Recovering Starters From 1998 Red & Blue Cartridges. Some Pokémon Are Missing?

[kenshin305]

Hello. I'm new to recovering Pokémon saves and roms. After 24 years I wanted to recover my Charizard from Red, and my brother Blastoise from Blue. I bought a Flash Boy to dump the ROMS and RAM to my PC.

For my Pokémon Red cartridge, my Charizard was still perfectly preserved! However I was missing 90 Pokédex and many more in my PC including Mewtwo and Zapdos (I caught them all as a kid). I've attached my save file.

For my brothers Pokémon Blue cartridge, when I recently played it in a Gameboy, there was no Continue option, so I assumed the battery died and the save was wiped. HOWEVER, when I ripped the ROM and RAM using Flash Boy, the game had a Continue option with 9 minutes of progress. There is only a level 6 Squirtle in possession. It seems this Squirtle gained a level after the first rival battle. No one has played this cart since I recently discovered the battery "died" 3 weeks ago. I've also attached this save file.

I used PKHeX to drag the Squirtle over to my Pokémon Red game save. I then installed custom firmware onto my 3DS and used Checkpoint to inject the save file into the Red Virtual Console Game. I'm awaiting a copy of Pokémon Ultra Sun so I can download Poke Transporter to send these Pokémon to Bank, and then Home.

I have questions:

1. Is this the same Squirtle brother picked back in 1998? Do you think it has the same IV's?

2. If this is the same Squirtle, why has it devolved?

3. Why is there now a Continue option in Pokémon Blue? I swear, no one has played this cartridge recently, and the battery was supposed to be dead.

4. I did not modify any of these Pokémon in PKHeX, and it says they are "legal". Can I get banned for using these Pokémon in the modern games online?

5. Is there a way to recover more Pokémon from these save file dumps without risking to be banned online?

Thank you for reading my post!

RedRAM-Kenshin305.sav BlueRAM-Kenshin305.sav

[Atrius97]

1: Impossible to know without the original to compare to.
2: Same as above.
3: Presumably there was a partial save recoverable despite the battery being dead, or the battery was not completely dead.
4: If they appear legal in PKHeX, you will almost certainly not be banned for using them online in modern games. Nintendo has very poor hack checks to begin with, but keep in mind that any pokemon obtained from Gen 1/2 events, or from Pokemon Stadium will not be legal in the Virtual Console copies of Gen 1/2 or in modern games.
5: Short of taking it apart in a hex editor and looking for things that "look like it could be pokemon data", no. Whatever you recovered is likely all there was, and also that has nothing to do with being banned online.

Also, in the future, please do not post the same thing twice. It doesn't do anything but create needless spam, your repost has been hidden.

Edited July 9, 2022 by Atrius97

[kenshin305]

1 hour ago, Atrius97 said:

1: Impossible to know without the original to compare to.
2: Same as above.
3: Presumably there was a partial save recoverable despite the battery being dead, or the battery was not completely dead.
4: If they appear legal in PKHeX, you will almost certainly not be banned for using them online in modern games. Nintendo has very poor hack checks to begin with, but keep in mind that any Pokémon obtained from Gen 1/2 events, or from Pokemon Stadium will not be legal in the Virtual Console copies of Gen 1/2 or in modern games.
5: Short of taking it apart in a hex editor and looking for things that "look like it could be Pokémon data", no. Whatever you recovered is likely all there was, and also that has nothing to do with being banned online.

Also, in the future, please do not post the same thing twice. It doesn't do anything but create needless spam, your repost has been hidden.

1-3: Thank you for the reply. I just checked the Blue cartridge again in the Gameboy, and it still shows the Continue option. So the battery is not completely dead but on its last life 24 years later. I think you are correct in this being partial recoverable save. This means, the Squirtle is the original one my brother had as a child. I bought the Red and Blue cart at the same time in 1998. Today in my Red cart, I still have my Master Ball, which explains why I no longer had Mewtwo. In this save, I did not encounter him yet. When the cart battery dies, the game regresses. My brother is going to be sooooo happy when I surprise him with this. It's not everyday you get to re-raise your first Pokémon again.

4: This is a huge relief for me. I can't wait to take my Charizard into all the new games. Thank you for the heads up about Gen 1/2 events and Pokémon Stadium. 

5: I'm really happy with all I've recovered, so this is no biggie.

Man I really lucked out with all of this. These cart batteries should not have lasted this long. I would have been devastated if I lost all my data. Thank you again Atrius for all the help!

Edited July 9, 2022 by kenshin305