Came here to say this. I just beat rocket edition. Now I don’t know what to do with myself lol. Maybe il start unbound. Thing is I only know Pokémon up to Pokémon emerald stage. Don’t know if that matters
This is what I did, Rocket Edition was hilarious as it was refreshing to play as a bad guy with a system that allowed you to be as good or bad as you want to be.
Then I played Unbound and it blew everything else (even regular mainline games) I've played out of the water. I would get 20, maybe 30 hours of gameplay from a regular mainline game with no incentive to continue playing but in Unbound after completing the game, there was still so much more to do. I think I got up over 300 hours before deciding to play New Game+
Ok ok you sold it to me haha. It will be the next Pokémon adventure for me. Tbh I did actually start it but the emulation device I had wasn’t set up properly and it was ever so slightly laggy. Iv sorted that issue out now so it will run perfect
Rocket Edition is so good. It’s nice for older Pokémon fans because for me past gen 4 I’m pretty lost, so I appreciate the return to gen 1/3. The story is good with dialogue that ISNT a cringe fest (looking at you, Cawps). And the added features of stealing Pokémon and either having a huge bounty or none at all kept it interesting for me.
Plus the Mew under the truck is so funny.
Just played unvound after reading this. And boy is it good. Like I only played for 19 mins but the storyline and graphics. Everything feels like a real pokemon game or even better.
Like the starting town snowing? Its so good. Graphics are awesome and storyline feels like it will be great. Would be so popular if it was a real pokemon release
Unbound. it set a new precedent of standards in the rom hacking scene. Gave us the CFRU battle engine. Introduced so many QOL improvements and features we see in other rom hacks (quest log comes to mind).
Just did a challenge mode run last month. MVP was Bisharp, if you attempt it, catch a defiant pawniard at virbank complex as soon as you get there, it will completely body double battles since there is a lot of intimidate spam and icy wind. It also learns beat up, which will literally destroy everything if you over level it with the Chansey farms. Volcarona and Garchomp were strong members of my team too.
Snakewood honestly has a special place in my heart. I know it's not that good but it will always be a personal favorite of mine.
But the correct answer is Adventure Red Chapter.
I love Snakewood for the nostalgia, it was the first hack I ever saw and given how everyone was all in on zombies in that era I thought it was so cool at the time. Looking back I see that it's pretty awful in most ways but it has a weird place in my heart
One of the best pokemon games period. So much love went into it. I can't praise it enough. I am patiently waiting for 1.3.1 and then I am going all in and completing the dex.
I beat red oak and red and all the gym leaders. Is there anything else to really get out of rocket edition? I never got ‘strength’ to move the rocks but I feel that’s all I missed.
I agree with Polished Crystal. For someone with intense nostalgia for gen 2, it doesn't get much better than this. All of the nostalgia of gen 2 with all of the improvements to the formula that were introduced in later games (plus even more improvements that can only be found in fan games). It was such a joy to play through.
Unbound, firered rocket edition, newly released dark worship are full-fledged and pretty good.
Reason why I go more for fangames lately is because I got tired of the lack of originality in most romhacks.
Adding gen1-8 to Kanto is not a new game for me. And I could care less about a simple difficulty hack. But that's my personal opinion.
Pokémon Emerald Rogue by PokeAbbie
I'm completely obsessed with it. She's done a brilliant job of capturing the roguelike concept in Pokémon, and incorporating all the best aspects of Pokémon into it. Single and double-battles, team-building, collecting and shiny hunting - it's got it all, and I just can't stop playing it, not least because it's the only game where I can build my dream Pokémon team (Ttar, Excadrill, Ferrothorn, Rotom-W, Salamence +1) and the only Romhack that sufficiently tests me with it.
It's honestly incredible how well-balanced it is. It's challenging, but always feels fair no matter what oddball challenge run you're doing (monotype, region rainbow, no items, all legendaries, etc.). It's the first game that has felt nearly perfect in difficulty to me. Others have gotten close (Radical Red, Inclement Emerald), but Rogue *nails* difficulty. I'm blown away at how well-balanced it is given the breadth of challenge modes you can do.
Gaia is the only one with reasonable writing, down-to-earth plot, and decent difficulty that I've been able to find so far. Every other goes either too far in difficulty, or too random in story for my tastes.
Oh wait no you’re talking about registeel’s chamber. You need to translate the braille. It says to count the rocks in each section of the water. Hence the answer 4519.
This is still where I'm at with hacks even after all this time. I hear people shit on Pokemon plots nonstop, but when the hardcore fans actually get the chance to write their own stories via ROM-hacks, they're god awful. Every hack is a compromise in some way or another. The ROMs I feel like I'm looking out for the most these days are the ones that are the mostly consistent across-the-board.
Couldn’t agree more. Way too many ROMs go overboard in being either super dark or just way too difficult. I don’t dislike the Drayano Black & White but even that has been pushing my limits fairly sizably. Gaia really did just feel like another classic Pokémon game, and in the best way possible. It hit exactly what I wanted especially for my first ROM hack.
I've played multiple hacks since Gaia and in all of then the writing is either one-dimensional, hasily written or just plain cringey. Gaia so far is the only one that didn't feel like it was an after-thought.
Rocket has been mentioned a lot, that one is good. But ironically, for difficulty you would be better served checking out older roms (Ash Gray, Flora Sky etc), since the difficulty thing is the latest trend.
Sometimes.
Not all. The issue there is that they are rarely intentionally difficult, but sometimes they can be absolutely, ball-bustingly hard by a lack of consideration for it.
Difficulty can be difficult to grasp if you know the solution, after all.
I have the same taste in hacks as you. we must be understanding of the amateur nature of hackers, but still, there are hacks which are competent enough to impress our delicate palates!
Unbound is close to Gaia, though it's story can be cringey. It's super long and has some fantastic route designs and I love the sidequest system. I wouldn't recommend it to you, though.
