Hello everyone. After looking through all of the guides regarding editing and hacking saves, I've become somewhat overwhelmed. I primarily want to edit my retail save (the actual store-bought game itself) to give me event items and Pokemon that I've missed throughout the years, but the various guides regarding save editing are somewhat confusing to me. Some talk about cheat codes, others about downloading the game off of the internet, others about Action Replay... I don't know where to start. I'll try to form my questions to be as clear and concise as possible; also, if I'm in the wrong forum, I apologize, and would like to be redirected to the correct forum.
1. All of the guides mention different hardware requirements to get a retail save onto the computer for editing; what hardware is recommended for taking a retail save, editing it, and (most importantly) putting it BACK into the retail game? Playing a save game from the hardware itself (for the sake of cheats, etc.) is not a priority for me.
2. Once I get the proper hardware, how do I take the save game and access it with Pokesav/Pokegen?
3. For that matter, what is the difference between Pokesav and Pokegen? Which is better?
4. I've heard that getting Mystery Gift/Event Items isn't done well in Pokesav/Pokegen. If that is the case, what other software should I use?
5. What is the risk to my save file/retail game if something goes wrong?
That's all for now; I may return with more questions as time goes on. Thank you in advance!
EDIT: I just noticed that I didn't post in the Save Game Edit Help sub-forum. Is there a way to move it there? I apologize.