Ruby, Sapphire & Emerald Pokédex Completion Guide

Complete Hoenn's 200 required entries, unlock the National Dex, claim the diplomas and plan the trades and other games needed for all 386 Pokémon.

Published 1 Oct 2026

To complete the Hoenn Pokédex, register all 200 required Pokémon as caught. That includes every stage of an evolution family; Jirachi and Deoxys are optional. A single cartridge cannot supply every required entry, so finish the Pokémon available in your game, then arrange the missing starters, version exclusives and trade evolutions.

Hoenn reward

200 caught entries → diploma and one Trainer Card star

Emerald bonus

One Johto starter after completing Hoenn and receiving the National Dex

National diploma

380 required entries in Emerald; 381 in Ruby/Sapphire, with a Chikorita exception

All Pokémon

386 entries, including historical event Pokémon

Choose your goal: Hoenn, the diploma or all 386

The three targets have different requirements. For a gold Trainer Card, you only need the Hoenn goal. The National diploma is a separate reward, and a complete 386-entry collection goes beyond both diplomas. Decide which one you want before buying extra games or hunting an event Pokémon.

The R/S Chikorita exception is an original-game bug, not a special reward rule: Chikorita can be absent when the National diploma is awarded. Its evolutions still count. Keep Chikorita on your own list if your goal is every Pokémon.

How to complete the Hoenn Pokédex

Check the caught count, not the seen count. Battling a trainer's Pokémon only records it as seen. Catching, receiving a gift, hatching, trading or evolving it records it as caught. Trading it away afterwards keeps that record, so a trusted friend's legendary can count through a trade and return.

1. Work through families in Pokédex order. Catch the lowest stage first, then evolve it. Raising an already-evolved Pokémon never adds its missing earlier stages. If you receive a final evolution, breed for the earlier stages where possible.
2. Keep a collection box and a trade box. Use separate boxes for species you still need to evolve and Pokémon promised to a trading partner. Record the missing species by name; a total such as 197 caught does not tell you which three are absent.
3. Finish your cartridge's one-time choices. Take your available starter and fossil through their full families. Catch your game's legendary Pokémon before arranging trades for their counterparts. Save before a one-time encounter, rather than relying on a later rematch.
4. Use a short trade session for the remaining gaps. Ask for the other two Hoenn starter families, your missing fossil in R/S, version exclusives and trade evolutions. For rare Pokémon, agree in advance whether it is a permanent trade or a trade and return.
5. Claim the reward. Visit the Game Designer upstairs in the motel in Lilycove City. The diploma is displayed for you; it is not a usable item added to your Bag.

The entries most often missing near 200

R/S split Seedot / Lotad, Mawile / Sableye, Zangoose / Seviper and Solrock / Lunatone. Emerald includes several of both sides, but has no ordinary wild Surskit, Meditite, Roselia, Zangoose or Lunatone. Trade from R/S for the missing families. Surskit has one exception: mix records with a compatible R/S save carrying a Surskit-outbreak TV record, then watch the announcement in Emerald. Mixing records alone does not guarantee that specific outbreak.

The 12 Generation III trade evolutions

For an item evolution, the Pokémon must hold the item when traded. It is consumed by the evolution. Sending the item loose in the Bag cannot work, and the return trade needs no second item.

The list contains National Dex evolutions as well as Hoenn ones. For the Hoenn diploma, Clamperl is the important branch: use two Clamperl to register both Huntail and Gorebyss. Evolution cannot be reversed.

How to unlock the National Pokédex

On the FireRed or LeafGreen save, earn its National Dex and complete Celio’s Ruby-and-Sapphire network quest on the Sevii Islands before trading to Hoenn. Receiving the National Dex upgrade is not the same as catching every National species. An early Kanto save cannot connect to Hoenn simply because both games are Generation III.

How to get Emerald's Johto-starter reward

After receiving the National Dex and catching the 200 required Hoenn Pokémon, leave Birch's lab and enter again. The re-entry lets the game update the reward event. Birch offers one choice: Chikorita, Cyndaquil or Totodile.

You receive one starter per save, not all three. Pick the family you most want to keep, breed it to supply trades, and obtain the other families from other Emerald saves or a compatible Generation III source. R/S do not give this completion reward.

Games and hardware: choose your completion setup

These connections apply to original cartridges. Start with your Hoenn game and borrow or trade for missing Pokémon before buying another setup. Completing all 386 also requires historically distributed Pokémon; buying every retail game does not supply those events.

Which other games help with the National Dex?

Build outward from your Hoenn collection. A compatible Kanto game supplies most of the remaining Kanto species and families such as Eevee, Porygon, Kabuto and Omanyte. Opposite-version exclusives and starter choices still require another save or trading partner.