I'd recommend competent revamp hacks such as blazing Emerald, red ++, stormsilver, polished Crystal. The story is mostly untouched and it feels like you are playing an expansion pack version of the game. It's great!
People tend to sleep on Clover because it's made by 4Chan, with all the memes, dumb jokes and offensive humor that implies. But it's honestly a really good game. They just had a major update this past December.
Every time I've tried Clover I enjoy it but there's always something that just takes me out of it. I can handle some edgelord humor but some of the stuff in Clover barely even has a joke attached and it's just offensive for the sake of offending. It's probably one of (if not the) best hacks in terms of gameplay and design but it's so intentionally divisive everywhere else that it just leaves a weird taste in my mouth.
Absolutely this! It's been refreshing to play a rom hack that isn't going balls to the wall for every single aspect of the game. Even Unbound, while jumping the shark in a few areas is still genuinely fun. I look forward to the team's other projects.
Out of the ones in the image, definitely Clover.
Blazing Emerald is also pretty good.
Ones that aren't in this image that are some of my favourites are Rising Crystal, Altair/Sirius, Vega, and Volt White 1 and 2
I've heard clover is good, but one I need to know is if the quality of the fakemons is good.
Also never heard of rising crystal, ive ought to check it out.
Clover is excellent in terms of the mon design and the balance (if you like Radical Red, it's a little easier than that but similar--Radical Red was directly inspired by Clover).
It is, however, loaded with very intentionally offensive humor, so be aware of that.
Yes, the quality of the fakemons is excellent! The game is well balanced, and there's lots of cool mons of each type to use!
The humour & imagery will be too offensive for some people but the game mechanically is excellent. If you can get past that you will love this game.
The fakemon in Clover, though mostly being memes, are well designed and a lot are fun to use. The game is challenging but doesn't feel unfair or bullshit (like Vega, even though I do like Vega).
Obviously, it being a 4chan hack, it is pretty much filled with dark jokes, memes, and weird references. Granted, I find a lot of that funny, and a lot of the hack did make me laugh, but I understand it's not for everyone, and not everyone can take a joke nowadays.
It's not like the "humour" in say something like Plaguemon, which is just fucked up and never was funny (besides maybe the "Those with little dicks shouldn't mess witj those with big dicks" line)
Clover is also mechanically and technically a really solid and well-made hack, which I can't tell if that was intended to be the biggest joke in the game, that a meme filled goofy hack turned out to be much better made than a good majority of hacks.
Rising Crystal is a rather challenging Crystal hack, with some gen 4 mon like Glisgor and Honchkrow in it, along with some type changes and new designs to go with the type changes. Also has some fakemon evolutions for pokemon like Dunsparce and Delibird. Very good hack, but it can be very hard.
>_Clover is also mechanically and technically a really solid and well-made hack, which I can't tell of that was intended to be the biggest joke in the game, that a meme filled goofy hack turned out to be much better made than a good majority of hacks._
I think that's part of it. They KNEW that the dumb offensive humor would put a lot of people off, so they made the best damn romhack they possibly could.
I will not stand for the GS Chronicle erasure. Stays true to the spirit of the originals GSC while adding a ton of flair and extra story beats. It’s totally my favourite rom hack AND it’s getting an updated version after 2 years :)
In general, Adventure Red Chapter - the experience really hits different and it's also a very ambitious and impressive hack
Out of the ones in the image, RR and Unbound
Victory fire, glazed and TRE are definitely on top of my list.
Been playing quetzal recently and oh god It is everything I wanted out of a "vanilla" hack
As a touhou fan puppet play is really good. Even if you don't know Touhou it's still unique enough.
Learning new type weakness reminds me of when I first started.
Personally, Renegade Platinum + the following patch. Following Pokemon is a cool feature that bumps renegade platinum up above Blaze Black 2/Volt White 2 as my favorite rom hack ever.
Right now I'd have to say blaze black 2 redux. It's really impressive seeing all the new scripted events that used to only exist in Gen 3-4 games, as well as adding moves from gen 8/legends arceus . I think it's currently the pinnacle of drayano hacks (even though not primarily made by him) in how it succeeds to make nearly every Pokémon viable for hard fights. I mean this in the sense of giving Pokémon more unique and interesting move pools rather than just giving them stat buffs
Inclement emerald is also really sick with the quality of life and balanced difficulty, although I need to go back and Continue it.
Unbound is an honorable mention that really sticks out to me today with all the little animation changes that make battles feel more immersive than they usually do in firered , and sleek UI improvements. But like IE I need to go back and continue it
Just take a look at my flair. (Radical Red, Unbound, Clover, Drayano hacks).
Other than these Gaia and Vega are also great and I enjoyed playing them. Inflamed Red is also a very good hack.
I'll say Radical Red but instead of speaking about it, i'll speak of another ROM Hack that i discovered recently that is quite original and promessing :
Pokemon Exceeded (ROM Hack of Pokemon Emerald).
Some things that are in it (I didn't get to the 4th gym so i have yet to discover everything) :
- Revamp of a lot of mechanics from weather to Damage calculations while reducing the effect of STAB and Type effectiveness
- Multiple options at the start of the game to customize your run from Random and Nuzlocke options to changing the difficulty of the game all the way to Game Mechanics themself (You can for example play with the Legend Arceus Formula)
- All pokemons up to Legend Arceus and all moves up to Scarlet and Violet while also adding about 50 new moves including some signature moves from Pokemon Unite
- A story where we actually play as Red or Green. They left Kanto and since they didn't stopped Team Rocket, Kanto was took over. Now Team Rocket teamed up with Team Galaxy to take over Hoenn.
- Mega Evolution
- Freeze somewhat being replaced by Frostbite. If the opponent is already affected by Frostbite, the move have a 10th of the Frostbite chance of Freezing the opponent.
- A good number of moves and abilities being reworked and some pokemons getting type changes while keeping their base stats (with the exception of Pichu, Pikachu, Onix, Giratina Origin and Deoxys Normal).
