Emergency Prep

If you haven't heard the news, on February 26, 2027 at 12:00 Pokémon Bank will reach end of service. This means that you will no longer be able to transfer Pokémon out of generation 5-7. This means that "Officially" you will no longer be able to make a Ribbon Master that has started from gens 3-7.

So with that unfortunate news and the deadline set and approaching for aspiring Ribbon Masters, I have compiled a list of things that I think will be helpful to know in order to help you decide if you want to attempt a Ribbon Master right now, as well as a couple time saving suggestions to beat the deadline.

(I am also going to assume you are reading the normal sections of the guide as you go, if something on this page doesnt make sense, then you might just not be up to that point in the guide yet)

The challenge takes around 100-300hrs per Ribbon Master.

• This is a very rough estimate based on my own experience and what I have been told/seen by other people. It is also assuming you have already reached post-game in each title, it will take longer if you have not.

• The amount of hours the challenge will take will vary wildly depending on your skill, how many Pokémon you complete at a time, and your Pokémon of choice. 

• The sooner you start the better. You never know if complications are going to hit you, better to be safe than sorry.

• Don't feel bad if it takes longer for you than my estimation, sometimes your just get hit with a Sheer Cold by a Walrein in the battle tower to end your streak, it is what it is.

• Care for your mental, just because there is a time grind doesnt mean you should force yourself to continue if you are upset/frustrated. Taking breaks is important for both your enjoyment of the challenge and your ability to make correct decisions in battle.

If you still need to buy games/hardware start looking immediately, and do price research.

Older games/systems are not always available depending on where you live, though you can order them online from eBay and the like. However due to the Pokémon tax, prices will be both high and prone to extreme price hikes. 

You should research into what is a reasonable price and regularly scour the market to try to find a fair deal, this could take time which is why you should start sooner rather than later. Otherwise you will have to potentially buy from an overpriced vendor in order to meet the deadline.

If you are a strong player/have a strong team, Emerald will be faster than Ruby/Sapphire.

While I think the battle tower in r/s is overall easier it does not scale up the level of your Pokémon, meaning you will need to grind everything to lv100 to be competitive.

In Emerald you only need to reach lv60, so if you can handle the (slightly) harder battle tower you can save yourself a long level grind.

(That being said I would not buy Emerald if you already have Ruby or Sapphire just for this timesave)

Prepare the best battle tower team you can in Gen 3.

You can save A LOT of time in this challenge, by making a team of 3 (including your Ribbon Master) really good battle tower mons in Gen 3, and reusing them throughout every generation. This will stop you from needing to prepare a new team every battle tower.

I would STRONGLY recommend you read the "General Battle Tower Tips" section of the Starting Tips page (try read the whole page, its the most skipped over part of the guide). It will give some team suggestions and tips that will help avoid many lost streaks in the tower.

If you are looking for other team/member suggestions there is a great post here in r/pokemonribbons

Spend more of your time attempting Gen 3/4 contests rather than farming GameCube berries.

GameCube berries provide the best effect for your contest stats, the problem is they are a huge grind to get from Mt. Battle.

You can however win all the contests without these berries, it is just going to be harder. In my opinion your time is better spent spamming harder contests. That being said you will still need a proper Pokéblock plan, and to play the contests optimally (see Contest Ribbons section)

For a Pokéblock plan, I would strongly recommend you choose combination C or D from my Single Player Berry Blending guide. Choose D if you can afford/are close to affording 2 GameCube berries after completing Mt. Battle for its ribbon, otherwise choose C.

(Also as a reminder you can max your contest stats with no effort in or/as regardless of what you do here, so those contests will be easy)

Delay acquiring ribbons that are available in gen 8 and onwards.

The following ribbons can all be obtained in bd/sp, so getting them later can save time before the deadline. (If your Pokémon is NOT available in bd/sp, do not skip anything)

• Hoenn (r/s/e)

  • Effort Ribbon (I would probably still grab this, having maxed EV's help for battle towers)

• Sinnoh (d/p/pt)

  • Sinnoh Champion Ribbon

  • Footprint Ribbon (While technically available later, GET THIS NOW. The condition to get the ribbon changes from max friendship to gaining 30 levels, so it becomes missable)

  • Daily Ribbons (7)

  • Syndicate Ribbons (3)

• Kalos (x/y)

  • Best Friends Ribbon

• Hoenn Remake (or/as)

  • Contest Master Ribbons (6) (This is optional, but I would recommend maxing your contest stats here since it is easy to so in or/as even if you attempt these ribbons in bd/sp)

If you fail to meet the deadline, its ok.

While it might feel bad that you aren't able to complete the challenge in time just remember, this is a self imposed challenge, so your satisfaction from completing it should also come from yourself. That being said I have listed some ways to properly (in my books) continue the challenge after the deadline.

1. Use a Pokémon save file editor to "transfer" your Ribbon Master into newer generations

   • Going forward I will personally treat this as the legitimate way to continue a Ribbon Master once bank has closed, and I imagine most others will also feel the same. Just make sure to do it properly so that you don't get in trouble with Mr. Nintendo when using online services.
      

2. Obtain each ribbon on a different Pokémon of the same species.

   • If you have a separate Eevee on each individual game that collectively have all the ribbons, that is just as hard (if not harder) than one Pokémon with them all, and you should feel an equal sense of accomplishment.

   • You can even do this on other species if you just want the specific experience of collecting every ribbon, I currently recommend this to people who's Ribbon Masters get cut from modern games and I also do this myself with Jolteon/Flareon/Vaporeon acting as ribbon surrogates for my Raikou/Entei/Suicune respectively (if you know you know)