For all 386, historical event Pokémon become a separate collection problem. A Jirachi bonus-disc distribution, a regional Celebi bonus disc or an old event ticket is not a universal method available to every save. Check the precise region and equipment before buying a disc or accepting a trade.

Emerald’s postgame Safari Zone additions

Emerald opens two areas east of the original Safari Zone after you enter the Hall of Fame. R/S do not have this expansion. These catches replace many GameCube trades, so check them before buying another game.

How to get every Eevee evolution in Generation III

Take the Eevee gift from Celadon Condominiums in FireRed/LeafGreen, then breed copies with Ditto at the two-Pokémon Day Care on Hoenn’s Route 117 or Four Island. Use a Water Stone for Vaporeon, a Thunder Stone for Jolteon and a Fire Stone for Flareon. Those stones are used from the Bag, not held while leveling.

For Espeon and Umbreon, raise Eevee’s friendship to at least 220, then level it up in R/S/E: Espeon at 12:00–23:59, Umbreon at 00:00–11:59 on the game’s own clock. FR/LG have no functioning day/night Eevee evolution, so move Eevee to Hoenn first or trade for an evolved one. A stopped cartridge clock can lock you into one time window. Leafeon, Glaceon and Sylveon are later-generation Pokémon and are outside this 386-species goal.

All 386 Pokémon: search the family source list

Search a Pokémon name, National number, game or location below. Each row gives one workable original Generation III source and the steps for every member of that family. It is a completion route, not a list of every place the Pokémon appears. All 386 species are covered; historical limitations stay marked as limitations.

For ordinary breeding, put a compatible pair in the Route 117 or Four Island Day Care; Ditto works with breedable Pokémon of either sex and with breedable genderless Pokémon. Eggs normally hatch as the lowest Gen 3 stage. Babies cannot breed until evolved, legendaries and mythicals cannot breed, and Ditto cannot produce a Ditto Egg. Keep spare base Pokémon before irreversible branch evolutions; one caught entry is enough for the diploma, while a living collection needs one of every stage.

Original GBA trading and transfer limits

For an ordinary cartridge trade, use two compatible systems, two game cartridges and a GBA Game Link Cable. R/S do not support the GBA Wireless Adapter. A Nintendo DS can run a GBA cartridge on models with the slot, but it has no GBA link-cable port.

Original GameCube trades use the Nintendo GameCube–Game Boy Advance cable and a GBA or GBA SP. Colosseum and XD: Gale of Darkness unlock trading after their stories; Shadow Pokémon must be fully purified first. Eggs cannot be sent to the GameCube games. Use the transfer chart for the connection and save requirements. These original cable routes are separate from a modern Switch release.

Transfers to later generations are a separate, one-way route. Pokémon HOME cannot send a Pokémon back into an original GBA save. Use the Pokémon transfer guide to plan a later-generation collection before moving a rare Pokémon out of your Gen III games.

Your completion checklist

1. Register the 200 required Hoenn species A long haul Check caught entries, including the earlier evolution stages.
2. Trade for starters, fossils and exclusives An evening Arrange a trade and return for rare entries where both players agree.
3. Visit Lilycove's Game Designer Quick Collect the Hoenn diploma and check the new Trainer Card star. Open on the map
4. Unlock your edition's National Dex An evening Emerald: Birch after the Hall of Fame. R/S: a compatible trade.
5. Claim Emerald's one Johto starter Quick With 200 Hoenn entries, leave and re-enter Birch's lab. Emerald
6. Finish the correct National diploma list A long haul Use Emerald's 380-entry requirement or the R/S 381-entry requirement.
7. Optional: register every one of the 386 species Extreme Include the event Pokémon excluded from the diplomas.

Pokédex completion FAQ

Can you catch all 386 Pokémon in Emerald?

No. A single Emerald cartridge lacks numerous starters, version exclusives, Kanto species and mythical Pokémon. Completing all 386 requires compatible trades and historical event sources.

Do I need Jirachi or Deoxys to complete the Hoenn Pokédex?

No. The Hoenn diploma and Trainer Card star check the other 200 Hoenn species.

Do I need to keep every Pokémon in my PC?

No. Once a species is registered as caught, trading it away does not erase that entry. A living collection is an optional extra goal.

Why does my seen count reach 200 while the diploma is missing?

The reward checks caught entries. Compare the caught list and look for unregistered pre-evolutions, starter families, fossils and trade evolutions.

Why won't Birch give me Emerald's Johto starter?

Check that you have the National Dex and all 200 required Hoenn caught entries. Leave the lab and enter again after meeting those conditions.

Why is the Ruby/Sapphire National diploma different?

Its original check includes Lugia and Ho-Oh but skips Chikorita by mistake. Emerald fixes the Chikorita check and excludes Lugia and Ho-Oh.

Does a Switch version use these GBA trading rules?

Only if its official release details confirm the same feature. The original cables, GameCube connections and historical distributions described here belong to the GBA games.