Pokémon Ribbon Master Guide: Every Ribbon, Game by Game
What a Ribbon Master is, every Ribbon a Pokémon can still earn from Generation 3 to 9, and the transfer order that decides which ones it keeps.
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A Ribbon Master is one Pokémon wearing every Ribbon it can still legally hold. The games contain 115 Ribbons; a Pokémon raised in Ruby, Sapphire or Emerald can reach 25 without leaving the cartridge, 27 with a GameCube beside it, and 48 more wait in Generation 4. The catch is that no Ribbon can be earned late: each one is only handed out in its own generation, and every transfer forward is one way.
- Games
- Ruby Sapphire Emerald Colosseum XD Diamond Pearl Platinum HeartGold SoulSilver — and one edition per later generation to keep collecting
- You need
- One Pokémon you never trade away, a Pokéblock Case and berries for the Contests, 510 effort values for the Effort Ribbon, ₽1,109,999 for the Ribbon Syndicate counter, and a way to move the Pokémon forward one generation at a time
- Where
- the Lilycove Contest Hall, Slateport City’s open-air market, the Hoenn Battle Tower, Hearthome City’s Super Contest Hall and the Ribbon Syndicate in the Resort Area
- The payoff
- 25 Ribbons before the Pokémon leaves Generation 3, 27 with Colosseum or XD, up to 48 Generation 4 Ribbons on top — and, from Sword and Shield onward, a title printed after its name every time it is sent into battle
Warning — Decide the Pokémon before the first Contest, not after: Ribbons live on the Pokémon, never on the save file, and they can only be awarded by the generation that invented them. A Pokémon that moves from Generation 3 to 4 can never go back for a Contest Ribbon it skipped, and nothing in any later game replaces it. Pick the species you actually want to carry for twenty years first — and never trade it away, because most of these Ribbons are handed to the Pokémon in your own party, under your own trainer name.
What a Ribbon Master is
Ribbon Master is a player challenge, not a game mode — nothing in any Pokémon game calls you one. The target is a single Pokémon whose Ribbon page is full: every Ribbon that its species, its origin game and today’s servers still allow. Nobody can reach 115. Three Ribbons were never distributed at all, a dozen only ever rode on event Pokémon, and the Wi-Fi Ribbon died with the DS servers in 2014. What is left is a long but finite list, and it is almost entirely Generation 3 and 4 work.
| Category | How it is earned | Reachable today |
|---|---|---|
| League | Entering a region’s Hall of Fame — the whole party gets it, even fainted members | All of them, one per region that awards one |
| Contest | Winning Pokémon Contests, Super Contests and Contest Spectaculars | All of them, but Generation 3 and 4 Contest Ribbons collapse on the way to Generation 6 |
| Tower | Clearing a battle facility — Battle Tower, Maison, Tree, Battle Royal | All but the World Ability Ribbon, which needed DS Wi-Fi |
| Memorial | An NPC who checks something: friendship, effort values, the day of the week, your wallet | All but the Record Ribbon and the Once-in-a-Lifetime Ribbon, which have no working source |
| Gift | Event distributions, plus two from the GameCube games | Only the National and Earth Ribbons — every other Gift Ribbon needs an event that ended |
Why every Ribbon has to be earned in its own generation
Pokémon only ever move forward. A Generation 3 Pokémon reaches Generation 4 through Pal Park, Generation 4 reaches Generation 5 through the Poké Transfer Lab, Generation 5 reaches Generation 6 through Poké Transporter and Pokémon Bank, and Bank feeds Pokémon HOME. None of those steps has a return trip, and the transfer chart draws all of them. So the order of a Ribbon Master run is fixed by the hardware: finish a generation completely, then move once.
Warning — Pokémon Bank closes on 25 February 2027: Bank and Poké Transporter are the only bridge from a GBA, DS or 3DS cartridge into Pokémon HOME, and they switch off on 25 February 2027. After that, a Ribbon Master built on old hardware stays on old hardware. The Bank shutdown checklist has the whole deadline; for a Ribbon run it means the Generation 3 and 4 work has to be finished before then, not the transfer.
