Pokémon Home Organizaiton
How I Manage One of the Weirdest Collection Apps I've Ever Seen
Pokémon Home is by far one of the weirdest applications I have seen, even if you accept the weirdness that comes with such a Pokémon-specific app. I mean, look at what this app provides. It's an app that requires a Switch version and a Phone version which are two separate apps with two separate functions, and most features on one are not present on the other. Pokémon Home is an overglorified save editor first and foremost, so I understand why the Mobile version can't read save files and transfer Pokémon, but the only way to move Pokémon around and organize them is to use the Switch app whereas the only way to trade Pokémon is to use the Mobile app?
But you can use both to transfer Pokémon between Pokémon Bank and Home (Bank appearing on neither the Switch nor the Phone)?
And you can use both to "transfer" Pokémon between Pokémon Home and Champions[1] (which, as of writing, only has a Switch version)?
Did I mention you can only read news on the Mobile version?
My point is that it's a weird app. And I haven't even discussed the "advantages" of paying for the Premium version over the Free version. I'm not here to review the app.
When it comes to the actual organization part of the app, though, that's where the app... starts to shine. I do wish the app was capable of more features (especially for twelve dollars USD a year), but it works. The bigger issue with organizing a Pokémon collection is just the massive size of the collection. Even if you were to only collect the National Dex, that's 1025 Pokémon alone as of Gen 9. If you were to expand that to include regional forms, split forms, shiny Pokémon, etc., that drastically increases the amount of work that goes into organizing Pokémon Home.
That's where this guide comes in.
This guide demonstrates how I use Pokémon Home to organize my Living Pokédex, my Shiny Living Pokédex, and any miscellaneous collections within the confines of how Pokémon Home is designed. Feel free to adopt this system yourself, or adapt this system to whichever collections you track.
Addendum
When I initially wrote this piece, I kept a copy of PokéPC open in another tab to double check my work. I normally have this tab open when moving my Pokémon into Home to both double check I'm putting Pokémon in the right spots in the PC and make sure I kept track of special forms correctly.
Within days of formally posting this page, PokéPC updated this page, changing the formatting and the default organization system they display (to Grouped by Regions (Optimized)).
This page still works in terms of planning PC spaces and having to separate, untouching collections, but the exact numbers and names of boxes will differ. For example, that system emits the G-Max page by default, and alternate forms are included in the same place as the inital Pokémon (which works if all the forms are released at the same time but needs either adjusting or planning around if future games add forms, such as Hat Pikachu collections or adding Eternal Flower Floette). Numbers used in statistics reflect the Grouped by Regions (Classic) option.
If you use their current default, do note that some of the Pokémon forms are entered multiple times: once for the initial entry and another for a collection entry (such as the Furfrou trims). The math is still optimized in terms of box spaces, but you would need an extra Furfrou to remain consistent.
Table of Contents
Pokémon Home at a Glance
| Box 1 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Assuming you have the Premium version of Pokémon Home (the free version is way too limiting to organize in any meaningful way), the first thing we need to do is discuss what specifically Pokémon Home offers and how it offers it. Pokémon Home offers 200 boxes of Pokémon, which themselves are organized like any PC box in a mainline Pokémon title (six Pokémon across, five Pokémon down, thirty total). That produces 200 boxes that look like this, or 6000 Pokémon.
If you were to expand Pokémon Home to display the boxes, you would see them in batches of 30 organized in the exact same style as an individual PC box (with the name of the box replaced with the game you're looking at; this applies to looking at the game's save files as well). However, since 200 boxes does not evenly divide into 30 pages, the last page greys out the remaining ten slots to address the discrepency.
My Personal List
Now, you must decide which type of collection you want to track. Personally, I use PokePC's (formerly SuperEffective) model of the Living National Pokédex to determine how many boxes I need. Based on their system, you would need roughly 57 boxes, give-or-take combining any of these boxes for space (two "menus" of 6×5 boxes).
If you want to include a Shiny collection as well, this would almost double that number to roughly 114 boxes, again give-or-take.
Then, you must decide if you want to reserve any boxes for further use outside of collecting. For example, I decided I wanted to have an Inbox (for Pokémon being freshly moved in to immediately be moved out or around again), a box dedicated to Pokémon Champions (for whatever reason, the brilliant minds at Studio ILCA decided Pokémon transferred from Home to Champions still take up a slot in Home),[1] and a box for Wonder Boxes. When looking at these requirements, I settled on the following system. Scrolls horizontally (Shift + Scroll Wheel on desktop).
