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>A meta example which applies to the first two generations: these games are based on battery-backed saves, rather than the flash memory that became standard starting with Ruby/Sapphire. These batteries have a finite amount of power, and when they run out, the data on the carts is reset. (In fact, many of those carts are due to begin running out of power soon.) And, more crucially, there is no way to transfer your old Pokemon off of, at best, Crystal to new generations with non-volatile memory. This means that, short of incredibly complicated dumping of a cart's SRAM, your old Pokemon friends are DOOMED TO DIE. You can't even change the battery to save them - if the current is interrupted even for a second, poof. They're gone. Forever. There's nothing you can do about it. Your old Pokemon are literally facing mortality, or at best an ethereal half-existence on your hard drive (since there's no easy way of dumping them back into a game after you change the battery).