The Generation 6 collapse: Contest Memory and Battle Memory Ribbons
This is the part almost nobody is told before it happens, and it is irreversible. Generation 6 cut the Ribbon roster from 80 to 46 by consolidating the old Contest and Tower Ribbons. When a Pokémon crosses from Generation 5 into Generation 6 through Poké Transporter, every Hoenn and Sinnoh Contest Ribbon it owns is replaced by one Contest Memory Ribbon, and every Hoenn and Sinnoh Tower Ribbon by one Battle Memory Ribbon. The count it used to have is printed next to the Ribbon’s name, and that number is all that survives.
| Up to Generation 5 | From Generation 6 | Gold version |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Hoenn Contest Ribbons + 20 Sinnoh Super Contest Ribbons | 1 Contest Memory Ribbon, with the old count beside its name | Awarded for all 40 — every rank of every category in both regions |
| 2 Hoenn Battle Tower Ribbons + 6 Sinnoh Battle Tower Ribbons | 1 Battle Memory Ribbon, with the old count beside its name | Originally all eight, but Scarlet Violet award it for seven of the eight too — so the unobtainable World Ability Ribbon no longer keeps it out of reach |
| League, Memorial and Gift Ribbons | Kept individually, unchanged | Not applicable |
Tip — Black 2 and White 2 are the last stop where the icons stay separate: If the point of the project is the wall of 40 Contest Ribbons, park the Pokémon in a Generation 5 game and look at it there — its summary screen grows a third page for them. If the point is a modern Ribbon Master with the Champion Ribbons and a battle title, move it on and accept the two Memory Ribbons. Both are legitimate; only one of them is reversible, and it is the one where you stop.
Hoenn Contest Ribbons: all 20, rank by rank
Twenty of Hoenn’s 25 Ribbons come from Pokémon Contests: five categories — Cool, Beauty, Cute, Smart and Tough — times four ranks. The ranks are a ladder per category: any Pokémon may enter Normal Rank, and winning it unlocks Super, then Hyper, then Master in that same category. Condition is what wins, so feed Pokéblocks blended from berries before entering, and remember that the second round counts double when the score is added up. Win a Master Rank Contest whose Ribbon the Pokémon already owns and you get a Luxury Ball instead.
| Rank | Games | Where | Condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal Rank — 5 Ribbons | Ruby Sapphire | Verdanturf Town | Any Pokémon may enter. Five Ribbons here, one per category. |
| Super Rank — 5 Ribbons | Ruby Sapphire | Fallarbor Town | Open only to a Pokémon that already won Normal Rank in the same category. |
| Hyper Rank — 5 Ribbons | Ruby Sapphire | Slateport City | Needs the Super Rank win in that category. Rivals arrive with real condition. |
| Master Rank — 5 Ribbons | Ruby Sapphire | Lilycove City | The last rank, and the only one that can also hand over the Artist Ribbon. |
| Rank | Games | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Normal, Super, Hyper and Master — all 20 Ribbons | Emerald | Lilycove Contest Hall |
Emerald did not just move the Contests — it took the other three halls away. Verdanturf Town, Fallarbor Town and Slateport City have Battle Tents in Emerald where Ruby and Sapphire have Contest Halls, so an Emerald player never needs to leave Lilycove, and a Ruby or Sapphire player crosses half of Hoenn four times over.
Champion, Artist, Effort and the two Battle Tower Ribbons
The remaining five Hoenn Ribbons are each a different kind of errand, and two of them are easy to lose forever by not knowing the rule in advance.
- Champion Ribbon — beat the Champion with the Pokémon in your party Entering the Hall of Fame at Ever Grande City gives the Ribbon to every Pokémon in the party, including the ones that fainted and the ones never sent out — so bring the project Pokémon along even at level 5. The Gym Leaders and Elite Four guide has the teams. FireRed LeafGreen award the same Ribbon at Indigo Plateau.
- Artist Ribbon — win Master Rank with 800 points, after meeting the curator A Master Rank or Link Contest win worth at least 800 points (40 hearts across both rounds) gets you offered a large painting for the Lilycove Museum; accepting it is what awards the Ribbon. The trap: if you have never spoken to the museum curator, no painting is ever offered, however high you score. Walk into the Museum once before you go for this.
- Effort Ribbon — 510 effort values, then the woman in Slateport’s market The Ribbon needs the maximum 510 effort values, and the woman standing in the open-air market in Slateport City checks the Pokémon at the front of your party. The EV training guide has the fastest spots; in Generation 3 nothing reduces effort values back down once they are in, so a stray Carbos on the wrong stat is permanent.
Slateport City — the market is the row of stalls in the south of town. - Winning Ribbon — Level 50 Battle Tower, a streak of 56 At the Hoenn Battle Tower the Ribbon is not for one set: it comes when a set of seven wins extends the current streak to 56 or more — the eighth straight challenge. In Emerald the Tower moved into the Battle Frontier; the Battle Frontier guide covers the streak rules and what else the island is worth.