To help make sorting the collection easier, each box is color-coordinated as follows:
| Utility Boxes | National Dex | Misc. Collections |
| Locked Boxes | Shiny National Dex | Shiny Misc. Collections |
| Menu 1 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inbox | Champ. | Wonder Box |
|||
| Kanto 1 |
Kanto 2 |
Kanto 3 |
Kanto 4 |
Kanto 5 |
Kanto 6 |
| Kanto ♀ |
Johto 1 |
Johto 2 |
Johto 3 |
Johto 4 |
Johto ♀ |
| Hoenn 1 |
Hoenn 2 |
Hoenn 3 |
Hoenn 4 |
Hoenn 5 |
Hoenn Alt. |
| Hoenn ♀ |
Sinnoh 1 |
Sinnoh 2 |
Sinnoh 3 |
Sinnoh 4 |
Sinnoh ♀ 1/2 |
| Menu 2 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sinnoh ♀ 2/2 |
Sinnoh Alt |
Unova 1 |
Unova 2 |
Unova 3 |
Unova 4 |
| Unova 5 |
Unova 6 |
Unova Alt. |
Kalos 1 |
Kalos 2 |
Kalos 3 |
| Kalos Alt 1/2 |
Kalos Alt 2/2 |
Alola 1 |
Alola 2 |
Alola 3 |
Alola Alt. |
| Alola Forms |
Region Unknown |
Galar 1 |
Galar 2 |
Galar 3 |
Galar Alt. |
| Galar Forms |
Hisui |
Paldea 1 |
Paldea 2 |
Paldea 3 |
Paldea 4 |
| Menu 3 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paldea Alt |
Paldea Forms |
Hat Pikas |
Unown | Vivillon | Alcr. 1/3 |
| Alcr. 2/3 |
Alcr. 3/3 |
G-Max 1 |
G-Max 2 |
||
| Menu 4 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kanto 1 |
Kanto 2 |
Kanto 3 |
Kanto 4 |
Kanto 5 |
Kanto 6 |
| Kanto ♀ |
Johto 1 |
Johto 2 |
Johto 3 |
Johto 4 |
Johto ♀ |
| Hoenn 1 |
Hoenn 2 |
Hoenn 3 |
Hoenn 4 |
Hoenn 5 |
Hoenn Alt. |
| Hoenn ♀ |
Sinnoh 1 |
Sinnoh 2 |
Sinnoh 3 |
Sinnoh 4 |
Sinnoh ♀ 1/2 |
| Sinnoh ♀ 2/2 |
Sinnoh Alt |
Unova 1 |
Unova 2 |
Unova 3 |
Unova 4 |
| Menu 5 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unova 5 |
Unova 6 |
Unova Alt. |
Kalos 1 |
Kalos 2 |
Kalos 3 |
| Kalos Alt 1/2 |
Kalos Alt 2/2 |
Alola 1 |
Alola 2 |
Alola 3 |
Alola Alt. |
| Alola Forms |
Region Unknown |
Galar 1 |
Galar 2 |
Galar 3 |
Galar Alt. |
| Galar Forms |
Hisui |
Paldea 1 |
Paldea 2 |
Paldea 3 |
Paldea 4 |
| Paldea Alt |
Paldea Forms |
Vivillon | Alcr. | G-Max 1 |
G-Max 2 |
| Menu 6 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Menu 7 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The hardest part was figuring out what to do regarding those Utility boxes. I decided to dedicate the entire row to it so that
- Kanto starts on a clean row
- I would have back-up boxes already in the front in case I ever needed to use one short term (setting up a trade with someone later in the day) or long term (special projects)
This does create a minor inconsistency where the Shiny boxes start on the first of a menu where the Regular boxes start on the seventh, but the Shiny Pokémn take fewer boxes either way so it suits that section of the collection.
Future Generations
An awkward dilemma this creates is that there are only eighteen boxes between the two, and I cannot move the Shiny Dex over without either not starting at the top of the menu or starting on the fifth menu and potentially running out of room at the same rate repending on how many boxes are added. We shouldn't get to that point any time soon, though; the Normal Collection adds about 7 boxes per generation including additional collections, which gives us about two regions before that becomes an actual problem. No matter which version of this problem you chooose to take, you'll have about the same number of generations before this becomes a problem regardless.
| Gen 1 | Gen 2 | Gen 3 | Gen 4 | Gen 5 | Gen 6 | Gen 72 | Gen 83 | Gen 9 | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | 8 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 11 | 8 | 7.22 |
| Shiny | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 6.89 |
| Misc. | Ash Hat Pika1 | Unown | Vivillon | Alcremie (3); G-Max (2) |
7★ Raids4 | 1 |
Footnotes
- 1 This was mostly a collection of Gift Pokémon that were shiny locked. However, specifically one Ash Hat Pikachu was huntable in-game. It was intended to be shiny locked, judging by its shiny sprite looking completely identical, but the game mistakenly did not shiny lock this Pikachu. For sake of consistency, I only counted this against the Normal collection.
- 2 This was the first generation to add boxes for multiple regions (Alola & Region Unknown)
- 3 This generation consisted of two regions as well (Galar & Hisui). Notably, my numbers combine the boxes that would have been Hisui Dex 1 & Hisuian Forms).
- 4 This was a mixed collection of raid bosses where all but one were shiny locked Pokémon and one was guaranteed Shiny. For sake of consistency, I only counted this against the Normal collection, similarly to the Ash Hat Pikachu above.
The only major inconvenience this set-up creates is that you have to manually move the misc. collections whenever there's a new generation. Personlly, though, I'm fine with this inconvenience. In my case, it's only eight boxes, which is only a bit larger than the average number of new boxes per generation.