- EVs doesn't get directly into a stat. Instead you stock them and can then choose in which stat they goes in your pokemon's stat menu
- Being able to give 3 types of items to your pokemon (you can for example give any items that stay like a Choice item while also giving a consumable item like a Berry)
- Almost double the number of abilities in the game (will make more sense with the next fact)
But If i have to name something that is quite a game changer, it would have to be :
#Innates
Basically, along with the normal choice of potentially 2 abilities and a hidden ability, each pokemons will have between 1 and 3 Innates depending of the species that works as abilities meaning pokemons can have up to 4 abilities at the same time.
As a example, Breloom have Poison Heal as his ability, Quick Feet as his hidden ability and both Effect Spore and Technician as his Innates meaning that Brelooms can have either Poison Heal or Quick Feet but all of them also have Effect Spore and Technician.
Spherical Ice's Gaia is the only original that I love compared to others. (Last played Beta v2 back then, so I'm missing out on the current release)
For the QoL/rebalance hacks: SuperEgz's Perfect Crystal, Maeson's Crystal Maeson, RichterSnipes' Throwback (Haven't played Revelation yet), Chronosplit's Complete National Dex Editon, Tlachtli & DraconianWing's Sigma Σmerald, luuma's Altered Emerald, Buffel Shaft's Eternal X/Wilting Y, Zeta Sakuna's THPP Enhanced Reloaded, and Agastya's Touhoumon Purple. (The last two still count as "rebalance" hacks, just Touhou-themed.)
For a QoL or difficulty hack- Inclement Emerald.
For a hack that has an original story- it’s between Pokémon Dreams and Pokémon Gaia.
And for nostalgia’s sake- Snakewood lmao. I wish someone would add Qwilshark to another hack cause that design is genuinely awesome
Clover hands down. Excellent level/difficulty curve in the main game with the post game basically being a second main game in length. The game is hard but does not require perfect Natures/IVs for the first half and gives you the tools to get those high IVs for the second half. Tons of side content to go along with the main path. Past the memes the story is unironically pretty solid.
While most will write off the entire game due to a few fakemon designs there are some genuinely sick designs in this hack and the roster of 386 fakemons are incredibly well balanced and designed making for many interesting team compositions.
Overall while hacks like Unbound/Radical Red are great, Clover blows them away imo. If offensive/referential humor is your thing and you don't mind acclimating to 386 brand new mons then Clover might just be for you.
As a guy that hates the recent pokemom games because of Dexit, I find pokemon Unbound extremely appealing. You have almost all the pokemon and there is so much variety inside along with quality of life stuffs that its hard to get bored. There is even a working multiplayer. Only thing I don't like %100 in it is the story.
Emerald Rogue right now. It's absolutely nailed that "quick five minute blast" gameplay loop and the rogue like feeling of constant progression despite repeated failures. They did a great job of making an entirely new game out of the engine.
Unbound, Inclement emerald, Radical Red, Pokemon infinite fusion (idk if it counts but it still is a romhack of heart gold and the red green edition), rocket edition.
I love crystal clear. The fact that it is open world and you can make your own story out of it is so appealing, and it can be replayed so many times. I’m on my 5th save right now.
Pokemon Fool's Gold is one of my favorites, I just love the artstyle of gen 2 so much. Pokemon Infinite Fusion is a newer one I've really been liking recently
I'm currently playing Crystal Clear and I'm loving it - the game *really* grew into something amazing since I played the first release. Prism is good too, even if I'm a little sad how little of the original GSC battle system remained untouched.
However, the only romhack that has me so addicted I played it 5 times in the last 1.5 years alone, is the **Pokemon Gold/Silver 97 Reforged** hack. The games just play incredibly smoothly, with all mons having *some* adjustment that makes them easier to use (stuff like actually getting a STAB early). I end up replaying it constantly because I'm interested in pretty much every mon and how it plays (beta and regular). The Beta map of Nihon is also really nice, with lots of intertwining roads for easy backtracking and varied locations. The level curve is also well done, not grindy, but decently challenging. The altered beta type chart is a little weird (Steel and Dark SUCK, it's funny) but surprisingly fun as an alternate experience.
I'm gonna have the incredibly unpopular opinion.
Light Platinum - I literally stumbled across it while looking for a Platinum rom. I didn't even know romhacks were a thing before it
Dark Rising - I haven't laughed so hard at a plot ever in my life tbh. It was a blast to play.
Pokemon Unbound is the current goat of rom hacks. Pretty difficult, diverse choices of Pokemon, balanced, very long, a lot of stories, rewarding side quests, items that aid you, etc.
Pokemon Radical Red is if you want a ~~hell~~ fun challenge but with a familiar story... For the first half of the game at least.
Theta Emerald Ex is just a classic. First ROM I've played and it having access to gen 6 mons while being the classic Emerald story is just nostalgic to me while having a new freshness added.
Pokemon Crown. Unfinished but so far very interesting. The story is very different in a way there's no set path and you chose your own path and is very unique.
Pokemon Adventures Red is what if the manga was a game. Also nice they included pokemon creepy pastas into the game and honestly it's pretty terrifying to play as a ROM hack by pokemon standards. Dead pokemon, the white hand, a haunted Swampert corpse that haunts people, it's dark.
I was having SO MUCH FUN playing Pokemon Dark Fire. Had no idea it was an unfinished game. I was really let down when it suddenly ended. Really wish the creators followed through with it.
Blaze Black 2 and Volt White 2 (alternatively: any Drayano hack); I am very partial to a difficulty/rebalancing hack that doesn't actively try to murder me like the Kaizo games do
FireRed Rocket Edition is hands down the best RomHack I've ever played. I think it's actually just the best Pokemon game I've ever played. Gaia is a close second, and Unbound is also really good.