- Victory Ribbon — the same streak at the other level The second Tower Ribbon is the Level 100 challenge in Ruby Sapphire and the Open Level challenge in Emerald, on the same 56-win condition. Both Tower Ribbons go to the Pokémon that were on the team, so a Ribbon Master has to actually be one of the three you send in.
Colosseum and XD: the National and Earth Ribbons
The 26th and 27th Generation 3 Ribbons are not on a Game Boy Advance cartridge at all. Colosseum and XD: Gale of Darkness award the National Ribbon to any Shadow Pokémon that has been purified, and the Earth Ribbon to the whole party for clearing Mt. Battle’s hundred-battle run. Both then travel to Ruby, Sapphire or Emerald over a link cable. This is the one part of the run that needs a GameCube, and it is also the reason so many Ribbon Masters start life as a Shadow Pokémon: a purified Shadow Pokémon is the only kind that can hold all 27.
Note: Both Ribbons show an empty description in Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald until that save has received a Pokémon carrying them from Colosseum or XD at least once. The Ribbon is on the Pokémon either way — only the text is missing.
Sinnoh Super Contest Ribbons and the rest of Generation 4
Generation 4 added 48 Ribbons — more than any other generation — and it is where a Ribbon Master run stops being a weekend. Twenty are Super Contest Ribbons, six come from the Battle Tower, seven are handed out on fixed days of the week, three are simply bought, and the rest are one-offs. Pal Park brings six Pokémon a day across from a Generation 3 cartridge, so the project Pokémon arrives here with its Hoenn Ribbons already on it.
| Ribbons | Where | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Sinnoh Champion Ribbon | Sinnoh Pokémon League | Beat the Sinnoh Champion; the whole party receives it |
| 20 Super Contest Ribbons — 5 categories × Ribbon, Great, Ultra, Master | Hearthome City | Win each rank in each category; Poffins raise the condition |
| Ability, Great Ability, Double Ability, Multi Ability, Pair Ability, World Ability | Battle Tower, north of the Fight Area | Palmer on battle 21 and battle 49 of a Single streak; the Double, Multi and Link Multi Ribbons at a streak of 50; World Ability needed DS Wi-Fi and is gone |
| Alert, Shock, Downcast, Careless, Relax, Snooze, Smile — one per weekday | Julia in Sunyshore City | She gives Monday’s Ribbon on Monday and so on, to the first Pokémon in the party — seven real days, or a clock you are honest about |
| Gorgeous, Royal and Gorgeous Royal Ribbons | Ribbon Syndicate, Resort Area | Ten different kinds of Ribbon across your party to get in the door, then ₽10,000, ₽100,000 and ₽999,999 — strictly in that order |
| Footprint Ribbon | Dr. Footstep on Route 213 | Maximum friendship — a Soothe Bell and the Resort Area spa speed this up |
| Legend Ribbon | Mt. Silver, in HeartGold SoulSilver | Beat Red at the summit; the whole party receives it |
Tip — Do the seven weekday Ribbons while you grind the Tower: Julia’s Ribbons are the only ones in the whole run that cost nothing but patience: one per real-world day, to whatever sits in your first party slot. Start them on the day the Pokémon arrives in Sinnoh and they will be finished long before the Battle Tower streak is.
Generation 5: nothing to earn, and the quietest decision of the run
There is no way to earn a single Ribbon in Black White Black 2 White 2. Generation 5 exists in a Ribbon run purely as a staging post: the Poké Transfer Lab on Unova’s Route 15 pulls six Pokémon at a time across from a Generation 4 game, and this is the last game that shows the old Contest and Tower Ribbons as themselves. Everything that goes further is a Pokémon with two Memory Ribbons instead of forty icons.
