TwilightBlade]

I had the link cable for the Game Boy Color and I believe it was the Wireless Adapter for GBA. I would primarily trade with my twin brother since he would always receive the opposite version I had. I also traded with people at school and I my neighborhood. Good times! We were all able to help each other out.

During RBY, my twin brother and I would yank out the Link Cable cord several times while trading and battling just to see how corrupted the game would get. I'm pretty sure we cloned one or two Pokémon that way mid-trade when the game couldn't save properly.

 

[pkmin3033]

I still have my Link cables and god almighty it was a friggin pain because the damn thing wasn't long enough! I mostly traded with people at school until Gen 3 when I got a second GBA and could trade with myself...and by that point those neat little wireless things that slotted into the port on top of the GBA came out - bundled with FRLG in fact! - so it was generally easier.

But those were dark days. Trading your Haunter or Kadabra and being afraid you wouldn't get it back...

 

[frabulator]

To add to what I said above, this is a picture of my link cable. As far as I am aware, it still works. There are two ends for a GBC/GBA and one for a GB. I dont think it is official brand, but it can stretch like seven feet or so. Great for social distancing! Pu-dant-da!