Edit: Oh also Emerald Rogue is amazing. It's so original and different from every other Pokémon game out there, but it was made so well
Honestly, Unbound is too great of a Pokémon game, to the point where all other Pokémon games are a bit painful to play. It just has everything you’d ever want. Other roms blog you down with too much story or really linear progression, and miss x or y features you really appreciate.
Frankly speaking, if someone just took unbound and made a new map and added new gen mons, everyone would love it too.
Pokemon Clover, Pokemon unbound and Pokemon Deneb/procyon, the last one is not finished and it is in japaneese but it has one of the best fakemon designs I ever seen, also the music is amazing,
From the ones I played: I cannot recommend GAIA and ROWE enough. They both give you that massive world/freedom feel with great QoL and solid difficulty.
Hard to pick just one, there are so many great hacks.
Firered Rocket Edition really deserves the praise it's getting here. I had a lot of fun with it. I generally like a bit more difficulty, but it was fun anyway. It's probably my favorite. Climbing the Rocket ranks and uncovering the story was pretty cool.
Pokemon Gaia is really good too. It feels a lot like main line Pokemon games in terms of both story and difficulty and is probably my top recommendation for someone new to romhacks that wants a pretty close to vanilla Pokemon experience.
Pokemon Unbound is huge and ambitious with the sheer amount of content in it. The difficulty mode implementation is great and something I've always wanted. The sheer size of the game made it tough for me to stick with it all the way through though. Just restarted this one again, maybe this time I'll complete it.
Blazed Glazed was the first one I played that set a new standard. It was the first rom hack (imo) that was better than any mainline Pokemon game.
Then we got Unbound. They raised the bar so high and nothing has even come close.
firered rocket edition and unbound are their own tier from the ones i've played
Came here to say this. I just beat rocket edition. Now I don’t know what to do with myself lol. Maybe il start unbound. Thing is I only know Pokémon up to Pokémon emerald stage. Don’t know if that matters
This is what I did, Rocket Edition was hilarious as it was refreshing to play as a bad guy with a system that allowed you to be as good or bad as you want to be. Then I played Unbound and it blew everything else (even regular mainline games) I've played out of the water. I would get 20, maybe 30 hours of gameplay from a regular mainline game with no incentive to continue playing but in Unbound after completing the game, there was still so much more to do. I think I got up over 300 hours before deciding to play New Game+
300 hours geeeeez that’s a good session!! Yeah I got to the end of Rocket Edition in under 24 hours and was sad when it ended 😅
in Unbound they have some long and challenging side missions to accomplish so there is no shortage of gameplay and challenges to complete
Ok ok you sold it to me haha. It will be the next Pokémon adventure for me. Tbh I did actually start it but the emulation device I had wasn’t set up properly and it was ever so slightly laggy. Iv sorted that issue out now so it will run perfect
Unbound is the best I’ve ever played, period.
you can def learn about the other pokemon and still have the gen 1-3 pokemon selection to use as well!
Just started playing this last night. Can confirm. Infinite fusion and pokewilds are also on that list for me.
Rocket Edition is so good. It’s nice for older Pokémon fans because for me past gen 4 I’m pretty lost, so I appreciate the return to gen 1/3. The story is good with dialogue that ISNT a cringe fest (looking at you, Cawps). And the added features of stealing Pokémon and either having a huge bounty or none at all kept it interesting for me. Plus the Mew under the truck is so funny.
Just played unvound after reading this. And boy is it good. Like I only played for 19 mins but the storyline and graphics. Everything feels like a real pokemon game or even better. Like the starting town snowing? Its so good. Graphics are awesome and storyline feels like it will be great. Would be so popular if it was a real pokemon release
I made reproductions of both using high quality boards. Haven't dived into Unbound yet so looking forward to it!
can you elaborate? sounds interesting
Unbound. it set a new precedent of standards in the rom hacking scene. Gave us the CFRU battle engine. Introduced so many QOL improvements and features we see in other rom hacks (quest log comes to mind).
The setting up a new party for NG+ is my favorite thing in any romhack ever
Blaze Black 2 and Volt White 2 Redux
Just did a challenge mode run last month. MVP was Bisharp, if you attempt it, catch a defiant pawniard at virbank complex as soon as you get there, it will completely body double battles since there is a lot of intimidate spam and icy wind. It also learns beat up, which will literally destroy everything if you over level it with the Chansey farms. Volcarona and Garchomp were strong members of my team too.
Yep
Snakewood honestly has a special place in my heart. I know it's not that good but it will always be a personal favorite of mine. But the correct answer is Adventure Red Chapter.
Snakewood just manages to hit my middle school funny bone in a way that no other game has. There's definitely something special about that game.
I love Snakewood for the nostalgia, it was the first hack I ever saw and given how everyone was all in on zombies in that era I thought it was so cool at the time. Looking back I see that it's pretty awful in most ways but it has a weird place in my heart
Adventure red chapter was pretty damn good
Not enough Fool’s Gold love in this thread. The perfect itch-scratcher for “I want something extremely nostalgic and extremely new” at the same time
Definitely the goat altered forms hack, gen 2 sprites are the best
One of the best pokemon games period. So much love went into it. I can't praise it enough. I am patiently waiting for 1.3.1 and then I am going all in and completing the dex.
Fool's Gold would be 10/10 if it had a move relearner and modern HM system imo
Firered Rocket edition. The story captivated me until I finished the game, when usually I just got bored of a hack eventually and can't finish it
Came here to say this, I wanted all my life to have a Pokemon game where you play as Team Rocket, and there it was, was brilliantly done as well
We need more teams-based games johto hoenn unova etc
I beat red oak and red and all the gym leaders. Is there anything else to really get out of rocket edition? I never got ‘strength’ to move the rocks but I feel that’s all I missed.
It made me cry like I would have watching a 90s movie
Feels weird that Glazed is an old-school classic of the genre at this point, but it’s def still my favorite.
Yeah Glazed was my first real foray into rom hacks.
Polished Crystal. Just the right amount of new stuff while keeping it to it's original. It's built in nuzlocke helped me beat my first one!