Generations 6 to 9: the Ribbons a modern Pokémon still adds
Past the collapse the list gets short and pleasant. Most modern Ribbons are one conversation or one clear, they are never removed again, and from Sword and Shield onward any one of them can be attached to the Pokémon as a title that prints after its name in battle.
| Ribbons | Games | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Kalos, Hoenn, Alola, Galar and Paldea Champion Ribbons | X Y Omega Ruby Alpha Sapphire Sun Moon Sword Shield Scarlet Violet | One Hall of Fame per region, with the Pokémon in the party |
| Coolness, Beauty, Cuteness, Cleverness and Toughness Master Ribbons, plus the Contest Star Ribbon | Omega Ruby Alpha Sapphire | Win each Master Rank Contest Spectacular; the sixth is awarded automatically for the other five. These are never collapsed |
| Skillful Battler, Expert Battler, Battle Tree Great, Battle Tree Master, Battle Royal Master, Tower Master | Omega Ruby Ultra Sun Ultra Moon Sword Shield | Beat the Chatelaine at battle 20 and super battle 50, the Battle Legend in both modes, a Master Rank Battle Royal, and Leon at MAX Rank |
| Best Friends, Effort and Footprint Ribbons | X Omega Ruby Ultra Sun Sword Scarlet | Maximum friendship, 510 effort values, and — in Generations 6 and 7 — a level at least 30 above the one it was caught or transferred at |
| Master Rank Ribbon | Sword Shield Scarlet Violet | Win a Ranked Battle after reaching MAX Rank in that season, with your own team |
Note — Where you can actually look at the collection: Generation 3 hides the Ribbon page in the PokéNav, and FireRed and LeafGreen cannot show Ribbons at all — the data is still safely on the Pokémon. From Generation 4 the summary screen has a Ribbon page. In Pokémon HOME the Switch version does not list Ribbons; the mobile app does, below the met data.
Ribbon Master questions
- Which Pokémon can become a Ribbon Master?
- Any Pokémon that exists in every game whose Ribbons you want and can be moved forward the whole way. Because modern games cut species, that list keeps shrinking — which is why most people pick the Pokémon they actually like and accept the Ribbons it can reach. A purified Shadow Pokémon from Colosseum or XD is the only kind that can hold all 27 Generation 3 Ribbons.
- How many Ribbons can one Pokémon have?
- There are 115 Ribbons in the games, but no single Pokémon can hold them all: three were never distributed, most Gift Ribbons need events that ended years ago, and the World Ability Ribbon needed DS Wi-Fi. A realistic full run is 25 to 27 in Generation 3, up to 48 in Generation 4, and a dozen or so from Generation 6 onward.
- Do Ribbons transfer to Pokémon HOME?
- Yes — Ribbons are permanent and travel with the Pokémon. But everything that crosses from Generation 5 into Generation 6 loses its individual Contest and Tower Ribbons to the two Memory Ribbons first, and that happens at the Poké Transporter step, before HOME ever sees it. See the transfer chart for the route.
- Why did all my Contest Ribbons turn into one Ribbon?
- That is the Generation 6 consolidation, not a bug. Your 20 or 40 Contest Ribbons became a single Contest Memory Ribbon with the old count printed beside its name, and the Tower Ribbons became a Battle Memory Ribbon the same way. It cannot be undone, because nothing moves backwards.
- How do I get the Effort Ribbon in Emerald?
- Max out all 510 effort values and talk to the woman in the open-air market in Slateport City with that Pokémon at the front of your party. The EV training guide lists the fastest spot for each stat.
- Why is the Artist Ribbon not being offered?
- Because you have not spoken to the curator in the Lilycove Museum yet. Until you have, no painting is offered after a Master Rank win no matter how high the score, and the Ribbon comes with accepting the painting. Talk to him once, then win Master Rank with at least 800 points.
- How do I get into the Ribbon Syndicate in Platinum?
- Ten different kinds of Ribbon spread across your current party open the door in the Resort Area — they do not all have to be on one Pokémon. Inside, the counter sells the Gorgeous Ribbon for ₽10,000, the Royal Ribbon for ₽100,000 and the Gorgeous Royal Ribbon for ₽999,999, each only after the one before it.
- How do I get the Footprint Ribbon?
- Take a Pokémon at maximum friendship to Dr. Footstep on Route 213 in Diamond, Pearl and Platinum. A Soothe Bell and the Resort Area spa get there fastest. In Generations 6 and 7 the same Ribbon asks for something else entirely: a level at least 30 above the one the Pokémon was caught or transferred at.
- Can I still get the World Ability Ribbon?
- No. It needed a Wi-Fi Room set at the Sinnoh Battle Tower, and the Nintendo DS Wi-Fi Connection servers closed in 2014. A Pokémon with the other seven Tower Ribbons still gets the gold Battle Memory Ribbon in Scarlet and Violet, which is the game acknowledging exactly this.
- Is there a deadline for a Ribbon Master built on old games?
- Yes — 25 February 2027, when Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter shut down and the last bridge from GBA, DS and 3DS cartridges into HOME closes. The Bank shutdown checklist covers what else has to be across by then.