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Completing a Living Dex With Gen 1 (Pokémon Japanese Green / International Blue)

A "living dex" is a fan designation for when a player completes the Pokédex and has one of each species in the PC or the party at the same time. It's often considered to be much more difficult and time-consuming than a regular Pokédex because it often involves, for instance, playing the same game multiple times to get multiple copies of a Legendary Pokémon.

The method by which you can get a completed Pokédex on Japanese Green/International Blue is described here. This page will focus more on requirements specific to a living dex. You can also find an alternative guide with a tracking tool here.

Version Exclusives

You will need to trade for multiple members of a version-exclusive species' evolutionary family, instead of just one. This is due to the lack of a breeding mechanic in Gen 1. You will need all of the following: Ekans, Arbok, Oddish, Gloom, Vileplume, Mankey, Primeape, Growlithe, and Arcanine.

Mutually Exclusive Pokémon

To have a living dex, you will need all of the following on your file:

• Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, Venusaur, Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard, Squirtle, Wartortle, and Blastoise
• Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan
• Omanyte, Omastar, Kabuto, and Kabutops
• Eevee, Flareon, Jolteon, and Vaporeon

If you are playing an original Game Boy cartridge copy and have access to Pokémon Stadium, you can get an unlimited number of these by defeating the Elite Four and Rival repeatedly.

Otherwise, to complete this living dex on Green/Blue alone, you will need at minimum nine separate Gen 1 save files.
If you have access to Yellow, this number changes to four separate save files: one Green/Blue file and three Yellow files. With Yellow, you can collect each starter on each of the three files and trade it to Green/Blue, as well as Eevee's three evolutions and three of Omanyte, Omastar, Kabuto, and Kabutops, with the Green/Blue file providing Eevee and the last Fossil Pokémon. In this scenario, each of the starters traded from Yellow can be evolved to a different evolutionary stage.

Without access to Yellow, your save files would have to look something like the following:

1. On your first file, pick starter #1. Trade it to another game for holding.
2. On your second file, pick starter #2. Trade it to another game for holding.
3. On your third file, pick starter #3. Trade it to another game for holding.
4. On your fourth file, pick starter #1 and evolve it to its first evolutionary stage. Trade it to another game for holding.
5. On your fifth file, pick starter #2 and evolve it to its first evolutionary stage. Trade it to another game for holding.
6. On your sixth file, pick starter #3 and evolve it to its first evolutionary stage. Collect Eevee and Omanyte or Kabuto, and trade them to another game for holding.
7. On your seventh file, pick starter #1 and evolve it to its final evolutionary stage. Collect one of Eevee's evolutions and the other of Omanyte and Kabuto, and trade them to another game for holding.
8. On your eighth file, pick starter #2 and evolve it to its final evolutionary stage. Collect Omanyte or Kabuto and evolve it. Collect the second of Eevee's evolutions and one of Hitmonlee or Hitmonchan, and trade them to another game for holding.
9. On your ninth file, pick starter #3 and evolve it to its final evolutionary stage. Collect the other of Omanyte or Kabuto and evolve it. Collect the third of Eevee's evolutions and the other of Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan. Trade back the rest of the starters, Eevee and its evolutions, Hitmonlee or Hitmonchan, and Omanyte, Omastar, Kabuto, and Kabutops from your holding game.