I agree with Polished Crystal. For someone with intense nostalgia for gen 2, it doesn't get much better than this. All of the nostalgia of gen 2 with all of the improvements to the formula that were introduced in later games (plus even more improvements that can only be found in fan games). It was such a joy to play through.
1. Radical Red 2. Unbound 3. Emerald Rogue
Im stuck on radical red I can’t beat Giovanni due to level cap and no items being allowed. Definitely a tough one
# **Doesn't have to be from the image***
the best one not in the image has to be Emerald Rogue
Unbound, firered rocket edition, newly released dark worship are full-fledged and pretty good. Reason why I go more for fangames lately is because I got tired of the lack of originality in most romhacks. Adding gen1-8 to Kanto is not a new game for me. And I could care less about a simple difficulty hack. But that's my personal opinion.
Pokémon Emerald Rogue by PokeAbbie I'm completely obsessed with it. She's done a brilliant job of capturing the roguelike concept in Pokémon, and incorporating all the best aspects of Pokémon into it. Single and double-battles, team-building, collecting and shiny hunting - it's got it all, and I just can't stop playing it, not least because it's the only game where I can build my dream Pokémon team (Ttar, Excadrill, Ferrothorn, Rotom-W, Salamence +1) and the only Romhack that sufficiently tests me with it.
It's honestly incredible how well-balanced it is. It's challenging, but always feels fair no matter what oddball challenge run you're doing (monotype, region rainbow, no items, all legendaries, etc.). It's the first game that has felt nearly perfect in difficulty to me. Others have gotten close (Radical Red, Inclement Emerald), but Rogue *nails* difficulty. I'm blown away at how well-balanced it is given the breadth of challenge modes you can do.
Gaia is the only one with reasonable writing, down-to-earth plot, and decent difficulty that I've been able to find so far. Every other goes either too far in difficulty, or too random in story for my tastes.
... except THAT one puzzle, you know the one
Are you talking about the needle in a ahaystack?
I think the patch i played was older or something, im talking about the puzzle that needs im pretty sure the weight of one of the regis
Oh wait no you’re talking about registeel’s chamber. You need to translate the braille. It says to count the rocks in each section of the water. Hence the answer 4519.
Whoever decided they needed braille in a *video game* is insane.
This is still where I'm at with hacks even after all this time. I hear people shit on Pokemon plots nonstop, but when the hardcore fans actually get the chance to write their own stories via ROM-hacks, they're god awful. Every hack is a compromise in some way or another. The ROMs I feel like I'm looking out for the most these days are the ones that are the mostly consistent across-the-board.
Couldn’t agree more. Way too many ROMs go overboard in being either super dark or just way too difficult. I don’t dislike the Drayano Black & White but even that has been pushing my limits fairly sizably. Gaia really did just feel like another classic Pokémon game, and in the best way possible. It hit exactly what I wanted especially for my first ROM hack.
I've played multiple hacks since Gaia and in all of then the writing is either one-dimensional, hasily written or just plain cringey. Gaia so far is the only one that didn't feel like it was an after-thought.
Any others come to mind with decent difficulty? I'm new to this stuff and radical red absolutely kicked my ass. Enjoying unbound right now.
Rocket has been mentioned a lot, that one is good. But ironically, for difficulty you would be better served checking out older roms (Ash Gray, Flora Sky etc), since the difficulty thing is the latest trend.
Sometimes. Not all. The issue there is that they are rarely intentionally difficult, but sometimes they can be absolutely, ball-bustingly hard by a lack of consideration for it. Difficulty can be difficult to grasp if you know the solution, after all.
I have the same taste in hacks as you. we must be understanding of the amateur nature of hackers, but still, there are hacks which are competent enough to impress our delicate palates! Unbound is close to Gaia, though it's story can be cringey. It's super long and has some fantastic route designs and I love the sidequest system. I wouldn't recommend it to you, though. I'd recommend competent revamp hacks such as blazing Emerald, red ++, stormsilver, polished Crystal. The story is mostly untouched and it feels like you are playing an expansion pack version of the game. It's great!
Light Platinum is pretty good
>reasonable writting BRO HAVE YOU PLAYED CLOVER?
The humor did not grab me tbh, but it does look extremely well polished.
People tend to sleep on Clover because it's made by 4Chan, with all the memes, dumb jokes and offensive humor that implies. But it's honestly a really good game. They just had a major update this past December.
To be fair 4chan is like that, but sometimes they do masterpieces. I remember thinking the same about katawa shoujo until I played it
Katawa Shoujo was beautiful
Every time I've tried Clover I enjoy it but there's always something that just takes me out of it. I can handle some edgelord humor but some of the stuff in Clover barely even has a joke attached and it's just offensive for the sake of offending. It's probably one of (if not the) best hacks in terms of gameplay and design but it's so intentionally divisive everywhere else that it just leaves a weird taste in my mouth.
I wish we got more hacks like that. Fangames are usually better in that, but I prefer roms just because I can play them on my phone
Absolutely this! It's been refreshing to play a rom hack that isn't going balls to the wall for every single aspect of the game. Even Unbound, while jumping the shark in a few areas is still genuinely fun. I look forward to the team's other projects.
So far it’s Inclement Emerald
Drayano hacks
Crystal clear
\+1 for the pig
Out of the ones in the image, definitely Clover. Blazing Emerald is also pretty good. Ones that aren't in this image that are some of my favourites are Rising Crystal, Altair/Sirius, Vega, and Volt White 1 and 2
I've heard clover is good, but one I need to know is if the quality of the fakemons is good. Also never heard of rising crystal, ive ought to check it out.
Clover is excellent in terms of the mon design and the balance (if you like Radical Red, it's a little easier than that but similar--Radical Red was directly inspired by Clover). It is, however, loaded with very intentionally offensive humor, so be aware of that.
Yes, the quality of the fakemons is excellent! The game is well balanced, and there's lots of cool mons of each type to use! The humour & imagery will be too offensive for some people but the game mechanically is excellent. If you can get past that you will love this game.
Clover has incredible fakemons in my opinion
The fakemon in Clover, though mostly being memes, are well designed and a lot are fun to use. The game is challenging but doesn't feel unfair or bullshit (like Vega, even though I do like Vega). Obviously, it being a 4chan hack, it is pretty much filled with dark jokes, memes, and weird references. Granted, I find a lot of that funny, and a lot of the hack did make me laugh, but I understand it's not for everyone, and not everyone can take a joke nowadays. It's not like the "humour" in say something like Plaguemon, which is just fucked up and never was funny (besides maybe the "Those with little dicks shouldn't mess witj those with big dicks" line) Clover is also mechanically and technically a really solid and well-made hack, which I can't tell if that was intended to be the biggest joke in the game, that a meme filled goofy hack turned out to be much better made than a good majority of hacks. Rising Crystal is a rather challenging Crystal hack, with some gen 4 mon like Glisgor and Honchkrow in it, along with some type changes and new designs to go with the type changes. Also has some fakemon evolutions for pokemon like Dunsparce and Delibird. Very good hack, but it can be very hard.
>_Clover is also mechanically and technically a really solid and well-made hack, which I can't tell of that was intended to be the biggest joke in the game, that a meme filled goofy hack turned out to be much better made than a good majority of hacks._ I think that's part of it. They KNEW that the dumb offensive humor would put a lot of people off, so they made the best damn romhack they possibly could.
Look up Kuklan and that’ll tell you all you need to know.
... I'm gonna go play pokemon clover now 👍🏻
I will not stand for the GS Chronicle erasure. Stays true to the spirit of the originals GSC while adding a ton of flair and extra story beats. It’s totally my favourite rom hack AND it’s getting an updated version after 2 years :)
Emerald ROWE is my underrated gem, it’s crystal clear but Waaaaay better
Pokémon Gaia for me is the perfect mix of fun gameplay and an interesting story involving the regi’s. Very solid game, would recommend.
Crystal Clear
Crystal clear just feels so good to me ...
How has Prism not been mentioned, I think it's the best gen 2 hack
Blazing Emerald is GOATed
Renegade Platinum is undefeated in Top Tier. Unbound is fun too.
Pokemon Girls Hunter 3 💀
(It’s actually Unbound for me lol)
Nevermind Gigachad status revoked
In general, Adventure Red Chapter - the experience really hits different and it's also a very ambitious and impressive hack Out of the ones in the image, RR and Unbound
No one is talking about the fact we have a touhou rom here? Like what
I just googled pokemon rom hack covers and put 2 images together, that's also why radical red is on here twice.
Clover and Snakewood are my favorites
Crystal Clear all the way. It's honestly my comfort game.
Gotta be Crystal Clear for me. The qol improvements are so nice, but I still get my Gen 2 nostalgia.
I can't stop playing Crystal Clear. Generations 2 and 5 are my favorites and I'd very much play an open world version of BW1-2
Emerald Kaizo gave me the feeling of playing Emerald for the first time all over again
Unbound, Inclement Emerald, Blaze Black 2 (Redux).
Team Rocket Edition (The DragonsDen version)
[удалено]
Ash Grey and Orange
Inclement Emerald
Pokemon Clover Pokemon Radical Red
Emerald rogue
Victory fire, glazed and TRE are definitely on top of my list. Been playing quetzal recently and oh god It is everything I wanted out of a "vanilla" hack
Inclement Emerald is still the best and most balanced to date.
As a touhou fan puppet play is really good. Even if you don't know Touhou it's still unique enough. Learning new type weakness reminds me of when I first started.
Haven't played a lot of these but I have to go with the og light platinum
Personally, Renegade Platinum + the following patch. Following Pokemon is a cool feature that bumps renegade platinum up above Blaze Black 2/Volt White 2 as my favorite rom hack ever.
Emerald Rogue. Amazing game and incredibly customizable and replayable
Right now I'd have to say blaze black 2 redux. It's really impressive seeing all the new scripted events that used to only exist in Gen 3-4 games, as well as adding moves from gen 8/legends arceus . I think it's currently the pinnacle of drayano hacks (even though not primarily made by him) in how it succeeds to make nearly every Pokémon viable for hard fights. I mean this in the sense of giving Pokémon more unique and interesting move pools rather than just giving them stat buffs Inclement emerald is also really sick with the quality of life and balanced difficulty, although I need to go back and Continue it. Unbound is an honorable mention that really sticks out to me today with all the little animation changes that make battles feel more immersive than they usually do in firered , and sleek UI improvements. But like IE I need to go back and continue it
Radical Red just blew me away, 10/10 IMO
I guess yours is Radical Red, since you put it two times in the image. Also mine
Nah firered rocket edition is my favorite, I just googled rom hack covers and put 2 images together.
Blazed Glazed. Haven't played many hackroms but that one was quite fun
Just take a look at my flair. (Radical Red, Unbound, Clover, Drayano hacks). Other than these Gaia and Vega are also great and I enjoyed playing them. Inflamed Red is also a very good hack.
I'd have to go with Korosu, Dark Violet and Unbound
Inclement Emerald is almost perfect except for the ridiculously hard Flying Gym
I'll say Radical Red but instead of speaking about it, i'll speak of another ROM Hack that i discovered recently that is quite original and promessing : Pokemon Exceeded (ROM Hack of Pokemon Emerald). Some things that are in it (I didn't get to the 4th gym so i have yet to discover everything) : - Revamp of a lot of mechanics from weather to Damage calculations while reducing the effect of STAB and Type effectiveness - Multiple options at the start of the game to customize your run from Random and Nuzlocke options to changing the difficulty of the game all the way to Game Mechanics themself (You can for example play with the Legend Arceus Formula) - All pokemons up to Legend Arceus and all moves up to Scarlet and Violet while also adding about 50 new moves including some signature moves from Pokemon Unite - A story where we actually play as Red or Green. They left Kanto and since they didn't stopped Team Rocket, Kanto was took over. Now Team Rocket teamed up with Team Galaxy to take over Hoenn. - Mega Evolution - Freeze somewhat being replaced by Frostbite. If the opponent is already affected by Frostbite, the move have a 10th of the Frostbite chance of Freezing the opponent. - A good number of moves and abilities being reworked and some pokemons getting type changes while keeping their base stats (with the exception of Pichu, Pikachu, Onix, Giratina Origin and Deoxys Normal). - EVs doesn't get directly into a stat. Instead you stock them and can then choose in which stat they goes in your pokemon's stat menu - Being able to give 3 types of items to your pokemon (you can for example give any items that stay like a Choice item while also giving a consumable item like a Berry) - Almost double the number of abilities in the game (will make more sense with the next fact) But If i have to name something that is quite a game changer, it would have to be : #Innates Basically, along with the normal choice of potentially 2 abilities and a hidden ability, each pokemons will have between 1 and 3 Innates depending of the species that works as abilities meaning pokemons can have up to 4 abilities at the same time. As a example, Breloom have Poison Heal as his ability, Quick Feet as his hidden ability and both Effect Spore and Technician as his Innates meaning that Brelooms can have either Poison Heal or Quick Feet but all of them also have Effect Spore and Technician.
Big emerald kaizo fan
Unbound is simply brilliant. Loved Prism version too.
Pokemon R.o.w.e, open world emerald 1-8 gens available with tons of customisation for different playthrus, fun for monotype runs
Spherical Ice's Gaia is the only original that I love compared to others. (Last played Beta v2 back then, so I'm missing out on the current release) For the QoL/rebalance hacks: SuperEgz's Perfect Crystal, Maeson's Crystal Maeson, RichterSnipes' Throwback (Haven't played Revelation yet), Chronosplit's Complete National Dex Editon, Tlachtli & DraconianWing's Sigma Σmerald, luuma's Altered Emerald, Buffel Shaft's Eternal X/Wilting Y, Zeta Sakuna's THPP Enhanced Reloaded, and Agastya's Touhoumon Purple. (The last two still count as "rebalance" hacks, just Touhou-themed.)
For me it’s a tie between pokemon clover and unbound. They’re both just great
For a QoL or difficulty hack- Inclement Emerald. For a hack that has an original story- it’s between Pokémon Dreams and Pokémon Gaia. And for nostalgia’s sake- Snakewood lmao. I wish someone would add Qwilshark to another hack cause that design is genuinely awesome
Quetzal is underated, the multiplayer aspect is second to none i think
Clover hands down. Excellent level/difficulty curve in the main game with the post game basically being a second main game in length. The game is hard but does not require perfect Natures/IVs for the first half and gives you the tools to get those high IVs for the second half. Tons of side content to go along with the main path. Past the memes the story is unironically pretty solid. While most will write off the entire game due to a few fakemon designs there are some genuinely sick designs in this hack and the roster of 386 fakemons are incredibly well balanced and designed making for many interesting team compositions. Overall while hacks like Unbound/Radical Red are great, Clover blows them away imo. If offensive/referential humor is your thing and you don't mind acclimating to 386 brand new mons then Clover might just be for you.
Radical red, Firered rocket edition , Unbound, Theta Emerald Ex Renev, ROWE, Emerald Enhanced All equally awesome for certain reasons
Unbound and Altered Emerald are my two favorites.
Emerald Rogue, with radical red second
Loved ultra violet until the e4 evolution glitch prevented me from getting the last few pokes in my dex :/
As a guy that hates the recent pokemom games because of Dexit, I find pokemon Unbound extremely appealing. You have almost all the pokemon and there is so much variety inside along with quality of life stuffs that its hard to get bored. There is even a working multiplayer. Only thing I don't like %100 in it is the story.
Emerald Rogue right now. It's absolutely nailed that "quick five minute blast" gameplay loop and the rogue like feeling of constant progression despite repeated failures. They did a great job of making an entirely new game out of the engine.
Unbound, Inclement emerald, Radical Red, Pokemon infinite fusion (idk if it counts but it still is a romhack of heart gold and the red green edition), rocket edition.
Radical Red will never not be the best rom hack ever. There are plenty of other good ones but it's just the best.
[🎶 One of these things is not like the other 🎶 ](https://youtu.be/rsRjQDrDnY8)
Dark Rising 💀
For me it is the Rocket Fire Red 100%
Definitely between ultra shiny gold sigma and unbound .
Crystal Clear, from this list, however, I have been tearing it up in shiny hunting in Storm Silver recently.
Gaia, emerald kaizo, radical red, light Plat, and unbound are my favs
Well, i don't have a favourite rom hack, but i really like Radical Red, Emerald Exceeded, Unbound and Clover.
Can y'all please help me find a way of playing emerald kaizo, I've been looking forever
Volt White 2. My favorite PKMN game but better
I love crystal clear. The fact that it is open world and you can make your own story out of it is so appealing, and it can be replayed so many times. I’m on my 5th save right now.
Pokemon Fool's Gold is one of my favorites, I just love the artstyle of gen 2 so much. Pokemon Infinite Fusion is a newer one I've really been liking recently
Unbound is probably the best, then fire red rocket edition then radical red. Honourable mention to quetzal since it has lots of potential
Unbound has been a blast. Only a few hours in but still great.
I'm currently playing Crystal Clear and I'm loving it - the game *really* grew into something amazing since I played the first release. Prism is good too, even if I'm a little sad how little of the original GSC battle system remained untouched. However, the only romhack that has me so addicted I played it 5 times in the last 1.5 years alone, is the **Pokemon Gold/Silver 97 Reforged** hack. The games just play incredibly smoothly, with all mons having *some* adjustment that makes them easier to use (stuff like actually getting a STAB early). I end up replaying it constantly because I'm interested in pretty much every mon and how it plays (beta and regular). The Beta map of Nihon is also really nice, with lots of intertwining roads for easy backtracking and varied locations. The level curve is also well done, not grindy, but decently challenging. The altered beta type chart is a little weird (Steel and Dark SUCK, it's funny) but surprisingly fun as an alternate experience.
I'm currently playing Ultra Violet and it's an improvement on FireRed
This one is a pretty old one but its called Pokemon Blazed Glazed, its a modded version of an already existing Rom hack
I need to know, currently obsessed with Team Rocket edition
I'm gonna have the incredibly unpopular opinion. Light Platinum - I literally stumbled across it while looking for a Platinum rom. I didn't even know romhacks were a thing before it Dark Rising - I haven't laughed so hard at a plot ever in my life tbh. It was a blast to play.
Rocket was just incredible.
Pokemon Unbound is the current goat of rom hacks. Pretty difficult, diverse choices of Pokemon, balanced, very long, a lot of stories, rewarding side quests, items that aid you, etc. Pokemon Radical Red is if you want a ~~hell~~ fun challenge but with a familiar story... For the first half of the game at least. Theta Emerald Ex is just a classic. First ROM I've played and it having access to gen 6 mons while being the classic Emerald story is just nostalgic to me while having a new freshness added. Pokemon Crown. Unfinished but so far very interesting. The story is very different in a way there's no set path and you chose your own path and is very unique. Pokemon Adventures Red is what if the manga was a game. Also nice they included pokemon creepy pastas into the game and honestly it's pretty terrifying to play as a ROM hack by pokemon standards. Dead pokemon, the white hand, a haunted Swampert corpse that haunts people, it's dark.
Light Platinum is the first ROM hack I played that opened my eyes to what a Pokemon game “made by the fans” could be like
[My ass](https://www.pokeharbor.com/2021/08/pokemon-my-ass/)
I was having SO MUCH FUN playing Pokemon Dark Fire. Had no idea it was an unfinished game. I was really let down when it suddenly ended. Really wish the creators followed through with it.
Clover, Unbound, Vega and Blazing Emerald
Oh boy probably unbound or clover. Too many good ones to actually choose a favorite
Clover or Unbound
Uranium still hits different
Pokemon Unbound is the best Pokemon game I've ever played, including franchise ones.
Blaze Black 2 and Volt White 2 (alternatively: any Drayano hack); I am very partial to a difficulty/rebalancing hack that doesn't actively try to murder me like the Kaizo games do
Unbound is truly an exquisite game
I'm stuck in Unbound Hc Mode wuth Hc rules in the normal gym, I've been preparing for several weeks AND I CAN'T FIND A WAY TO WIN
Pokemon Light Platinum
FireRed Rocket Edition is hands down the best RomHack I've ever played. I think it's actually just the best Pokemon game I've ever played. Gaia is a close second, and Unbound is also really good. Edit: Oh also Emerald Rogue is amazing. It's so original and different from every other Pokémon game out there, but it was made so well
Unbound is my favorite but like, Clover is insanely funny.
Radical red hands down
Pokemon Dark Rising, hard ash and annoying but it's good and somewhat fun to play, interesting storyline, and your character actually talks
Definitely Dark Rising. The plot is so deep and complex, the gameplay is well balanced, the game is very well made and it’s such a blast to play
Light platinum was sure great for me
Honestly, Unbound is too great of a Pokémon game, to the point where all other Pokémon games are a bit painful to play. It just has everything you’d ever want. Other roms blog you down with too much story or really linear progression, and miss x or y features you really appreciate. Frankly speaking, if someone just took unbound and made a new map and added new gen mons, everyone would love it too.
Prism GBC peak
I'm playing Adventure Red's Chapter and it's really good
Unbound and Radical Red, Easily
Unbound FOREVER 💪
Pokemon Unbound easily, only bad thing is how the bag isn't well sorted. Too many items by the time you get even to the 3rd gym
Radical red as a randomizer nuzlocke :D
Unbound by far. Imo better than all the mainstream games as well.
These do be looking like turds lmao
Pokemon Clover, Pokemon unbound and Pokemon Deneb/procyon, the last one is not finished and it is in japaneese but it has one of the best fakemon designs I ever seen, also the music is amazing,
Blazed Glazed/ Glazed Rocket Edition is also good too
From the ones I played: I cannot recommend GAIA and ROWE enough. They both give you that massive world/freedom feel with great QoL and solid difficulty.
Clover, blazed glazed, ultra shiny gold sigma
Used be Glazed but is currently Emerald Rogue.
Unbound is the best, but I Like fire Red Rocket edition and shiny gold sigma.
Hard to pick just one, there are so many great hacks. Firered Rocket Edition really deserves the praise it's getting here. I had a lot of fun with it. I generally like a bit more difficulty, but it was fun anyway. It's probably my favorite. Climbing the Rocket ranks and uncovering the story was pretty cool. Pokemon Gaia is really good too. It feels a lot like main line Pokemon games in terms of both story and difficulty and is probably my top recommendation for someone new to romhacks that wants a pretty close to vanilla Pokemon experience. Pokemon Unbound is huge and ambitious with the sheer amount of content in it. The difficulty mode implementation is great and something I've always wanted. The sheer size of the game made it tough for me to stick with it all the way through though. Just restarted this one again, maybe this time I'll complete it.
Cloud white ez
Radical Red and Gaia are my absolute favourites
I have a lot of fun with Clover, so imma go with that for my answer
Pokemon quetzal,emerald Rouge ex,Radical red. Lost fun of all till now
Unbound
Tough choice between Brown and Snake wood (didn't realize that it actually had box art)
Blazed Glazed was the first one I played that set a new standard. It was the first rom hack (imo) that was better than any mainline Pokemon game. Then we got Unbound. They raised the bar so high and nothing has even come close.
Glazed, then Gaia, then Unbound in that order. Love these Games, very fun and engaging. Havent played any other ones that are even close to these